The Chicago Cubs are looking to make a big splash this free agency and potentially sign one of the biggest short stops available.

Jon Morosi of MLB Network reports that the ball club has been in contact with the following four names:

• Carlos Correa
• Trea Turner
• Xander Bogaerts
• Dansby Swanson

Of the four, Correa and Turner are the two biggest names.

Correa, who just opted out of his three-year $105 million contract, hit .364/.412/.603 (batting average, on-base, slugging) in 2022.

The stat line for Turner and Swanson last season was .298/.343/.466 and .277/.329/.447 respectively.

For Correa, The Athletic is projecting an eight-year $260 million contract.

Turner is forecasted to get eight years at $296 million, while Swanson is estimated at seven years for $168 million.

The Cubs interest in a short stop comes after it traded away Javier Baez at the trade deadline last season.

In 2022, Nico Hoerner played shortstop for the cubs, where he hit .281/.327/.410.

But clearly, the Cubs are looking for an upgrade at the position.

Currently, the Cubs have the 14th highest payroll in the MLB, allocating roughly $91.5 million toward its players, according to Spotrac.

Also, Cubs catcher Willson Contreras is now a free agent.

The organization is not expected to re-sign him, according to MLB insider Bob Nightengale.

“He’s gone, for sure,” he previously said on NBC’s Sports Sunday.

“They couldn’t get what they wanted to trade down the line, which may scare him a little bit – the fact that nobody was willing to offer any amount to something better than a draft pick the Cubs would get. So he’ll walk and we’ll see where he ends up.”

Jason Heyward, Kyle Hendricks and potentially Marcus Stroman (player option) are scheduled to be free agents after the 2023 season.

The Cubs in 2022 finished with a 74-88 record and third in the NL Central in 2022.

The MLB All-Star starters have been revealed. This season was the first time the league implemented a two-part voting process. The first phase of the voting had three finalists for each defensive position. Nine outfielders advanced to the second phase of voting as well as a designated hitter in the American League. The second phase of voting determined the All-Star Game’s starters.

The process saw nine first-time All-Stars selected by the fans to start this year’s game. The headliners included San Diego Padres’ shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr., Toronto Blue Jays’ first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Los Angeles Angels star Shohei Ohtani, who was voted to start as the AL’s designated hitter.

Mike Trout, who was voted as one of the starting outfielders for the AL, will be unable to play as he is recovering from a strained calf. Toronto leads all teams with three players making the starting lineup.

American League Starters:

• C- Salvador Perez 
• 1B- Vladimir Guerrero Jr 
• 2B- Marcus Semien
• 3B- Rafael Devers
• SS: Xander Bogaerts 
• OF- Mike Trout
• CF- Aaron Judge
• LF- Teoscar Hernández
• DH- Shohei Ohtani

National League Starters:

• C- Buster Posey
• 1B- Freddie Freeman
• 2B- Adam Frazier
• 3B- Nolan Arenado
• SS- Fernando Tatis Jr.
• CF- Ronald Acuña Jr.
• LF- Jesse Winker
• RF- Nick Castellanos

The National League team will be coached for the third consecutive year by Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, while Tampa Bay Rays manager Kevin Cash will coach the AL.

The rest of the MLB’s All-Stars will be named on July 4. Pitchers and reserves for each team will be determined by a process that considers selections made by the Commissioner’s Office and the player ballot choices.

Major League Baseball announced the largest vote recipients for the 2021 All-Star Game, reporting the top-three most popular choices at each position. These players all advance to the next round of voting, which will conclude on July 1.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE BEST ALL-STAR GAME TICKET DEALS!

Pitchers and reserve players for the game are made based on a mix of both fan input as well as an analysis done by the Commissioner’s Office.

While stars such as Shohei Ohtani and Fernando Tatis Jr. were given nods for the next round, other notable figures including José Ramírez, Francisco Lindor and Trea Turner did not get enough votes to move on to the next round. These players can still make the All-Star Game, although the path is a bit less conventional and assuredly more difficult.

Mike Trout and Byron Buxton were two of the most notable names in the outfield for the American League, although others are getting large vote counts (Aaron Judge and Michael Brantley, among others) and some currently on the injured list will most likely be joining them at Coors Field in mid-July. In the National League, Ronald Acuña Jr. and Nick Castellanos sit at the top of outfielder voting.

The infield voting in the American League is led by names such as Salvador Pérez at catcher, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. for first base, Marcus Semien at second, Xander Bogaerts manning shortstop and Rafael Devers covering third.

