Chicago Cubs Have Had One of the Better Offseasons in MLB This Year

The Chicago Cubs have been active this offseason, and have had one of the best winter's in the sport this year.

Nov 8, 2023; Scottsdale, AZ, USA; Chicago Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer speaks to the media during the MLB General Manager's Meetings at Omni Scottsdale Resort & Spa. /

The Chicago Cubs ended 2024 in a worse position than they ended 2023 because, even though they had the same record in both years, they finished one game further back of the Milwaukee Brewers for the National League Central lead.

This offseason, they set out to change things.

Their first "big move" of the winter had many, myself included, scratching their heads.

They signed veteran pitcher Matthew Boyd to a two-year, $29 million deal in a move to bolster their rotation. While Boyd's ERA for 2024 was a spectacular 2.72, it came in a small sample size of only 39 2/3 innings. The lefty has not pitched 100 or more innings in a season since 2019.

With the rotation the Cubs have, it allows them to hide Boyd at the back end and limit his innings if he does stay healthy.

He proved he is a capable pitcher, even in a small sample size, and can be a solid addition to the rotation should remain off the injured list.

The headlining move came in December in perhaps the biggest trade of the offseason.

Chicago traded Isaac Paredes, Cam Smith, and Hayden Wesneski to the Houston Astros for superstar Kyle Tucker in an absolute fleecing of a deal.

Paredes has been wildly inconsistent offensively throughout his career, posting an 82 OPS+ with the Northsiders after they acquired him at the 2024 MLB trade deadline. Cam Smith is a top prospect, but he has yet to see any Major League pitching, so even with high expectations, it is unknown if he will be a viable Major Leaguer. Wesneski is a solid arm for the bullpen and could turn out to be the best piece the Astros received in this trade.

On the other hand, Tucker has quietly been one of the better players in the sport throughout his career.

Overshadowed by the polarizing Jose Altuve and the terrifying Yordan Alvarez, Tucker can now be the face of the franchise that his production indicates he should be.

The Cubs also traded Cody Bellinger to the New York Yankees, retaining only $2.5 million of his salary for each of the next two years. This made more room in the payroll, a total that currently sits at only $131.3 million before arbitration rulings.

They have shown this offseason they are willing to make moves to better contend as early as 2025, and with a payroll as low as theirs, they can continue to do so.

This winter has been one of the better ones in recent memory for Chicago.

An argument can certainly be made that, to this point, theirs has been the best in MLB this year.