OOTP 25 Beta Diary -- Chicago Cubs

[jksander]

I'm going to be simming more quickly than I usually do, but with special attention paid to details around the new Pitching Development Lab to track how successful I am at developing different players at different positions, etc.

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2024 Season: Opened the sim by firing our current scout and hiring Isoruku Nakamura (Outstanding overall, Highly Favors Tools) at $1,285,000 per year for four years. Simmed out the season in Do Not Disturb mode; Cubs finished the regular season with a 94-68 record, winning the NL Central by nine games over Cincinnati (85-77) who qualified for the playoffs as a wildcard team. Faced the Reds in the wildcard series, Drew Smyly getting us the win in game three to get into the divisional series, where we went up immediately against the LA Dodgers, who finished the season with a 105-57 record. In that series we split our road games, heading back to Chicago with a 1-1 record, and then split our two home games as well, so it came down to game five in LA -- in that one, Javier Assad picked up a quality start and the 6-2 win as we went up 2-0 in the first and never looked back. Against Atlanta (94-68) in the NLCS we split the first two road games, picked up two out of three on our home field, and then lost at Atlanta 4-0 and 7-4 as the Braves marched into the World Series to face the Cleveland Guardians (89-73) who had beaten Minnesota 2-1, the Yankees 3-1 and stunned the Astros in a 4-0 sweep. Atlanta won games one and two on the road, 7-1 and 6-5, but Cleveland took games three through five, winning at home 4-1, 5-4 and 5-3. Back in Atlanta, the Braves evened the series with a 10-9 slugfest win, and then they absolutely slaughtered them in game seven, winning 10-0 to take home the championship.

November 4, 2024: Sent six players to the lab ...
1) Caleb Killian, looking to add a pitch to his arsenal
2) catcher Santiago Rosado (International Complex), looking to improve defense at catcher
3) third baseman Aidan Harris (Rookie Ball), working on his defense at third base
4) pitcher David Faire (Rookie Ball), working on his pitch movement
5) second baseman Jesus Ramirez (Rookie Ball), working on gap power
6) center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong (MLB) working on strength and conditioning.

November 26, 2024: In early offseason news, Cody Bellinger accepted a qualifying offer of $18.9M for the upcoming season after opting out of the remainder of his contract. With PCA rapidly developing into a star, we likely won’t need Bellinger beyond this season.

December 7, 2024: Nakamura made a great find in Venezuela, a 16-year-old right handed starter named Jesus Crespo who looks like a future top-of-the-rotation starter if he continues developing well. Definitely worth keeping an eye on!

December 9, 2024: Santiago Rosado successfully completed his training, and his rating as a catcher went up from 30 to 35! He has a potential of 55 according to our scouts, and will remain in the International Complex. Aidan Harris “outstandingly” completed his training to improve at third base, and his overall defensive rating improved from 35 to 40. Harris is going back into the lab to work on Base-Stealing technique, and AA starter Porter Hodge is going in to work on his pitching defense, both of them for the next 4-5 weeks. Jesus Ramirez and PCA are currently excelling at their current training modules, but Faire and Killian are struggling. I’m not expecting to get much good news from them. They all have 8 to 9 weeks remaining on their training.

[jksander]

December 20, 2024: We picked up two players in the Rule 5 draft: reliever Cory Abbott from Seattle and catcher Will Banfield from the Marlins. Porter Hodge was taken from us by the Diamondbacks in the first round, an oversight on my part, so obviously he’s no longer in our development program. Abbott will begin work on his pitching defense, which is already above average, to ready himself for the regular season.

December 27, 2024: After weeks of negotiations, we’ve won the battle for left fielder and power hitter Juan Soto in free agency! His deal is worth $425 million over eight seasons, starting at $34.8M in the upcoming 2025 season and building to a $59M player option in 2032, when he’ll be 33. Tom Ricketts wants this team in the World Series, and we’re making moves to get there -- and our fan support skyrocketed when the news hit the national media.
 
December 28, 2024: Ricketts had made upgrading our catcher situation a top priority, and we’ve signed Danny Jansen to a deal worth $114.8 million, starting at $21.6M this year through a player option in 2029 worth $24.4M.