In the same positional order, the National League is led by Buster Posey, Max Muncy, Ozzie Albies, Fernando Tatís Jr. and Kris Bryant.

The National League squad will be headed by Dodgers’ manager Dave Roberts, and the American League will be guided by Rays’ manager Kevin Cash.

The game is scheduled for July 13.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE BEST ALL-STAR GAME TICKET DEALS!

Opening day of Major League Baseball is just around the corner. That means it is time to take a look at each team’s prognosis heading into the 2021 season after the 2020 pandemic-shortened campaign.

> GET THE BEST BOSTON RED SOX TICKET DEALS HERE!

After winning the 2018 World Series, the Red Sox rapidly declined, in large part due to their pitching staff. Boston had an elite 3.71 ERA in 2018 when they were world champs. In 2019, they dipped to 19th in the league with a 4.70 ERA before finishing 28th last season with a terrible 5.58 ERA. Their poor pitching is the reason why the Red Sox finished dead-last in the AL East with a 24-36 record, one game behind the Baltimore Orioles. Boston has the offensive firepower to put up a ton of runs, however, things may not go so smoothly unless the Red Sox find a few hidden gems in their pitching staff.

Check out Boston’s projected starters.

Boston Red Sox Projected Batting Order:

1. OF Alex Verdugo
2. SS Xander Bogaerts
3. 3B Rafael Devers
4. OF J.D. Martinez
5. OF Franchy Cordero
6. OF Hunter Renfroe
7. 2B Enrique Hernandez
8. C Christian Vazquez
9. 1B Bobby Dalbec

Boston Red Sox Projected Pitching Staff:

• SP1 Eduardo Rodriguez
• SP2 Nathan Eovaldi
• SP3 Garrett Richards
• SP4 Tanner Houck
• SP5 Martin Perez
• CL Matt Barnes

Boston Red Sox Team Outlook:

The Red Sox have an offensive foundation with a winning core with the likes of third baseman Rafael Devers, outfielder J.D. Martinez, and shortstop Xander Bogaerts in the lineup. The additions of right fielder Hunter Renfroe, second baseman Enrique Hernandez, and utility man Marwin Gonzalez have only helped this offensive foundation grow stronger. However, the team’s pitching staff does not look as promising.

With Chris Sale out in 2021 recovering from Tommy John surgery, Boston has many questions to answer about their pitching staff. The Red Sox added right-hander Garrett Richards in early February. They also have right-handers Nathan Eovaldi and Eduardo Rodriguez, who have the talent that could help Boston win.

They also signed Matt Andriese, brought back Martin Perez, and picked up relievers Adam Ottavino and Hirokazu Sawamura. The bullpen lacks a defined closer as Matt Barnes did not secure the role with his 2020 performance. The team’s pickups will surely help the bullpen improve this season, giving them more outs to save games. From the looks of it, Boston will have streaky value in 2021 and will probably not contend in the season’s postseason.

Boston Red Sox Schedule:

> GET THE BEST BOSTON RED SOX TICKET DEALS HERE!

Before Thursday night, things looked like they couldn’t get any worse for the Boston Red Sox. Just a few months removed from their ninth World Series Championship, the team had floundered out to a 3-9 start, reminiscent of their infamous “chicken and beer clubhouse” year. In fact, they went one and five in their last six games.

Things didn’t look any better in their second time at home this season. In the top of the third inning, postseason hero Nathan Eovaldi got rocked for five runs. Luckily, Boston swung back with three runs courtesy of a pair of doubles and a single but that often isn’t enough when the team’s strength is supposed to be its rotation. And five earned runs didn’t justify Eovaldi’s new four year,  $67.5 million deal.

By the bottom of the seventh inning, Boston had produced two more runs and tied up the game. Of course, Freddy Galvis took a 1-0 changeup in the eighth inning and sent it 434 feet to right to break the tie for Toronto. That seems to be how Boston’s season is going so far. Luckily for Sox fans, that changed in the ninth.

Down a run and with one out, Mookie Betts worked the count for a walk. Mitch Moreland came up next, found himself in a 2-2 count, and shot a double out to center field, sending Betts home to tie up the game.

Toronto closer Ken Giles intentionally walked slugger J.D. Martinez. The reliever went to take on Xander Bogaerts and found that he’d lost his control, walking him as well. With the winning run now at third base, in the form of a pinch runner, Rafael Devers took a 2-1 pitch and sent a chopper over the head of second baseman Lourdes Gurriel Jr.

