The Good, Bad & Disappointing From The 2025 Chicago Cubs! Bye Bye Kyle Tucker Hello Kyle Schwarber?
We keep things rolling on this edition of the Sports Cubico here on WCPT 8:20 a.m. Heartland Signno and WSBC 12:40 a.m. Chicago. I’m your host, Mike Marcato with the marvelous one, Dan Marver. And it is time to put on the black suit. It is time to put on the somber voice. It is time to put to rest the 2025 Chicago Cubs as they lost in game five of the NLDS to the Milwaukee Brewers ending their season. And the only person that can really help us get through these difficult times is someone who is not only one of our friends, one of our brothers, but somebody who is constantly with his finger on the pulse. He is always working hard to make sure you get all the right information. You can check him out over at Cubs on Tap. Cubbies CC. He is the one. He is the only He is Rich Eberwine. Rich, my condolences, my friend. But, you know, you can’t you can’t win every game. You know, it’s uh you know, I think perspective is important. Uh the Cubs made it a lot farther than some people would have anticipated. They won a playoff series this year. They won 92 games. Um you know, we got October baseball and we got exciting games in the playoffs. So, uh I’m happy for that. as a lifelong Cubs fan, would I have liked to see them go further and not get eliminated by their division rival, of course, but uh I think uh I think we did get some good stuff this year and uh we we’re heading into a a very interesting off season. Uh so there’s a lot to talk about and a lot to break down. marvelous. When you saw this, before we really get into it, before we really let Rich loose, what were your final thoughts as you saw the last out happen in Milwaukee, the end of the 2025 campaign? What were your emotions? What were your initial thoughts when that final out happened? Well, it looked like the second half offensive struggles came back to haunt them. Other than Suzuki and a little bit from Tucker and PCA, there was not enough offense. I mean, the pitching was still in Chicago pretty much okay. Tyion particularly, but you know, they the way they got shelled in Milwaukee was unfortunate and put him in a hole. And then actually that last game, I mean, they had their opportunities obviously to win that game and uh they did not. And as it turns out, I’m looking at as we speaking now, the Dodgers won both games in Milwaukee and uh it would have been a very lovely weekend in Chicago. The weather the weather forecast would have been like a total wash out. So maybe it’s for the best. But in any event, I mean, obviously, uh you know, we’re going to see what happens. the bullpen was on the whole still pretty pretty remarkable although you know there were a couple blips where the you know but in a three to1 game every blip was magnified so but uh they still had uh you know pomebar the whole gang Valencia everybody seemed to pretty much do their job and and and essentially four innings and then a bullpen game was pretty much the the way things worked out. So, the playoffs are different than the regular season. Could have used Kate Horton, but uh that’s the way it goes. And now, uh we’ll see what happens. I mean, it will be very interesting, as we just stated, to see what happens, particularly with the Tucker, you know, free agency and what what they can add. And uh uh you know, most of the positions seem to be pretty solidified, you know, left, center, second, short, first, and third base to some extent. So, um, other than the fact that, uh, you know, Justin Turner’s play played his last game in the majors, there won’t be, that’s one thing for sure. But other than that, I don’t know what to tell you about what the team will look like in uh, in March. And that is why we are so lucky to have Rich here because we are definitely going to get a chance to look at future moves. We’re going to take a look at the bullpen. We’re going to talk about everywhere from Kyle Tucker Owen Casey and even an interesting thing that show Imanaga might be presenting to the Chicago Cubs. Before we were able to sit down and have this eulogy, this this funeral for the Cubs, Rich and I were listening to some of what uh Jed Hoyer had to say. And I think my thesis on this entire season at the end of it was it was a a successful season in the sense of how many games you won, making a playoff, playing games in October, playoff games at Wrigley, you made a whole lot of money. Uh you you established some new stars, but I think it’s one of the bittersweet type of endings where there’s so much to look forward to, but there’s still this hinge of disappointment. And I think that’s okay. I think that’s something you could build on for next season. But I do have questions. I do have some skeptical hippo eyes as kid the kids say on what might be the future for this team and how they’re going to be constructed this winter heading into next spring. So Rich, why don’t we get right into it? What would what do you want to get into first? The thing that really was just top of mind after you saw that last out and even not necessarily the final game in game five, but when this series was determined, when we were watching it as it was developed, what is the thing that just keeps coming on top of mind for you from this Cubs Brewers series heading into the offseason after what you saw? Well, you know, to going off of Marber’s point a little bit, um, you know, game five was one of those classic games that we’ve seen a million times from the Cubs recently is just they couldn’t get anything going