The Chicago Cubs are targeting a higher level of the free-agent market and signaling an openness to spending for certain players, according to team and league sources briefed on the club’s deliberations.
Reading that sentence, Cubs fans may understandably roll their eyes.
After all, this is a multibillion-dollar franchise with generations of loyal customers, a valuable multimedia portfolio and an iconic ballpark that anchors the surrounding real-estate empire. A big-market team that wins 92 games and a playoff round is supposed to keep going for the World Series.