The GM Meetings in Las Vegas have wrapped up this week and while no major moves were the Chicago Cubs publicly confirmed their obvious offseason focus. It's pitching. Cool. Again, obvious and probably didn't need to be said out loud, but just in case you had doubts about the team's plan to upgrade the roster this winter both Jed Hoyer and Carter Hawkins addressed what the front office will try to accomplish.
First, Hoyer on the top priority for the Cubs this offseason.
If there was any doubt as to where Jed Hoyer and the Chicago Cubs would prioritize their winter plans, he cleared them up Tuesday at the General Managers Meetings in Las Vegas.
Pitching, pitching and more pitching.
“I think that’s obvious — look at our depth chart,” the Cubs president of baseball operations told reporters at the yearly event, hosted this year at the Cosmopolitan. “We’re in pretty good position on the position player side — on the pitching side, we’re thinner.
“I think that’s going to be our focus, and I expect to explore trades; I expect to explore free agency — both at the top of the market but also looking at minor league free agency.”
You can hear more from Hoyer in the clip below from Tuesday night.
Meanwhile, Hawkins went into a bit more detail on why the Cubs are mainly focusing in on upgrading their team through pitching acquisitions.
Via The Athletic.
“One of my favorite things to talk about in the office with the guys is: ‘A win is a win is a win,’” Cubs general manager Carter Hawkins said. “An offensive win is the same as a defensive win is the same as a pitching win. But if you look at our current lineup, our current depth chart, where are we most likely to be able to improve?
“It’s going to be on the pitching side. That’s where the most opportunity is. It’s not that we wouldn’t acquire an awesome position player or be active on the position-player market in different ways. But it’s just most likely that it’s going to be in the pitching space where we find things that make us better for the cost that we’re looking to be paying at that time.
“That’s a long way of saying: ‘Yeah, our focus will be everywhere,’ but I would imagine that most of the action would be involved in the pitching market.”
Sweet. And actually great because I'll always believe in the notion that you can never have enough pitching. Plus, there are some early indications that the Cubs will actually target pitchers at the top of the free agent market this offseason to add to their rotation. Again, sweet!
I mean, for 2026 and beyond the Cubs 100% have to add more pitching talent to the starting rotation AND although we probably won't see big-name acquisitions in the reliever department, fans should fully expect the Cubs to be active replenishing the bullpen. The thing is, I'm not feeling comfortable with how the Cubs are seemingly pushing aside the need to improve the offense.
Kyle Tucker is an after thought right now and while his last couple months with the Cubs were certainly deflating, he still made a huge impact on the lineup through June, when the team had a top-three scoring team in baseball. But OK, the Cubs don't feel Tucker is worth $400 million, but that's an argument for a different day. How about just adding another solid bat in 2026, to ease the pressure from the young guys like Moises Ballesteros, Owen Caissie, or not expecting Matt Shaw to just continue his second-half success.
I mean, don't get me wrong, I think those guys will certainly continue, but we've also seen that development is not linear. Pete Crow-Armstrong turned things around in 2024, then was amazing through the All-Star break in 2025, and was then really bad the last two months of the season. If you have the ability to add talent to your roster you should. The Cubs do and for some reason they really aren't putting a strong enough emphasis on finding another bat to help replace Tucker's absence.
Via The Athletic.
The argument could be made that, with Kyle Tucker likely headed elsewhere, the Cubs have to find an impact bat as well. But availability plays a role here. There are multiple top-tier starters available through trades and free agency. After Tucker, the options on the position-player side become limited.
The Cubs also believe they have most of their spots in the lineup already filled. They would be happy to give young players such as Owen Caissie and Moisés Ballesteros a chance to show what they can do at the highest level.
For our sake, I hope Hoyer and the Cubs don't end up regretting this plan, which seems too one-sided for my liking. We've seen how the offense can sputter without an impact bat and right now it doesn't appear as though that's anywhere near the top of this team's priority list, which could be a costly mistake.
