(670 The Score) It’s a nuanced conversation, as Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic said, but the bottom line is Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts isn’t using the full might of his financial wherewithal and the club’s revenues.
That much is reflected in the Cubs’ payroll for 2025, which checks in at 10th in MLB at just more than $196 million, USA Today recently reported, citing MLB’s present-day calculations. And the Cubs’ conservative approach to player payroll has surprised many across the baseball industry, Sharma said in an interview on Score Middays on Tuesday.
“They’re not spending like anyone expected them to at this point,” Sharma said.
The Cubs ranked ninth in MLB with a $239.9-million payroll in 2024, according to the Associated Press. They should be more aggressive in spending in Sharma’s mind.
“They’ve been in on players,” Sharma said. “They haven’t signed the big one. What’s going to happen with Kyle Tucker? I think that’s where the question really gets answered, right? The Red Sox were kind of in a similar boat lately. People were frustrated, fans were frustrated. They’re starting to spend now. They’re being aggressive, they’re using it. It’s mostly extensions. They couldn’t land Juan Soto, but they’re spending that money. They’re up there. You want the Cubs to be up there. They can not be 12th, 13th, 14th. They can’t even be ninth in my opinion. You need to be in the top five, top six pretty regularly.”
The Cubs are off to an 8-5 start and lead the NL Central in the early going after missing the playoffs in each of the past four seasons. President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer is in the final season of his contract.
Sharma views the Cubs as being in a “middle lane” these days because they signed shortstop Dansby Swanson to a seven-year, $177-million deal ahead of the 2023 and locked down left fielder Ian Happ and second baseman Nico Hoerner on extensions in recent years but haven’t gone all in on landing a star.
“This was supposed to be a reset and then push forward,” Sharma said. “That’s not happening. If your payroll goes down from last year in a must-win season, it’s a little mind-boggling.”
Listen to the full interview in the audio player above.