Chicago Cubs: 2 Glaring Needs For Offseason

The Chicago Cubs did their major sell-off in 2021, and it seems they've already reached a point of impatience with the "rebuild", with observers having them being big spenders this winter to accelerate their return to relevance. 

President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer has already signaled his intention to make the Cubs competitive in 2023, and says he misses the excitement of postseason baseball.

Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer holding his season-end press conference this morning. Says he feels there is “real sense of momentum in this building” in light of solid second half. He “absolutely” wants to field a competitive team in 2023. pic.twitter.com/MvV4KScZ9m

— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) October 10, 2022

With that in mind, here are the two most glaring needs for the Cubs this offseason:

An Impact Bat

"We have to be a little quicker-strike offense than we were," said Hoyer. A star-level position player is definitely on his radar, and they're expected to be a suitor for one of the big-name shortstops—Trea Turner, Xander Bogaerts, Carlos Correa and Dansby Swanson. 

While Nico Hoerner showed a very promising 2nd half to the season at short, he'd be switched to 2B to accommodate one of the aforementioned. And one of them seems to be the favorite.

According to @thekapman:

Shortstop Trea Turner is interested in signing with the Chicago Cubs this offseason. "Cubs mutually interested in Turner."

Pitcher Carlos Rodon is also interested in signing with the Cubs this offseason.

— Daniel Greenberg (@ChiSportUpdates) September 14, 2022

According to Chicago sports personality David Kaplan, the Cubs and Turner have mutual interest. And another big-name free agent mentioned as a possibility, Carlos Rodon, brings us to the second glaring need:

Starting Rotation Help

"It's important that we continue to add quality innings, I guess I would say, [without] putting the pressure on how I would define 'top of the rotation.' We're actively looking for quality innings," said Hoyer.

Rodon would certainly be a definition of a 'top of the rotation' arm, after proving himself able to stay healthy this season with the San Francisco Giants, and notching his 2nd consecutive All-Star season with an ERA well below 3.00. The hard-throwing Rodon and his 200+ strikeout stuff would make an ideal complement for Marcus Stroman to help lead the starting staff of the Cubs into the future. 

Photo: Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports