Joe Maddon says Cubs are not going to sign Bryce Harper

You can count the Chicago Cubs out of the Bryce Harper sweepstakes.

Prior to this offseason, there was a lot of talk about the Cubs being contenders to sign Harper. After all, there had been rumors about wanting to play with the franchise. Fast forward to this offseason, and the Cubs just gave out a big contract to Yu Darvish, which was a bust in the first year, and they don’t seem to be eager to make another major financial commitment.

That’s why manager Joe Maddon said at a charity event on Tuesday that the team is not going to sign Harper. The information was shared by ESPN’s Jesse Rogers.

Fan question to Joe: “What are the chances of Bryce Harper?” Maddon, no pause: “Not going to happen.” Jim Deshaies: “Lets move on”

— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) January 16, 2019

Chicago probably feels like their offense will be more than set if their players get healthy and turn things around in 2019. Not only that, but they need to save money to pay some of their guys, namely Kris Bryant when he hits free agency. For now, it seems another NL team is a leading contender for Harper.