The Chicago Cubs and White Sox have so far combined to sign three free agents to MLB contracts as of Dec. 13. The White Sox added right-handed starting pitcher Mike Clevinger, guaranteeing him $12 million, while the Cubs agreed to deals with Cody Bellinger, who will earn $17.5 million and Jameson Taillon agreeing to a four-year, $68 million contract.
Both teams are in different spots, as the White Sox are trying to fix their talented, but underachieving roster, and the Cubs are attempting to build a competitive team again. Let's just say fans are getting a little impatient, frustrated and well angry at the lack of activity from both Chicago baseball teams.
But that doesn't mean fans are taking a break from trying to come up with creative ways to address holes on their respective teams.
We have now reached the portion of the offseason, when White Sox fans and Cubs fans are desperate for something, anything to happen. And that brings us to this suggestion from a White Sox fan.
And no, my intention here isn't to single out White Sox fans and their desperation because before Cubs fans found out that Christian Vázquez was signing with the Minnesota Twins on Monday, they were bringing up Grandal as an option at catcher for the Cubs, too.
Hell, Cubs fans first talked about Grandal as a potential trade candidate since November.
Going back to the original proposal of Grandal for Madrigal, that just isn't realistic when it comes to the Cubs side. Both sides, really.
Yeah, Grandal is still set to earn a little more than $18 million in the final year of his contract in 2023, and he's coming off a putrid season with the White Sox. But in terms of money on a one-year contract, the Cubs would most likely prefer to take on the full contract to "buy" a prospect from the White Sox. Or maybe the only other scenario would be trading the White Sox a guy like David Bote, who still has some guaranteed money left for a few more seasons.
Now, maybe the White Sox would love to dump Grandal's money and use the funds to sign a free agent this offseason, but Rick Hahn has already said how he expects the team to make impactful moves via trades rather than free agents. Also, as much as Grandal struggled in 2022, it probably doesn't make sense for the White Sox to trade him at his lowest possible value.
That brings us to Nick Madrigal, who made a few trips to the injured list in his first season with the Cubs and struggled in his first month or so before eventually hitting with some consistency in the second half of the season. However, as much as Madrigal has been disappointing since he was traded to the Cubs, he's still a 25-year-old with elite contact skills and he showed signs of improving defensively in 2022, and is still under team control through the 2026 season. They're not trading Madrigal for a "maybe this aging catcher will rebound" type of player.
And well, the White Sox already had Madrigal, probably know better than any other team what he can do, and they decided to trade him right when the team was looking to take the next step in competing for a World Series. So, they probably don't want him back anyway.
This is what the Cubs and White Sox have us talking about. Thanks.
Hopefully we'll have more riveting conversations on the Pinwheels And Ivy Podcast. We'll be live Wednesday at 8 p.m. CST.
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