I think the Cubs system is full of good not great players outside of PCA and maybe Horton (I am eating humble pie on that pick.). They will certainly need to go after top tier free agents. I don't know if the owner and executive suite will do that and if they do will they settle for 2nd tier FA.
But really what is so demoralizing for me as a fan is the implied promise that these owners were different from all the owners in the past. Instead, we got a bust-boom-bust cycle with no boom again on the horizon. On the plus side, they have invested heavily in pitching analytics and "the lab". On the minus side, they are using the lab to squeeze the most out of mediocre pitchers.
I don't/can't follow other teams who seem to know what they are doing to discriminate the differences between what they are doing and what the Cubs are doing. So I have no idea what they should be doing more of and what they should be doing less of.
If the Ricketts were better human beings I would be more comfortable with ascribing intentions, but it appears to me, they are milking the cow.