The Chicago Cubs have focused a lot on pitching depth this offseason, and rightfully so. The team struggled in that area last season, especially in the bullpen.
However, there’s a huge problem among position players that has so far only been partially addressed.
This Cubs team, headed into the 2025 season, does not have a lot of depth behind their starting eight.
While a couple of depth pieces have been added in the infield and at catcher, one position in particular remains woefully vulnerable– first base.
The Void Behind Michael Busch
Michael Busch did well there last year, in both his first year in the majors and first full year at first base. Despite concerns early on, the then-26-year-old proved himself up to the defensive task and even garnered some Gold Glove talk from within the Cubs front office.
Busch also accounted well enough for himself offensively, hitting 21 home runs with a .248 batting average in his debut major league season.
The Cubs have made it clear that first base belongs to Busch.
No Backup To Busch
The problem is that there’s, almost literally, nobody capable of backing him up in case of injury or slump, or simply in the case of an unfavorable matchup.
Cody Bellinger was traded to the Yankees. Isaac Paredes was traded to the Astros. Prospect Matt Mervis was traded to the Marlins. Patrick Wisdom was released.
That leaves no backup, other than the longshot possibility of 21-year-old catcher/first base prospect Moises Ballesteros being up to the task.
Clearly, the Cubs need a real solution for the void behind Busch.
Cruising Free Agency For First Basemen
There are some first basemen still available on the free agent market. Pete Alonso, of course, is the big fish, but the Cubs don’t seem interested in meeting anything close to his price. More reasonable options for a right-handed hitting spot behind Busch include Ty France, Connor Joe, Justin Turner, Brandon Drury, and Mark Canha.
Matt Cozzi of the Locked On Cubs podcast recently spoke of Canha as the ideal first base backup.
Per Cozzi:
“Turner, Canha, Joe, Drury, Davis, and France nothing pops off the page but Mark Canha. He hit .275 last year against lefties with a .380 on base [average]…Bush actually hit for a higher average against lefties last year, but remember that was in almost 400 less plate appearances. So, if the Cubs continue to not give an opportunity to Bush against lefties, they really should zero in on Canha.
Those are nice numbers last year. He was once a starter with the A’s and Mets. Now he’s a role guy, ten years in the bigs and he could sprinkle in some left [field] and right [field] if you need to. 105 wRC+ projection. So, I like Canha and, again, there could be happy times with this kind of add in the front office because Spotrac has him at 2.5 Ms. They have 8 Ms for Turner and 8 Ms AAV for Connor Joe.”
The 35-year-old Canha brings nothing spectacular or even all that much above average. He does, however, give the Cubs a backup at first base and someone who could spot start. And, as Cozzi mentioned above, he’s also capable of doing the same at a corner outfield spot.
If he does go for $2.5 million on a one-year deal, the Cubs won’t be risking all that much. They might want to look into Canha.
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