SAN ANTONIO — By the end of the season, the Cubs’ lineup was far more balanced than it had been earlier in the year, thanks in large part to adjustments made by young hitters Pete Crow-Armstrong and Miguel Amaya.
But it still lacked the kind of threat that leaves pitchers scratching their heads in game-planning meetings — a hitter who will hit 30 home runs in a season even as teams pitch around him. One of those players is available in free agency.
Ideally, the Cubs’ market size, brand recognition and resources would put them at least in the conversation to pursue a hitter of Juan Soto’s caliber. But chairman Tom Ricketts said he sets the budget based on team revenue, and that restrictive model keeps taking the Cubs out of the running for superstar free agents.
The baseball operations department makes the calculation that spreading the money across multiple contracts is the most effective way to spend the budget. President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer, however, has only positive things to say about his boss.
“Obviously, we talk to Tom all the time, he asks us questions and pushes us, and we do research and all those different things, but ultimately, these are our decisions, and we own them,” Hoyer said this week at the general managers meetings. “And I think that that’s the best thing you could ask for, is that he respects our experience and intellect to make those decisions.”
Ricketts has never been one to go around his president of baseball operations to land a deal. But that doesn’t change the fact that, to get the level of impact bat they were missing last season, the Cubs are counting on players outperforming projections.
Two years ago, Cody Bellinger was able to step into that role in the lineup. He opted in for another year with the Cubs, exercising his $27.5 million player option last weekend.
“He’s very happy with the situation and his contract,” Bellinger’s agent, Scott Boras, said Wednesday in a news conference. “I think last year he got nicked for a few days, running into a wall and doing things like that. And he felt that, because of his age, his contract, that he was on a comfortable platform that allowed to put together another season before he considered free agency again.”
Boras was alluding to Bellinger fracturing his ribs running into Wrigley Field’s brick outfield wall in April and fracturing his left middle finger in July.
Most of the Cubs’ positions are filled by every-day starters who are under team control for multiple years. A trade following the model of the deadline deal that sent third baseman Christopher Morel to the Rays and brought Isaac Paredes to Chicago could shake up that gridlock.
“Baseball trades are sort of hard to make in today’s game,” Hoyer said, “but I think you have to look for them and find the right teams that will do them.”