January 14, 2025: We’ve made our final free agency signing, nabbing three-time Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw on a one year deal worth $20,400,000. It’s been a busy offseason, but whether we’ve made enough (or the right) moves to get us into the World Series will remain to be seen. But Ricketts has been impressed, and bumped our budget up by $16 million.

January 17, 2025: We’ve signed our main IFA target today, 17-year-old lefty starter Juan Olmo, who hails from Venezuela and has a potential four pitch arsenal including a fastball, changeup, sinker and knuckle curve. He’s one of the best raw prospects I’ve seen in a long time, and if he develops right, he’ll be the kind of player you build a pitching rotation around, well worth the $4,750,000 signing bonus investment.

January 19, 2025: Aiden Harris successfully completed his base-stealing program, though his overall confidence in the area will only show when he’s actually in some in-game situations and we see how he reacts. His stealing aggressiveness rating has graded slightly upward, though looking at his overall profile I still don’t expect him to steal frequently.

January 24, 2025: Cory Abbott completed his training on pitching defense, but though he performed well, our scout has not graded him with any official improvement. That happens sometimes, but he continues to work hard at it. He is going to stay at the training complex and work on his bunting, while Will Banfield, our other Rule 5 acquisition, is going to spend the next four to five weeks working on his defense at catcher.

Today also saw the reveal of the Hall of Fame results -- Todd Helton (84.5%) and Adrian Beltre (78.0%) got in, Beltre in his first year of eligibility! Billy Wagner dropped out of consideration with only 62.5% of the vote in his final year of eligibility.

[jksander]

February 14, 2025: Caleb Killian was not successful in his months-long quest to develop a new pitch for this year’s baseball season. Staff tried to teach him a slider, but he struggled with multiple grips and was unable to get the right spin on the ball. The same goes for David Fraire’s attempts to increase his pitch movement. However, Jesus Ramirez did very well with our trainers while working on his gap power, and his potential power rating has climbed from 65 to 70, while his current gap rating went up from 30 to 35! As such, his potential has improved from 4.0 to 4.5 stars as a second baseman. And PCA did very well on his strength and conditioning improvements this offseason, with his power rating improving from 55 to 60! Scouts say he’s now currently rated at 4.0 stars as a center fielder, and his overall potential is now in five-star territory. That’s just the news we’ve been wanting to hear!

Shortstop Matt Shaw will be working through spring training to improve his defense at shortstop, while Christopher Morel and Jordan Nwogu will be working on their baserunning. Minor league third-baseman Albert Gutierrez will be in the program trying to improve his defense at the position as well.

February 27, 2025: Cory Abbott successfully completed his bunting training, and now grades out at 65 when it comes to his sacrifice-bunt abilities. Will Banfield, however, did not successfully improve his defensive ability at catcher, though he remains a highly capable defender off the bench.

March 20, 2025: Christopher Morel was the only remaining player in the development hub to successfully complete his training and notch gains, and as such our scouts fully expect him to be a more danagerous stealer of bases in the coming MLB season. Juan Olmo, our IFA signing this winter, is now ranked 14th in the nation as a prospect and remains in the International Complex.

March 28, 2025: Will Banfield did not make the opening day roster, and has therefore been returned to the Marlins, but Cory Abbott will be in our bullpen playing a long relief role for us.

Opening Day Roster
C - Danny Jansen
1B - Ian Happ
2B - Nico Hoerner
3B - Christopher Morel
SS - Dansby Swanson
DH - Cody Bellinger / Matt Shaw
LF - Juan Soto
CF - Pete Crow Armstrong
RF - Seiya Suzuki

Bench: Moises Ballesteros, Michael Busch, Nick Madrigal

SP1 - Justin Steele
SP2 - Jordan Wicks
SP3 - Jameson Taillon
SP4 - Shota Imanaga
SP5 - Clayton Kershaw

Closer - Luke Little
Setup - Adbert Alzolay, Julian Merryweather
Middle - Hayden Wesneski, Drew Smyly, Yancy Almonte
Long - Cory Abbott, Keegan Thompson

[jksander]

