Last week, Marcus Stroman turned down his $21 million player option with the Chicago Cubs for the 2024 season, officially making him a free agent. The All-Star is expected to fetch a big contract this winter and it does sound like the Cubbies know they probably won't retain the veteran.

Jed Hoyer recently revealed that the team spoke to Stroman and his agent before opting out and said he wasn't sure what direction things would go. Hoyer also praised Stroman's professionalism and work ethic during his two years in Chicago but hinted that he's likely signing elsewhere.

Via The Athletic:

“I thought it was a good match for us,” Hoyer said. “He was a very hard worker, really diligent with his preparation. He really cares about winning. Certainly, he wants to sort of do his own thing in terms of how he does his preparation. And that’s great. We let him. We gave him that freedom because he deserves it. He always gets his work done. He’s always prepared.

“Physically, he’s unbelievably flexible. With a lot of the things he does to get himself ready — as a guy who’s not particularly tall but relies on flexibility and balance — it makes sense that he would have his own routine. I thought we had a really good relationship.”

With ball clubs always looking for quality starting pitching, Marcus Stroman will garner a ton of interest on the open market. While returning to the Cubs isn't totally out of the cards, Stroman openly said he couldn't come to an extension agreement with the organization during the regular season.

As it stands, Chicago has three locks in the rotation in Justin Steele, Kyle Hendricks, and Jameson Taillon. Who knows, maybe Hoyer will go out and land one of these top arms like Aaron Nola, Blake Snell, or Yoshinobu Yamamoto. But Stroman? By the sounds of it, the Cubbies could be moving on from that possibility.