on offense, right, other than say Suzuki’s home run. And, uh, I think the prime example, uh, you know, why that game felt so soul sucking and like I guess slow death is because it felt like it was over, you know, way before the ninth inning, way before the final pitch. Uh, one of those examples is like in the sixth inning when the Cubs had two on, they were threatening and Kyle Tucker had a 3-1 count and whiffs on a fast ball right down the middle. And it’s like, man, that is that was the moment right there where you needed your guy who you brought in to, you know, be that clutch hitter in those big moments. And that was the biggest of moments for this postseason and he didn’t come through. But, uh, basically that’s just a microcosm of what you need to do this offseason. And that is somehow replace that lineup production that Kyle Tucker gave you because even though he was hurt a lot of the year um and was slumping for a good m you know not half but a good month and a half uh he gave you four and a half more this year. Uh he still hit 23 22 home runs and drove in 73. You know walked 87 times. for a guy who was hurt that much this year, he was still fantastic for you when he was healthy and playing well in the first half. So that is a significant bat that you are probably going to lose because the Cubs are probably not going to offer him the kind of money that he’s going to ask for this off season regardless of how he performed down the stretch and in the playoffs. Um, so that is top of mind right now is uh some kind of run production power bat that you can insert into this lineup because I what I don’t want to see is them just rely on Owen Casey and basically roll the dice on him becoming a superstar because there’s no guarantee that’s going to happen. Um, you know, even if he does take a step forward, you’re going to see him slump a lot probably like PCA did this year. You know, it looked like PCA was on track for an MVP season, but you know, this is still only his second full year in the majors and he had some significant struggles with swinging and missing and chasing balls out of the zone and not having good play discipline. Uh, you know, I’m not saying Owen Casey’s going to be exactly like that, but expecting him to come in here and just be inserted into this lineup and hit 30 bombs next year, I think, is pretty unrealistic, too. So, um, supplementing that with free agency, especially with the kind of payroll flexibility that this team has going into the offseason, that’s another conversation. I want them to go after somebody like Kyle Schwarber or Cody Bellinger to come and be a lefty power bat that can drive, you know, uh, be a run producer for this offense. So, one of the things that I’ve been talking to you off, Mike, a lot throughout is my admiration and and respect and love for Ian Hap as the ball player, as the content creator, as somebody who is a businessman. I think Ian Hap is the jack of all trades. But I think a player like that who does so many good things, but is so streaky, can carry your team for weeks at a time, but then can also disappear with the bat, will never disappear with the glove. We know that he’s going to be a constant out there for you. But if you lose Kyle Tucker and you’re relying on Owen Casey, who we saw with PCA had struggles and it took him a while. It took him a certain amount of at bats to really get comfortable to be a 3030 guy. What does that tell you if they go into next season not getting somebody like Cody Bellinger, not going after somebody like Kyle Schwarber and expecting Casey to play up to a certain level while still essentially maintaining the the entire roster the same? Because if you listen to Jed, it really sounds like it’s going to be status quo minus maybe a big free agent signing, but they’re not going to be moving from a lot of their positional players. Can the Cubs win from what you saw as they are constructed right now? Or will it take a move like moving off of an Ian Hab, moving off of any one of these other, you know, stalwarts that we’ve had over the last few years of this regime? You know, I um it would it would it wouldn’t surprise me. I would be disappointed for sure because especially considering, you know, right now the projected payroll for this team after arbitration uh and uh player options and stuff like that is $190 million. And in the past, you know, we’ve seen the Cubs kind of operate where the first uh competitive balance balance tax threshold was like their deacto salary cap. Next year, that will be $244 million. So right now before you hit free agency, you’re probably looking at around $55 million to play with in the offse. You can sign one of those bats and still have, you know, significant amount of wiggle room there to keep yourself below that th you know CBT threshold, which the Cubs like to do. You know, that’s another conversation like should they be going over that? Of course. But, you know, the other thing looming here is the labor negotiations that are going to happen after the 2026 season. Can you explain that a little bit about what’s going on and and we’ve talked about a little bit, we’ve highlighted it, but as we’re now drawing so much closer, can you can you talk a little bit about that? Yeah, so you know, the the uh the contract between the players association and the MLB ownership will be expiring after the 2026 season. Um, so there will be negotiations and you know the basically the thought is that the owners are going to dig their heels in on implementing a salary cap which is something that the players