OK, now the Cubs may be in on the Prince FielderAlbert Pujols sweepstakes. But not for the reasons you would think.
Yes, the two first basemen are elite sluggers and impact players. However, because of the new collective bargaining agreement just reached last week, the Cubs are acknowledging that the road to building the team from within will be a lot tougher, according to FoxSports' Jon Paul Morosi and Ken Rosenthal.
The new CBA is placing new restrictions on spending in the amateur draft and since teams lock up their big-time bats earlier in the player's career, Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer are apparently acknowledging the road to building the team back to sustained success is harder.
Which is why the two have suddenly changed their mind on pursuing Fielder and Pujols. Allegedly.
Rosenthal and Morosi are citing their major-league sources on all this. It's possible Theo is just leaking word of this to those "sources" to let the rest of the league know the new Cubs' front office is for real and they're ready to turn things around immediately.
Or maybe it's completely true and the new brass on the North Side really has changed their stance on pursuing one of the sluggers.
So which one will it be?
MLB
RosenthalMorosi state "sources" (there's that word again) think the Cubs are more interested in Pujols who, despite his age (3 years older than Fielder), is a better defender and in better physical condition than Fielder, whose body type is one of the major concerns for bidders.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out. I am still of the opinion neither guy signs with the Cubs. The idea Theo and Hoyer have is sustained success. They want to be like the Cardinals (three World Series appearances in the past decade). Not like the Cubs under Jim Hendry who threw a boatload of money at guys like Alfonso Soriano in an effort to just get over the hump and appear in even one World Series. Now how's that Soriano contract looking?
Stay tuned, as if Rosenthal and Morosi are right, this could become a big saga, especially with the Winter Meetings next week in Dallas.