MLB insider chose violence with Tom Ricketts—and Cubs fans are loving it

The stage is set for the Chicago Cubs to have an aggressive offseason. They have over $100MM in available payroll space before the first level of the CBT, and they have even cleaner books after the 2026 season. For a franchise that has never signed a player to a contract north of $200MMM, normal circumstances would suggest this is the offseason to buck that trend.

The issue is that the one player who is guaranteed to land a deal over $200MM this offseason, Kyle Tucker, spent the last season with the Cubs, and it doesn't sound like the team is willing to set his market. With the Los Angeles Dodgers already planting their flag in the Tucker sweepstakes, it feels like a foregone conclusion that Tucker's time with the Cubs is over.

Still, with attractive targets such as Framber Valdez, Dylan Cease, Kyle Schwarber, Cody Bellinger, and Alex Bregman on the free-agent market, there are plenty of opportunities for the Cubs to return to being a big-market spender. Especially when they continue to rake in profit. That money isn't being funneled back into baseball operations, and it's an alarming disparity.

The Cubs generated $584MM in revenue in 2024, and their 2025 payroll finished at $213MM. That is a 36.4% disparity, and one that Bleacher Report's Jon Heyman called out.

“Cubs have the greatest disparity between revenue and payroll. They are #1 so crown Tom Ricketts the champion for pocketing the most amount of money”," Heyman said in his roast of the team's spending.

Jon Heyman's undressing of Tom Ricketts should be a wake up call for the Chicago Cubs, who are likely tuning it out.

Last offseason, it was Ken Rosenthal calling out the Cubs, and Heyman seems to be taking up that honor this year. The issue is that Tom Ricketts hasn't been subtle about his views when it comes to the Cubs' spending habits, and Jed Hoyer's stubborn approach to deals only puts the Cubs in a position to sign a top free agent if they are still available in February--when their price has come considerably down.

The truth of the matter is, the reason why the Cubs have clean books is because they are operating with 2027 in mind. Not because that is when they truly expect to be ready to win the World Series, but because the new collective bargaining agreement could have changes to baseball's payroll structure. While the Cubs are going to be in a healthy spot regardless of what new rules they are, they don't want to waste their time spending for years where they aren't sure what the rules will be. Following the rules and hoarding money has been the theme of Ricketts' ownership run since the Cubs won the World Series in 2016.