Chicago Cubs: Five storylines to watch in the 2020s

After an eventful decade of the 2010s, we’re about to begin the 2020s. Here are five Chicago Cubs storylines to watch over the next decade.

Well, the 2010s are coming to a close, and the world is about to embark on a new decade. For Chicago Cubs fans, it’s hard to imagine a decade being more eventful than the 2010s were.

The decade started off with the team in a malaise, as the franchise that showed a lot of promise in the 2007 and 2008 division title seasons was coming apart. Manager Lou Piniella suddenly left the team in the middle of a miserable 2010 season, and general manager Jim Hendry, who built some quality teams but could not achieve that elusive championship, left after the 2011 season.

Theo Epstein, after his success with the Boston Red Sox, came over to become President of Baseball Operations. He guided the team through a rebuild that resulted in a World Series Championship under Joe Maddon in 2016 and four playoff appearances overall.

Besides the big story of the end of the 108-year championship drought, there were plenty of other stories as well. For example, renovations at Wrigley Field assured that the team would be able to stay at the Friendly Confines long-term, while the development of a new TV network figures to change the way that Cubs fans experience games in the future.

Yet as eventful as the 2010s were, the 2020s could be an eventful decade for Cubs fans as well. There are plenty of storylines to follow, and it will be interesting to see where the Cubs are as a franchise ten years from now. Some of the big stories we won’t be able to foresee yet, but here are at least five things to be looking for as we start a new decade.

Chicago Cubs: For how long will the core stay intact?

Despite the Chicago Cubs’ decline over the past couple of seasons, much of the core that brought the Cubs a World Series title in 2016 remains on the team, at least for now. A few key players have departed. For example, Dexter Fowler left as a free agent after the 2016 season, as we expected, while Jake Arrieta moved on after the 2017 season. Then there’s David Ross, who retired after 2016 but is coming back in 2020 as the new skipper. Also, questions remain about Ben Zobrist‘s future.

It’s to be expected that players will leave over time. Yet many key figures from this run of winning – Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Kyle Schwarber, Javier Baez, and Willson Contreras – remain, as these are all young players that were supposed to be part of the young nucleus for many years. (Addison Russell was also supposed to be part of that, but the Cubs finally moved on from him this offseason.)

How long will the “young” nucleus stay together? The first domino from that group could fall this offseason, as Bryant has been the center of trade speculation all offseason long. Contreras and Schwarber have also seen their fair share of trade rumors pop up. Rizzo and Baez seem the least likely to be traded short-term, though both will need to be signed to extensions soon if they are going to be around long-term.

We all know that keeping all these players long-term is a near impossibility, as their cost is going up dramatically and the team is already strapped for cash at this time. Thankfully, the Cubs did decide that Kyle Hendricks was an important figure and locked him up through 2024, but as for the rest of the players mentioned above, important decisions are coming up over the next couple of years, possibly as soon as this winter.

Chicago Cubs: Will the farm system continue to produce?

A big reason why the Chicago Cubs had a run of success in the 2010s was that they were able to develop and graduate several key players from their farm system. Javier Baez, Kris Bryant, Kyle Schwarber, and Willson Contreras are among those the team developed, while they traded for players such as Anthony Rizzo and Kyle Hendricks while they were still in the minor leagues.

For a good portion of the decade, the Cubs had a farm system that ranked among the top in Major League Baseball. Unfortunately, the farm system has not produced much talent in recent years, and right now it ranks among MLB’s worst. If the Cubs are going to build on the success they had in the second half of the 2010s and keep winning in the 2020s, the farm system is going to have to produce more.

There are several players worth watching right now. Nico Hoerner came up to the big leagues late in 2019 and had some brief success, but it will be interesting to see how he does in 2020 and beyond and whether he will fit in as the team’s everyday second baseman. Catcher Miguel Amaya, pitcher Brailyn Marquez, and outfielders Brennen Davis and Cole Roederer are among those who are still a ways away from the majors but who could be key pieces for the Cubs in the coming years.

The Cubs face a big challenge in the near future: staying competitive at the major league level while rebuilding a farm system that has been depleted both by players graduating to the majors and through the trades of players such as Eloy Jimenez, Dylan Cease, and Gleyber Torres. Will they be up to the challenge?

Chicago Cubs: Will the new TV channel catch on?

As we begin a new decade, the Chicago Cubs are launching the Marquee Sports Network, which will broadcast most of the Cubs games and also offer plenty of other Cubs-related programming. Many fans are lamenting the fact that Chicago Cubs games will no longer be on WGN starting in 2020. I am among those who became a Cubs fan largely because of their national exposure on WGN back in the 1990s.

Yet the process for getting to this point has been in motion for many years now, and frankly, I’m surprised that it didn’t happen sooner than it has. For about two decades now, WGN has only been carrying some of the Cubs’ games, as the rest have been on other regional sports networks such as NBC Sports Chicago. WGN also stopped carrying games nationally on what is now WGN America five years ago (though out-of-market fans such as myself can watch games live on MLB.TV).

So, it’s been a gradual process, but the Cubs are following the trend of more compartmentalized sports coverage and finally launching their own network in February. There’s plenty of reason to believe that the endeavor will be a successful one, though as of now there are still some providers that are not yet carrying the channel, including Comcast.

As we know, the Cubs have not done much to improve the team so far this offseason, so how much success the channel has in its first year will depend largely on how good the team is. You’d think that the front office would want to do more than they have to field a competitive team with such a big project on the horizon; perhaps revenue from the new channel will help the team be able to make more moves to improve the roster long-term.

Chicago Cubs: How long will Theo Epstein last?

It’s hard to believe, but it’s been eight years since Theo Epstein took over as President of Baseball Operations. In that time, Chicago Cubs fans have seen the lowest of lows (particularly 2012, one of the worst years in team history) and the highest of highs (a championship just four years later).

Epstein will always be remembered as the architect of the team that finally got the job done, just like Joe Maddon will always be the one who led the way on the field. Yet Maddon is gone just three years after it happened, which goes to show that nothing lasts forever in this game (except that championship flag). And it begs the question: How much longer will Epstein be around?

Just like on the north side of Chicago, Epstein was the one who got the job done in Boston, breaking another long championship drought. Yet he too fell out of favor and ended up leaving for the Cubs job. Three years after the championship, Epstein is falling out of favor with Cubs fans, as for the second offseason in a row the team is doing nothing to improve after a disappointing finish to the previous season.

The situation the Cubs’ front office is in right now is largely due to some questionable decisions they’ve made in recent years: the signing of Jason Heyward, who’s been a huge disappointment and still has four years left on his contract; the trade of two top prospects, Eloy Jimenez and Dylan Cease, for a pitcher (Jose Quintana) who’s been essentially a #4 starter; and signing closer Craig Kimbrel to a massive three-year deal when he clearly wasn’t prepared to pitch last year come to mind right away.

Now, the team has no money (or so they say) to bring in anyone new and still have tough decisions on several players, as mentioned above, coming up over the next couple of years. Can Epstein guide the team out of this mess? Or, will ownership look for someone to lead a new direction? There’s no indication right now that ownership is ready to get rid of Epstein, but it will be interesting to see how patient they indeed will be if there’s no improvement on the field in 2020 and beyond.