The Chicago Cubs aren’t done building their 2025 roster.
Any additions they do make in the coming weeks, though, would be focused on addressing the bullpen and bench. As they evaluate the free-agent bullpen options, which still include high-end arms that would certainly come at a pricey cost, a reliever who has closing experience won’t be a prerequisite for president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer.
“Quality relievers, sometimes those guys have closed, sometimes they haven’t, but it never hurts,” Hoyer said Friday before the 38th annual Cubs Convention kicked off. “In general, we’re involved in a lot of different relievers. We have tons of lines in the water, I guess I would say, and it’s a little bit of a staring contest at times with all these guys. But there’s a lot of talent out there, and we’ll just look to upgrade the roster however we can.”
While the Cubs plan to be opportunistic with improving the roster, they are unlikely to acquire a starting pitcher to plug into the rotation.
“I never feel as though we have enough pitching, and so we’ll continue to look for quality arms however they come, but yeah, that may be an area that we may not continue to add to this winter,” Hoyer said. “But if there’s an opportunity, we wouldn’t avoid it.”
As they weigh through spring training how to build their pitching staff with their depth, right-hander Nate Pearson will get stretched out to an extent during camp, but Hoyer expects him to help out of the bullpen.
A finally healthy Dansby Swanson building to spring training
Dansby Swanson knew for a while that offseason surgery likely awaited him once the 2024 season ended.
The shortstop underwent a core procedure in October to address an issue he had been dealing with for a long time, estimating he had played through it for roughly the last 1½ seasons. He initially wasn’t sure what the ailment was, prompting him to take the rehab route. But the situation eventually got to the point where surgery was necessary to get him back to 100%.
“No one’s going to give excuses for this, that and the other,” Swanson said. “It was obviously my choice to play and to play through things, and we all do, right, throughout the year. Like, you see guys all the time at the end of the year, ‘Oh, I didn’t realize you were dealing with that.’ And so no one makes excuses about it. But obviously when you’re not healthy, it affects things. And it’s our job to obviously figure out how to still be a productive player in different ways.”
Post-surgery, Swanson said he feels like himself again and that it gives him a reset to refocus on what needs to be done to get — and stay — healthy.
“I’m not not concerned or worried about how to take time off or do anything different spring training,” Swanson, 30, said. “Obviously it’s a little bit of a different ramp-up than in years past because of the series in Japan. But I knew that going into the procedure and everything as well. So, just excited to be able to get back out there and start doing some things.”
Kyle Tucker, Cubs happy with arbitration outcome
Tucker welcomed his 28th birthday Friday with a look toward the future.
Tucker and the Cubs were able to avoid arbitration by agreeing Thursday to a $16.5 million salary for 2025. With that behind him and both sides happy with the outcome, the outfielder got his first taste of Cubs fandom Friday while also meeting his new teammates.
“I was glad we got it done, the timing of the exchange date is always a touch awkward with convention, it’s happened a lot of times, but it’s a process,” Hoyer said. “It’s hard to explain, I think, to fans, but you have to exchange numbers. But I think both sides were motivated to get a deal done. Obviously I’m excited he’s here under contract and I’m glad we put that behind us.”
Tucker, who was acquired in a December trade with the Houston Astros, said there has “not yet” been any groundwork laid for a long-term deal with the Cubs, saying, “we’ll see where that leads to a little later … we’ll see what happens.” As to Juan Soto’s deal with the New York Mets this offseason — 15 years, $765 million — changing his thinking about free agency, Tucker noted that “you have to acknowledge anyone’s deals that come up” but “a lot can change throughout the year.”
“All I’ve got to do is just go out and play, the rest kind of takes care of itself so as long as I go out and do what I want to on the field, in terms of getting all the games played and going out and putting up stats and trying to accumulate wins and try and get us to the playoffs and have a run at the World Series is my goal,” Tucker said. “That stuff I feel like just kind of takes care of itself at the end of the day.”
