Chicago Cubs get “A” grade for offseason moves amid glaring questions

The Chicago Cubs finished the 2025 season as, in a lot of ways, overachievers who eventually ran into a reality that knocked them from their playoff run.

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Despite adding right fielder Kyle Tucker, the team’s offense wasn’t expected to be as good as it was. Several players had career years, powering them to an especially strong first-half of season. The pitching staff also overachieved, delivering solid performance from a rotation that lost ace Justin Steele just four starts into the season and from a bullpen that seemed cobbled together from bits and pieces of other teams’ castoffs.

Eventually, though, the Cubs’ magic wore off and reality set in.

The offense flatlined for long stretch during the second half of the season and through the playoffs. The bullpen settled into mid-tier level. The starting rotation, meanwhile, carried on through injury until the wheels fell off the cart in the second round of the playoffs and the team was basically left with just two reliable starters in the NLDS.

A busy offseason

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This offseason, Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer and the Cubs front office worked on fortifying the roster and addressing the issues that kept the team from greater success in 2025.

Third baseman Alex Bregman was signed, replacing the outgoing Kyle Tucker in the lineup. They pulled the trigger on a trade to acquire emerging powerhouse starter Edward Cabrera from the Miami Marlins. They restocked a depleted bullpen with four veteran free agent pickups (Phil Maton, Hoby Milner, Jacob Webb, and Hunter Harvey). They also re-signed starter Shota Imanaga and reliever Caleb Thielbar on one-year deals.

Cubs get an “A” on offseason report card

The Cubs’ efforts were enough to earn them a stellar grade of “A” in a recent piece by former MLB exec Jim Bowden at The Athletic, giving them the same report card grade as the Baltimore Orioles and Toronto Blue Jays. Only the Dodgers got a higher grade, with an A+ after another offseason spending big money for big acquisitions.

Per Bowden:

“The Cubs have had arguably their best offseason since president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer took over in November 2020. They bolstered their starting rotation by acquiring Edward Cabrera, who has three years of team control remaining. They rebuilt the bullpen, adding five new relievers. But they made their biggest splash with the Alex Bregman signing. In addition to what he brings to the field, Bregman gives the Cubs an instant upgrade in team leadership and clubhouse culture. They lost Kyle Tucker in free agency but still have one of the best defensive outfields with Gold Glovers Ian Happ and Pete Crow-Armstrong.”

Bowden, who is picking the Cubs to finish first in the NL Central Division, listed the team’s biggest question as Justin Steele and whether he can make a healthy, productive return by mid-season.

But when/if/how Steele returns is not even close to being the only question on this Cubs squad, which seems pretty much set for the start of the season.

Glaring questions remain

Pitching is still the biggest all-around concern for this team.

Starter Matthew Boyd, who managed to stay healthy last season, has a long history of injury, as do Cade Horton and the newcomer Cabrera, who weren’t able to stay healthy. Jameson Taillon and Imanaga had long IL stints last season. And, of course, Steele is coming off elbow surgery.

In the bullpen, meanwhile, Daniel Palencia seemed to lose his luster as the team’s closer late in the season in his first extended run as a closer at the MLB level. He also suffered a late-season shoulder injury that landed him on the IL.

Then there’s the reality that a lot of the position players on the 2025 team had career offensive years, like Pete Crow-Armstrong, Michael Busch, Nico Hoerner, and Carson Kelly. There’s bound to be some regression in at least some of them.

Yes, it’s true that all teams have question marks and that health and/or consistent play is not a guarantee for anyone. Any team, any player can be a victim of circumstance. The best a front office can do is line up all its ducks in a row and hope they don’t get run over by fate.

Have the Cubs done enough to protect themselves from the inherent uncertainty of baseball fates? On paper, the answer seems to be “yes.” On paper.

The post Chicago Cubs get “A” grade for offseason moves amid glaring questions appeared first on ChiCitySports.

Source: https://www.chicitysports.com/chicago-cubs-report-card-grade-2026-bregman-palencia-hoyer-steele