The Athletic’s national MLB insider Ken Rosenthal called out Chicago Cubs ownership on his Fair Territory’s “Dork of the Week,” segment on Friday. Why? The same reason fans have been frustrated ever since the Cubs won the 2016 World Series. Sure, the Cubs spend, but they have not show the desire to go above and beyond to ensure that they can clearly be the class of their own division.
That was the gist of Rosenthal’s mini-rant, pointing out how the Cubs are not acting like a big-market team.
Fair Territory with @alannarizzo!
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*Answering your questions
*Dudes and dorks of the week
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— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) November 29, 2024
That’s what’s so insane. The bar is low for the Cubs inside their own division and yet we see that they’d rather be conservative than risk being great by spending a bit more money.
“All we’re hearing out of Chicago, the North Side, is ‘eh we’re not gonna be involved in any of the big free agents.’ We’re gonna just try to do some other things. They’re trying to trade Cody Bellinger, I get that. But where are the Cubs? …. [The Cubs] have the ability, if they spend some money, to become a special team …. The Cubs have an opportunity here to maybe seize control of this division and they are squandering it. Cubs ownership, Dorks of the Week.”
The Cubs are reportedly desperate to unload Cody Bellinger this offseason after the outfielder/first baseman opted back into his deal with the team following the World Series. Despite having pitching as their top priority this winter the Cubs are not seen as suitors for Corbin Burnes nor Max Fried and were not involved with Blake Snell, who signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Juan Soto, one of the best hitters in baseball since making his MLB debut in 2018 and is a free agent at 26-years-old? Not even a consideration for the Cubs.
We’ll beat this drum over and over again. The Cubs have one of it not the most expensive ticket in all of baseball and yet the owners won’t sign off on franchise-changing players. Year after year you see star players signing around the league and the Cubs sit idly by, living off their 2016 championship.
Pathetic.