association has in the past thoroughly rejected and not shown any signs of wanting to budge on that. So you could be heading toward an impass where if they are both saying, you know, digging their heels in on this, the owners want the salary cap, players absolutely are a no on it, you could be looking at a situation where the owners lock out the players and you don’t have baseball. And the owners have known about this and have been preparing for this for years, which is, you know, one of the reasons why you could, you know, in a normal situation where those negotiations aren’t looming on the horizon, this would be an offseason where the Cubs would undoubtedly and should undoubtedly go after a guy like Kyle Schwarber to supplement your lineup or even sign Kyle Tucker, right? But what they’re thinking in their minds, and all owners are thinking this, and uh you know, the Ricketts are notoriously stingy and conservative, especially in recent years, right? What they’re thinking is there’s not going to be baseball for a significant portion of the 2027 season and possibly the entire year. So, you know, that from a business standpoint is going to, you know, be a quoteunquote significant hit to their profit margin, right? because they won’t have money coming in and they’re going to want to stockpile cash in that, you know, in uh, you know, preparation of that. That is kind of the what’s probably happening and probably what will happen, right? So, it makes me think that the Cubs will probably not sign any big free agents this off season, you know, because that’s that’s probably what the scenario that they’re preparing for. It’s hard to me for me to imagine the Ricketts being like, “Yes, but we want to go all in on one last season beforehand.” It’s like they don’t they don’t operate like that because we all know like, you know, the Cubs Cubs fandom is kind of privy to the fact that, you know, the Ricketts kind of operate this team as a as a part of their business portfolio as a a revenue generator for their other operations. They are a very rich family that you know has business investments across huge influence. Yes. They their main priority is not always putting the most amount of money into the team’s payroll to translate into wins. It’s the George Steiner effect. George cared. That’s what he wanted. He wanted the New York Yankees to win World Series. If you look at, you know, somebody like Jerry Rhinor for example, or now if you’re Cub fans, the Rickets, winning is great and they are competitive, but you know what’s better than that? Lots of lots of lots of money. And if you’ve already won and you show that your fans, if you’re competitive enough, are going to show up, then you really have yourself a little bit of wiggle room. Marv, I want to start to you because Rich gave us a lot of good stuff there. Your first thought though of Kyle Tucker, yes or no? Will they invest in him? Will they bring him in? And secondly, do you think the ricketetts really are hindering Jed and Carter from making any big-time moves with this impending CBA deal coming up? Well, I I I tend to think that they won’t sign Tucker. I think his value might actually gone down a little bit. And when you talk about uh you know, throwing around numbers like 50 million, that’s that’s like pocket change nowadays for free agents. So, you know, when you talk about how much how much money uh the team’s going to make, how much money they’re going to pay people, it’s it’s insane now. So, that’s another factor in terms of the relationship with uh the owner. The owner, you know, is is uh perhaps on the stingy side, but uh if you you know, you’re going to win and you’re going to continue winning, you do have to make some changes and and they’re going to fill the ballpark no matter what. But they even filled the ballpark when they were bad. So that’s even an issue. So uh they put a product on the field. Now this team as it’s constructed, you know, it’s kind of hopefully it’s going to be like maybe uh 2015, you know, where they’re going to still be able to to progress one more step in the playoffs and uh and repeat the the miracle of 2016. So yeah, that that’s that’s what we’re all hoping for. And uh you know if you in terms of somebody like Casey, his case might be more like Shaw where he’ll be there, then they’ll send him to the minor, then he’ll he’ll be okay defensively unless he bangs his head into the wall again and then and then maybe he’ll have a a good September. So I mean he he could be serviceable if they end up using him in right field. The question is if they don’t and they, you know, they might as well have traded him at the trade deadline to get, you know, a frontline pitcher or whatever the need was, uh, back then because, uh, he may not fit into their plans if they’re going free agency for right field. So, the, you know, the other part of this is, you know, the 2024 revenue for the Chicago Cubs, uh, $584 million. Their payroll this year was $213 million. Um, you got to think their revenue is going to be even more for this season because they were good for a lot of the year. They had PCA playing at an MVP level. They had Kyle Tucker, you know, they their offense was humming in the first half and then they also had playoff baseball Wrigley Field. So that their revenue is probably going to exceed $600 million for the 2025 season. This is the annoying part where we’re facing the reality of they’re probably not going to go all in on this off seasonason. Whereas like Marver said, this should be like your 2015 season where you