MORE KYLE TUCKER TRADE RUMOR TALLLLLKKKKKKKKK. And some Cody Bellinger, too, because we know these deals are heavily intertwined.

Jesse Rogers was on ESPN 1000 this evening talking about a variety of Winter Meetings things, and he got into the Cubs’ situation as it relates to both Tucker and Bellinger. I wanted to get as much down as I could, because there was a whole lot of good stuff. Take it away, Jesse:

“What I’m hearing is a lot going on behind the scenes. There are plenty of permutations. Maybe [Paredes, Suzuki, plus] was one. But there’s a lot going on. At the end of the day, I don’t think the Cubs are going to look terrible in the trade, and I don’t think the Astros are going to look terrible. It’s gonna be the right deal. I do think Tucker will be traded. I think it’s more likely the Cubs than the Yankees.

“I think there’s a domino effect where maybe the Yankees get Bellinger and the Cubs get Tucker, that kind of thing. I do know the Cubs can offer and would offer more than the Yankees for Tucker. Because the Yankees want one of the two. I’m also hearing weird things like Houston won’t trade for Bellinger because of things he said about the cheating scandal seven years ago. Meanwhile, the Astros won’t trade Tucker to New York because of the rivalry that happened there. They won’t deliver him to a rival. I’m not sure what’s true or not, except there is smoke around Tucker and the Cubs, and Bellinger and the Yankees. Those make a lot of sense to me ….

It sounds like it should be a three-way deal, but it might be separate. And I would think [the Cubs] would have to unload Bellinger first … to open up the space. If all of a sudden you’re stuck with Tucker, Bellinger, and Suzuki, well the Yankees are gonna be like we know you gotta trade something, we’re gonna give you nothing back. Really, the Bellinger deal is a money dump and the Yankees can pay most of it if not all. Maybe they don’t want to pay all. But they can pay most of it …. If it gets done. I don’t know if it’s going to get done. But there is some smoke around it.

I don’t think Jed is going to give away the farm for one year of Kyle Tucker. Jed knows value. Jed knows what he’s doing in that sense. Signing Tucker to an extension is a whole other story. That’s where the Cubs fail …. I think it’s almost like a one-year [thing] …. I’ll tell you why: Juan Soto. His deal has upped the ante for everyone who comes next, and if you have numbers that are at all comparable in any way – and Tucker does – he’s not signing an extension that is not a mammoth one. Now, it’s not going to be $600 million, but even $300 million and $350 or something crazy like that, you know the Cubs are gonna tap out ….

I actually think these trades could happen in the next couple days. Bellinger. Tucker. It happens often a day or two after the meetings.”

In a lot of ways, it’s additional confirmation of what we’ve been hearing today, though Rogers is more general as to what the composition of a deal might be, and he’s obviously very dubious of the possibility of a Cubs extension. Without saying he expects a deal to get done, it was clear from Rogers’ comments that he believes it is a very real possibility based on what he’s heard. The exact shape of the deal (and the Bellinger deal) was not discussed.

So your takeaways are mostly that Rogers is hearing a lot of the same things and adds a whole lot of smoke to this situation, believing that it’s likely Tucker is dealt, and it’s more likely to wind up being the Cubs than the Yankees. From there, maybe no extension, but we’d all cross that bridge when we get there. I think there’s a least a chance the Cubs would take a serious run at getting an extension done if they’re giving up that much to get Tucker.

As for Bellinger, there’s still a fit with the Yankees, but it may be a matter of the Yankees wanting the Cubs to eat salary if they’re going to get a real return, and the Cubs wanting the Yankees to take the whole deal and give something meaningful in return (Cubs are probably on the better side of that argument right now, given how the outfield market is looking).

And then of course the conclusion, that these deals could happen soon. We kinda had that sense, but there’s another plugged-in reporter saying it.