OT: Cubs Offseason Thread

[Dominator83]

Cubs just flat out suck right now. Lost another one today, to a team almost 20 games under .500 because they couldn't score more than 2 runs. It's like the bottom just fell out of their offense.

Going into this weekend, anything less than a sweep is a failure. Its the Pirates, and they don't even have to face Skenes in this series. They've already failed

[Dresden]

They managed to take 2 of 3 from the Bucs, but not very impressively. And now in the series where they have a chance to make a move against MIL, they open it up by getting blanked 7-0. Where's the heart in this team?

[Jo Jo English]

It's honestly shocking how this has become a tale of two halves of the season. Almost every positive story from the first 2+ months has been turned on its head, while others (like Matt Shaw) have turned it around the opposite way. Very frustrating.

I don't know what is up with Kyle Tucker. I mean, we can all speculate. Battling through an injury. Getting in his own head and letting it get to him in a new location in a contract year. It's been rough. It really sucks. I was not very overly hopeful about their odds to re-sign him a couple of months ago, and I would drop those odds much lower after this.

Obviously, he is far from the only player that has taken a huge step back during the past 6+ weeks. There is a lot of blame to go around. Kyle is getting the majority of it, but there is so much suck to spread around.

Perhaps there is time to weather this storm and get things back on track for the playoffs.

Probably not.

[Chi town]

Double Header win against the hottest team in baseball. I’ll take it.

Would love to see the Cubs right the ship and then beat the Brewers in the playoffs. Would def help the bad taste this season is leaving us.

Theres still time to get hot

[Dresden]

And another win today. So 3/4 from the best team in baseball is a good start to turning things around. Let's see if this gets them started.

[Chi town]

Matty Ice Shaw with another big bomb and a gold glove play at 3rd.

Would love to see the Cubbies turn this thing around.

[Chi town]

King Tuck and PCA finally back.

Horton looks unhittable. 21 strikes in first 22 pitches. All outs.

Could this team win the series if all 3 of those guys are doing their thing?

[Dresden]

They sweep the Angels and go 21 games over .500. MIL lead down to 5 games. Probably too much to overcome this late, but we could make them sweat a little. In any case, hope they can finish strong and show that their start wasn't a mirage.

[Dresden]

OT: congrats to Tommy Fleetwood, finally winning in the states, and it was a big one.

[DropStep]

OT: congrats to Tommy Fleetwood, finally winning in the states, and it was a big one.

An OT post to an OT thread, that's advanced stuff.

Also, I have thought at least ten times about petitioning to change the thread title because we are what, 80% of the way through the season? But now I have become attached to it - it's a quirk that has got to be a good luck charm at this point. Don't go changin'.

[Indomitable]

They sweep the Angels and go 21 games over .500. MIL lead down to 5 games. Probably too much to overcome this late, but we could make them sweat a little. In any case, hope they can finish strong and show that their start wasn't a mirage.

Should be down to 3.

[Chi town]

Matty Ice!!!

Wow read. Didn’t know he was that good.

https://www.bleachernation.com/cubs/2025/08/25/matt-shaw-has-been-good/

[Chi town]

Cade best pitcher in baseball since the ASB. Kid is dealing.

https://www.bleachernation.com/cubs/2025/08/25/cade-horton-rookie/

[Chi town]

Starting to think the plan is to keep all the young guys... Wiggons, Mo Baller, Cassie.

Shaw and Horton are being established as cornerstones much like PCA.

Resign King Tuck. Cassie becomes the 4th outfielder and backup DH next season. Next season is Happ's last under contract. If Cassie comes on strong he can replace Happ and be the bat against righties and Happ can play against lefties.

Mo would have to be backup DH and get a start 1x per week.

I can see Wiggons coming up mid season much like Horton did this year.


If the young guys keep taking steps we have the makings of a really good team with a long run way.

[Dresden]

I'm all for letting the farm system produce and take it slow. This current team doesn't look like it's just a player or two away- they lack a bona fide stud hitter aside from PCA. Suzuki, Happ, Dansby, Busch- decent pieces, but not real stars.

I went to the game last night- 1-10 Verlander v. all star Boyd. Should have been an easy win, but they couldn't do much with Verlander or their bullpen. PCA and Dansby are the only two that hit the ball hard.