2025 Season: We started out incredibly slow, and by May we were still at the bottom of the NL Central and sent rule 5 pick Abbott back to the Mariners’ organization. By the time we reached the Amateur Player Draft on the eve of the All Star weekend we had a miserable 42-52 record and fourth place in the Central, trailing the Brewers in first by 18 games, nine games out of the wildcard. But Ricketts is happy, because butts are still filling the seats, so there wasn’t as much hand-wringing in the front office as I might have expected because our farm depth is growing -- hiring Nakamura has paid dividends internationally quite quickly! He signed 17-year-old right handed starting prospect DeMario Borrayo from Colombia in April and he’s now ranked 8th in the country. He also signed Nelson Peralta from the Dominican Republic, and he’s already been promoted from the IC to the Dominican Rookie League -- another strong starting prospect, the BNN rankings have him at #67! So there’s progress, anyway. In the draft we had the 28th overall pick this year, and I’m glad we didn’t have a higher pick because it was one of the weakest draft classes I’ve ever seen. Our first rounder decided to go back to college, so we’ll get a compensatory pick next year, while the remainder of our draftees look average at best. But so do everyone else’s. We played out the remainder of the season and finished a dismal 76-86 and in fourth place in the Central Division. The Red Sox (91-71) and Brewers (93-69) wound up facing off in the World Series, with Boston coming out with a 4-1 series win and the championship. The Orioles (96-66) and Tigers (100-62) had the best records in the American League, while last year’s champions the Atlanta Braves (94-68) had the best record in the NL.

October 29, 2025: I sent James Triantos, Juan Soto and Pete Crow-Armstrong into the Development Lab with general “strength and conditioning” goals, while 2B Matt Shaw will be working on his defense at second base. Jesus Ramirez will be working on improving his bat speed, while starter Jordan Wicks will be developing his control. In trade news, we’ve sent Adbert Alzolay to the Brewers in exchange for prospects Jorbit Vivas (3B), Carlos Rodriguez (LF) and Duncan Garcia (LF). Kershaw and Bellinger will both be free agents in a few weeks, which will free up our finances quite a bit.

[jksander]

December 2, 2025: Matt Shaw’s attempts to improve his defense at second base came up short of success. Seiya Suzuki will be heading into the complex over the holiday season to work on his defense at right field.

December 8, 2025: We will have the 10th overall pick in the Amateur Draft in July. We do not have a supplemental pick, because after I made a lowball offer for Carter Smith, our first rounder, the AI then offered him his full insane $8.8M bonus while I had the game on “do not disturb” so yeah. Hope he pans out and earns that money.

December 20, 2025: This year we did not participate in the Rule 5 draft, and we didn’t lose anyone either. It was a very weak class, most GMs in this league are good at protecting the best players anyway.

December 26, 2025: We’re not hitting free agency too hard this year, and our best target, closer Devin Williams, chose to go to Atlanta for $184.2 million over five years, a deal we just weren’t ready to match, particularly not with the no-trade clause he was demanding. We’re still looking at potential bullpen arms, as well as at a young pitching prospect from Japan who may be worth placing a bid on, but beyond that I’m keeping a lid on things.

January 5, 2026: Seiya Suzuki completed his defensive training and was graded “outstanding!” by our scouts, and his defensive skill at right field now grades out at 60! They’re keeping him at the complex to cross train him elsewhere in the outfield, which would make him even more valuable to us as a defensive option heading into the spring season.

January 10, 2026: We made a deal today with the Phillies to receive 22-year-old pitching prospect Andrew Painter, in exchange for Christopher Morel and Julian Merrywhether. Painter, who went 8-13 last year for the Phillies with a 3.78 ERA, 1.21 WHIP and 2.6 WAR, will step into our starting rotation, though in which slot won’t be finalized until spring training completes. A 2021 first-rounder for the Phillies, Painter was at one point a top 25 prospect, and he still has plenty of team control remaining.

January 20, 2026: Earth-shaking news out of Washington, as the Nationals have announced they’re packing up and moving to Jacksonville, where they’ll be the Jacksonville Earthquakes. That’s why I normally have that league evolution setting turned off -- luckily this is just a beta league, with no real emotional attachment. In team-related news, we’ve signed IFA shortstop prospect Juan Baltierra to a minor league deal with a $3 million bonus, but it’s well worth the money invested -- he grades out as a future elite shorstop, with great power and eye. He’s only 16, though, so don’t expect to see him on the major league roster any time soon.

