MLB News: Cubs GM Identifies Top Two Offseason Targets

Ten games separated the Chicago Cubs from first place in the National League Central in 2024. Six games separated them from the NL’s final Wild Card berth. Those gaps are small enough that a strong offseason could put the Cubs in position to return to baseball’s postseason for the first time since 2020.

Coming off an 83-win season, there are a few obvious holes in the Cubs’ roster. Their need for starting pitching help only grew when veteran Kyle Hendricks – the last member of the 2016 World Series champion team still in Chicago – signed with the Los Angeles Angels last week.

Cubs general manager Carter Hawkins confirmed starting pitching is on his offseason shopping list confirmed the obvious in an interview with ESPN’s Buster Olney. So is catching help – a position at which the Cubs accrued minus-0.2 Wins Above Replacement in 2024, according to FanGraphs.

“We really like Miguel Amaya at catcher but we feel that’s an opportunity for us to get better, whether that’s pairing a player with Miguel or finding somebody to take everyday at-bats there,” Hawkins said. “You can really never have enough great arms. That’s the probably the space that we’ll focus on the most. If we can find an opportunity to improve over any of our other players, we’ll do it, it’s just the better the player it is, the harder it is to improve over that player.”

The list of veteran catchers available in free agency is short.

Gary Sanchez recently had his option declined by the Milwaukee Brewers, joining a group of free agents that includes Danny Jansen, Elias Diaz and Carson Kelly. All would be viable mentors to the 25-year-old Amaya, who’s played 170 major league games with Chicago over the last two seasons.

According to Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic, Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer “aggressively pursued” catchers last summer, noting the Angels “repeatedly and firmly rebuffed” offers for backstop Logan O’Hoppe in trade talks.

On the pitching front, options abound.

Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors noted the Cubs narrowly crossed the luxury tax threshold in 2024, meaning they’d need to surrender their second- and fifth-highest selections in the 2025 draft as well as $1 million of space from their 2025 international bonus pool in order to sign Corbin Burnes, Max Fried, Sean Manaea, Luis Severino or any of the free agents who received a qualifying offer.

Starters without a qualifying offer attached include Jack Flaherty, Blake Snell, Yusei Kikuchi, Justin Verlander, Shane Bieber, and former Cub Jose Quintana, in addition to a variety of potential trade candidates. Patrick Mooney of The Athletic recently reported the Cubs are in the market for bullpen help as well, but it’s always reassuring to hear the priorities articulated from the primary source.