The Chicago Cubs missed out on a few key free agents before the start of the regular season due to money. Following their trade for Kyle Tucker, it would have made sense for the Cubs to go after Alex Bregman. Instead, he signed with the Boston Red Sox.
Chicago entered the 2025 regular season with questions about who would man the fifth spot in the starting pitching rotation. Ben Brown has the job now, but the Cubs were interested in Lance Lynn.
Lynn said he chose to sign with any team and go into retirement after the money he was offered didn’t match what it would have taken to get him off the couch.
The Chicago Cubs went cheap in the offseason
Patrick Mooney, Ken Rosenthal, and Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic did a deep dive into why the Cubs payroll doesn’t match what they bring in from fans in revenue.
The topic went viral when BrooksGate posted a picture on X showing the Cubs rank 26th in the MLB for what percentage of revenue they spend on payroll, 36.4%.
In 2024, Chicago brought in $584 million but is spending only $213 million on payroll in 2025.
how much revenue each MLB team generated last year, and how much of that is going towards their payroll this year pic.twitter.com/UAZmHhaR8a
— BrooksGate (@Brooks_Gate) March 29, 2025
The Cubs lowballed Matt Chapman
To illustrate the point on how cheap the Cubs can be on the payroll, The Athletic spoke with five-time Gold Glove Award winner Matt Chapman, who wound up signing with the San Francisco Giants on a three-year deal worth $54 million.
The Cubs never made him a formal offer.
“The year before, with a hole at third base, league sources said the Cubs kept Chapman on their radar but never made a formal offer due to budgetary constraints,” per the report.
The star third baseman claimed the Cubs were interested in him but only wanted to give him a one-year deal.
“The Cubs had a lot of interest in me,” Chapman said. “They were willing to do a one-year deal with me. There was just no way I could take the Cubs’ one-year deal, just for protection purposes. I was definitely considering it. I thought it would have been a good place to play. I thought they were a good team.
“Even if it was two with an opt-out after the first year, I would have really had to take a look at it. But they said with the way their money was, they could only do a one-year. I was just like, ‘That’s just too risky.’”
Champman earned 7.1 wins above replacement in 2024.
The Cubs are rolling with rookie Matt Shaw on third base. While he could be in the race for Rookie of the Year, Chicago could have made sure they got the most out of the trade for Tucker by adding a veteran third baseman to go all-in this season.
Or Chicago could prove they care about more than money by making sure Tucker isn’t a one-year loan.
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