(670 The Score) The Cubs don't anticipate making any big-money additions this offseason, but they figure to have a revamped look on their roster when the 2021 season starts.
Eight Cubs players have become free agents with the World Series having now come to an end, and the team faces a handful of decisions on other players in the coming days as well.
Reliever Andrew Chafin, right-hander Tyler Chatwood, outfielder Billy Hamilton, reliever Jeremy Jeffress, second baseman Jason Kipnis, outfielder Cameron Maybin, catcher Josh Phegley and left-hander José Quintana have all become free agents.
The Cubs figure to let most of those players walk. Of them, Jeffress could be the priority to retain after a standout season in which he posted a 1.54 ERA and 0.94 WHIP in 22 appearances. He also had eight saves in stepping up after the struggling Craig Kimbrel lost his closer's job.
The Cubs also hold team options on three players – first baseman Anthony Rizzo ($16.5 million), left-hander Jon Lester ($25 million) and infielder Daniel Descalso ($3.5 million). The Cubs are expected to pick up Rizzo's option. They're expected to decline the options on the other two, which would kick in a $10-million buyout for Lester and a $1-million buyout for Descalso, who missed the entire season with an ankle injury.
Lester's future with the organization is one of the most intriguing storylines of the Cubs' offseason. He lived up to every bit of the six-year, $155-million deal he signed in December 2014, becoming a rock in the rotation for years and serving as an ace when the Cubs won the World Series in 2016. Shortly after the Cubs exited in the wild-card round, president of baseball operations Theo Epstein left open the possibility of Lester returning to the organization in 2021 – if the circumstances line up well for both sides.
Lester, 36, has acknowledged he may have thrown his last pitch with the Cubs. He was 3-3 with a 5.16 ERA and 1.33 WHIP in 12 starts this season.
"If this is it, this is it," Lester said on Oct 1. "I have to move on with it. The organization will definitely move on. You see it over the years – if somebody leaves or goes down, you fill it in with another person. I've definitely appreciated everything this organization has done for me, and I hope it's not it. I hope we can figure something out for next year and these conversations (about my goodbye) are kind of null and void."
