Ok But Seriously, Are the 2025 Cubs Not Going to Have a Backup First Baseman?

Those numbers against southpaws look lackluster, but it's only Busch's power that has disappeared when he's faced lefties. Most lefty batters suffer in an even more pronounced way against lefties. Busch hangs tough. Still, you'd love to have a stronger option against lefties, and that's before accounting for whatever risk there is of regression from Busch in his second full big-league season. The Cubs traded away Matt Mervis this winter, which was no great loss (Mervis isn't a candidate to make any kind of long-term contribution at this point, and he, too, bats lefty), but it does leave them without an obvious fallback plan for Busch, even at Triple-A Iowa. Jonathon Long had a great 2024 in the middle levels of the minors, but he has yet to take a single plate appearance at Triple A. (To be fair, Workman hasn't done so, either.)

That invites the question of whether the team will go outside the organization to add a player for that job. Mark Canha, Ty France, Justin Turner and Yuli Gurriel are still available, and likely to be quite cheap. The Cubs might prefer to realign some depth and find an optionable bat, instead, but those players can be harder to find at this time of year. Spencer Torkelson has been connected to the team a few times this winter, but the team would probably make that move only if Torkelson cost virtually nothing.

Another option is to wait out spring training and see who shakes loose at the end of March, when some players who signed minor-league deals elsewhere are informed they won't make their new teams and have the right to opt for free agency. At that point, the Cubs might be able to snare someone like Joey Meneses, who signed with the Mets before they brought back Pete Alonso last week. They don't need a solution to this problem tomorrow, and probably won't have one. In the long run, though, it'll be interesting to see whether and how the team addresses that apparent hole in an otherwise strong roster.