The Cubs are in the midst of a rebuild but they may not need to bottom out before returning to relevance. Chicago has made a few offseason additions to bolster its lineup and rotation. Most importantly, the Cubs are building a winning culture for the future.
Dansby Swanson headlined the Cubs’ free-agent additions, along with Cody Bellinger, Jameson Taillon, Eric Hosmer, and others. They aren’t the Aaron Judges or Trea Turners of the world, but they can have an impact on a young Cubs team both on and off the field.
Cubs play-by-play announcer Jon “Boog” Sciambi recently experienced his first Cubs Convention and was impressed with the atmosphere. It’s not the only thing he’s impressed about heading into the 2023 season.
Boog joined WEEI’s Rob Bradford on the Audacy Original Podcast “Baseball Isn’t Boring” and talked about the culture that the Cubs are building as the franchise looks to contend in the coming years.
This will be Sciambi’s third season behind the mic for the Cubs, but it was his first Cubs Con.
“It was intense. I couldn’t really wrap my head around how many fans were there in this massive ballroom, all these panel shows, etc, and it was multiple floors,” he said. “It was pretty incredible.”
The fans weren’t the only ones excited to be there, though.
“I think the one thing that I would say I took away from it is … guys like Taillon, Swanson, Bellinger were really excited to be there,” Sciambi said (10:16 in player above). “Like there was a real vibe of ‘This is going to be cool playing for this team.’ I think that’s what I really took away.”
Swanson, Bellinger, and Taillon have the potential to make a huge impact on the field, but it’s a guy like Hosmer that gets overlooked by many. His presence in the clubhouse makes up for his declining production on the field.
“You start with Hos, you just will not find a guy that teammates seem to unanimously say ‘That dude, I like him on my team and he’s good in our room,’” Sciambi said. “Whether the production’s off the charts or not, he has garnered a reputation as a guy to follow. Period.”
Hosmer won a World Series with the Royals in 2015 after Kansas City lost to the Giants in 2014. He then spent four-plus years with the Padres before being shipped to the Red Sox last season.
But Hosmer isn’t the only World Series winner the Cubs added. Bellinger won the 2020 World Series with the Dodgers and is hoping to find success with a change of scenery.
Of course, Swanson won the World Series with the Braves in 2021 and the shortstop chose his grandfather’s favorite team to try to win another one – perhaps as the face of the franchise.
“I think Dansby Swanson – think about what he did. It’s not like the Braves weren’t interested in him. He grew up in Atlanta, he played for the hometown team, he won a World Series there, and he made the choice he wanted to be in Chicago,” Sciambi said. “I would say that Dansby’s a guy whose leadership qualities have grown as he has grown as a player and as he’s matured, and he pretty clearly wanted to be the face of this franchise.”
These offseason acquisitions may not make much of a difference in terms of making the playoffs in 2023 for the Cubs, but it wouldn’t be shocking given the weak NL Central. It also wouldn’t be surprising if this is the start of the Cubs improving year after year.
The Cubs also have one of the most underrated farm systems in baseball, according to a recent poll of MLB executives. They were ranked as the 10th-best farm system back in August.
“They’ve retooled their farm system to the degree that they have all these lottery tickets and maybe some of these players who look like they’re going to be pretty good end up being dudes and they pop,” Sciambi said. “They have way more lottery tickets than most teams do and so I think that what their intention is would be to start creating that clubhouse and that runway of that culture towards ‘23, ‘24, ‘25.”
If the Cubs can have guys like Pete Crow-Armstrong, Brennen Davis, and Kevin Alcantara develop into players in the near future, they could be on track to compete sooner rather than later. The clubhouse culture they’re building will certainly help that.
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