The Rundown: Soroka to Diamondbacks, Pivetta Reportedly Available, Cubs Among King Suitors, Kent Gets Hall Call

This is a very strange time of the year for us here at CI, as it brings our highest volumes of both traffic and criticism. That was certainly the case on Saturday, as Bob Nightengale’s erroneous report about the Cubs finalizing a deal with Zac Gallen created waves. We worked to confirm it and, upon finding it was not true, our Jacob Zanolla shared as much from his X account. He then did so through our CI account, but the fact that the latter report followed Jeff Passan by 2-3 minutes drew accusations of us faking our sources.

And we’re talking about people getting downright nasty about it, ignoring our long-running history as a reputable outlet. Few things raise my hackles like having our integrity questioned, so I may have gotten a little saucy with some of the more flagrant offenders. A major factor in that is my abhorrence of willful ignorance, as I just can’t understand why some people would prefer to hold their position rather than consider even the simplest facts.

I suppose those folks, and even those with more level-headed dispositions, won’t want to hear that a little bird chirped to me last night that former Cubs righty Michael Soroka had signed elsewhere. The team was unknown at the time, hence no report, but Passan and Jesse Rogers officially reported that the 28-year-old was joining the Diamondbacks on a one-year deal. It’s worth a guaranteed $7.5 million with another $2 million in possible incentives.

Makes sense for both parties; Soroka had his best season since 2019, even with his post-trade injury issues, and Arizona figures to lose at least one of Gallen and Merrill Kelly to free agency. The only thing shocking to me about this is that Soroka won’t turn 29 until next August. I could have sworn the dude was 35. He missed the end of the 2020 season and all of the next two years due to an Achilles tear and a subsequent re-tear. Forearm and shoulder strains ended up costing him time over the three subsequent campaigns as well.

There had been some talks about the Cubs bringing him back, though it would have almost certainly have been as a reliever. While Soroka has done his best work out of the bullpen, he prefers a starting role and should get an opportunity to rebuild his value for a third crack at free agency.

Pivetta on Block?

Does anyone else remember how the Padres intended to trim payroll last season, then ended up holding onto Dylan Cease and Michael King in addition to signing Nick Pivetta to a four-year, $55 million deal. That’s actually an incredibly reasonable contract for any starting pitcher these days, but it also included penalties because Pivetta turned down a qualifying offer from the Red Sox. Now, coming off the best season of his career, Pivetta could be on the move again.

According to Dennis Lin of The Athletic, the Padres are entertaining trade interest in their top starter as GM A.J. Preller looks to add multiple other starters and a big bat. But wait, why would they trade Pivetta if they desperately need more pitching? Same for shopping Fernando Tatis Jr. when they need more offense. The reason is that they still need to trim payroll.

Tatis still has nine years left on the 14-year, $340 million extension he signed in 2021, so moving him would clear just under $24.3 million from their luxury tax payroll. However, the cost to his new team would be roughly $32.5 million because AAV figures reset to what is remaining following a trade. The Padres would probably have to take a light return or foot a good chunk of the remaining bill to move him.

Pivetta, on the other hand, has a maximum of three years left at a cost of $13.75 million to the Padres or $17.5 million to a new team. Even the higher amount represents incredible value for a guy who just put up a 2.87 ERA with a 26.4% strikeout rate and fewer home runs allowed than usual. Lin notes that the Padres would have to get a “steep return” to actually move the righty, though that is mitigated by the fact that he’s got opt-outs after each of the next two seasons.

The likelihood that Pivetta will exercise that option after 2026 seems very likely, as his $20.5 million will drop to $14 million for 2027 and $18 million for ’28. Even with a work stoppage looming ahead of his age-34 season, another decent performance will surely net him more than $32 million over two years. As such, interested parties have to view this as a one-year, $20.5 million contract.

That could be of interest to the Cubs, who were rumored to have been in pursuit of Pivetta before he eventually signed with San Diego. He’s now free of those pesky QO penalties and Jed Hoyer is of the belief that there’s no such thing as a bad one-year deal, plus the acquisition cost might be lower than for a younger, more controllable arm like Edward Cabrera. Pivetta also seems to present less risk than Sandy Alcantara, although the upside is likewise reduced.

As far-fetched as it might be due to the difficulty in settling on fair value for both sides, I think it’s important to examine all the potential avenues the Cubs could take to address their pitching needs.

Other News and Notes

• Jeff Kent, who broke Ryne Sandberg‘s record for career homers by a second baseman, was the lone player elected to the Hall of Fame by the Contemporary Era Committee.
• Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Gary Sheffield, and Fernando Valenzuela each received fewer than five votes from the 16-member committee.
• The Cubs are joined by at least the Yankees, Red Sox, and Mets in their pursuit of righty Michael King, who we’ve noted is a great fit on the North Side.
• Former Cub Carl Edwards Jr. has signed a minors deal with the Mets. And here I thought Jedward was the only exec to sign players like this.
• San Diego is actively looking to move second baseman Jake Cronenworth, per Bob Nightengale.
• It had previously been reported that the Pirates were in on Kyle Schwarber, and Ken Rosenthal broke the news Sunday night that Pittsburgh has made a four-year offer for more than $100 million.

Movie to Avoid

Rather than subjecting ourselves to last night’s Chiefs/Texans game, my wife and I opted to find a movie. The choices were Oh. What. Fun., the Michelle Pfeiffer-led Christmas comedy that was free on Prime, and Roofman, the Channing Tatum-led caper flick based on a true story of a fugitive who lived in a Toys ‘R Us for a while. I’d been circling that one for a while and it was only $9.99 to rent, so we went that route.

I should have saved the money and watched just about anything else. I have no idea how they managed to land an outstanding cast that includes LaKeith Stanfield, Kirsten Dunst, Ben Mendelsohn, June Temple, and Uzo Aduba, but I can only assume it had to do with the premise. That said, the pacing was far too slow for me and things just kind of happened with nothing to propel the action or to make me feel any sort of attachment to the characters.

The movie just felt very flat, though reviews indicate that I am very much in the minority on that front. Roofman scored 7/10 on IMDb and has an 86% score on Rotten Tomatoes, though only 66% percent of Google users liked it. Maybe I’m just too much of a troglodyte.