New Seiya Suzuki report has all kinds of implications for the Cubs' offseason plans

Initially dismissed as an off-base, crossed-wires situation, the Seiya Suzuki trade rumors are very much a real thing as the Chicago Cubs continue to shop Cody Bellinger and explore every possible avenue to improve the roster coming off back-to-back 83-win seasons.

According to multiple reports, Jed Hoyer has given Suzuki's agent, Joel Wolfe, a list of teams that have expressed interest in trading for the slugging outfielder, with Wolfe saying Suzuki would potentially entertain waiving his no-trade protection.

As Rogers points out, that full no-trade clause immediately complicates any efforts to trade him - even coming off arguably the best year of his career. Suzuki slashed .283/.366/.482, good for a 134 wRC+ that ranked amongst the game's best outfielders.

Given the Cubs' goal of upgrading an offense, it's peculiar to see them shopping their most valuable offensive weapon. There's still a wide-held belief that if they can trade Bellinger, Suzuki will return in 2025 - but the second part of Rogers' report, that Suzuki does not want to be a full-time DH, further complicates things.

Late last season, Craig Counsell moved Suzuki into the designated hitter role and he thrived, posting a .906 OPS in 135 plate appearances. That allowed the Cubs to deploy Ian Happ, Pete Crow-Armstrong and Bellinger in the outfield from left to right, adding a ton of defensive prowess in the process.

Suzuki has not graded out well defensively since came over from Japan and there is no doubt the Cubs were better in terms of run production with him filling out the DH role. A refusal to do so again next year is a problem for Chicago, who is rumored to have interest in Houston Astros outfielder Kyle Tucker. Assuming they do, indeed, trade Bellinger, you'd be more or less swapping Tucker into right instead of Bellinger, again leaving Suzuki as a DH/fourth outfielder.

This definitely has the potential to throw a wrench into the Cubs' ongoing efforts of shaking things up this winter. Let's hope Suzuki's feelings were already well-known by the front office and they planned accordingly - otherwise, an offseason that already required tremendous creativity from Hoyer just got that much harder.