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5 players who are entering their final days on the Cubs
The Chicago Cubs' 2024 season was a disappointment. Sure, the season is not over, and even if the Cubs defy their near-impossible odds of making the postseason, the year as a whole has to be viewed as a disappointment.
Assuming the Cubs do miss the postseason, it will mark the fourth consecutive season under Jed Hoyer where the team has failed to continue playing after the regular season. Hoyer will be entering his final contractual year as the Cubs' President of Baseball Operations in 2025 and if the team fails to make the postseason, there's no argument that can be made for why Hoyer should have a new deal with the team.
For everything that the Cubs have gotten right in terms of rebuilding their farm system, the fact of the matter is that there are changes needed. There are players on the current Cubs' roster who have no business being a part of the roster in 2025.
5. Patrick Wisdom
One of the biggest flaws of the Cubs' roster over the course of the past couple of seasons has been the construction of their bench. The Cubs' bench players in recent seasons have been littered with fringe Major League players, leaving much to be desired when the regular starter needs a day off.
The 2023 season seemed to be the beginning of the end of Patrick Wisdom. After a hot start to the season, Wisdom's offense fell off a cliff after April. This season, even with Craig Counsell being calculated with Wisdom's plate appearances, Wisdom has been a liability. Wisdom will fail to reach 200 plate appearances this season and certainly won't reach 20 home runs this season as he may not even reach the 10-home run mark.
With the Cubs' top position prospects all at Triple-A Iowa, Wisdom is unlikely to be on the roster next season.
4. Mike Tauchman
The Cubs already have an outfield logjam for the 2025 season and that is before you include Cody Bellinger returning by virtue of not exercising his opt-out clause. At the minimum, the Cubs will have a starting outfield next season of Ian Happ, Pete Crow-Armstrong, and Seiya Suzuki. If Bellinger comes back, then Suzuki slides to being the team's designated hitter while Bellinger is starting in right field.
Beyond those four outfielders, the Cubs will have top outfield prospects Owen Caissie and Kevin Alcantara knocking on the door as both could be theoretical call-ups before the end of this season.
Mike Tauchman will be the odd man out. With Crow-Armstrong's ascension during the final two months of this season, Tauchman's playing time has been significantly reduced. The Cubs' Summer of Tauchman has ended, and a return in 2025 doesn't seem likely.
3. Kyle Hendricks
With each start that Kyle Hendricks has for the Chicago Cubs this season, it has been a question of if we will get "Good Kyle" or "Bad Kyle". For the most part, it has been "Bad Kyle" and when Hendricks has flashed his former "professor" persona, it's always been fools good.
In recent seasons, the Cubs have elected to skip Hendricks when he was scheduled to pitch against formidable lineups. With Hendricks set to become a free agent this winter, there is a better chance of him retiring than there is of him returning to the team for the 2025 season.
Even with the injuries that the Cubs have had this season, the Cubs' pitching staff should be in a good spot entering the 2025 season. Justin Steele and Shota Imanaga will sit at the top of the rotation with Jameson Taillon, Javier Assad, and Ben Brown falling in behind them. A return to health for top pitching prospect Cade Horton should also boost the staff in 2025.
2. Nick Madrigal
This one is a bit of a copout, but Cubs fans will likely be able to end their disdain for Nick Madrigal this offseason.
Madrigal will finish the 2024 season on the IL and that has been the story of his time with the Cubs. When the Cubs acquired Madrigal in the 2021 Trade Deadline deal with the White Sox, the Cubs had visions of the former top Sox prospect being the focal point of the team's middle infield with Nico Hoerner. Instead, Madrigal's hit profile has been inconsistent when he's been healthy but his lack of availability is one of the biggest reasons he hasn't found success on the North Side.
With Isaac Paredes now firmly in place as the team's starting third baseman, Madrigal's future in Major League Baseball won't be with the Cubs.
1. Cody Bellinger
Earlier in this exercise, we envisioned what the Cubs' 2025 outfield may look like if Cody Bellinger returns because he does nto exercise his player opt-out at the end of this season. Here is the thing with that scenario, for the Cubs, the best-case scenario is for Bellinger to elect for free agency this winter.
The hunch here is that if Bellinger wasn't dealing with a broken finger in Juy, the Cubs would have moved the outfielder at the Trade Deadline and found a way to be creative with the opt-out clauses that Bellinger has after this season and next. The hunch here is that even if Bellinger doesn't opt out, the Cubs will look to trade him this offseason in a creative deal.
That type of creativity will define the Cubs' offseason. Even if it means that the Cubs have to kick in some financial protections, moving Bellinger will give the team much more flexibility in addressing their offensive needs. There will be those who ask how moving Bellinger improves the Cubs' offense, and that is a valid question. This scenario involves trusting the Cubs' front office to be aggressive in attacking their offensive need for power. Otherwise, yes, moving Bellinger would be a dangerous proposition.
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