The Chicago Cubs have not been known as one of the teams in Major League Baseball to spend big money on top-tier talent in recent years. With not being in the mix for any of the elite free agents this offseason it is understandable for fans to question the front office and ownership’s desire to win.
Owner and chairman Tom Ricketts sat down for an interview and addressed these concerns but had some bizarre things to say on the subject.
The Chicago Cubs spending in the past couple of years.
The Cubs are considered one of the large market teams given that the Chicago metro area is the third largest television market in the whole country. Given that fact, the Cubs should be acting like they are one of the coast teams such as the Los Angeles Dodgers or the New York Yankees. Given that teams other than the Cubs in the center of the country are still large markets in their rights, they don’t compare to a New York, Los Angeles, or a Chicago.
That isn’t the case however with the Cubs being a ‘large market team’ operating on a mid to low-level market team’s budget. The Cub’s total payroll for 2024 according to Spotrac was about $229,567,975 million being below the first luxury tax threshold of $237 million set into place by the CBA agreement for 2022-26. The Cubs for their 2023 budget was drastically below the threshold of $233 million and had a total budget below $200 million as a whole with it being at $189,409,358 million.
The Cubs only jumped in payroll for 2024 when they signed outfielder Cody Bellinger to his three-year $80 million contract which had him making $27.5 million in 2024 and for this season. The Cubs made it their mission this offseason to shed that from their payroll which they did with trading him to the New York Yankees and had to just send along $5 million for his buyouts for the next two seasons. That move has now brought the Cubs down to their current payroll (with their recent additions since) to $163,675,000 million. The estimated payroll for 2025 according to Fangraphs for their total commitments is $180.355 million with them estimating the Luxury tax estimates being $198,307,381 million.
The Cubs owner addresses the payroll concerns of fans
Tom Ricketts on fans calling for Cubs to spend more:
"They think somehow we have all these dollars that the Dodgers have or the Mets have or the Yankees have and we just keep it. Which isn't true at all. What happens is we try to break even every year, and that's about it."
— 670 The Score (@670TheScore) January 18, 2025
Owner and Chairman Tom Ricketts sat down with 670 the Score for an interview during Cubs Con and was asked about the spending habits of the team and why they haven’t been spending as much in recent years. Ricketts said about the subject:
“They think somehow we have all these dollars that the Dodgers have, or the Mets have or the Yankees have, and we just keep it. Which isn’t true at all. What happens is we try to break even every year, and that’s about it.”
Not really the type of comments you would want to hear from ownership that their goal from year to year is too ‘break-even‘. As I said given the Cubs are a large market team they shouldn’t be looking to ‘break-even’ they should be looking from time to time to push the envelope and get those big-money players to come to the team to build a winning roster. The Cubs did this when they acquired superstar outfielder Kyle Tucker who is set to possibly sign a Juan Sota-type deal next offseason when he becomes a free agent.
With that being a possibility and the Cubs not being known to be ‘big spenders‘ will they realistically be able to get Tucker to sign a contract extension? That hinges on whether or not ownership is willing to spend the necessary capital to do that. Ricketts says he is willing to, but those are just words.
If the Cubs do get hot during the summer and are looking primed to make a playoff push, will ownership be willing to commit to a possible trade for a rental to put the Cubs over the top? We shall see, but making these comments should put some concerns in fans’ minds as to what the rest of the offseason plans will look like from a spending perspective.
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