A continuing series examining past Cubs trades, and whether they moved the needle to creating a winning team. The Epstein/Hoyer Contention trades - Year 5 2018 had been about as frustrating as could be for a winning team. A 95-win season was spoiled by an improbable run by the Milwaukee Brewers that tied up the division lead on the final day.

As the news about the financial struggles of the Marquee network come to light, some Cubs fans (myself included) are wondering if this will impact spending on free agents going into the 2026 season. I think it's fair to say that every sports fan thinks the team they root for - including college teams now - are not spending enough on players.

With the Cubs poised to lose Kyle Tucker to free agency, it made me curious about what other teams have done after losing an expensive rental player that they traded for the year before. I'm going to exclude relief pitchers who are not closers. I'm using the WAR from Fangraphs, as it seems to be a bit more accurate for pitchers.

The Athletic just published an article ($$$) with the ugliest contracts in Major League Baseball, and the list was littered with former Cubs including two from the 2016 World Series team. Of the top 10, half once played for the Cubs, and another was a major free-agent target last off-season. 10. Tanner Scott (4-year, $72 million), Dodgers The Cubs pursued Scott heavily last off-season, but were outbid by the Dodgers.

A continuing series examining past Cubs trades, and whether they moved the needle to creating a winning team. The Epstein/Hoyer Contention trades - Year 4 After the disappointing finish against the Dodgers in 2017, the Cubs replaced Jake Arrieta - who left to go to the Phillies - with Yu Darvish. The Cubs also added Peter Bourjos, Tyler Chatwood, Steve Cishek, Brandon Morrow, and an injured Drew Smyly.

A continuing series examining past Cubs trades, and whether they moved the needle to creating a winning team. The Epstein/Hoyer Contention trades - Year 3 The Cubs acquired Alec Mills and Wade Davis in the offseason, but did very little in free agency, adding Jon Jay, Zac Rosscup, Koji Uehara, Brett Anderson and Brian Duensing. At the time of the All-Star break, they were under .500 and 5.5 games behind the Brewers in the NL Central, and their opportunity to defend their World Championship seemed precarious.

The Cubs have made a couple of moves so far this offseason: brought Shota Imanaga back on a 1-year deal, exercised the option on Colin Rea, sent Andrew Kittredge back to Baltimore and added a few minor leagues to the 40-man roster to shield them from the Rule 5 draft. Here are my thoughts on what else I think they will do.

It's been an interesting few weeks for the Cubs and Shota Imanaga, and his option structure required multiple decisions by both sides. While social media has been filled with consternation on both sides of the keep him versus let him go argument, I think the situation reached a logical conclusion yesterday, with Imanaga accepting the qualifying offer. 1, Why did the Cubs decline the 3-year, $57 million option?

A look back at how each position performed in 2025, and a look ahead to 2026. These posts will compare the MLB rankings from 2024 with those produced in 2025, as well as individual statistics for all players who played the position in 2025. Here are links to all of the entries:CatcherFirst BaseSecond BaseShortstopThird BaseOutfieldDesignated HitterStarting PitcherRelief Pitcher

A look back at how each position performed in 2025, and a look ahead to 2026. These posts will compare the MLB rankings from 2024 with those produced in 2025, as well as individual statistics for all players who played the position in 2025. Here are the other entries:CatcherFirst BaseSecond BaseShortstopThird BaseOutfieldDesignated Hitter…

A look back at how each position performed in 2025, and a look ahead to 2026. These posts will compare the MLB rankings from 2024 with those produced in 2025, as well as individual statistics for all players who played the position in 2025. Here are the other entries:CatcherFirst BaseSecond BaseShortstopThird BaseOutfield Positional Rankings: 2025 vs 2024…

A look back at how each position performed in 2025, and a look ahead to 2026. These posts will compare the MLB rankings from 2024 with those produced in 2025, as well as individual statistics for all players who played the position in 2025. Here are the other entries:CatcherFirst BaseSecond BaseShortstopThird Base Positional Rankings: 2025 vs 2024…

A look back at how each position performed in 2025, and a look ahead to 2026. These posts will compare the MLB rankings from 2024 with those produced in 2025, as well as individual statistics for all players who played the position in 2025. Here are the other entries:CatcherFirst BaseSecond BaseShortstop Positional Rankings: 2025 vs 2024…

A look back at how each position performed in 2025, and a look ahead to 2026. These posts will compare the MLB rankings from 2024 with those produced in 2025, as well as individual statistics for all players who played the position in 2025. Here are the other entries:CatcherFirst BaseSecond Base Positional Rankings: 2025 vs 2024

A look back at how each position performed in 2025, and a look ahead to 2026. These posts will compare the MLB rankings from 2024 with those produced in 2025, as well as individual statistics for all players who played the position in 2025. Here are the other entries:CatcherFirst Base Positional Rankings: 2025 vs 2024

A look back at how each position performed in 2025, and a look ahead to 2026. These posts will compare the MLB rankings from 2024 with those produced in 2025, as well as individual statistics for all players who played the position in 2025. Here are the previous entries:Catcher Positional Rankings: 2025 vs 2024

A look back at how each position performed in 2025, and a look ahead to 2026. These posts will compare the MLB rankings from 2024 with those produced in 2025, as well as individual statistics for all players who played the position in 2025. Positional Rankings: 2025 vs 2024

For Cubs fans, after the heartbreaking loss to the Brewers, initial thoughts went to whether they would try to re-sign Kyle Tucker or exercise the contract option for Shota Imanaga. But all of that took a back seat after social media was inundated with the photo of the Brewers celebrating their NLDS win by bringing out an "L" flag for their team photo.

A semi-regular feature showing how former Cub players are doing, this time focusing on how ex-Cubs in the playoffs. Position Players There were not many ex-Cubs position players playing in these playoffs, with 4 of the 6 playing for the Phillies and Tigers. # Name Team wRC+ PA HR OPS 1 Kyle Schwarber PHI 139 18 2 .903 2 Javier Báez…

The last 3 elimination games in the MLB Playoffs have been remarkably low scoring. It took 11 innings for the Dodgers to manage a 3rd run in the game to win 2-1. It took 15 innings for the Mariners to win 3-2. So it was not really a surprise when the Cubs-Brewers game ended with a 3-1 score line. Unfortunately, the Cubs were on the wrong end.

About 2 months ago, if you had offered me the scenario that the Cubs would be in the Division Series, down 2 games to 1, with Matthew Boyd as the starter, I would have gladly accepted it. But if you base the current evaluation of the scenario based on Cubs Social Media, this is the worst thing that has happened in the history of the Universe.

Let's make this clear...I don't believe that anything I do or do not do will impact the outcome of a Chicago Cubs game. The shirts or hat I wear, where in the house I'm watching, following the game on the Gameday app instead of television, listening to the radio broadcast -- none of these behaviors have anything to do with any real outcomes of pitches or at bats.

The latest installment how I'm feeling about the Cubs rotation. This is not deep-dive or statistics driven...just my gut feel. When it was discovered that Cade Horton had a cracked rib, and he had to go on the IL, we were all worried. And it turns out, it was for good reason. The other top starters for the Cubs had been a bit shaky as the season came to a close, and there was concern that they would not be effective enough in the postseason.

When a pitcher gets 2 strikes on a hitter, and the count is not full, one of the underappreciated skills is to put the right choice of next pitch in the right spot to try to get a strikeout. If the pitcher can get the hitter off balance, making the pitch look like it is a strike before tumbling out of the strike zone, or throwing a pitch the hitter is not expecting, it typically lead to a swing and miss, taking a called third strike or, at the very worst, fouling off the pitch or inducing weak contact.