The Chicago Cubs came into this off-season making it seem like they were going to spend a lot of money. They seemed to be in on every big free agent which was making people think that they were going to be a very good team in 2023.
It started off well by giving Cody Bellinger and Jameson Taillon a contract to come to play for them. Bellinger is a former MVP that hasn’t been good in a few years and Taillon is a middle-of-the-rotation type of starter.
Those types of moves would be great if they did more with it. Since then when things were looking good, they have only lost Willson Contreras to their biggest rival and seen a lot of their targets go elsewhere.
When the 2022 season ended, a lot of speculation was made about the possibility of Jose Abreu leaving the Chicago White Sox to go to the Chicago Cubs. Well, he burned both of them and went to the Houston Astros. The Cubs missed hard on that one.
This is looking like a bad off-season for the Chicago Cubs at this point.
The shortstop market was where the Cubs were expected to be the most aggressive. Trea Turner somewhat kicked off free agency when he signed with the Philadelphia Phillies.
In addition, Xander Bogaerts went to the San Diego Padres over the weekend which sent shockwaves around the league.
It doesn’t end there. The biggest shortstop connected to the Cubs was Carlos Correa. Well, that isn’t going to happen as he is going to the San Francisco Giants on a massive contract.
That is all tough news for the Chicago Cubs. Not only didn’t they land any of those three, but they also all went to National League teams that will be competing for playoff berths.
Jed Hoyer couldn’t even land Kodai Senga as he is headed from Japan to the New York Mets. You would have thought that the Cubs land one of these guys before the free-agent frenzy started.
There are a few elite players left on the market like shortstop Dansby Swanson and left-handed pitcher Carlos Rodon. Both of them are going to make a ball club very happy soon and the Cubs would love to land one of them.
If they don’t, this will go down (based on the hype) as one of the most disappointing off-seasons in Chicago Cubs history. To not land a single big-time player would be really bad after the reports of them being all in on spending.
Having Bellinger and Taillon is nice but they won’t mean anything as depth players if the team around them doesn’t improve. As of right now, they are not good enough to win.