They remain beloved despite their failure to add titles, and the addition of Bregman, like the signing of Jon Lester in 2014, is expected to bring back the vibes that led to a brief Golden Age of Cubs baseball.<\/p>\n
The Cubs invented the fan fest 40 years ago, and I\u2019ve been assigned to cover most of them since the second one in 1987<\/a>, when the hot topic was whether they would sign Andre Dawson. The concept back then was simple \u2014 keep the Cubs on the minds of their fans 365 days a year instead of from spring training through September.<\/p>\n \u201cWe wanted to market the product 12 months a year,\u201d former Cubs executive John McDonough once said of his invention. \u201cBeforehand, once the season ended, it got dark and you\u2019d get ready for next year. We wanted to perpetuate everything.\u201d<\/p>\n It worked, and the Cubs have used it to introduce new players, managers and executives, to bring back familiar faces and to spread hope that this year would be better than the last. It\u2019s a time-honored concept that seldom strays from its roots, marking the unofficial beginning of the baseball season and giving fans a chance to dream \u2014 or complain, depending on the offseason moves.<\/p>\n President Jed Hoyer, who served as the proverbial potted plant<\/a> alongside then-President Theo Epstein at Q&A session in his first nine conventions, is beginning his 15th season in Chicago, having outlasted most of the reporters covering the team.<\/p>\n But those of us who remain know\u00a0Hoyer is smart enough to realize he can go most of the winter without making a splash as long as he does something before the Cubs Convention. This season he followed the script perfectly, getting the Bregman deal done before the buzzer.<\/p>\n So instead of being booed for trading top prospect Owen Caissie,<\/a> Hoyer is expected to be applauded for giving Bregman a five-year, $175 million deal that solidifies the Cubs lineup in the absence of Kyle Tucker, the star of last year\u2019s Cubs Convention who remains unsigned. Had Hoyer waited another week, he would\u2019ve been asked incessantly about why he didn\u2019t get another bat. Instead, he\u2019ll get many compliments on his socks \u2014 and for getting Bregman.<\/p>\n The Bregman signing was leaked during the third quarter of the Bears\u2019 miraculous comeback win<\/a> over the Green Bay Packers in the wild-card round Saturday at Soldier Field, a curious bit of timing<\/a> that no one could process until the smoke cleared. You\u2019d think the Cubs would want to have at least one news cycle during which a $175 million signing was the biggest sports story in town.<\/p>\n Oh, well. They plan to introduce their new star Thursday at the Cubbieplex offices next to Wrigley Field, so at least they\u2019ll be able to get some attention before Bears Fever cranks up again for Sunday\u2019s divisional-round game against the Los Angeles Rams<\/a>.<\/p>\n Epstein used to caution the media about the risks of signing free agents past age 30 to long-term deals, but Hoyer had no qualms giving the 31-year-old Bregman five years and a coveted no-trade clause. According to the Boston Globe, the Red Sox felt confident they were going to bring Bregman with a five-year, $165 million deal and were wary of bidding against themselves.<\/p>\n Kudos to Hoyer for getting Ricketts to cave in and give Bregman more money and the coveted no-trade. We\u2019ll have to assume Ken Rosenthal\u2019s constant needling of Ricketts in The Athletic, calling him a cheapskate owner of a major-market team, finally did the trick.<\/p>\n If Bregman is healthy, he should provide the kind of offense the Cubs got from Tucker in the first half of 2025 before Tucker\u2019s injuries led to a power outage and a mediocre playoff performance. Bregman is well respected in the clubhouse and should be beneficial to the careers of Crow-Armstrong, Busch and other young players.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was one of the guys that I could depend on to send a message and I don\u2019t have to tell him what message to send,\u201d former Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker once said. \u201cThis is what I love about Bregman.\u201d<\/p>\n The taint of being part of the cheating 2017 Astros<\/a> has worn off over the years, and Cubs fans are banging the drum for Bregman\u2019s arrival, excited to have an offensive upgrade from Matt Shaw<\/a>, who can still learn a lot from playing multiple positions and watching from the bench. That\u2019s assuming the Cubs don\u2019t move him to second and trade Nick Hoerner, which would be the worst move by the organization since dealing Mark DeRosa and then signing Milton Bradley<\/a> after the 2008 season.<\/p>\n If Bregman doesn\u2019t work out, we might not see another megadeal from Ricketts for a long time. That\u2019s a lot of pressure to put on one player, but seemingly he\u2019ll be able to able to handle it.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the 150th birthday party officially begins. There really hasn\u2019t been much to celebrate since 1876 with one World Series win in our lifetime and only three in their entire existence. But I\u2019m confident the Cubs will find a way to spin it so they look like the New York Yankees.<\/p>\n That\u2019s the real Cubs Way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Chicago Cubs celebrate their 150th anniversary this season, beginning with this weekend\u2019s annual convention at the Sheraton…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":521592,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2399],"tags":[72,24111,5,138,24,4245,161,57175,14843,884,30384,9215,29,716,4,35],"class_list":["post-521591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago-cubs","tag-alex-bregman","tag-andre-dawson","tag-baseball","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-cubs","tag-chicagocubs","tag-cubs","tag-cubs-convention","tag-dusty-baker","tag-jed-hoyer","tag-john-mcdonough","tag-jon-lester","tag-kyle-tucker","tag-matt-shaw","tag-mlb","tag-pete-crow-armstrong"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115899209442375332","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=521591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521591\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/521592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=521591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=521591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=521591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Jed](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/CTC-L-CUBS-CON.jpg\")
Jed Hoyer, from left, Randy Bush, Theo Epstein and Scott Harris participate in a Q&A during the Cubs Convention on Jan. 13, 2018, at the Sheraton Grand Chicago. (John J. Kim\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n![\"Red](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/CTC-Z-ALEX-BREGMAN_349426.jpg\")
Red Sox third baseman Alex Bregman, right, celebrates after his home run against the Yankees on Sept. 13, 2025, in Boston. (Mark Stockwell\/AP)<\/p>\n