Cubs left high and dry thanks to confluence of perfect storms

In the midst of what can only be described as, at best, a terribly thrifty past three offseasons, the Cubs are in a bizarre situation (and it’s not really making any fans very happy at all). This organization has been and should be a large market team.

Their pecuniary measures and decisions should follow suit. They’d also been a wildly successful large market team from a competitive and fiscal standpoint before the pandemic hit . Just about to unveil a brand new TV network that was all their own in order to maximize profits coming back to the organization, the Cubs got stuck in the eye of the worst of all places: a perfect storm.

Check that; make it the confluence of about five different storms.

• They didn’t manage their money correctly or efficiently within the 1060 Project.
• Some of their trades and free agent signings didn’t pan out.
• They didn’t trade or stagger the extension of homegrown players when they should have, leaving the team in limbo with five different core position players.
• Marquee had carriage issues and didn’t generate buzz, ad revenue, or interest in a short 60-game season that didn’t start until July.
• And, of course, the whole, you know, pandemic that created biblical losses for everyone.

All that leaves us here in the present, staring down a 2021 season that is fast becoming the epitome of “meh” and has already featured the beginnings of a fire sale where the Cubs have non-tendered Kyle Schwarber, traded Yu Darvish for a few scratch-offs (that seemed to be more 20 million drawing-types rather than the recent billion dollar MegaMillions variety), and failed to resign any of the pitchers who could have given us some veteran depth heading into this already mediocre season.