Local insider downplays major Chicago Cubs rumor heading into the offseason

It was in August last season that Chicago Cubs insider Bruce Levine reported that the Cubs were going to be heavily involved in the sweepstakes for Shohei Ohtani last offseason.

Levine was seemingly the only reporter to heavily connect the Cubs to Ohtani throughout the offseason, going as far as to predict that the outcome would come down between the Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers. While Ohtani did, in fact, sign with the Dodgers, reporting in the aftermath seemed to confirm that the Cubs were never heavily involved in the market for Ohtani.

This is to serve as a reminder that a rumor in August almost never materializes by the time that the offseason arrives. The hot rumor from Levine this time around is that the Cubs will be prioritizing a pursuit of starting pitcher Corbin Burnes this offseason.

There are reasons why a pursuit of Burnes makes sense for the Cubs but even in his reporting, Levine seems to be using the same fallacies that he did last offseason with Ohtani. It's fallacies that Sahadev Sharma seemed to have debunked in his latest for The Athletic (Subscription Required).

Sharma reports that in addition to ruling out a Cubs' pursuit of Juan Soto, fans can also put to rest the idea of the Cubs targeting Burnes this offseason. As Sharma points out, Burnes is represented by Scott Boras, meaning despite the connection to Craig Counsell, a potential asking price in excess of $200MM will take the Cubs out of the running.

The Cubs rumor involving Corbin Burnes is already on life support.

The idea of Burnes is similar to the one of the Cubs having an interest in Ohtani. Every team in Major League Baseball should have an interest in Burnes but not every team is financially motivated to make a deal happen. As the Cubs have been recently with free agents at the top of the market, it seems that Burnes falls into the category of a player that would look nice in the Cubs' uniform, but the front office has no interest in spending on it.