Mapping out the potential next moves for the Cubs in 2026
Happy New Year from North Side Territory, the show that covers all the offseason angles involving the Cubs. The Athletic’s Sahadev Sharma and Patrick Mooney are back to sketch out what the Cubs might do now that Tatsuya Imai has decided to sign with the Astros. Look for certain names to resurface in free agency, and expect more trade rumors to pop up. Plus, an explainer on what the Cubs have done with their bullpen and how that sets up the rest of the winter (and start of spring training).
10 comments
I am just not going to expect anything from this team until it happens. It's a roller coaster if you get too emotionally involved. Lol
A sports team exists for the fans. This isn’t Walmart or Amazon. The goal should be winning a championship, not more money in the pocket of investors and the owner. You are not critical enough of the insult to fans by their barely there efforts to win.
I don't like Gallen, he's a pitcher in decline.
Its not that most Cubs fans dont like Gallen. I think most of us are wanting to sign at least one ace and 1 stud offensive player. We already have 5 Gallens. Im sure hes serviceable. But the fans want to compete for a championship and this mid market stuff signals more of a just trying to compete for the division. I want to try to do what the cubs did in 2016. I dont want to be the Brewers. They made the playoffs a lot when we were rebuilding, but they still haven't won anything. They didn't even put up a fight against the Dodgers. We'd like one true ace. Our whole team is built on vibes. We're hoping most of the team will do more than they did last year. I hope so to. But at some point if you want to give the Dodgers a run for their money, it cant be exclusively a team of people we're just hoping are better than before. Id have rather lost out on a few of the lottery ticket players that we hope are winning tickets. And signed a Cease or Valdez. It seems like we like to spend the playoffs hoping to get 3 or 4 innings out of a starter instead of pitching a stud who might control the whole game. These top teams have multiple starters that could pitch the entire game and not give up a run. I understand the cubs like to play money ball, and I except that. But I dont think its unreasonable to want at least 1 pitcher and 1 batter that are more of a sure thing stud. We're a big market and can afford to atvleast dip our ties in the top market. When we made the playoffs, did it feel like they had a real chance to win it all to you? It felt like we were just one of the wildcard teams making an appearance, but no real threat to a championship. Now were gonna load up with 6 or 7 mid tier pitchers to cover our injuries. If you refuse to draft pitching then you have to buy it. Theo Epstein knew this. He drafted a good hitting team and added a few veteran hitters, but then he bought some stud pitchers.
They won't do anything. All the Ricketts care about is lining their pockets with cash and the fans don't care. They don't need a pitcher who had a 4.83 era last year.
I think Gallen is the kind of pitcher the Cubs love. Budget guy they can use their pitch lab to “fix”. I’d rather see what they can do with Gallen than another year of the Ben Brown/Jordan Wicks roller coaster.
2024 was not a good season for Gallen and 25 was worse. So the Cubs will give him 4/$80 and HOPE the famous pitch lab can fix him??
They dont have a number one, problem is cheap Ricketts wont pony up for a number 3 starter .
With the lockout coming up they probably Ricketts is really interested in a one yr opt out
It’s not that the cubs need another starter. It’s a need for a top of the rotation starter. They don’t need more 4/5s