The Cubs explained that Jed Hoyer’s absence from the start of the Winter Meetings was due to a personal matter, but pretty much everyone believed it was actually a personnel matter. Prior to his arrival on Tuesday, a questionable report from USA Today’s Bob Nightengale claimed the Cubs were out after balking at Shohei Ohtani‘s “price tag of 10 years and $500 million.” That makes no sense because everyone knew that was the get-in-the-door price from the start, but that’s not the most intriguing part of the story.
According to ESPN’s Jesse Rogers, Hoyer bumped into Nightengale on his way to meet the media in Nashville and exchanged a few “stern words.