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Cubs look to strike quickly in fast-moving free agent market

Baseball does not have a salary cap, so don't expect a signing frenzy at the start of the free-agent signing period as happens in other sports with caps.

But this winter's market could be a fast-moving one, with a deep class of free agents looking for big bucks and not wanting to get shut out.

The free-agent signing period opened late Friday night, and the Cubs were expected to jump right in, contacting agents for players in whom they're interested.

The Cubs have made it their stated goal to upgrade their starting pitching. Multiple national reports have said the Cubs and left-handed pitcher David Price would be a natural fit, in part because Price played for Cubs manager Joe Maddon while both were in Tampa Bay.

"We've been linked to everyone already," Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer said Friday. "As a staff, we try to be as diligent as we can and talk to as many people as we can. I think people are talking about the Cubs because of the postseason. But I do think there's a level of common sense that has to be used in thinking about what we're going to do. "We're going to try to improve our team. And we have areas of improvement. We have some financial flexibility. We're not going to head into the winter and look to win the off-season. We're going to look to improve the team within reason and fill the holes that we need to fill. But I think some of the rumors about us are a little bit extreme."

The Cubs may try to land one high-priced free agent, such as Price, and then look to a midlevel free agent or seek a pitcher via a trade or free agency.

There are a couple of interesting names in both categories in addition to Price. Cy Young candidate Zack Greinke turned down his option with the Los Angeles Dodgers, becoming a free agent. He's someone the Cubs are sure to look at.

The White Sox on Friday made the industry-standard $15.8 million qualifying offer to pitcher Jeff Samardzija, who came up with the Cubs and played with them until being traded in July 2014. Samardzija is a fan of Cubs pitching coach Chris Bosio, and it's not out of the question that the Cubs at least will talk to Samardzija.

Cubs make Fowler offer:

The Cubs made the one-year, $15.8 million qualifying offer to center fielder Dexter Fowler, who became a free agent at the end of the World Series.

By making a qualifying offer, the Cubs assure themselves draft-pick compensation should Fowler sign with another team.

No player has accepted a qualifying offer since the system was put in place three years ago. The Cubs obtained Fowler in a trade with Houston last off-season. As the Cubs' primary leadoff man this year, Fowler had a line of .250/.346/.411 with 17 homers and 46 RBI.

Jed Hoyer said the Cubs plan to talk with Fowler's agent, Casey Close.

"We had a great year with Dexter," Hoyer said. "He was the catalyst for our offense all year. He played good defense. He was good in the clubhouse. We'll definitely sit down with Casey in the near future."

One alternative to Fowler is Denard Span, who was not given a qualifying offer by the Washington Nationals.

Reliever claimed:

The Cubs on Friday claimed right-handed relief pitcher Ryan Cook off waivers from the Boston Red Sox. The Cubs' 40-man roster stands at 30 players.

The 28-year-old Cook is 13-12 with 17 saves and an ERA of 3.43 in 217 relief appearances over five season with Arizona, Oakland and Boston.

Cook split most of 2015 between the Class AAA affiliates of Oakland and Boston, going 4-1 with 9 savvies. He made 9 major-league appearances between the A's and Red Sox, going 0-2 with an 18.69 ERA.

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