(670 The Score) While citing the Cubs' subpar pitching as the primary reason for his team's struggles in 2021, president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer emphasized the club will focus on fortifying its rotation with power arms this offseason.
"We need power pitching and power arms to win in today's game," Hoyer said in a season-ending media session Wednesday. "We need to be able to miss bats. We did not strike out enough guys, and we walked too many. If you don't miss bats, you put too much pressure on the defense. We are actively developing that in the minors, and I feel good about that. We will be looking for (power arms) in free agency as well."
The Cubs ranked 13th in the National League with a 4.87 ERA in 2021, and they averaged 8.7 strikeouts per nine innings, a mark that was a tad below the MLB average of 8.9.
They'll look to address that weakness in free agency and on the trade market after going 71-91 in 2021.
"We have (young guys) who will be a significant part of what we will be doing going forward," Hoyer said. "We need to dramatically improve our pitching. I don't think there is any question about that. Our starting rotation simply wasn't good enough this year to compete. We have a lot of holes and areas to try and improve. We will be active but active in the way of getting good value for the dollars we are spending.
"There is no question we need to acquire more pitching, better pitching this winter. That is the No. 1 priority because that, said simply, was the downfall of this season. Our rotation was short, and we weren't effective enough in terms of run production."
Hoyer stopped short of indicating the Cubs would be in on the highest-profile free agents, once again stressing the need to spend wisely.
"I am not going to tip our hand as to what we plan to do," Hoyer said. "I have said repeatedly that we will have financial flexibility this offseason. I think it's really important to do that in an intelligent way … As we build this, it's really important to make one good decision after another."
In offering a reason for hope, Hoyer pointed to how the NL West champion Giants rose to prominence with a 107-win campaign after being slightly below .500 in the shortened 2020 season. The Giants accomplished that without adding a premier free agent. Instead, they made a series of smart lower-profile additions and relied on internal improvement.
"The Giants went through a process," Hoyer said. "They obviously had their struggles before this year. You would be crazy not to see what they have done this year and the process they used and take notes. They made some really shrewd moves before the season but also got the most out of the players they had. Those two parts are the way to look at the success of the Giants."
Bruce Levine covers the Cubs and White Sox for 670 The Score. Follow him on Twitter @MLBBruceLevine.
