The Cubs’ offseason priorities are starting to take shape, and the message from Jed Hoyer is pretty clear: pitching comes first.
That doesn’t necessarily close every door on the position-player market, but it does make a big swing at the top end look unlikely. When Hoyer spoke with reporters last Friday, he stopped short of putting an exact split on how the Cubs will divide their resources, yet he made the club’s emphasis plain.
“I think it’s safe to say that the biggest part of our focus going into the offseason is going to be on pitching,” Hoyer said. “Whether that’s 100-0, what ratio that’s going to be, is not to be determined yet. But certainly the great majority of our focus is going to be on pitching acquisition going in.”
That matters for a name like Randy Arozarena, who on paper looks like the kind of outfield bat the Cubs could use. With Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki both set to hit free agency this offseason, Arozarena fits the profile of a player who could slide into the conversation quickly.
He also comes off a huge year at exactly the right time. In 670 plate appearances with the Seattle Mariners, Arozarena hit .281/.381/.484 with 26 home runs and a 151 wRC+.
But the fit and the timing don’t automatically mean a chase is coming. The Cubs are not expected to get into a bidding war for Suzuki, and the same logic seems likely to apply to Arozarena. The free-agent market for hitters is thin, which only makes a strong season like Arozarena’s more expensive, and that points toward a long-term deal the Cubs may not want to make if pitching is where the real spending is headed.
There’s also the matter of what the Cubs already have in the pipeline. The team likely will add an outfielder this offseason, but Josiah Hartshorn and Kane Kepley are waiting behind the current group. Neither is expected to be ready for the majors by Opening Day 2027, but both could be getting close by the end of that year.
Taken together, that makes Arozarena look more like a luxury than a target. And if the Cubs were truly serious about him, the conversation around Suzuki’s future would probably sound very different right now.
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Michael King has emerged as the kind of target that fits the assignment, giving the Cubs a realistic option if he reaches free agency after this year. He brings the kind of recent performance teams can build around, including a strong regular season and a postseason run that only added to his appeal. The only real question now is how aggressive Chicago wants to be in turning that fit into a signing, especially with more than one rotation spot still in flux. [Read more 🡒]