Boston will hope that the game winner wasn’t just odd luck as they kick off a four-game series against the Baltimore Orioles on Friday night.

Seven scoreless innings from Matt Moore and an off-performance from David Price was all the Tampa Bay Rays needed to spoil the Red Sox left-hander’s return to St. Petersburg.

Rays left fielder Brandon Guyer returned from a three-week stretch on the disabled list to homer and drive in two runs, leading Tampa Bay to a 4-0 win over Boston, making Price 1-3 lifetime against his former club.

Guyer missed 23 games due to a hamstring strain, but returned to the lineup Wednesday and promptly homered in the second inning to give the Rays the lead and then made it 4-0 after a double down the left field line in the third.

Moore carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning until it was broken up by Christian Vasquez who singled to lead off the inning.

Price allowed four earned runs on nine hits over 6 1/3 innings, walking one batter and striking out 10.

The only threat the Red Sox posed all afternoon came in the sixth following the Vasquez single. Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts both singled to load the bases on Moore with only one out. But David Ortiz and Hanley Ramirez both flied out to end the threat.

It was the second time in 2016 that Price was defeated by his former team.

Xander Bogaerts hit a walk-off single to score Mookie Betts in the 10th inning to lead the Boston Red Sox to an 8-7 home victory over the Chicago White Sox on Thursday.

Xander Bogaerts Walks Off In Red Sox’ 8-7, 10-Inning Home Win Over White Sox

The Red Sox thus avoided a four-game sweep against Chicago at Fenway Park.

“We’re staring at a four-game sweep at home, and that’s never a good thing,” manager John Farrell said. “So you find a way to pull out all the stops. … You do what you can with what you have in the moment.”

With men on first and second and one out, Bogaerts lined a 1-2 pitch into right-center field off Matt Purke to start the celebration.

“I was definitely taking a first strike,” said the 23-year-old Aruban, who leads American League shortstops in the most recent round of All-Star voting. “He wasn’t commanding his pitches very well. I just wanted to be patient.”

Boston closer Craig Kimbrel (1-3) escaped a bases-loaded jam in the top of the 10th by getting J.B. Shuck on an infield popup and then striking out Tim Anderson and Adam Eaton. 

“I think after losing the first three games to these guys, we knew coming into today that we needed to win, especially going into this [six-game] road trip,” Kimbrel said. “We’re definitely gonna have a happy flight.”

Thursday’s game marked the first time in more than five years that the right-hander pitched two full innings. In all, Kimbrel allowed one hit and walked two while striking out three for his first American League win.

Jose Abreu blasted a go-ahead, three-run homer off Junichi Tazawa in the seventh to give Chicago a 5-7 lead, but the Red Sox answered with a run apiece in the seventh and eighth innings to tie the game.

Bogaerts, Betts, Dustin Pedroia and Hanley Ramirez each had two hits for the Red Sox.

In the eighth, 23-year-old infielder Marco Hernandez hit his first career double and scored on Pedroia’s single to tie it 7-all.

Boston left fielder Chris Young was carried off the field in the bottom of the second following a right hamstring injury. Young hit a laser off the high left-field wall and was running hard around first when he grabbed his leg and crawled back to the bag. He was replaced by Ryan LaMarre, who was later replaced by Travis Shaw. 

Had Chicago won, it would have marked the first time the White Sox swept the Red Sox in a four-game series at Fenway Park since 1927.

“We had some golden opportunities,” White Sox manager Robin Ventura said after Thursday’s game. “We just couldn’t hold them. We were walking some people, letting them have some good opportunities. We got ourselves into some good opportunities and they got out of them.”

The Red Sox (40-32, 2nd in AL East) kick off a six-game road trip Friday that begins with a three-game series against the American League-leading Texas Rangers in Arlington. Left-hander David Price will take the mound.

The White Sox, (36-37, 4th in AL Central) meanwhile, will begin a six-game homestand on Friday that begins with a three-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays. Left-hander Carlos Rodon (2-6, 4.16 ERA) will start. Rodon struck out a season-high eight batters over 6 1/3 innings against the Cleveland Indians his last time out.

BOSTON, MA – JUNE 23: Xander Bogaerts #2 of the Boston Red Sox reacts after hitting the game winning single allowing Mookie Betts #50 to score, defeating the Chicago White Sox 8-7 in tenth inning at Fenway Park on June 23, 2016 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)