Chicago Cubs Can Enter Season With Heads Held High After Strong Winter
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A plethora of questions surrounded the Chicago Cubs after another disappointing season that saw the club finish with an 83-79 record for the second time in as many years.
Despite adding Craig Counsell as manager from the division rival Milwaukee Brewers, the Cubs still finished the season as the second-best team in the division, 10 games behind those same Brewers.
They entered the winter needing to make clear improvements, and while they seemed to stumble out of the gate, they turned things around quickly with two blockbuster trades that have vastly improved both their offense and pitching staff for 2025.
Even with only having superstar outfielder Kyle Tucker for one year, assuming they do not extend him or re-sign him next offseason, the offensive production he provides will be a major boon to this club's chances in the National League Central.
Tucker has quietly been one of the best 20 hitters in MLB throughout his career, outshined on the Houston Astros by Jose Altuve, Yordan Alvarez, and the plethora of superstar pitchers they have rostered throughout his tenure there.
The outfielder has batted .274/.353/.516 with 125 home runs, 417 RBI, and a 139 OPS+ across 2,561 plate appearances in 633 games. Even in a 2024 mostly lost to injury, Tucker batted .289/.408/.585 with 23 home runs, 49 RBI, and a 181 OPS+ across 339 plate appearances in 78 games.
The slugger looks to slot into the lineup as the No. 2 hitter behind the walk-machine Ian Happ, making one of the deadliest one-two punches at the top of a lineup in MLB.
Chicago added to their bullpen depth with another trade with Houston for veteran Ryan Pressly, who looks to immediately slot in as the closer.
Pressly has been a consistent piece of the Astros bullpen since 2019, making 50 or more appearances in every 162-game campaign during that span.
For his career, the veteran has pitched to a 3.27 ERA across 650 innings in 623 games with 693 strikeouts and a 129 ERA+. With Houston, Pressly pitched to a 2.81 ERA across 333 innings in 342 games with 411 strikeouts and a 151 ERA+.
Adding Pressly to a bullpen already rostering Porter Hodge and Tyson Miller at the back end solidifies a unit that could prove to be a terrifying three-headed dragon in 2025.
The consistency of the rotation should be a boon for Pressly, too, with three starters on the roster who qualified for the ERA title in 2024; Shota Imanaga, Jameson Taillon and Colin Rea.
A healthy Justin Steele in 2025 should see the club have four such pitchers at a minimum, while the Astros only had three last year.
The Cubs made other less noteworthy moves this offseason, including signing Matthew Boyd for the rotation and shedding the albatross of a contract they gave Cody Bellinger.
It has been a stellar winter in Chicago, and the team can enter the coming year with their heads held as high as their hopes to contend for the playoffs.