January 21, 2026: We’ve made a free agency signing! Aroldis Chapman, 37, inked a one-year deal for $3,800,000, where he’ll fill a setup role for us this coming spring. In Hall of Fame voting news, only CC Sabathia (79.6%) made the cut this year, with Manny Ramirez (42.3%) failing to make the cut in his final year of eligibility.

January 25, 2026: We signed our second IFA prospect of the season this afternoon -- 17-year-old Dominican catcher Edgar Corona, a three star prospect with the potential to become a solid, above-average everyday catcher, signed a deal worth $1,750,000 to join our International Complex.

February 8, 2026: Seiya Suzuki has had a great offseason, completing his second training program of the year and successfully learning left field, where he now has a rating of 40, and his defensive rating at right field rose another five points to 65! We’re currently negotiating an extension with him as we speak, but he’s definitely bought himself some negotiating power with his consistent work ethic.
 
February 20, 2026: Jordan Wicks did not do well in his development this offseason. His attempts to improve his control went poorly, and in fact he may have come out of the whole experience with worse control than when he went in, and he will have to work harder to make it out of AAA as a result. Right now in spring training he’s stuck playing out of the bullpen, which certainly isn’t where he wants to be.

Pete Crow-Armstrong and Jesus Ramirez completed their programs but did not have any discernable improvement. But Juan Soto had a great offseason, his overall rating jumping to five stars! Last year he hit 34 homers for us and batted .251, winning the Platinum Stick at his position, so expectations are going to be high for him as our highest-paid player by a long shot. But he’s working hard, so I’m happy.

February 22, 2026: Seiya Suzuki has signed his extension, which will pay him $19.8 million next season and then $23.2 million a year in 2028 and 2029, with a player option for the 2030 season when he’ll be 35.

March 25, 2026: Andrew Painter finished our final development session of the season, improving his defensive ability to 65! That’s another solid blast of good news heading toward opening day, with Tom Ricketts saying he hopes we can stay “close to” a winning record while I feel like we have the team to do some real damage.

Opening Day Roster
C - Danny Jansen
1B - Ian Happ
2B - Nico Hoerner
3B - Matt Shaw
SS - Dansby Swanson
LF - Juan Soto
CF - Pete Crow-Armstrong
RF - Seiya Suzuki
DH - Michael Busch

Bench: Moises Ballesteros, Jorbit Vivas, Nick Madrigal, Carlos Rodriguez

SP1 - Justin Steele
SP2 - Andrew Painter
SP3 - Cade Horton
SP4 - Jameson Taillon
SP5 - Shota Imanaga

Closer - Luke Little
Setup - Aroldis Chapman, Jordan Wicks
Middle - Hayden Wesneski, Keegan Thompson, Javier Assad
Long - Drew Smyly, Caleb Killian

[jksander]

2026 Season: After about six weeks playing in the middle of the pack, we took the Central lead and started battling with the Reds for league supremacy. We held the lead by a couple games at the all star break, but the Reds and Cardinals took over down the stretch into August. We held our ground and took firm control of second place in the month of September and the first week of October to finish with an 85-77 record! St. Louis won the division with an 87-75 record, but we won the final Wildcard spot by two games over the Padres, earning us a fight against the Jacksonville Earthquakes (ugh, worst ... move ... ever) who finished 84-78 but earned homefield advantage by winning their division. Unfortunately, that was good enough for them to shut us down in two games, winning 5-1 and 11-8, to end our playoff dreams before they even had a chance to form. Thankfully the San Francisco Giants beat them 4-1 in the NLCS to prevent them from getting the reward of a World Series trip out of their last-second move out of Washington. The Giants then went on to beat the Minnesota Twins in seven games to take home the crown.

