It has been a great start to the season for the Chicago Cubs after a busy winter for the franchise.
The Cubs have been rolling right along to begin the year, and they are a team that is living up to lofty expectations.
This winter, the franchise made a plethora of moves to improve the roster and most have worked out great. The notable addition of Kyle Tucker has helped transform this offense into one of the best in the league, and the talented slugger is making those around him better.
With one of the best offenses in baseball, Chicago has a ton of potential this campaign. However, there are some looming concerns for the team.
Even though they made some upgrades to their bullpen, there still appears to be some issues in that area. Currently, the Cubs have one of the worst bullpen ERAs in baseball, and adding another arm or two would be a good idea.
Furthermore, while the rotation has done well overall, they are going to be without a key member for the rest of the year. This might trigger some more trades later on in order to help replace that production, especially considering their expectations for this campaign.
Jim Bowden of The Athletic (subscription required) recently wrote about a reason to be pessimistic about the Cubs in 2025 is the loss of star pitcher Justin Steele.
“The Cubs have already lost their second-best starting pitcher, Justin Steele, to season-ending surgery. Steele had posted a 3.09 ERA over 82 starts since 2022," he wrote.
The loss of Steele is a significant one for Chicago. Coming into the season, the team arguably could have used another front-end caliber starter to pair with their talented southpaws.
However, with the loss of the left-hander for the year, the team is now really in need of one. While they will likely be able to survive in the regular season, it’s when playoff time comes that they will need additional help.
In the National League alone, there are a lot of talented pitchers at the top of some of the contenders’ rotations. For the Cubs, they might have a great lineup, but are lacking in that area.
Fortunately, Chicago is no stranger to working the trade market to improve the team. Come the trade deadline during the summer, the team should have some options available to replace Steele.
For a team that was hoping to be a title contender, this was a significant blow to the rotation. Replacing a pitcher of that quality isn’t easy, and the Cubs will have a lot of work to do.
