Report: Cubs Might Try to Lock up Anthony Rizzo, Javy Báez Before Deadline

The Cubs have gotten nowhere with extension talks for any of their core players and may have even moved backwards in some regards, but that might be changing as the trade deadline approaches. MLB Network’s Jon Heyman tweeted Friday that “there are signs the Cubs will try to lock up Javier Baez [sic] and Anthony Rizzo before talking trades for them.”

while Kris Bryant, Craig Kimbrel and other Cubs are on the block, there are signs the Cubs will try to lock up Javier Baez and Anthony Rizzo before talking trades for them @MLBNetwork

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) July 16, 2021

There are several ways to look at this, the first of which is that it’s totally legit and we should take it at face value. Another is that those two are probably the ones for whom the Cubs would receive the least relative value, so the club could be leaking information in an attempt to increase leverage. Yet another is that there’s very little veracity to the report on either front and Heyman’s either speculating or has gotten bad intel.

The reality is that the situation is nuanced and there’s probably a little bit of everything above playing into it. Heyman is being fed information from several sources, not all of whom are without agenda when it comes to the trade market. With just over two weeks to go before the deadline, teams are all angling for leverage any way they can get it.

However it all shakes out, there’s actually a growing sense from those in the know that the Cubs could end up keeping Rizzo, Báez, and Kris Bryant — who Heyman has tied to the Nationals yet again — at least through the end of the season. All we know for sure, though, is that the rest of July is going to be an extended #HugWatch as the Cubs figure out how they want to proceed with their future planning.