Cubs or Sox?

[Frank Sereno]

Which team is more likely to win a playoff series in the next two
to three years? The White Sox were supposed to be built to win
the World Series. They struggled to reach .500 and collapsed in a
late season series with the Guardians when they had a chance to
challenge for the division. And then their 900 year-old former
Cub manager decided to retire for health reasons.

Then you have the Cubs, who continued to dump talent but were
actually competitive after the All-Star break. They didn't really
bring up their best prospects, most of their "young" players were
near 30 years old. But they have a ton of money if old Tom
Ricketts is willing to spend it baseball players rather than
buying an English football team.

So which team has the brighter future?

[Band Beyond Youall]

Jed Hoyer’s season-ending presser the other day.

What’s the point of “building up the team” when you’ve got a proven record
of tearing it down at the drop of a hat? #Cubs

https://www.mlb.com/video/jed-hoyer-on-building-up-team

[Band Beyond Youall]

7 years ago today, the #Cubs hit six home runs in one game setting a
postseason record 🤯

Kyle Schwarber, Starlin Castro, Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, Jorge Soler &
Dexter Fowler all homered. 💪🏼

(📸: @cubs)

https://twitter.com/cubszone/status/1580166481320374272?s=46&t=B-b1tIlMc6XmuY2jcWjWJw

[Michael Sacks]

First of all .... Hi! Been about a year and a half since I posted.

Second of all, tough call. The White Sox have a ton of young and ready talent, but they are going through a transition. They need a manager. They have a catcher and 3B who should be able to hit that were unbelievably bad at the plate last year. They're losing the leadership of Abreu, although it's expected they'll sign an outfielder and move Vaughn to keep the hitting reasonably close. They realistically can't spend more money in 2023 than 2022, and that'll be hard to do and make things happen. I really feel this 2023 White Sox team is an optimistic version of the 2019 Cubs ... they have to win next year or their window could be closed. Grandal comes off the books for 2023, but they'll still need a catcher and spend that salary. In the end, the 2023 White Sox at the moment look like a good but flawed franchise ... like the 2019 Cubs. I think they'll do better than the Cubs' 84 games, but I think they are only a maybe for making the playoffs next year, and are like to desperately hold on to what they think is an existent window but is actually a diminishing one, and I expect their 2024 and 2025 could be like the Cubs' 2020 and 2021. They are more likely rebuilding 3 years from now than dominating. I do think I'd be a little more optimistic about them than what happened to the Cubs, because not everyone is coming off the books and years of control at the same time, but their chances of winning big seem low to me now. Their farm system is also depleted.

The Cubs? The Cubs have some pieces. Stroman, Hendricks, and other rotation pieces. Suzuki, Hoerner, Happ, Reyes, maybe Morel, Gomes is fine for your backup. You can bring back Madrigal and Wisdom and give them another year, as long as there's someone on the 40 man roster to replace them if they can't hack it in 2023. The pieces you're missing (starting catcher, strong 1B bat, another outfielder) can be found by free agent money. The bullpen ... well, it somehow looked good occasionally after the trade deadline, but it's not a playoff winning caliber bullpen without 4+ new players. The farm system is ... good, not great.

The biggest problem with the Cubs? Star power. They don't have it. Stroman maybe, Suzuki maybe, but there's no one else on the roster who I think even has the potential of making multiple all star games for the rest of their career. The White Sox have young stars that have some issues. The Cubs don't have the same level of stars.

So for the Cubs, this offseason will show 2 things. Are the Cubs willing to spend for 2023, even if not 100%, willing to spend near the $200M salary mark? And are they going after star player pieces, or just solidifying around the guys here?

My feeling is neither team has a bright future, but this offseason will determine whether the Cubs is brighter than the Sox. Spending on Rodon, Turner, Syndergaard, Judge, maybe even someone like Eovaldi or Belt ... that shows me they're looking not just for 2023, but the next few years, and realizing they need star power. If the Cubs pick up some nice pieces like Abreu at 1B, or Kershaw on a 2-year deal ... I mean, it'll be SOOOOOO much better, but it's not looking like they have a plan for a ballclub that'll win 90+ games multiple years in a row.

And for the White Sox, I think we'll need 2 months into 2023 to see if there's a positive manager affect, and whether guys like Grandal and Moncada can even hit average.

The one thing I'll say I like about the Cubs vs. the White Sox is this ... I do believe the power for the Cubs to be great is in the Cubs' control. They have nothing holding them back. The White Sox are short on minor league talent, near the limits of their spending, and have question marks they can't change the roster around to solidify (those players will either be good or be bad, but they'll be those players). And that makes me less anxious thinking about the Cubs chances ... just have to trust Hoyer and Ricketts make decisions in the next few months that moves them that direction.

So, ask me on June 1st and I'd have a strong feeling which way to answer. Right now, I trust the Cubs more than the Sox, but the Sox have too much young talent that could realistically coalesce in 2023 to ignore.