overachieved, you made the playoffs, you made a deep run, you didn’t get there, but you go into the off season with a head of steam and a fire under your ass and you want to sign free agents. You want to sign, you know what they went into that offseason, they signed Ben Zus and John Lackey and Jason, they supplemented their rotation and their lineup and their got brought in veterans and Jason Hayward as well. That didn’t pan out, but you know, the rain delay speech argued we got him a World Series. That’s another conversation. Uh, but my point is they should go into this off seasonason thinking, let’s sign a starting pitcher, let’s sign a Kyle Schwarber, let’s get some decent bullpen guys who have closing experience to supplement all the guys that were going to lo, you know, spend some money that you have garnered from the this loyal Cubs fan base, right? Will they do that? I pro I’m probably on the in the school of thought right now that they won’t go balls to the wall and you know sign Kyle Schwarber to Tucker or whatever. So I’ve really tried to comp 2015 2025 hoping 2026 will resemble 2016. It’s hard to win a World Series but to resemble somewhat of a World Series run. I think if we really try to put context into it though resembled a sense of urgency that more than anything because the the everything that was surrounding 2015 and into 2016 did have this almost underdog scrappy they’re hungry they do have that fire under their ass. Jed and and Theo at the time wanted to prove that they could do it in Chicago. You had the Ricketts family gung-ho on making it not only a winner but making it a destination place. Joe Madden wanted to be the man and the fan base was hungry with young players that just all clicked at the right time. This seems kind of like they have some of the young players. They’ve kind of isolated what they want in a when it comes to their pitching lab, but there’s a disconnect between player development, player scouting, and pro pro scouting itself when it comes to free agency. And you did not see that in that first run. And I think that’s what’s kind of I’m more hesitant on can this era of Cubs baseball, not that it can’t be successful, we know they’re going to make a bunch of money, not that they can’t make a bunch of playoffs, we know they’re going to be competitive if they do things at minimum correctly. Are they hungry enough in the sense of you’re making all the billions? Does a World Series to us is a lot of money? But if you’re the Rick family like, “Yeah, the difference between a World Series run to what we’re doing now is it financially bene beneficial for all.” The fact that they might even have that conversation is so much more worrisome than a free agency, a free agent you missed or a pitching prospect you you skipped on. That in itself is hard to overcome. You can overcome a lot of stupidity. You can overcome complacency in an ownership. And my challenge isn’t to the players necessarily. They’re the ones who have to perform. It’s if Jed and Carter are good enough as executives, can they consistently block the nefarious actions of billionaire owners to give their team a chance to win? I don’t ever think that the Rickus family are going to block or or be malicious when it comes to not letting their team win, but I don’t think they’re going to have open hands and open books. So, I do I do think they are going to be a hindrance, which is why I was really impressed on how Craig Council oppo with all the noise that was going into the season. Some of it by me, Rich, you you saw a lot of it, too. But when it came to the moment that I believe they hired him for to go into the playoffs, set up your rotation, set up your bullpen, and lock it down. I think he did that. I think he did the best he could with the players that he had. I think the players that he had were some damn good young players that did more than the back of their baseball card has. The question is, can they do that again without the help of ownership? Marver I, and you and I have talked about it for years here on the Sports Cubico on WCPT 8:20 a.m., heartlands signal.com and WSBC 12:40 a.m. We’re on YouTube. Make sure you subscribe to us on YouTube at the sportscubicle. He’s Rich Eberwine from Cubs on Tab, from cubbies crib from heartlandsal.com breaking it down as we eulogize the 2025 Chicago Cubs. It’s my biggest fear, Marver. you know, uh, uh, Rich is going to break down some of the the other big stories heading into this offseason, but we can’t overlook the elephant in the room that it all hinges on the Ricketts family. Well, that’s true, but in terms of the players that are going to be there at the top of the lineup, you know, Bush had an amazing home run year and and her almost won the batting title. So, to start off, I mean, the top of the lineup is going to be the same. I can’t see any changes even Hap and then and then you know whoever’s clean up and Suzuki. So I mean I don’t see a major change in the offensive lineup and PCA will be there. I mean you know so uh that’s that that’s just a given and why I’m trying to make a comparison to leading into 2016 and adding what what was just discussed with Rich in terms of adding some veterans and pitching you know what what have you. So I think they’re well positioned. I mean, uh, it’s just remarkable the run that the Brewers went on to even win the division. I mean, 92 wins is if you win 92, you’re going to be in the playoffs every year. So, that would be, uh, you know, the hope again that that they can achieve that. So, you know, the ownership aside, the the on the