Cubs can't seriously change their core philosophy without confronting Jed Hoyer question

A season that began with dreams of marking the 10-year anniversary of the 2016 championship team with another World Series run ended in disappointment for the Chicago Cubs - and it's not hard to see why.

A feast-or-famine offense went cold at the worst possible time and a pitching staff that battled injury after injury all year long looked overmatched against the San Diego Padres in the Wild Card Series. In the end, the Cubs finished a whopping 14 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central, finshing with just 89 wins - three fewer than last season.

In his end-of-season presser, president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer owned his shortcomings in building a bullpen. Virtually all of the team's big relief additions from last winter wound up being busts and it took the Cubs out at the knees time and time again. While building a more complete bullpen is obviously important and will be a huge focus this winter, there's a larger strategy shift we need to see.

In a recent column, The Score's Chris Emma singled out one of the Cubs' biggest issues: a lack of swing-and-miss in the pitching staff. It's been a longstanding issue for Chicago (they haven't finished in the top half of MLB in strikeouts - discounting the shortened 2020 season - since 2019) and it's something Hoyer has to address with his offseason additions.

Time is now for Jed Hoyer and the Cubs to dramatically shake things up

This is a perfect opportunity to dramatically reshape what this pitching staff looks like given the turnover at hand. Instead of dipping back to the well for more arms focused on inducing weak contact and keeping the ball on the ground to take advantage of an elite defense, as Emma points out, Hoyer should prioritize missing more bats, period.

Adding more Ks to the rotation could be a huge difference-maker as Chicago looks to close the gap on Milwaukee in 2027 - and they have no choice but add strikeouts in the late innings, which were a constant issue this season. This group struggled to inch the door shut in important games, let alone slam it, and a shift in thinking from Hoyer and his front office could deliver a transformative offseason on the North Side.

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