The following players are initially going into the Development Lab for our 2026-27 offseason:

- LF Duncan Garcia (23, Rookie League) ... Quality of Contact (3-4 months)
- RP Tim Duncan (18, Rookie League) ... Increase Pitch Velocity (3-4 months)
- 3B James Triantos (23, A+) ... Strength and Conditioning (3-4 months)
- SS Yoelvis Banhos (19, Rookie League) ... Improve Defense at SS (4-5 weeks)
- C Pablo Aliendo (25, MLB) ... Improve Defence at Catcher (4-5 weeks)
- CL Seranthony Dominguez (31, AAA) ... Improve Pitch Arsenal (3-4 months)

[OmahaBaseball]

Thanks for sharing the results -- it is interesting to see how players are responding to DevLab, as well as IFA / draft class creation.

[No Pepper]

Any detail on coach/player ratings, personalities, relationships? These variables were said to have influence on outcomes, no?

[jksander]

Originally Posted by No Pepper

Any detail on coach/player ratings, personalities, relationships? These variables were said to have influence on outcomes, no?

I rarely play with coaches / scouts on so I dont have a lot of comparison. My team rn has good cohesion. Seiya has no personality ratings but did well. Wicks failed badly ... I can look into thatbut mostly just tracking general outcomes.

[jksander]

Originally Posted by CHOWDERHEAD

Thanks for sharing the results -- it is interesting to see how players are responding to DevLab, as well as IFA / draft class creation.

Apparently IFAs are getting fixed w a patch. Will see how that aspect evens out.

[jksander]

November 28, 2026: Made a trade with the LA Dodgers that sent Nico Hoerner and 24-year-old catcher Michael Carico to LA in exchange for 16-year-old 3B David Quintero (four star potential) and 18-year-old right-handed reliever Arturo Casildo (three star potential) who were both recently promoted from the Dodgers’ International Complex, along with 22-year-old 2B prospect Alexander Albertus. We’ll be retaining 25 percent of Hoerner’s contract.

December 8, 2026: We’ve shored up our starting rotation with the signing of Corbin Burnes to a $196.8 million deal over the next five years at $32.8M each, with a team buyout option on the same in 2032 that we can exercise for a $17.5M buyout. He’ll take over our top rotation spot, moving Justin Steele down to the number two spot but giving him significantly more support -- Steele put up 5.4 WAR last season but went 10-10 with a 4.09 ERA. Burns had 4.6 WAR with Baltimore, going 14-13 with a 3.96 ERA and 207 K’s through 195.1 innings of work.

December 11, 2026: Yoelvis Banhos was not successful at improving his defense at shortstop, but catcher Pablo Aliendo’s position rating at catcher improved to 70 overall from 65, with catcher blocking and framing now at 65 and 70 respectively. His overall and potential ratings improved to three stars as well, cementing his status as one of the best defensive catchers in the game. Right now he still looks to be stuck behind Moises Ballestros’ power bat as far as being our starting catcher, but his improvements on defense make him a potentially valuable trading chip. We’re now using our two extra spots in the Development Lab to give Seiya Suzuki further work in right field, and Pete Crow-Armstrong is continuing to develop his skill as a center fielder. Though both are 4-5 week programs, PCA’s is the much more difficult one to achieve full success in.

December 12, 2026: We’ve made a deal with Miami to send us 26-year-old 2B Osleivis Basabe, 30-year-old LF Dane Myers, 28-year-old LF Jake Thompson, 19-year-old minor league right-hander Juan Guerrero and $17.6 million in cash, for Pablo Aliendo and 25-year-old right-handed reliever Cade Horton. Basabe will be an immediate backup to Matt Shaw at second base, while Thompson will be an immediate backup contributor behind Soto in left field, and the cash gets us back into the black overall.

December 22, 2026: Again we decided not to partake in the Rule 5 draft this year, and only 18 total picks were made over three rounds by other teams. For the second year in a row we did not lose anyone, so we’re protecting the guys properly who have the most value.
 
January 14, 2027: Seiya Suzuki did not successfully improve his fielding in right field, but Pete Crow-Armstrong had a great session, building his defense in center from 65 to 75, improving his current and potential gap ratings from 50 to 55, and improivng his overall and potential ratings to five stars! This is going to be his breakout year, I can feel it. Last season he hit .286/.351/.506 with 32 doubles, seven triples and 25 homers, batting in 83 runs for 4.9 WAR overall.

