If I asked you right now where your lingering concerns are for the Chicago Cubs’ roster, I expect your answers, in some order, would be: the starting rotation feels like it needs one more arm, the bullpen definitely feels like it needs an impact arm, and the bench feels like a huge question mark.
That’s how we see things on the outside as fans observing the team, and it also tracks with the kinds of things we expect the Cubs to do with the rest of the offseason.
And what do you know, in a write-up today at The Athletic, Eno Sarris looked at the FanGraphs Depth Charts to identify the 15 worst spots on the 15 best teams, and the Cubs show up a whopping 3 times out of the 15 total(!) across the entire league: average starting pitcher, bullpen, and first base. (Note: FG Depth Charts uses the Steamer projections, which is why some of the numbers might not match, for example, what ZiPS is showing.)
Let me dispense with that first base one up front, because you’re probably wondering what’s up given the presence of Michael Busch. Surely he is not SO BAD that he makes first base one of the 15 worst spots for the 15 best teams in all of baseball.
Yes and no. Steamer is not especially optimistic on Busch’s bat (.236/.322/.416/109 wRC+), and it also (strangely) projects him to be pretty bad defensively at first base, relative to the rest of the league. I’d take the over on both of those things, and thus I’d take the over on his Steamer WAR projection of just 1.6. For what it’s worth, ZiPS projects Busch to be worth 2.6 WAR in 2025, which is more in line with the 2.3 he put up last year.
But Busch isn’t the only issue at the spot, and it’s not the part that matches with my intro: the problem is that if and when Busch doesn’t play, who is at first base for the Cubs right now? Maybe it’s a call-up, but, would the Cubs just go with Moises Ballesteros or Owen Caissie for the bat, even with almost no experience at the position? Would the defense be abysmal? Or do they go with a utility guy (none of the current group project to have much of a bat), and simply get zero offense from the position? It’s ugly behind Busch!
The good news is that the spot should be one of the easier ones to address in free agency, including possibly even minor league free agency or via the waiver wire. Ideally, the Cubs would add defensively-limited big-ish bat in free agency to their bench, which would help with this first base projection, but would also help with the overall composition of the bench. The Cubs, having traded Matt Mervis to the Marlins for Vidal Brujan, must have some thoughts already on how they would deal with a long-term Busch injury at first base. I expect some kind of move between now and March that clarifies the depth at the spot.
On to the potentially more impactful spots.
For the bullpen, it just seems like a pretty simple conversation, right? The Cubs have a ton of usable/optionable depth, which is good, they don’t have a lot of obvious impact. The group could coalesce and be great, or a bunch of guys could struggle and it could take months to find the right mix. Since projection systems are probabilistic, they’re not exactly going to be impressed by a group like this. The Cubs NEED another late-inning-type arm.
The good news? The market is still full of these guys. Tons and tons of options – Tanner Scott, Carlos Estevez, Jose Leclerc, Kirby Yates, David Robertson, Tommy Kahnle, Jeff Hoffman, on and on. There really are a lot still left, and that is just free agency.
In the rotation, there are a few things happening at once. First of all, it’s important to note that if you have a team constructed such that your defense is really going to help out your pitchers, that won’t always be reflected in the individual starter projections. Further, contact-managing-type pitchers always get dinged in these systems at FanGraphs because it is FIP-based (which does not factor in any contact quality whatsoever except homers).
But also … yeah, the Cubs could really use another sure-fire starting pitcher. We know this. We’ve been tracking it all offseason. The Matthew Boyd signing was a nice and interesting upside play, but even if you could count on him to definitely hit 100 innings (you can’t), you cannot count on him to definitely repeat what he showed in a small sample with the Guardians last year. You also cannot necessarily count on the weather helping out Shōta Imanaga so much this year. You also cannot count on Javier Assad outperforming his peripherals SO much again this year. You also cannot count on every other starting pitcher staying healthy. You also cannot count on Ben Brown or Jordan Wicks or Caleb Kilian or Cade Horton or Brandon Birdsell DEFINITELY contributing huge chunks of above-average innings.
A nice benefit to the Cubs adding another starting pitcher? I would de facto help the bullpen, too, by either increasing the depth there, or by straight up moving a good pitcher into that mix.
Ultimately, I see Sarris’s write-up as a good thing, insofar as it confirms that the Cubs’ needs are (1) what we already thought they were, and (2) what we expect they are currently working to address.
It’s been a solid offseason so far, even if I would stop short of saying the Cubs are “winning the offseason.” There is still much more the Cubs need to do if they want to give themselves more room for error, and really lock down an 87-to-90-win projection, and clearly be the on-paper favorite in the NL Central. This is the year they need to do that. So address these three concerns, please and thanks.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Three of the Most Concerning Roster Areas Among All Contenders Belong to the Chicago Cubs )
Also on site :
- U.S. Oil Slips 4% as OPEC+ Agrees to Ramp Up June Production
- Alexander-Arnold Confirms Liverpool Departure, Real Madrid Transfer Sealed
- Stephen Curry, Buddy Hield Power Warriors to 103-89 Game 7 Win Over Rockets