Ivy League Cubs

By: Jacob Zanolla

Bruce Levine reported on Saturday what many fans were worried about, declaring that the Cubs would not be big players in Juan Soto’s free agent market once the offseason begins in just over two months. Sure it’s early, and something can change, but Levine says what most people expected, with Jed Hoyer not being known for signing big stars such as someone like Juan Soto. They are planning to pursue Corbin Burnes, which makes me question their understanding of the team’s current struggles, but Burnes is elite so it’s good Hoyer wants to get him.

Juan Soto will get a monster contract, which is the first sign that the Cubs are not going to try for him. They reportedly attempted to lure Ohtani to the North Side, but had little to no success with that, as he clearly went to the Dodgers as everyone expected. Jon Heyman recently polled MLB executives, and the expectation is Soto will receive at least $500 Million, which does seem accurate. If Soto signs for just $500 Million, that would still be $316M more than the Cubs’ largest contract ever, which was Jason Heyward’s $184M contract before the 2016 season.

As of right now, the Cubs do not have a star. Michael Busch is really good, Pete Crow-Armstrong is exciting, Shōta Imanaga is extremely talented, but they don’t have a bonafide star like other teams do. After Sunday’s loss against the Blue Jays, Seiya Suzuki leads the team in terms of On-Base Plus Slugging with a .802 OPS, followed by Michael Busch and Ian Happ. Juan Soto currently has a 1.038 OPS (before his game against the Tigers on Sunday Night Baseball). Contending teams need a superstar, and the Cubs don’t really have that right now. They’ve had chances, the most notable being Bryce Harper, who it seems wanted to come to the Cubs before Tom Ricketts deemed the financials weren’t there (they were).

Forbes has the Chicago Cubs as the fourth most valuable team in baseball, with a current valuation of $4.22 Billion. Everyone has heard of the Cubs, and probably Wrigley Field too. They’re the lovable losers who play at the Friendly Confines, home to one of the greatest baseball movies ever in Rookie Of the Year. Alas, Hoyer’s team is seventh in payroll, and currently five games out of the playoffs, along with being 11.5 games behind the Brewers for the division. There aren’t really any excuses for not spending big this offseason, but at this point we have to hope Jed Hoyer has some big trades up his sleeve.

The odds that Soto even leaves the Yankees are quite slim, but if he does, it looks like Cubs fans can nip their dreams in the bud before the offseason actually even begins. Signing Corbin Burnes would be amazing, but are they really willing to pay him either? I have my doubts.