If Cubs Want to Jump Free-Agent Market With a Great Stage-Setting Move, It Should Be This One

[Matthew Trueblood]

Moves early in free agency tend to be slight overpays, based on on-field value. Maybe one way to succeed with them is to find players who provide considerable value beyond their raw performance.

Image courtesy of © Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

Don't listen to panic over the progress of prospects Zyhir Hope or Jackson Ferris with the Dodgers: the Cubs made out gorgeously in last winter's trade sending those two West in exchange for Michael Busch and Yency Almonte. Admittedly, it would have felt much better if Almonte had stayed healthy and stabilized the bullpen during its early turmoil, but Busch is more than enough to call the deal a win-win exchange. His rookie season was sensational, and although his ceiling is certainly shy of superstardom, he was a championship-caliber piece in 2024. There's cause to hope he can do the same thing in 2025.

However, there are also valid cases being made in some quarters for moving Busch over to second base, or even for trading him. The former move would have to come as part of a double move in which the team also landed a slugging star like Teoscar Hernández, Anthony Santander, or Pete Alonso, with either the new player or Cody Bellinger taking over at first base and the overall lineup balance shifting slightly toward offense and away from defense. The latter would have to be part of a big move, bringing back either a high-level starting pitcher or a slugger who could directly replace Busch, probably with higher production but less team control. (Think a Mariners starting pitcher, or Vladimir Guerrero Jr. from the Blue Jays.)

One player could make sense as an addition to this roster, though, while and before all of that plays out. Carlos Santana, the longtime Cleveland great who has become a journeyman in the late going of his career, is a switch-hitter who hits better against left-handed pitching. He's one of the best defensive first basemen in the game, even as he nears 40 years of age. He gives his teams some of the most consistently excellent at-bats in the game, and though he runs hot and cold, you can generally count on him to provide plus on-base skills and occasional power. He is also one of the most respected and beloved players in baseball. Putting him in the clubhouse has its own value, beyond the field.

Santana would be a perfect opening salvo for this Cubs offseason. Some would read it as a resignation to too low-ceiling a winter plan, but it would be the opposite. Santana can act as a platoon partner for Busch. He can be a solid DH, in case of injury or as part of platoons and rotations at various spots. Signing him would also give the team increased leverage in all kinds of other conversations this winter. The trick here would be selling Santana on the fact that he'd get substantial playing time, because he can read Roster Resource just like the rest of us, and with Busch, Bellinger, and Seiya Suzuki all in their places for next year, there's not an obvious path to 600 plate appearances for him.

While everyone in it is eager to tell you how good a clubhouse the Cubs have had the last two seasons, it seems to me that an ingredient or two have been missing from that group. Santana, with his professionalism and his gregariousness, could be the right addition to the mix. No matter what else the team did this winter, he would be a valuable addition. The only time he's ever been to the World Series, his team blew a 3-1 lead and lost, but maybe Santana would now be open to joining the club he couldn't beat, in search of a ring that would give his career a pleasing sense of completeness. At the very least, the Cubs should be checking in with him about it.

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