Watching the Milwaukee Brewers win the World Series was the worst fear of many Chicago Cubs fans realized. I mean, after the Cubs signed Craig Counsell away from the Brewers just a few years ago, they were supposed to become the class of the NL Central. Instead, Milwaukee has dominated this NL Central rivalry in every way, culminating in their first-ever World Series title, while Chicago has not won a best-of-five or best-of-seven series since 2017.
Watching the Brewers, without Craig Counsell, win the World Series with the 19th-highest payroll in the sport has to be difficult, and Cubs fans would think it might sparks some sort of drastic change this offseason. Instead, based on the latest Tarik Skubal rumors, it sounds like more of the same is on tap for the Cubs this winter.
Cubs’ Tarik Skubal stance shows that even a Brewers World Series win won’t spark needed change
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Tarik Skubal | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
According to The Athletic’s Sahadev Sharma, Chicago’s priority this offseason is to improve their starting pitching — understandably so, given that they’re losing almost an entire rotation (Clay Holmes, Kevin Gausman, Shota Imanaga, Matthew Boyd and David Peterson) to free agency. Given that, you’d think that the Cubs, a wildly popular team with a national fan base that plays in the third-largest media market in the country, would be in on Tarik Skubal, arguably the best starting pitcher on the planet who, without the qualifying offer attached, would require absolutely nothing other than money (albeit lots of it) to sign.
Yet, the team is already letting everybody know it’s not interested.
“But amid a backdrop of labor uncertainty and with so many holes to fill on their roster, the Cubs appear unlikely to enter the bidding war for two-time Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal,” Sharma wrote.
Look. I understand that the Cubs have several needs to fill this offseason. They need more than just Skubal in their rotation, they could probably use a catcher and, with Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki hitting free agency, outfield is a glaring area of need as well. I even understand that a potential salary cap could make things complicated financially. Still, this is a hard pill to swallow.
It’d have been one thing for the Cubs to enter a bidding war for Skubal and simply get outbid by a big-market giant like the Mets or Dodgers. It’s another for Chicago to essentially rule themselves out of the running before it even gets started. The Cubs — who, again, play in one of the largest markets in the country and are owned by a multi-billionaire in Tom Ricketts — act as if they can’t afford to be in on the best free agents, which is an extremely frustrating reality.
They need starting pitching, and can sign the best one for nothing other than money, yet won’t entertain it despite having just watched their division rivals celebrate a World Series title. How crazy is it that a Cubs organization making money hand over fist won’t even consider signing one of the best players in the sport and MLB fans aren’t even surprised? If they won’t display any sort of aggression now, when will they?
Cubs are trying to win like the Brewers despite doing nothing as well as the Brewers
Chicago Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Obviously, the Cubs do spend some money. They even signed Alex Bregman last offseason for $175 million. However, the largest contract they’ve ever handed out was an eight-year, $184 million deal to Jason Heyward back in the 2015 offseason. It’s been over a decade, and that contract is still the richest in Cubs history. For reference, the Brewers, a team known for its aversion to spending major money, gave Christian Yelich a nine-year, $215 million extension. Yes, Milwaukee has handed out a larger contract than the Cubs have.
Instead of flexing the one muscle they have over the Brewers, the Cubs shy away from making large investments, instead relying heavily on player development and short-term deals to guide them to the promised land. There have obviously been some successful development stories (Pete Crow-Armstrong, Nico Hoerner, Justin Steele, etc.) but Chicago doesn’t develop players nearly as well as Milwaukee does. Heck, no organization really does player development as well as Milwaukee does.
The one thing the Cubs can do that the Brewers can’t is run bloated payrolls and sign star players on the open market, and they just do not choose to do that. Until that changes, it’s hard to take the Cubs seriously as true contenders in the NL Central, let alone the National League.
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