Reboot? Re-tool? Restart?
There are several words to describe what the Cubs might do over the next three months, and now that the World Series has finished and the 2020 season has come to a close, the Cubs front office now prepares for what will be a crucial offseason for both their present and future.
On the top of the Cubs’ to-do list this offseason will be deciding what to do with their core. Javy Baez, Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo and Kyle Schwarber are due to become free agents after the 2021 season.
The team could also move one or more of them at the 2021 trade deadline, but that also comes with its own risks. Not trading them at the deadline could mean they walk after the season for nothing, which would be devastating.
Signing one or more of the “Core Four” to a long-term extension is also not off the table, but that too comes with its own set of challenges. The loss of revenue across Major League Baseball due to the coronavirus pandemic makes the Cubs’ ability to spend in free agency unknown. Losses around the sport and cloudy 2021 outlook could make front offices and ownership groups around the game gun-shy about spending.
“The only thing I can acknowledge is that we’re in a period of great uncertainty,” president Theo Epstein said. “That’s industry-wide and also, as far as our organization goes. We know what our losses were this year. We don’t know what our revenues are going to be next year. We don’t know how many fans we’re going to be able to have and at different points in the season.
“The fact that 29 other teams are in a similar situation, we don’t know what the free agent marketplace is gonna look like and what the trade marketplace is gonna look like.”
Commissioner Rob Manfred added to those sentiments in a recent interview, suggesting baseball could be in for another trying year with the league’s current financial state.
“We are going to be at historic high levels of debt,” Manfred said. “And it’s going to be difficult for the industry to weather another year where we don’t have fans in the ballpark and have other limitations on how much we can’t play and how we can play.”
The Cubs have felt the effects as the team has laid off several staff members in baseball and business operations since the season concluded.
The team had eight players declare free agency on Wednesday, including pitchers Tyler Chatwood, Jose Quintana and Jeremey Jeffress. They’ll have more in the coming days with the team expected to decline Jon Lester’s $25 million club option for next season.
Last offseason was a quiet one for the Cubs as Jeffress was the only player to get a major league contract.
With the free-agent pool murky as MLB figures out its finances, there is still potential for the Cubs to improve in 2021 without putting their future at risk.
“I think there are going to be certain fundamentals that are true of this winter and of this market that have been true for decades,” Epstein said. “One of those, especially relevant in our situation, but that you know a one-year deal for a really talented player is a valuable thing.
“That’s to our benefit both with what we can do in constructing the 2021 team and having an additional year of control on certain players and also potentially to our benefit in the trade market or as we look to make some changes.”
