Addressing these two areas alone this winter won’t be enough for the Cubs

Despite his two biggest offseason additions working out better than imagined in Shota Imanaga and Michael Busch, Jed Hoyer has watched this Chicago Cubs team underperform all season long with less than a five percent chance of making the postseason, per Fangraphs.

The starting pitching, as a whole, has been a major strength for the club, but major struggles in the bullpen, especially in high-leverage spots, and behind the dish with the merry-go-round of backstops has dumped cold water on a season that began with high hopes. Those two areas, in particular, will be top priorities for Hoyer and the front office this winter, according to The Athletic (subscription required).

Sahadev Sharma breaks down the Cubs' payroll in that piece, pointing out the team will have somewhere between $50 and $90 million coming off the books this winter (depending on the status of Cody Bellinger's opt-out). That's more than enough money to address the needs of this team, even after the front office inexplicably exceeded the first CBT threshold this season.

Cubs probably won't go for the big names, but that doesn't mean they can't drastically improve the team heading into 2025

Does that mean Juan Soto is coming to town? What about Corbin Burnes? Despite recent rumors connecting the Cubs to the latter, both seem highly unlikely. But what it should mean is a dramatic upgrade behind the plate and a revamped bullpen - and that's not all.

This is a ballclub with a gaping hole in the power department. Cody Bellinger has started to tap into that power stroke since returning from the IL, but there's still a need for a major run producer to pair with the likes of Busch, Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki. With the amount of money coming off the books and Hoyer's budget-conscious approach to bullpen construction, there should be more than enough to take this fringe team and turn it into the perfect mix of established veterans and on-the-rise young talent.