Comparing the Cardinals' current roster to their division foes

Chicago Cubs

Living in the Chicagoland area and consuming sports radio for most of the day, I get the "pleasure" of riding the rollercoaster of emotions that the fans did. While the Cubs and Cardinals each finished with 83-win seasons, the Cardinals viewed their season as a failure while Cubs fans saw their late-season success as a surge toward 2025.

Starting Rotation

After a tough year from the rotation in 2023, the Cubs received a welcomed boost from newcomer Shota Imanaga, who went 15-3 with a sub-3 ERA. Imanaga was named an NL All-Star and finished top-5 in both Rookie of the Year and Cy Young Award voting. Jameson Taillon, fresh off a disappointing year, bounced back in a strong way with a 12-8 record and provided some needed stability with preseason #1 Justin Steele only being healthy for 24 starts.

The fourth spot for now will be filled by free-agent signing Matthew Boyd, who had good results in a short eight-start season last season and is signed for two years at $29 million. The team was finally able to move on from veteran Kyle Hendricks, who signed a deal with the Angels, so the fifth spot will be open to bespectacled Javier Assad, who showed glimpses after a full-time move to the rotation, or a minor league arm in waiting.

Bullpen

Much of the Cubs' struggles can be attributed to late-game breakdowns from the bullpen, as evidenced by their starters only receiving decisions in about half of their starts. All in all, the team blew 19 saves with five of them coming from closer Hector Neris, who went back and forth from the closer role before being dealt to Houston. The Tucker trade saw the Cubs send away swingman Hayden Wesneski, who showed glimpses of dominant stuff but could not string together consistent results.

The bullpen as a unit is not spectacular as the Cubs have taken a multi-inning reliever approach for much of the last two seasons, with many of their arms averaging well over an inning per appearance in relief. The team is still missing key pieces to keep games competitive or lock down close wins but looked to improve the relief corps with an early offseason signing of former Guardian Eli Morgan.

Infield

The infield for the Cubs has been a question mark for a couple of seasons, as big signing Dansby Swanson has underperformed while 2023 breakout second baseman Nico Hoerner took a major step back last season and has been discussed in trade rumors more often than a franchise piece would expect. The corner infield has been a revolving door since the departures of Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo and the Cubs attempted to shore up third base in a deadline with the Rays for Isaac Paredes. Paredes is seen as a quality hitter but also underwhelmed during his time in Chicago and was just swapped to the Astros for outfield star Kyle Tucker. Along with Paredes, the Cubs shipped third base prospect Cam Smith, so the hot corner is still a spot that the Cubs will look to fill. Smith may limit the Astros' need to overpay for a long-term contract at third base, potentially knocking them out of the Nolan Arenado sweepstakes.

First base has been tough to fill as the initial thought was that prospect Matt Mervis would step right in but has become a forgotten man since he struggled at the outset of his career. This prompted the Cubs to trade for Michael Busch, who put together a strong rookie season with 21 home runs and solid defense at first base.

Going into 2025, the Tucker deal likely moves Bellinger to a full-time role at first base and puts Busch to handle third. Bellinger has been solid in his career resurgence with the Cubs but opting into the 2025 season has caused the team to also take calls on the 29-year-old. That stance may change with the big trade. Another issue for the Cubs has been at the catcher position, as they have failed to find a consistent option. The Cubs signed former Cardinal top prospect Carson Kelly to a two-year deal and they also hope that Miguel Amaya will take the next step into a quality big league catcher. The team moved on from Patrick Wisdom and has light-hitting utility man Miles Mastrobuoni as bench depth to round out the infield.

Outfield

The outfield received a huge boost with the Kyle Tucker trade and may make this outfield the one with the highest floor in the division. Tucker is about to turn 28 years old and will command a big extension, which his camp already said he does not intend to do, or reach the open market next season. The Cubs most likely will want to lock him up long-term and have the finances to do so but will have to compete with the rest of the league next offseason. Big ticket signing Seiya Suzuki has mostly performed up to offensive standards, but his awful outfield defense pushed him to a full-time DH role, which is a role he does not hope to continue. His struggles and contract have at least made the Cubs discuss Suzuki with other teams around the league.

The other two spots are all but promised to switch hitter Ian Happ and young budding star Pete Crow-Armstrong. Happ has been a stable producer for the Cubs, with a low-season OPS of .751 and OPS+ of 102 during his time in the bigs. He has shown some increased power during the past two seasons but has also been prone to struggle for lengthy stretches. Happ's outfield defense has been rewarded with three consecutive Gold Glove awards. PCA brought the energy and defense that had him rated as a consensus top-30 prospect and the team's #1 overall after a trade with the Mets. Crow-Armstrong showed positive trends, but also came across the typical rookie struggles giving him a .670 OPS and 88 OPS+ for the season.

Manager

The 2024 season was expected to finally be the one where the Cubs saw themselves back on top of the division as they stole Brewers' manager Craig Counsell from Milwaukee with a lucrative deal. Counsell has consistently been viewed as a top baseball mind around the league but the Cubs' front office has not been giving him the pieces he expected when moving to a big market.

The Cubs notched 83 wins last year after a late-season surge kept them in the playoff race, but the current roster has a lot of question marks, but their recent move to grab Tucker might signal that the team is planning more big moves as opposed to minor signings to round out the roster.