Chicago Cubs Contacted Three-Time All-Star Closer in Free Agency

It certainly has not been the offseason that the Chicago Cubs were hoping for so far after they hired Craig Counsell to be their manager and the organization repeatedly stated they wanted to build a contender.

Missing out on Shohei Ohtani and Juan Soto definitely stings, but there are still some other great players left on the market.

And while the Cubs need to make a splash this offseason, there are other holes on this roster that should be upgraded as well.

Aside from signing Josh Hader, there are very little relief options that would immediately impact Chicago in a positive way. The limited market presents the front office with multiple directions it can take.

One of those would be to sign a veteran arm to add bullpen depth.

According to Scott Merkin of MLB.com, the Cubs reached out to three-time All-Star Liam Hendriks when his $15 million option was declined by the Chicago White Sox towards the beginning of the offseason.

Hendriks returned to the mound last year after beating cancer, but developed an elbow injury that caused him to get season-ending Tommy John surgery that will likely keep him out for the entirety of 2024.

This will not be fast developing market, considering he can't help a team next year, but, the right-hander is not far removed from a four-year stretch where he was selected to three All-Star games and had an ERA of under 3.00. He also recorded the most saves in the American League in 2021 (38).

If Chicago thinks he can add value in the future then they might be interested in getting a deal done eventually.

"There’s been nothing substantial about any of the conversations we’ve had, but [the Cubs] were one of the teams that reached out pretty early on," Hendriks told Merkin.

The Cubs will still need to add more talent this offseason to accomplish their goal of building a contending team heading into 2024, but they could add more future depth on top of addressing their current holes during this cycle.