Thinking Through the Cubs’ Moves, Roles and Funds, Rea, Hoffman, and Other Cubs Bullets ...Middle East

I believe I have shoveled more in the last week than I did all winter before this week, plus last winter, combined. I don’t really hate it THAT much, at least now that I have a much better back situation, and it occurs to me now as I type this that my back feels completely different after shoveling than it used to. The injury last year and urgency of the surgery all very, very much sucked, but some of the after-effects have been quite a pleasant change to my quality of life.

I was looking for a harmonizing factor in a lot of surprising Cubs moves/decisions this offseason, and I really could come up with only a couple things that would definitely explain it all. All involve money, and one is the most concerning:

Not saying it is THE explanation, but when I think about all the surprising moves this offseason (Boyd/Rea, not settling w/Tucker, Brujan trade, Workman pick, Morgan trade, Belli focus on cash), they COULD all be explained by one thing … maybe payroll is getting bigly cut.

— Bleacher Nation (@bleachernation.bsky.social) January 10, 2025 at 4:45 PM (Another possible – wayyyyy too optimistic – explanation is that, yes, the Cubs are trying to cut costs in their moves so far, but it’s because they have a series of other more costly moves planned and they want to make sure they have the funds to pull it off if the opportunity arises.) As for the Colin Rea signing, specifically, the most charitable theory you could offer is that having Rea gives the Cubs more flexibility to trade a young arm if necessary in some other deal. I mean, I guess that’s fine, but I’d much, much rather the Cubs have Javier Assad on the 2025 team than Colin Rea. So if that’s what we’re talking about and if that’s what the Cubs are thinking, then any trade better be a good one! Like, if you’re swapping Assad for a couple years of a truly impactful reliever? OK. I could get on board. The other theory I like to at least start kicking around my head is that maybe the Cubs are planning to do some kind of crazy starting pitcher strategy, going with a hybrid six-man rotation or constantly swapping guys in and out or something. We talked about this a couple weeks ago, but, hey, if you have a roster with lots of guys capable of swinging in and out of the rotation, and lots of other guys with minor league options … it’s conceivable. And if you do it right, maybe it keeps guys more healthy AND optimizes more of your matchups. Back to the rest of the offseason, though. Maybe Rea is just depth behind the depth, and a swing man, and a fungible arm that Jed Hoyer and Craig Counsell wanted to have available. Maybe his arrival has zero impact on anything else the Cubs do on the pitching side. Depth is great to have. But here’s the thing: the Cubs didn’t have to spend $5 million on an 8th starter who cannot be optioned. That’s the part that simply does not make sense unless either (1) they LOVE REA specifically for some reason, or (2) they are cutting payroll to some degree. I just don’t see it as plausible that the Cubs are signing Rea to be a starter or swingman, AND are ALSO going to sign another more impactful reliever, AND are ALSO going to sign another starting pitcher. (At least not without some trades.) In other words, I think this is probably just how the Cubs decided to use some of the limited funds they had left to shore up the rotation – if you can’t add impact (i.e., not spending $20M AAV on Jack Flaherty), then at least add more depth. It makes sense in a world where the Cubs have only another $15 million or so to go around for the bullpen and the bench, but that’s about the only world. Signing Rea if you thought you WERE going to be able to sign a guy like Flaherty? That does not make sense. (Heck, maybe the Jesus Luzardo trade pursuit was as much about his projected modest salary in 2025 as his upside. I swear I’m not DOOM’ing, I’m just trying to think logically about all of this stuff.) I recognize that I’m kinda all over the place on this, but that’s because it’s pretty confusing when a team seems to go all-out for 2025, but then doesn’t, but then spends money on weird areas, and so on and so forth. Usually I have a pretty good sense for what the Cubs are doing in a given offseason, but this one has been much more scattershot. Maybe, when all is said and done, it will be much more clear (and, again, a payroll cut would certainly be the cleanest – if most frustrating – explanation). For now, I just bounce around a bit in my head about what’s going on. The full breakdown of Rea’s deal, by the way, which I want to reiterate is not a terrible deal on its face (I just don’t know that it makes immediate sense to me for the Cubs):

Rea will earn $4.25M with the Cubs in 2025. His deal includes a $6M club option (or $750K buyout) for 2026. He is guaranteed $5M.[image or embed]

— Jordan Bastian (@bastianmlb.bsky.social) January 10, 2025 at 8:37 PM Let’s just hope on the best-case scenario, which is that Rea pitches like a quality swingman this year (even a league-average ERA would be good in that role), and the Cubs are thrilled they’ve got him for next year, too. I would bet a donut that the Cubs sign someone to a minor league deal from this pro day, especially now that they have the relationship with Tyler Zombro:

Tread Athletics Pro Day is here! ?Best of luck to our athletes! ? pic.twitter.com/i2DgKOPqMk

— Tread Athletics (@TreadHQ) January 10, 2025 An interesting twist to the Jeff Hoffman story: according to Robert Murray, Hoffman actually had a deal in place with the Orioles at three years and $40 million, but Murray reports that the Orioles backed out because of a perceived issue with his shoulder. Oof. So the Blue Jays jumped in at three years and $33 million, with the possibility of incentives to take it to $39 million. It does make me feel a little less hostile about the Cubs not landing him. I still expect them to eventually pick up one of the Carlos Estevez, Tommy Kahnle, Kirby Yates, Jose Leclerc, David Robertson, etc., etc., late-inning group, and probably on a one-year deal. Surely they have enough money for that … Why, why, why would you sentence your kids to a lifetime of having to correct people on the (ridiculous) spelling of their names:

[image or embed]

— Danny (@middaughsome.bsky.social) January 10, 2025 at 8:43 PM Remember that absolutely crazy fan interference in the World Series? The league took its time on this one, but came to the right decision:

Yankees fans who mauled Mookie Betts at World Series banned from all MLB stadiums indefinitely t.co/jWYltEPlX3 pic.twitter.com/bXkxRwMc8k

— New York Post Sports (@nypostsports) January 10, 2025

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