DALLAS — Carter Hawkins wasn’t shocked when he saw the comments from Seiya Suzuki’s agent Joel Wolfe.

Tuesday morning, Wolfe said his client would be open to waiving his no-trade clause if that meant it would lead to more playing opportunities in the field.

[Check out the full Joel Wolfe press conference on the Marquee Sports Network app]

The Cubs general manager downplayed the idea that the Cubs are actively shopping the 30-year-old right fielder.

“I really don’t think much is going to come of it, because he’s just such a great player and just such a great fit for us,” Hawkins said Tuesday afternoon at the Hilton Anatole Resort. 

[MORE: Winter Meetings live blog]

The Cubs, like every other team this time of year, have discussions about almost every player in the organization in trade talks.

“Some of them get out, and we end up talking about those specifically only because they happen to get out,” Hawkins said. “And I would say this is no different.”

Suzuki’s displeasure stems from his role as designated hitter down the stretch in 2024. Over his final 37 starts, Suzuki made 36 of them at DH, with Cody Bellinger serving as the primary right fielder.

That move wasn’t done in a vacuum by manager Craig Counsell, though.

“Seiya and I have talked about DHing last year and it’s a situation we ended up with as a team where it made the most sense,” Counsell said on Tuesday. “Definitely wasn’t the plan and I don’t know that it’s the plan moving forward. But it happened last year because it’s how we put our best team on the field. That’s my job to do that and I’ll continue to do that.”

The best team, in this version, was emphasizing defense. The Cubs have made no secret their desire to try and maximize their roster with any advantage. At the end of the year, their best defensive outfield had Ian Happ in left field, Pete Crow-Armstrong in center and Cody Bellinger in right. Happ has won 3 straight Gold Glove Awards, Bellinger has a Gold Glove award in right field and Crow-Armstrong was one of the top defenders in center field, despite beginning the year in the minors.

Suzuki, on the other hand, has had a negative Outs Above Average in 2 of his first 3 years in the major leagues.

“We have some great defenders in our outfield, guys like PCA obviously have come in and really established themselves,” Hawkins said. “And I think Seiya’s got an ability to be an outstanding outfielder, and no concerns about him being able to do that, but we have some great defenders, and that allows us some flexibility, and sometimes that means that somebody has to DH.”

But that roster redundancy, naturally, leads to trade speculation. A team isn’t going to trade away from a thin area of their team. But another franchise in search of outfield and offensive help might look at Suzuki as an attractive piece to improve their roster.

[MORE: What Japanese pitcher Rōki Sasaki is looking for and how Cubs could fit in mix]

After all, Suzuki is a player who can be an impact, middle-of-the-order bat. He can be a game-changing hitter, one the Cubs would be happy to have on their roster. Across the last two seasons, Suzuki ranks 19th among all hitters in weighted runs created plus at 133. That’s 33 percentage points above league average and better than players like José Ramírez, Francisco Lindor and Rafael Devers.

And that’s ultimately why Suzuki could remain a Cub, despite heavy rumors.

“I think it’s no secret that Seiya’s a great player,” Hawkins said. “And so, by definition, the bar to trade any great player is really, really high. So yeah, we don’t want to trade Seiya, but, as Joel talked about, there’s people that are interested in great players, and so teams come asking, those are at least conversations that were we’re willing to have.”