Chicago Cubs 2023 Season Preview
One of last year’s season win total misfires was the Chicago Cubs. They made it interesting late in the season, but ultimately fell short with just a three-game improvement from 2021 to 2022. The Cubs had five straight losing seasons from 2010-14, so things aren’t that bad as of yet, but a little bit of panic may set in if Chicago makes another small improvement in 2023.
The Cubs spent a lot of money upgrading the lineup and pitching staff. Drew Smyly is the only free agent that they kept out of the 10 that they had. Instead, the front office opted to bring in reinforcements from around the league and picked up several notable names, including Dansby Swanson, Trey Mancini, Cody Bellinger, Eric Hosmer, Jameson Taillon and Michael Fulmer.
Generally speaking, I’m not a big fan of what the Cubs are doing. If you’re going to commit to a rebuild, commit to a rebuild. The core from their 2016 World Series aged out and went elsewhere, so they were in a position to let a lot of guys sink or swim and I feel like that’s the only way to know nowadays. This is still a rich farm system with Pete Crow-Armstrong, Matt Mervis, Nick Madrigal, Brennan Davis, Hayden Wesneski and others, but now they’re opting to thread the needle of both rebuilding and contending.
Maybe it works. At least Hosmer, Bellinger, Mancini and others are on short-term contracts and could net even more prospects. Plus, the NL Central teams look vulnerable outside of the Cardinals. We’ll see how it all works, but the Cubs have this weird mix of youthful upside and big leaguers with something to prove. Maybe in about 2,000 words, I’ll be on board.