Two months in the past through the closing week of the season, when the Chicago Cubs’ tenuous maintain on a playoff spot had slipped away, president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer seemed throughout the sphere in Atlanta at the usual they have been attempting to achieve.
The Braves, winners of six consecutive division titles and a World Series championship in that span, have turn out to be an offensive pressure and are yearly turning into one of many groups to beat.
“Whenever I see a great team like this, I actually look at it as inspirational, that’s the standard,” Hoyer stated on the finish of September. “And to get where you want to go, that’s where you have to get.”
Reaching that degree will take multiple offseason and require the Cubs return to the postseason for the primary time in a full season since 2018. Hoyer and the Cubs actually have a number of paths to constructing a playoff roster within the subsequent two months, with Shohei Ohtani representing the marquee prize.
Free-agent signings and trades ought to choose up on the Gaylord Opryland in Nashville, Tenn., the positioning for Major League Baseball’s annual winter conferences. Ahead of the four-day occasion which begins Monday, here’s a take a look at three questions the Cubs face this offseason.
1. When will Shohei Ohtani make his determination?
Shohei Ohtani and his illustration have saved his free-agent course of extraordinarily quiet publicly with restricted perception into any priorities in selecting his subsequent workforce or the timeframe to make his determination.
Ohtani can have a maintain on the league till his vacation spot is introduced, and with that, any groups totally concerned within the try to signal the celebrity inherently should put different roster-building selections on maintain.
Cubs followers have embraced the dream over the past month of Ohtani turning into the star attraction at Wrigley Field in 2024 and past. Hoyer’s stealth pursuit and rent of supervisor Craig Counsell final month offered a reminder of his shrewd maneuvering and the way he can pull off these kinds of strikes.
If Ohtani commits to a workforce by the tip of the winter conferences, the Cubs are among the many most notable golf equipment whose offseason course positive factors plenty of readability. There are avenues past Ohtani — although none singularly highly effective on or off the sphere — for the Cubs to construct a successful workforce, but it surely begins with him.
2. Is this the offseason the Cubs leverage their farm system so as to add by trades?
The Cubs boast one of many high minor-league methods within the majors, each with the standard of depth and high-end prospect expertise. What they’ve been in a position to do by growth, scouting and drafting the final three years after committing to what grew to become a brief rebuild in 2021 has set them up to make use of that expertise pool to accumulate confirmed large leaguers.
The Cubs, importantly, gained’t must deplete from their high prospect group to usher in a major-league high quality participant or two, placing them in an advantageous place. Beyond the prospects who haven’t but reached the majors, the Cubs may additionally look to maneuver youthful big-league caliber gamers.
Christopher Morel stays a possible key commerce piece due to his restricted roster match and the star upside the 24-year-old has proven as an electrical utility participant.
But except heart subject, first base or third base may work as essentially the most non-designated hitter enjoying time is on the market, Morel’s biggest assist to the Cubs could be in a commerce that addresses a positional want.
Lefty slugger Matt Mervis represents one other intriguing on-the-cusp participant who struggled in restricted motion (99 plate appearances) throughout his debut season. Bottom line: the Cubs can have loads of choices to supply for a robust commerce package deal for an impactful participant.
3. How will the Cubs bolster their pitching employees and the center of the order?
Even if the Cubs land Ohtani, their efforts to construct an entire workforce gained’t be accomplished, although it lessens the stress to land a center of the order bat.
With Cody Bellinger’s impending departure by free company, the Cubs already want to exchange his slugging manufacturing ought to he finally find yourself elsewhere whereas nonetheless discovering one other energy hitter.
Former Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Rhys Hoskins makes a ton of sense on both a one-year pillow contract or shorter multiyear contract due to his energy and affected person strategy he would offer on the plate. A commerce may additionally handle both nook infield place. Center subject presents an choice to platoon if the group is assured Pete Crow-Armstrong will take the following step in his growth on the big-league degree in 2024 after struggling as a September name up.
The Cubs desperately want extra swing-and-miss on their pitching employees.
Rays right-hander Tyler Glasnow, who’s owed $25 million within the closing yr of his deal, actually presents that. He owns a 33.5% Ok% since 2018, nevertheless, he has been restricted to solely 60 begins the final 5 years due to accidents. The Cubs will look so as to add whiffs and expertise to an skilled bullpen that wore down by the tip of their disastrous September collapse.
The Cubs sit in an amazing place. They possess monetary flexibility so as to add high gamers with out solely needing to search out that by free company. By the time all the pieces shakes out, MLB’s offseason could possibly be outlined by the Cubs.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com