It’s safe to say that the Chicago Cubs’ offseason has been underwhelming thus far, and front office pressure is definitely building to make a big splash and the necessary improvements before 2024 officially begins.
Ultimately, the decision to pursue Craig Counsell aggressively came from ownership and the front office. They believed they could assemble a playoff-caliber team for the top manager to work with in the off-season.
Although Cubs supporters may have been considering it, those individuals were responsible for bringing this idea to life on their own.
However, in spite of their declarations, Chicago has made mistakes with Tyler Glasnow, Juan Soto, and Shohei Ohtani.
To create excitement, any one of these three players would have been sufficient.
However, two of them are currently playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers and one is with the New York Yankees, two other highly aggressive big market teams.
According to Jeff Passan of ESPN, Michael Wacha, a less well-known starting pitcher that the Cubs may have pursued, inked a two-year, $32 million deal with the Kansas City Royals, thus he is no longer available.
The 31-year-old recently finished two of his best seasons, one in 2022 with the Boston Red Sox and the other in 2023 with the San Diego Padres.
He pitched 261 2/3 innings and recorded a record of 25-6 with an ERA of 3.27 in 47 starts for both organizations combined. His ERA+ of 127 indicated that he was superior to the league average by 27 percentage points.
Wacha may have been a good addition to Chicago’s rotation, which is now lacking a real top option. The right-hander would have contributed quality innings to a team in need of reinforcement in the rotation, even though he probably wouldn’t have been their ace.
Now that he’s gone and signed with another team, the Cubs have less and fewer alternatives when it comes to signing a difference maker.
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