Max Fried's contract may be too rich for the Chicago Cubs' offseason taste

With the Chicago Cubs hoping to add an established starting pitcher to their rotation this offseason but ruled out of a pursuit for Corbin Burners, early speculation has suggested that the Cubs could be a fit for Max Fried.

While Burnes is expected to land a deal north of $200MM, Fried's contract is expected to be in the range of 6 years for $160MM. It's a deal that the Cubs haven't been afraid to make in the past when looking at the deals they signed with Jon Lester and Yu Darvish but in their latest episode of Northside Territory, Patrick Mooney and Sahadev Sharma pushed back on the idea of the Cubs being involved in Fried's market.

While Mooney does mention that Fried is the type of pitcher that the Cubs should be targeting this offseason, both he and Sharma heard early speculation at the GM Meeting that the former Braves' starting pitcher's market may have already exceeded the Cubs' interest levels.

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The main takeaway from the latest episode of Mooney and Sharma's podcast is that the Cubs are doubling down on their pitching infrastructure. That means that moving forward, under Jed Hoyer, it would seem unlikely that the Cubs are going to be swimming in the deepest of waters with regard to free-agent starting pitchers. Given their success in the middle tier of free-agent starting pitchers, that is why the Cubs may prefer adding someone like Nick Pivetta at a modest deal and trusting that their infrastructure will be able to get the most out of them.

While the Cubs have certainly had success with bringing in veteran starting pitchers and getting the most out of them, Jameson Taillon being the latest example, that being their primary philosophy has failed. It's the reason why, over the last two seasons, the Cubs were destined to barely reach 83 wins given the volatility in their roster construction. Until Hoyer gets comfortable with stretching out the team's spending, the Cubs will always be hopeful contenders instead of expected contenders.