on the field talent is there to to continue competing for the playoffs. There’s no question about that. And that’s a double-edged sword where it’s like part of it that’s the frustrations. You know, they have the talent, but you can always rest on the laurels of no, this is a good team. This is a team that has a lot of talent. They have a good manager and if they get lucky, they have their two healthy pitchers. They have a chance in this series. But Rich, I want to talk about pitching for a second. I know you you you have a lot of stuff that you’re working on, and this is one that I recently really drove home listening to the press conference with Jed, and that’s the Shotaa situation with the contract. So Shota, one of the the the love stars of the Cubs, I would say probably amongst the top three or four social media darlings for the Northsiders. What is up with this contract? How is it going to impact next year? And what can you what can you see coming down the pipeline after the the last few months we’ve seen from Shota? So Sha’s contract situation is probably the most confusing thing that I’ve ever seen from in in baseball. It’s very weird. So essentially what is happening right now is uh the Cubs the ball is in the Cubs court. So they can pick up a three-year club option for Shota Yumanaga where uh he would make $20 million in 26 27 and then 17 and 28. Um, if they decide to not pick up that club option, Shimanaga has the ability to pick up a player option worth $15 million, which is for one year, I believe. If he decides not to do that, then the Cubs can offer him a qualifying offer, which is worth $22 million, which would attach a draft pick compensation to him. So, I don’t really know what’s going to happen because you’re also in this tricky situation where it’s like, you know, for years we thought it was a foregone conclusion that Shoto was going to be here for a while, but now it’s like, all right, after his incredible rookie season in 24, um, he was hurt for a month this year and then kind of took a step back down the stretch and did not look sharp and especially not in the playoffs. So, it’s like, are you going to pick take the chance on committing three years to this guy given what he’s done for you, but given that you’ve seen him struggle a lot as well? Like, you know, it wasn’t all bad this year. He was he was he was very good for a significant part of this portion of the season. But, you know, it is something that you have to think about, right? Especially when you consider that this is a a free agent class that’s pretty deep in starting pitching. It’s like, do you say, you know, Shodto, we appreciate it. Thank you. And go and try and pursue somebody else like Zack Gallon or Ranger Suarez or Dylan CE or Fron Bervaldez or Michael. You know, there’s a lot of good starting pitchers that are going to be on the market who maybe you would rather have in your rotation than Shota. What’s the price difference if we’re just to kind of if we’re doing a a car dealership type of like what is thicker prices comparative for SHA to a Dylan sees for example? What would what would you what does your gut say as the contract differences between the two if you’re trying to get either one? Because to me, you know, you’re telling me show when when I hear showed us team options, the player option, and the arbitration, it kind of seems reasonable in today’s day and age of a pitching contract. So, what are some of the other sticker prices for some of the other good pitchers like a Dylan CE? Yeah, that’s the thing. A guy like Dylan CE is probably going to command something like a hundred million dollar contract for five or six years. 100 to 150 million is, you know, like a what a recent projection said. So, you know, in that sense, you’d be saving a lot of money by picking up that player option, right? It it all just depends who you’re going to target and who you’re going to go after. But, you know, you’re also rolling the dice in free agency, too, because then you’re competing against all the other teams to sign a guy. So, it’s it’s not, you know, it’s basically the point of all this is the show to Managa thing is not a foregone conclusion. It’s going to be a story to watch this off season and it will have, you know, significant impact on what the Cubs rotation will look like next year because without him, you’re looking at Horton, Tyion, Matthew Boyd, then Colin Ray, and Javier Assad because Justin Steel will is going to be back, but probably not until closer to the middle of the season. Um, so it’s like, do you sign another starter? Do you you know this also goes into the conversation of are they even willing to sign another starter right like are they just going to go with these you know with Assad and Ray and and I don’t know I I the point of this is I don’t know what’s going to happen and it’s a story to watch and keep an eye on. Um so yeah I don’t know it’s it’s funny because the most base thing that I’ve said for years me and Marvar have talked about this is I would always rather pay for pitching and trade for position. It’s something that money is just money. And I know that it’s a lot when we’re talking about 150 whatever for Dylan C’s, but that’s better than getting rid of uh Cam Smith like you did. You know what I mean? Like there’s a certain investment when you’re trading prospects, when you’re trading assets that you don’t know are gold or not. With Cashes, okay, I know how much I spent. I know you spent a lot of money on Jason Hayward. I hate it that this organization was so gunshy after that