Chicago Cubs Rumors: Where to next after missing on Jose Abreu?

A familiar trend is developing for the Chicago Cubs in each offseason since 2018. Each offseason provides the Cubs with a prime free-agent target that would address their needs and for one reason or another, the Cubs opt against signing that free agent. Dating back to Bryce Harper in 2018 to Carlos Correa last offseason, there have been players available that the Cubs should have been a major player for but remained on the sidelines.

Jose Abreu is the latest example. On Monday, Abreu signed a three-year deal with the Houston Astros worth $60 million. Sure, there is a very legitimate argument that can be made that the Cubs should not be paying Abreu nearly $20MM annually in his age 36, 37, and 38 seasons. But here is the thing, spending intelligently is a nice buzzword when you already built a contender and can afford to miss one of your primary targets. Spending Intelligently can not be the defense for the Cubs when they are increasingly becoming a punchline due to a lack of spending in free agency over recent offseasons.

There is no question that the Astros overpaid in order to land Abreu in free agency and eventually, the Cubs are going to need to overpay a free agent as well. And, yes, Abreu is not the profile of the free agent that the Cubs should overpay on but eventually, there will be a free agent that they have to overpay on. That is the cost of doing business in Major League Baseball and wanting to sign top-tier free agents. If in the coming weeks, we are talking about the Cubs overpaying for one of the shortstops such as Carlos Correa, then the miss on Abreu will not sting as much as it does now.

The Chicago Cubs missing out on Jose Abreu is the latest in a concerning trend for the team.

Right now, considering the recent trend, it seems likely that the Cubs will miss on each of the top four free-agent shortstops and sign a cheap alternative at first base with the hope of finding a flash in the pan that can provide an offensive resurgence for the team. Sure, maybe they even sell us on the idea that they can be the team that fixes Cody Bellinger's swing but we saw how the Jackson (formerly known as Clint) Fraizer experiment worked last season.

If that is where the Cubs are headed next, then you might as well slap a Pirates' logo on the marquee in front of Wrigley Field. Scared money don't make money. The Cubs are a big-market team that has acted scared for too long.