[SalmonsSuperfan]

I'm all for letting the farm system produce and take it slow. This current team doesn't look like it's just a player or two away- they lack a bona fide stud hitter aside from PCA. Suzuki, Happ, Dansby, Busch- decent pieces, but not real stars.

I went to the game last night- 1-10 Verlander v. all star Boyd. Should have been an easy win, but they couldn't do much with Verlander or their bullpen. PCA and Dansby are the only two that hit the ball hard.

I'd be skeptical of Pete's bat longterm. He's an elite defender, but I don't think his bat projects to be what he was doing to start the season. Park factor adjustment in mind, I don't think he'll be a better hitter than Julio Rodriguez as an example, 121 OPS+ down from 147 his rookie season...Pete's at 129 after the free fall. He's been dreadful in August, hitting.484 OPS before going 1-4 with a single tonight, improving his month slightly, but still dropping his season-wide total. I could see him settling in as a ~.740 OPS hitter or maybe right around 115 OPS+. With his defense, that's still an incredible, 5 or 6 WAR player, best CF in the league.

There aren't a ton of great free agent bats this offseason, but maybe they try to sign Bichette and move him to a different infield position (likely 2b), re-sign Tucker, then sign a volatile SP on a 'prove it' kinda deal. Dylan Cease seems like the guy. See what the young players do and reassess at next year's deadline. I don't think they're getting worse besides my feeling that Shota is going to blow up. Frankly, my impression is the SP situation seems more tenuous than the offense.

That's a fair amount of money to spend, but Cease is probably not getting a huge deal and might just want to sign a 1 year deal somewhere, particularly in a city he's familiar with and seemed to enjoy playing in. He's better than his 4.8 ERA and is an ironman. I think he's only missed one start in his entire career (makes me think I should start doing yoga). Or go big and sign Ranger Suarez. Maybe get a second 'cheaper' SP, like Zach Eflin or Walker Buehler. Risky for sure, but likely signing pretty cheap deals. And it's dubious they'll even want to offer big money to Tucker or Bichette, let alone both of them in addition to a starting pitcher or three. I think the Cubs could blow this window if they don't though, just look at the Orioles. Cheaped out and essentially blew their chances at contending. Should've been in on Devers (who just went 4-4 for 2 HRs and 5 RBIs against the Cubbies lol), suggests to me they're not going to spend anything more than what they're already doing. That would be disappointing.

Maybe try to trade one of Alcantara or Caissie and some other lesser known prospects for a more proven hitter. Or just lower tier prospects for risky bats, whoever might be available. Brent Rooker or Law Dog from the A's? TB's Aranda? Actually, Ketel Marte seems like a perfect fit and is evidently available. I think their best path to improving is not internal development or free agency, but the trade market. Being a Sox fan, I'd want to keep Luis Robert despite his generally poor performance the last two seasons and thus because his trade value is rock bottom. But he's available, is returning to form, and Alcantara is a similar risk. I'd do that deal straight up and it could benefit both teams based on their current trajectories. The two teams seem to like trading with one another. Cubs could stomach Luis's $20mil player option and put him in a corner and hope his bat returns to form. And playing a corner is less taxing on his body. The Sox get a guy whose fallen down the prospect rankings and has a lot of bust potential, but can cover CF pretty well. That's probably his best skill and it seems redundant to PCA. Elite outfield defense at the very least and can decline his final option, maybe masking some of the SP woes. Cubs have the best defense in the league which is covering for the SPs, it could get even better if you run it back with Swanson and Hoerner in the middle infield (with their middling bats) and add a guy who could hit for .850 OPS, 30+ homers -- then maybe just need some SPs who don't give up a ton of homers. Taillon, Rea and even Shota are pretty homer friendly. I wouldn't trust any of those guys personally.

[Chi town]

Relax folks. I’m going to the game today.

Will bring us a W!

[Dresden]

Relax folks. I’m going to the game today.

Will bring us a W!

They're bound to win one game here.

[Jeffster81]

Relax folks. I’m going to the game today.

Will bring us a W!

They're bound to win one game here.

Maybe next year.

[Chi town]

Relax folks. I’m going to the game today.

Will bring us a W!

They're bound to win one game here.

Maybe next year.

Shaw being doubled off 2nd hurt bad.

This team is a trip. So streaky.