Why are the Cubs comfortable with the players they have?

When the Chicago Cubs made the first bold move of the MLB offseason, signing manager Craig Counsell from the rival Milwaukee Brewers to a $40 million contract in mid-November, many in the sport thought it could be the beginning of a winter vacation in the North. . area, although Jed Hoyer said that wouldn’t necessarily be the case.

The start of spring training arrived with speed and it seems that the team’s president of baseball operations could be right, as the roster looks very similar to the one that missed the playoffs by a single game last year. Sure, there were additions, like 30-year-old starter Shota Imanaga and 34-year-old reliever Hector Neris, but the biggest headlines come from the moves the Cubs didn’t make.

While they were mentioned as shooters to land Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the Cubs didn’t land any of the most coveted free agents on the market, nor any other elite-level players. And to this point, they have also not been able to retain the one who patrolled center field at Wrigley Field last season, since Cody Bellinger is still a free agent.

That’s in part because their plan to compete revolves around promoting young players from their highly touted farm system, as well as opening their wallets for splashy veteran additions. So instead of cameras following every move made by a new star in spring training, the atmosphere at Sloan Park is one of praise for an incoming wave of talent.

“We have a lot of young players and some young veteran players that I think have a chance to take real steps forward,” Hoyer said last week. “The most exciting thing for me is that I think we have a deep roster. And we have a deep roster of players who have the opportunity to continue to improve. I think that gives me a lot of hope that this year we can achieve what we couldn’t last year ”.

But the question is whether those young players who are coming in with a lot of hype, like hitting prospects Owen Cassie and Pete Crow-Armstrong and pitchers Cade Horton and Ben Brown, will really be ready to fill the voids Chicago needs to fill in 2024. There are question marks in center field, at both corner infield positions and throughout the pitching staff.

“I look back at where we were a year ago and some of the players that stepped up, and now we look at those guys as established major league players,” Hoyer said, referring to All-Star Justin Steele. “The hope is that within a year there will be five or six of those guys who establish themselves as Cubs.”

Despite that hope, the disappointment of not making the postseason still lingers, evident at the start of spring training, leaving players, like second baseman Nico Hoerner, contemplating whether the Cubs are better now than they were last year. . past.

“All of us are asking that question individually and as a group, and it’s up to us to answer it as the season progresses,” Hoerner said. “Any time you get too deep into baseball predictions, they’re usually not very accurate. Obviously, you want the best possible team you can have on the diamond.

“There are still players out there, so I don’t know what that’s going to look like, but as far as the group we have here now, I think we definitely have what we need to compete and make a lot of improvements internally.”

Of course, the biggest improvement to the roster would come if Bellinger made a big splash in the spring announcing his return like Dexter Fowler did in 2016, but don’t count on that happening anytime soon.

The Cubs and Bellinger’s camp have been at a standstill all offseason and nothing has changed, according to sources familiar with the situation. That doesn’t mean a deal still can’t be reached, but it does show that the Cubs are willing to go until 2024 without the 2019 MVP and that it’s extremely unlikely the team will change its stance on offering a massive deal, especially considering the plan. It was always making the Crow-Armstrong transition at center. However, a short-term stay with opt-outs is always a possibility, as the Cubs want to remain flexible as their youngsters mature into major league players.

But even if a reunion with Bellinger never occurs, the Cubs could also use the services of free agent third baseman Matt Chapman, and have been linked to Miami Marlins starter Jesús Luzardo as a possible trade, so the additions are not They are off the list. discussion.

But it’s getting late and time may be running out. Hoyer said last month that they were only in the fourth or fifth inning of their offseason drills, but gave an update last week saying that “the closer is warming up at this point.”

If the door closes on a notable last-minute addition in free agency, Counsell will be counted on to make the biggest difference for next season.

Widely considered one of the best, if not the best, coaches in the sport, Counsell takes over a team that missed the playoffs despite a plus-96 run differential. His impact might be enough to limit the bad guys. . Moments (like the offensive, in May, or the series of losses in series played during September) that had the Cubs as simple spectators from home in October.

Early-season projections once again leave Chicago out of the playoffs, but those systems may not be able to evaluate the combination of a new coach and a young, hungry team with several players looking to break through. And if Counsell can do that — put together a young roster and improve it a bit — then maybe no one will remember the moves the Cubs didn’t make this winter.

“In my experience, the way teams achieve better results and have special seasons is by having guys do things that weren’t projected,” Counsell said. “We have several guys in this camp that have a chance to exceed expectations and take that step. That’s how you end up having a special season.”