Cubs 2025 Season Review/Offseason Preview Thread

[Bertz]

Listened to Sharma and Mooney's podcast.  A lot of it is basically reiterating their article from Friday, but still interesting to hear the vibes.  They were pretty positive.  Both guys have some trepidation because of history but seem convinced that the Cubs are shopping more top of market than they have been.

The Dylan Cease stuff was especially illuminating.  Sharma said they "keep hearing his name" and it's coming "from all directions."  

They also mentioned that Jed's talking a good bit with Scott Boras, which outside of Bellinger (and Boyd apparently) he hasn't done a ton of the past few years. 

[Bertz]

2 hours ago, Bertz said:

The Dylan Cease stuff was especially illuminating.  Sharma said they "keep hearing his name" and it's coming "from all directions."  

Thinking more about this, curious what the pairing move(s) would be if they got Cease.

I mentioned last week I suspect the shopping list is:

- New Ace

- Upside SP

- 2-3 leverage relievers

- RHH bat

- A half dozen lottery ticket relievers

It's really easy to see how this comes together if you acquire the ace via trade.  Something like Mackenzie Gore ($5M), Michael King ($20M), Kazuma Okamoto ($16M), Brad Keller ($12M) and Pete Fairbanks ($9M) brings payroll neatly into that $10M under the cap neighborhood.  I suspect that Gore (or Joe Ryan or whoever) can be had with mostly the Iowa overstock guys.  And there are a bunch of alternatives to King, this is a great FA class to be shopping in that $15-20 AAV range.

But if you sign Cease I'm not sure what the other stuff looks like because his salaryis going to be bumping $30M.  That's not unworkable at all, but I just don't see the obvious best way of working around it.  Specifically where does that other SP come from?  Does Jed say horsefeathers it and just trade for a Gore type anyway, since that makes the $$ work out best?  Is the plan to still sign the upside arm, and cover the bat and the bullpen via trade to save money?  Dare I ask is there more money in the coffers than I've been accounting for?

The Cease stuff is exciting, both because Cease himself is exciting and because I think the logical move is a Gore/Ryan/Cabrera type to pair with him and that's ths sort of blow the doors off the hinges offseason we don't see around here.

[Dfan25]

I  think Cabrera is perfect to pair with Cease . 3.7 arbitration projection . Cubs and Marlins have talked a lot and even had a deal agreed last winter .  Talk about adding stuff to the staff , if they can pull it off .

With that said , o be perfectly fine with Suarez / King + Cabrera . I don’t get the feeling the Cubs are a favorite for Imai but we will see .

Edited November 17, 2025 by Dfan25

[CubinNY]

57 minutes ago, Bertz said:

Thinking more about this, curious what the pairing move(s) would be if they got Cease.

I mentioned last week I suspect the shopping list is:

- New Ace

- Upside SP

- 2-3 leverage relievers

- RHH bat

- A half dozen lottery ticket relievers

It's really easy to see how this comes together if you acquire the ace via trade.  Something like Mackenzie Gore ($5M), Michael King ($20M), Kazuma Okamoto ($16M), Brad Keller ($12M) and Pete Fairbanks ($9M) brings payroll neatly into that $10M under the cap neighborhood.  I suspect that Gore (or Joe Ryan or whoever) can be had with mostly the Iowa overstock guys.  And there are a bunch of alternatives to King, this is a great FA class to be shopping in that $15-20 AAV range.

But if you sign Cease I'm not sure what the other stuff looks like because his salaryis going to be bumping $30M.  That's not unworkable at all, but I just don't see the obvious best way of working around it.  Specifically where does that other SP come from?  Does Jed say horsefeathers it and just trade for a Gore type anyway, since that makes the $$ work out best?  Is the plan to still sign the upside arm, and cover the bat and the bullpen via trade to save money?  Dare I ask is there more money in the coffers than I've been accounting for?

The Cease stuff is exciting, both because Cease himself is exciting and because I think the logical move is a Gore/Ryan/Cabrera type to pair with him and that's ths sort of blow the doors off the hinges offseason we don't see around here.

They have to get some slugging on this team from somewhere. Ideally, they'd probably like to get via OWNKC, but he's got a lot of K in his game. I don't really buy it until it happens, but it's good to hear they aren't shying away from the top of the pitching market. 

I'm not convinced that they can thread the needle and break out from a division contender to WS contender. 

[Rcal10]

1 hour ago, Bertz said:

Thinking more about this, curious what the pairing move(s) would be if they got Cease.