move because it was just money. You didn’t give up Chris Bryant to St. Louis or to the Braves to get I forgot at that point who he was with to get Jason Hayward. You know what I mean? You just gave him cash. So in this instance, it’s pay get the option for Shota and pay to get a bring time a big time pitcher here as well because here’s the best part about it, right? The addition of Justin Steel to your rotation next year makes it that more valuable. So if you bring in if you sign the the the the option with Shoda and you bring in again Dylan CE, we’ve been talking about him for years at this point. You bring in Dylan CE and you look at that rotation to me, we saw it with Blake Snell, we’ve seen it with the Dodgers, we’ve seen it around playoffs. It’s great. The two most important things, ball go for and can I strike you out? If you do those two things, you’re going to win playoff games. So, I rather invest all my money on hardthrowing professional pitchers that can do something special and allow the players that I’ve developed, that I’ve scouted, I put a bunch of time in, and that I believe enough in Owen Casey that when it’s time to get that one big hit, they get it. And I think sometimes the Cubs, and I think it has to do with their the confinement that they have, overthink it sometimes. Yeah. And that that to me is super frustrating knowing that they can do both. You don’t and and I want to get to this too and Marv, I’ll throw it to you at this and then I I’ll let Rich go into the handy dandy notepad because we have so much to talk about still in we’re running down on on Showtime. The the the Brewers putting the elf flag in in Milwaukee. I to me while it annoyed me because of course my rival just beat my ass and put the flag out there. If you don’t want them to do that, beat them. Beat them. There is no excuse for the Chicago Cubs to not have every single available asset to beat the Milwaukee Brewers. There is no excuse for the Chicago Cubs not to be one of the most dominant teams on payroll with their staff, with their scouting system, to have every single luxury needed to make sure they are constantly on the top of the NL Central. So, if you’re mad that Milwaukee made you look dumb, good. Maybe it will fire something underneath this ownership that it is embarrassing that a team that has half of your payroll dominated the entire season. Cub fans, don’t be angry at them. Be angry at the team putting your team together. Marvel, what did you think about that? Well, obviously, if the situation was reversed, I mean, uh, and and and in Chicago, we we’d beat Milwaukee, we would have had maybe whatever his name, Billy Brewer. sliding down the Where’s Rondell Simon when you need him? Yeah. Right. Or you would have had the uh the parade of would have parade of characters sausages. So, I mean, they would have made fun of them, too. But it’s a it’s a uh it’s a good rivalry. I mean, right now, uh you know, it’s one of the better I mean, it’s kind of like uh the the the big boys with a bigger payroll. We beat them and uh and and and now uh you know, we move forward. So, like I always say, only one team wins their last game. So, uh that’s the way it always is. And uh uh you know, and so we had we we had the 92 wins. I mean, that’s that’s something to hang your hat on. And and and they have a good nucleus. They just need to to to make sure that they uh add to it in a smart way and uh and somehow uh over the off season uh get get the players to not be swinging pitches outside the strike zone. And with that, we’re not going to strike out of the uh the we’re going to swing outside of the strike zone. We’re going to go right down the middle. We have five minutes left. I’m going to throw it to the one and only Rich Eberwine. Rich, you have a wall full of notes and you have string going to it to other postits and you are going full Charlie Day on this. What do you want to get off your chest? What is something that you are working on? What is something that you are going that is constantly been that we haven’t talked about yet about the 2025 Cubs going into 2026? We talked about Shoda. We talked about Kyle Tucker. We you’ve mentioned Schwarber and you’ve mentioned Bellinger. We’ve we’ve kind of touched on a lot of things. We even mentioned, you know, Craig Council’s job and and Ian H. I we’ve really done a good job of really dissecting this team, but I know you have so much more that you’re working on. Uh Cubbies on Tap on Twitter, Cubs on Tap and of course Cubby’s But what else do you got? Let’s Let’s This is yours. The floor is yours for the next five. Yeah, I mean I we’ve talked a lot about um what I think the Cubs are going to do from like a you know pragmatic thought standpoint. This is what I just kind of wanted to go over what I want the Cubs to do, what I think they should do. Um sign Big Bat, you know, sign Kyle Schwarber ideally, if not Cody Bellinger. Either one would be a welcome addition after the years that they had obviously. Um, I would, you know, I would sacrifice my defense in right field and have Suzuki play there full time to have Kyle Schwarber in the lineup every day. Um, and I think he was in there every I think he played 162 games. So, and he had an MVP caliber season. So, like that would be replacing the production for Kyle Tucker and then some, you know, like that would be the kind of move. And it’s affordable, too. Like in a normal offseason, this should be affordable for the Cubs. Even the way they operate these days, because Shoreber, I think, is heading into his age 33 season. He’s not