January 20, 2027: We picked up four players in the IFA bidding period, including 16-year-old Dominican SS Luis Mojica (3.5 stars, $750,000), 16-year-old Dominican catcher Wilson Prieto (3.5 stars, $900,000), 16-year-old Venezuelan / Nicaraguan CF Ernesto Donado (4.5 stars, $1,000,000) and 17-year-old Dominican left fielder Jorge Yavez (5 stars, $2,100,000). We currently have nine players in our International Complex with potential ratings of 3.5 or higher, so I am promoting 19-year-old right handed starter DeMario Borrayo and 19-year-old left handed starter Juan Olmo to our Dominican rookie league. All our other top international players are 16 or 17, and I don’t plan to rush them.

In Hall of Fame voting this year, Alex Rodriguez (79.0%) and Ichiro Suzuki (76.2%) made it in, while Andruw Jones (14.5%) and Omar Vizquel (7.1%) each dropped out in his 10th year of eligibility.

Updated the Beta file with the new file at this point in the saved game -- Version 25.0.45.

[jksander]

February 17, 2027: Neither David Faire or David Quintanilla managed to improve their defense at pitcher or third base respectively. We’ve sent a pair of our Dominican players from the International Complex to work on their defense before the start of the regular season, but the bulk of our work in that regard is done for the year.

February 19, 2027: Seranthony Dominguez did not have good results at all when it came to working on his pitch arsenal, and at age 32, if he doesn’t make the major league bullpen this year he’s probably on his way out -- which looks to be the most likely outcome at this point in his career. James Triantos completed his strength and conditioning program but did not show significant results one way or the other. But 18-year-old Tim Patrick, our second rounder in last year’s rookie draft, showed dramatic improvements in his pitch velocity, improving from 93-95 mph to 96-98 mph, though his control and stamina ratings declined somewhat as a result. He’s going to continue to work on his curveball and cutter, and hopes to develop into a solid reliever option long term.

We no longer have any room to add players to the development lab for the season, so when SS Juan Bracamontes and RF Joe Figueroa from the International Complex complete their programs, that will be the end of the development season.

March 23, 2027: Joe Figueroa (19, Rookie League) had an improvement in his fielding skill at right field, and now is rated 40 at that position. Meanwhile, Jorge Bracamontes (17, Rookie League) improved his rating to 40 at shorstop. Neither player is close to being fully developed, but both continue to show high upside and we’ll continue to monitor their progress.
 
March 25, 2027: Tom Ricketts expects us to be in the playoffs this season. We no longer have a top ten BNN prospect -- and our top three, SS Arturo Maldonado (#32), RHP Juan Santana (#48) and LHP Juan Olmo (#76) are unlikely to see major league action before the new decade. LF prospect Duncan Garcia (#186) has solid power and eye, but is raw overall -- he may come up at some point this season, but for now he’s our closest prospect to the majors and playing for the I-Cubs.

Opening Day Lineup
C - Danny Jansen
1B - Matt Shaw
2B - Osleivis Basabe
3B - Jorbit Vivas
SS - Dansby Swanson
LF - Juan Soto
CF - Pete Crow-Armstrong
RF - Seiya Suzuki
DH - Matt Mervis

Bench: Moises Ballesteros, Michael Busch, Luis Vazquez, Jake Thompson

SP1 - Corbin Burnes
SP2 - Justin Steele
SP3 - Andrew Painter
SP4 - Jordan Wicks
SP5 - Shota Imanaga

Closer - Luke Little
Setup - Seranthony Dominguez, Edwin Escobar
Middle - Javier Assad, Keegan Thompson, Jarlin Garcia
Long - Hayden Wesneski, Caleb Killian