I mentioned last week I suspect the shopping list is:

- New Ace

- Upside SP

- 2-3 leverage relievers

- RHH bat

- A half dozen lottery ticket relievers

It's really easy to see how this comes together if you acquire the ace via trade.  Something like Mackenzie Gore ($5M), Michael King ($20M), Kazuma Okamoto ($16M), Brad Keller ($12M) and Pete Fairbanks ($9M) brings payroll neatly into that $10M under the cap neighborhood.  I suspect that Gore (or Joe Ryan or whoever) can be had with mostly the Iowa overstock guys.  And there are a bunch of alternatives to King, this is a great FA class to be shopping in that $15-20 AAV range.

But if you sign Cease I'm not sure what the other stuff looks like because his salaryis going to be bumping $30M.  That's not unworkable at all, but I just don't see the obvious best way of working around it.  Specifically where does that other SP come from?  Does Jed say horsefeathers it and just trade for a Gore type anyway, since that makes the $$ work out best?  Is the plan to still sign the upside arm, and cover the bat and the bullpen via trade to save money?  Dare I ask is there more money in the coffers than I've been accounting for?

The Cease stuff is exciting, both because Cease himself is exciting and because I think the logical move is a Gore/Ryan/Cabrera type to pair with him and that's ths sort of blow the doors off the hinges offseason we don't see around here.

If it’s Cease instead of the $15M to $20M pitcher then Okamoto becomes Andujar or Moncada. 🤷 Maybe Bohm. 

[Backtobanks]

I saw that Mountcastle was probably going to be non-tendered.  He might be a good fit for platoon 1B/DH/PH, but I'm sure some team will offer him more playing time.

[Backtobanks]

On 11/16/2025 at 9:50 AM, Rcal10 said:

With the way pitchers get hurt or miss starts, I don’t think 6 starters is that odd. Plus, who knows what Steele gives them. Rea would be a multi inning swing starter. Assad might be used in a trade. If Cassie was in a trade they could go Ballesteros as the DH and Alcantara as the 4th outfielder. That would leave them needing a right handed bat who can play corner infield (Andujar or Bohm are examples) and a back up middle infielder. Maybe a left handed or switch hitting bat. I think we all know they aren’t going big on a bat. I don’t disagree with you on Alonso, but they won’t do that. 

A cheap solution to the bench might be trading for Josh Smith who literally plays every position except catcher and pitcher.  He had a 3 WAR season with a line of .251/.335/.366 with 23 doubles and 10 HR.  Speaking of Texas, I'd love to get Josh Jung.

[ToolDRT]

I have an irrational love of Cease. So I’ve decided to already refer to him as though he’s part of the team. 

[Rcal10]

2 hours ago, Backtobanks said:

A cheap solution to the bench might be trading for Josh Smith who literally plays every position except catcher and pitcher.  He had a 3 WAR season with a line of .251/.335/.366 with 23 doubles and 10 HR.  Speaking of Texas, I'd love to get Josh Jung.

Sadly, if they are talking with Texas I think the most likely outcome would be Burger. Right handed bat who plays first and third. Can also DH against a lefty. 

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Burger is not a third baseman, he'd be a worse option there than Turner

[Rcal10]

26 minutes ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

Burger is not a third baseman, he'd be a worse option there than Turner

He has played over 200 games at 3rd base in his career. Honestly, doesn’t matter really. Fact is he would be mainly a right handed hitter to fill in for Busch and also DH some. But he also would play 3rd. Not well and not often, assuming Shaw is healthy. But he would see time there. Not a choice I would be happy with for the Cubs, but more likely than getting Jung or Smith, which was the actual point of my post. 

[Geographyhater8888]

6 hours ago, Rcal10 said:

He has played over 200 games at 3rd base in his career. Honestly, doesn’t matter really. Fact is he would be mainly a right handed hitter to fill in for Busch and also DH some. But he also would play 3rd. Not well and not often, assuming Shaw is healthy. But he would see time there. Not a choice I would be happy with for the Cubs, but more likely than getting Jung or Smith, which was the actual point of my post. 

Goldschmidt seems like the perfect fit as a platoon option at first base. I also wonder if they’ll slowly work Busch in towards facing left handed pitching this season. 

[Geographyhater8888]

Can anyone explain to me how Busch had a 140 wRC+ and was worth 4.6 fewer offensive runs than Tucker with a 136 wRC+ and only 5 more plate appearances?

Edited November 18, 2025 by Geographyhater8888

[Rcal10]

3 hours ago, Geographyhater8888 said:

Goldschmidt seems like the perfect fit as a platoon option at first base. I also wonder if they’ll slowly work Busch in towards facing left handed pitching this season. 

Goldy would be good. TBH, if they added him and then maybe Castro or Moncada to the bench with the back up catcher and maybe Alcantara as a 4th outfielder that wouldn’t be too bad.. the last guy would be Cassie or Mo. whoever they don’t trade. But if they did this, they better put a lot of money into the rotation and pen. 

