Are the Chicago Cubs past the peak of their competitive window?

Chicago Cubs: Hendricks got a $3 million raise via arbitration

The Cubs’ core of young players is only going to get more expensive as they go through the arbitration process. For instance, former NL MVP Kris Bryant will earn $12.9 million this year and left-hander Mike Montgomery will earn $3 million.

Kris Bryant, Javier Baez, Kyle Schwarber, Addison Russell, Kyle Hendricks, Mike Montgomery and Carl Edwards Jr. were all arbitration-eligible this year. Willson Contreras, Albert Almora and Ian Happ will soon join that group.

Each year in arbitration a player gets a raise. How much they earn depends on how well they played and how much they earned the year before. In 2018, his first year of arbitration, Hendricks earned $4.175 million. In 2019, he is set to earn $7.405 million.

The former Cy Young finalist was already earning millions before this upcoming season. He pitched well in 2018, turning in just under 200 innings of 3.44 ERA ball. So his salary increased by over $3 million – eating up more of the team’s financial resources.