The Chicago Cubs front office has assembled a good team. But “good” seems to be the operative word in that statement.
“Good” as in decent. “Good” as in slightly above average. “Good” as in 83 wins in the last two seasons. “Good” as in a really solid second-place team for all eternity.
Despite assertions that the organization is “all in” when it comes to winning this year, they’ve made it clear since day one of the free agent marketplace that they are absolutely not in the running for any of the big-ticket free agents available.
The Chicago Cubs Become A Punchline
The team’s conservative movements have become a punchline of sorts around the league.
“I guess this is the Cubs’ version of going all-in,” an unnamed agent recently quipped to ESPN’s Jesse Rogers.
Some will point out that Cubs’ president of baseball operations, Jed Hoyer, over the course of his tenure, has assembled a solid, competent team that, perhaps, will perpetually top out at “solid and competent.”
The team’s deal for the Houston Astros’ Kyle Tucker this offseason, trading away third baseman/first basemen Isaac Paredes, pitcher Hayden Wesneski, and 2024 first-round draft pick Cam Smith, is an outlier when it comes to the modus operandi of Hoyer.
What usually happens in a Cubs’ offseason is a calculated mish-mosh of budget-free agent signings, minor trades, and reclamation projects that tell the tale of a major market organization living in the realm of mid-market operations. They tell the tale of a team perpetually looking for low-risk/high-reward deals that, more often than not, lead the on-the-field team toward being just “good.”
“Good” Isn’t Good Enough
Some more jaded observers will point to this Tucker outlier coming as a direct result of Hoyer’s last-year-of-contract status with the Cubs and the related urgency to at least top a weakened NL Central Division this season.
And, moving from jaded to downright cynical, it could be said that the acquisition of Tucker will only be a one-year proposition as the Cubs front office will probably never even consider dishing out the kind of money he’ll demand when he becomes a free agent at the end of the 2025 season.
Even the highly-regarded and much-talked-about minor league system put together by Hoyer and his team has yet to produce a true impact player at the major league level. The bold move to trade away many of the franchise’s most beloved characters of the 2016 World Series team, such as Anthony Rizzo, Javier Baez, and Kris Bryant, seemed to result in the addition of many “good” minor league assets that fell just short of the “great” the organization needed.
So, what will it take for the baseball world to recognize the Chicago Cubs organization as something other than mid-tier players fishing for minor successes?
Well, maybe a daring free agent signing or two would do the trick. For instance, if the steadily awesome Tucker plays up to his usual standards, it might be time to back up the Ricketts’ money truck to sign a generational talent for a full generation.
Of course, winning “as is” may erase all talk of the Cubs just being in this to be “good.”
However, thus far, being prudent and conservative has not served the team well. A change in mindset has to come.
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