[CubUgly]

19 hours ago, CubinNY said:

They have to get some slugging on this team from somewhere. Ideally, they'd probably like to get via OWNKC, but he's got a lot of K in his game. I don't really buy it until it happens, but it's good to hear they aren't shying away from the top of the pitching market. 

I'm not convinced that they can thread the needle and break out from a division contender to WS contender. 

Agreed, I really do believe Mo Baller will hit, but not so sure about the power or if he can ever be anything but a DH.  Less certain about Cassie being able to consistently hit at this level.  I really think just rolling it back out with Mo and Cassie added is borderline negligence.  I agree we need to add some slug with more certainty in addition to pitching. 

[Jason Ross]

It would be nice to add extra thump in the lineup, but it isn't like the Cubs are thumpless. I'll admit, STEAMER isn't my favorite projection system (ZiPS for the win) but the Cubs currently have three players projected at .199 ISO or above (Busch, Suzuki and Pete Crow-Armstrong). Last year, 44 players were above a .199, so having three projected in the same lineup isn't nothing and the Cubs offense isn't as lackluster as some are worried about. 

Can they just go with an unprotected rookie at DH? No way. But if the Cubs got an Adell/Bohm/Okamoto, or the like the Cubs will likely be fine. fWAR projections have them in the top-5 or 6 right now as a position group, and even if they don't add a lot, their current projection gets them into the top-10 most years. They're coming off of a top-5 run scoring team effort (and losing Tucker will certainly cut into that). If they properly add to the their run prevention while supporting a rookie DH with something better than Justin Turner they're going to be fine in the aggregate.

None of this should read "it's okay to entirely ignore the position player group" but it should read "maybe we're a little too worried about the run scoring potential of this team than we should be". 

[Bertz]

The Cubs were 6th in homeruns and 4th in ISO last year despite Wrigley playing *very* pitcher friendly.  Thinking the Cubs lineup lacks for power is not recognizing the current run environment, full stop.

Yes losing Tucker will hurt, though he's not a huge power guy (22 homers last year, 30 as a career high).  He's a good power hitter with bonkers K/BB numbers.  I think you can anticipate similar power production from Caissie, the tradeoffs are going to be strikeouts (roughly twice as many) and the need for platoon support.

[Bertz]

This would mean he needs to sign by ay latest the first few days of the New Year

[CubinNY]

1 hour ago, Bertz said:

The Cubs were 6th in homeruns and 4th in ISO last year despite Wrigley playing *very* pitcher friendly.  Thinking the Cubs lineup lacks for power is not recognizing the current run environment, full stop.

Yes losing Tucker will hurt, though he's not a huge power guy (22 homers last year, 30 as a career high).  He's a good power hitter with bonkers K/BB numbers.  I think you can anticipate similar power production from Caissie, the tradeoffs are going to be strikeouts (roughly twice as many) and the need for platoon support.

"Were" is doing the work there and again, being the tallest four-footer is no great accomplishment. 

Edited November 18, 2025 by CubinNY

[Petrey10]

Bichette or die for me… we need to score. We got a young OF and Shaw to package if needed he signs. Use that on pitching. 
 

I don’t see other options out there that move our needle as much as Bichette. End of story. 
 

won’t be as much as Tucker 

[Bertz]

1 minute ago, CubinNY said:

"Weere" is doing the work there and again, being the tallest four-footer is no great accomplishment. 

Feel free to provide literally anything to back up your argument.  Until then as usual you're basically Cosmo Kramer trying to sound smart talking about writeoffs.

[Jason Ross]

4 minutes ago, Petrey10 said:

Bichette or die for me… we need to score. We got a young OF and Shaw to package if needed he signs. Use that on pitching. 
 

I don’t see other options out there that move our needle as much as Bichette. End of story. 
 

won’t be as much as Tucker 

Bo Bichette is a good player, but I think you're overselling what kind of an offensive force he is and will be. He did post a 134 wRC+, but it was also a career high - something he's never gotten to prior (or that close). But career wise, he's a 122 wRC+ hitter, and is projected from STEAMER to be a 120 wRC+ hitter next year.

In context, Ian Happ has a 119 wRC+ over his last four seasons. We have seen how people have treated his offense. 

[Rcal10]

13 minutes ago, Petrey10 said:

Bichette or die for me… 

If those are your options I hope you have your affairs in order for your loved ones. 

[Dfan25]

Passan has the Cubs as one of the teams eyeing the top starting pitchers ( good sign ) . He also wrote the Cubs will be in on Bregman . 
 

I imagine Bregman would be a possibility if they somehow get 2 SP for under 20 million . ( Cabrera and ? ) . No way they are signing Cease with Bregman .

[Dfan25]