Silly season! It's silly season for rumors! Hooray! And from Ken Rosenthal, we have a provocatively titled article about the Cubs and Prince Fielder:
Fielder should be Cubs' player to lose
The article is more of an opinion piece from Rosenthal, explaining why the Cubs make all sorts of sense for the Cubs -- and he's right. Other than the Rangers and Blue Jays, it's hard to see a better match between Fielder and teams that have both money and an open spot. The Cubs lost 91 games last year, but with Albert Pujols gone and Fielder likely to leave the Brewers, the balance of power isn't likely to need a decade to shift. Fielder will be around for a while.
But, hold on, Dale Sveum is the new Cubs manager, and this is all news to him:
Sveum on Prince and #Cubs: "At this point I think it's a lot of media talking more than us doing anything. We haven't had any talks."
I'm not sure if it's more amusing or sad that I'd probably believe a Rosenthal hunch before I believed a manager, but it's one person's job to get the scoop and another's to manage a group of 25 baseball players. Still, Sveum probably has some idea of how his team is managing the offseason, and as of right now, the Cubs are tentatively starting Bryan LaHair at first base. They could also explore a trade for Gaby Sanchez after the Marlins sign Fielder.