going to sign like a one of these like, you know, seven, eightyear deals. He’s probably going to get like a five or sixyear deal worth south of $200 million. That is in the price range of the Chicago Cubs, no matter what you tell me. Uh that is something that they can afford. something that I would honestly love and a lot of fans would love too, a little reunion because, you know, Kyle Shore did amazing things in a Cubs uniform 10 years ago plus, right? That would be priority number one for me, replacing that production in the lineup. Um, I would sign a guy like Dylan CE or Zack Gallon or Michael King, a strikeout power pitcher that can supplement, you know, Matthew Boyd, lefty and steel, Justin Steel’s like left-handed uh, ground ball heavy pitch to contact type of thing. And then you have your Horton and, uh, CE or whoever as your power pitching wing of the rotation, if you will. other, you know, they can also affordable, like they can do this. Um, extending Nicoer would be another priority for me. Um, he’s heading into his age 29 season. He is your best hitter arguably. He does everything well. Like I don’t I don’t understand people slandering Nicoer at all basically because he doesn’t hit home runs like okay, but he also plays elite defense. He is an elite base runner and base steeler. He is a one of the best contact hitters in the game. Like Marv said earlier, he almost won a batting title this year. Nico her also led the team with batting average and runners in scoring position this year. He is a clutch hitter. He is an excellent baseball player and he is not showing signs of regression at all. You can extend him for like five years and have him play second base for you every day for the next half decade. That is a no-brainer to me. That’s something that I would do yesterday. Um, and then the other big part is the bullpen. You have essentially your entire bullpen hitting free agency. Uh, Drew Pomerance, Taylor Rogers, Caleb Theobbar, Mike Seroka, Ryan Braier, Aaron Savali, and most importantly, Brad Keller are all reaching free agency. Now, there’s some of those guys who you are like, “Fine, you know, see you later. Don’t worry.” You know, Sroa comes to mind. Um, there’s a couple guys that I would probably want to bring back. You know, Brad Keller obviously was like I think the Cubs picking up his option at the beginning of the year and adding him to the roster uh after spring training was probably the most consequential decision that they made this year. I don’t know if they make the playoffs without Brad Keller pitching out of the bullpen. this entire year. Think of how many close games he held and saved down the stretch after Palencia got hurt. Like he was an ace out of the bullpen unsung hero probably compared for this entire team. Yeah. Yeah. He was he was nails. Uh so you need to you have a lot of work to do with you know reassembling your bullpen. It’s probably going to be a dramatic difference but the Cubs are really good at finding like bargain bin options. Uh you know that pitching lab is amazing. basically that all those guys that I just you know listed were that kind of thing basically. Um, so they they’ll find some guys that we haven’t heard of in a while probably and they’ll, you know, it’s it’s hard to project what the bullpen will look like, but you know, I think signing one or two free agents would make sense, too. Like, uh, it wouldn’t hurt you to go after like one of their one of the guys on the market that are going to, you know, Ryan Helly will probably be cheap because he had such a garbage year, but, you know, he’s had extensive closing experience and would be one of those power pitching guys that you can add with alongside Palencia. So that type of thing. They have a lot of work to do. They have a lot of things that they can do. That’s what I would like to see. Those were the main things. And the things they need to work on are things that teams that are close to winning a championship have to do. This isn’t a team that Marvel brought it up and you’ve you’ve highlighted it the entire season we have you we’ve had you on. The nucleus is there. The manager is there. Yeah. They have a smart president and general manager. There’s a great core to build around, right? like Michael Bush took an incredible step forward this year and basically cemented himself as a driver of the offense. Um, you know, Danby Swanson and Ian Hap, you know, as much as we want to see Ian Hap replaced, maybe uh the Cubs aren’t going to do that like and replace as in upgraded, not necessarily just upgraded. Yeah, he’s under contract through next year, but you know, they’re loyal to him and he’s loyal to the organization. Like he’s going to be the starting left fielder on opening day. feel like there’s a little doubt in my mind about that. Um whether Owen Casey or Kevin Alcantra plays their way into the lineup is a different conversation, you know, and that I don’t know if that would even happen until like at least halfway through next season. So that’s Ian Hap and Danby Swanson are going to be main stays next year as well. Um but yeah, Nicoer obviously we talked about, but Matt Shaw, Michael Bush, and PCA obviously took massive steps forward this year who are guys who are going to be in the lineup for years to come. Those are the guys you’re building around right now. And you know, it’s it’s good. Like you have elite defense. You know, the Gold Glove finalist just came out today. Six Cubs are Gold Glove finalists. Um you have such a good foundation to build around. So to your point, like this is the this should be that off seasonason where you go all in and like, you know, sign the plug all the holes that you have right now on the roster and make it run again. You know, uh do it all again. climb that mountain, see how far you can go. Um, reality will set in at some point and we’ll see what actually happens. But I again, I don’t I also don’t want to judge the Cubs like I’ve been I feel like we’ve been pretty harsh on them this show, but I also kind of want to judge them after the off season, right? Like let’s see what actually happens because there is so much up in the air like we don’t like this is all a lot of this like is theoretical, right? Are they actually thinking like, “Oh my god, like we need to stockpile cash, so maybe we’ll even shed some payroll.” It’s like, we don’t know. We won’t know until it actually happens. Um, you know, we we’ll see how motivated they are. And yeah, it it remains to be seen. Add some dudes that could mow down a lineup. Add some dudes that could put a crooked number on the scoreboard. You have a bunch of gold glovers. Add some silver sluggers and I think you’ll be in a decent spot. Marver, final 30 seconds are for you. What do you got, buddy? Well, I’ve noticed that the Cubs haven’t put uh jersey number 12 and anybody else and Schwarber left, so it’s available. That would be a great reunion. Talk about putting crooked numbers on the scoreboard. He could do that literally. He’s the man to do it. U Yeah. So, that would be that would be a good reunion. Even I think even Bellinger’s old numbers available. I think Felbar took it, but I think he likes 35 anyway. So, I don’t know. It’s a, you know, to add a little that power that it just for whatever reason that would be nice because they just didn’t they seemed, you know, as a group they took a real dive in the second half of the year in terms of offense. It’s like, you know, it’s like what was wrong? How did PCA do so well and then he couldn’t? It’s it’s just amazing. I guess that’s the way baseball goes. But uh I mean the the the guy looked like he was on a 50/50 year and he ended up at 3030. It’s just you know baseball’s crazy. So like I like we’ve been saying 92 wins good year. Let’s you know let’s look at the positives. It’s too bad that they had weren’t able to produce in the sixth inning in game time. But you know as we always used to say wait till next year. Don’t do that. Go ahead Rich. Okay. Yeah. One last thing is um I this year did allow me to go to the my favorite baseball game that I’ve ever been to and that was game four of the NLDS. Yeah. Uh that was when the Cubs won six to nothing. That was when uh the crowd we were chanting Freddy Peralta’s name. Matthew Boyd mowed them down after his horrific game one performance. The bullpen didn’t give up any runs and the Cubs hit four home runs and it was the most electric I have seen Wrigleyfield ever in my life in real life. Um, so that was the first playoff game I ever got to go to and you know watching them hit home runs in the playoffs was like one of the it was like you could feel it coursing through your veins type thing. My brother and I were jumping up and down grabbing. Awesome picture you guys took. Yeah, it was it was that was probably the highlight of my Cubs fandom so far. So that is something that you know hold on to. Yeah, exactly. So again, for as much as you know, I’m crapping on the ricketetts a little bit, but like we got postseason baseball. They made it further than we thought. We got some good memories. They won 92 games. Go in the offseason with a head of steam. Please make it happen again. do and make it a better make it a better ending for next year. Exactly. And that’s the most important thing. And you’re so right for all of us who have been to big playoff games at Wrigley or just big games in general, there is nothing more a as an emotional conduit than there is at Wrigley Field. And we hope that in 2026 it will end in a celebration after the NLDS, hopefully into an NLCS and maybe all the way to a World Series. Rich, thank you so much my friend. all season long. Joining us are our our monthly therapists and bro talk that you have joined us. It has been amazing. Uh one of the most underrated follows. Make sure you’re following him on Twitter. OnX, whatever you want to call it, at Rich EBS, that’s EBS. Rich EBS EBS. He is over at Cubs on Tap. They’re doing amazing work. They’re doing amazing work covering all of the Chicago sports. Of course, check out his work at Keby’s Crib as well. And of course over at Heartland Signal if you want some uh world news as well. But Rich, thank you so much, brother. We will be talking to you. I can’t believe it. GM meetings, winter meetings coming up in just a couple weeks, so we’ll have you back on the show. But uh thank you, brother. It was been a fun 2025 season. It’s always a pleasure. Uh go Cubs go. And uh screw the Brewers. Well, we keep things rolling on this edition of the Sports Cubicle. Sports from the college on hartlands signal.com WCPT820 a.m. WSBC 12:40 a.m. and of course on YouTube at the sports cubicle. He’s Richie Rewind. He’s the marvelous one. Dan Marver. I’m Mike Marcato. Keep it tuned in.
Time to put the 2025 Chicago Cubs to rest. From @OnTapSportsNet & Cubbies Cribs, Cubs insider Rich Eberwein joins the show! Enjoy this segment from the latest edition of The Sports Cubicle Sunday nights with Dan Marver, Devin Tingle, Paul Chivari, and Mike Mercado. The Sports Cubicle is brought to you by Sports from the Couch on Mercado Airwaves.
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