2027 Season: We started slow yet again, falling as far as ten games below .500 before finally reaching the middle of the Central pack in mid-May with a 22-20 record. By the time draft day showed up we held a 46-44 record and third place, trailing St. Louis by half a game and the Brewers by 6.5. But by the trading deadline we’d improved to 56-47, still 6.5 GB but in second place in the division, and we worked the wires trying to find a way to be last-minute buyers. We made a deal with the Yankees to send catcher Danny Jansen in exchange for catcher Nick Fortes, 1B Ismael Banda (on 90% retention) and 1B Tyler Hardman, along with $40,400 in IFA money, which got us back to cash-positive. We then went after Royce Lewis from Minnesota, who has been hitting .295/.351/.504 with 22 doubles and 18 homers, and we were able to get it done -- they took Shota Imanaga off our hands with 75% retention, and we sent them two solid prospects in RHP Juan Santana and CF Joe Figueroa. Worth it in my book, to get an all-star third baseman and shortstop who is extremely popular and a leader in the clubhouse. Unfortunately the race stayed tight in the division, and we limped into the playoffs as the third best team in the division with an 84-78 record, behind Milwaukee (88-74) and St. Louis (89-73). That earned us a wild card series against St. Louis on the road. They beat us 4-3 in game one and 5-4 in game two to put our season to bed yet again in the wild card round. St. Louis got swept by the Giants, who were beat 4-1 in the NLCS by Atlanta, who went on to lose 4-1 to the Yankees in the World Series.
 
November 4, 2027: Kyle Hendricks retired today with a career record of 116-82 and an ERA of 3.76, with 1,381 strikeouts and 24.6 WAR. Ricketts extended my contract for two more years at $1.6M per year. We’ve offered PCA a long term contract that would buy out his remaining arb years and keep him with the Cubs for the forseeable future. Hopefully he’ll sign soon and we can announce it! In the meantime, the following players are embarking on long-term development work this offseason:

SP Justin Steele (MLB) ... Improve Pitch Arsenal
2B Alexander Albertus (A+) ... Quality of Contact
LF Owen Caissie (AA) ... Strength and Conditioning
C Moises Ballesteros (MLB) ... Generate Batspeed
SP Andrew Painter (MLB) ... Improve Pitch Arsenal
CL Hayden Seig (AAA) ... Secondary Pitch Improvement

[jksander]

November 5, 2027: In a cost-cutting move, we’ve traded Dansby Swanson, A+ infielder Jefferson Roja and AAA fielder Kevin Alcantara to the Braves for 25-year-old reliever Hurston Waldrep and $3.5 million in cash. Our fans were disappointed to lose Swanson, but seem to appreciate Waldrep’s upside ... he went 9-2 last year with two saves, a 2.22 ERA and 84 strikeouts in 65 innings of work.

November 8, 2027: Pete Crow-Armstrong officially signed his nine year contract extension which is worth $201.5 million over the life of the contract! Originally he was looking at asking for closer to $250 million, but we structured the deal to where he’ll make $10.5 million in 2028, followed by rising increments through 2034 ($30 million) at which point he can either opt into an additional $70M over two seasons, or explore free agency or a renegotiated contract. The early years of the deal are expected to be significantly less than he’d get in arbitration, but he’s enjoyed being in Chicago and says he wants to be a long-term contributor to our team hopefully getting back to the World Series.

We had a lot of injuries last season -- Royce Lewis broke his kneecap in late August and won’t be back until at least May, and Corbin Burnes damaged his elbow ligament and missed all but the first two weeks of the season ... if we’re LUCKY he’ll be back in May. His deal turned out to be a huge waste of money if he can’t come back and contribute this season. We’re definitely going to have some holes to fill if we are to compete this season and not continue to stagnate in the middle of the wildcard pack.

November 27, 2027: It’s not a particularly robust free agent market, so we’re going to bide our time and see how things develop. As of right now we have cash and budget space, but may look to make some moves around winter meetings if we’re going to do anything big.

December 2, 2027: We’ve made a deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates to get SS Gabriel Arias, a top defensive shortstop to replace Swanson, in exchange for 18-year-old Dominican pitching prospect Frank Sada. It fills an immediate need, and Arias is only earning $7 million this year, though if he does well we’ll need to work on an extension during the season.

At this point I installed the final beta build, 25.1.46.

[jksander]

December 22, 2027: This year in the Rule 5 draft we decided to take a risk on Justin Martinez, a reliever on the LA Angels roster. For the third year in a row no one took any of our minor league players in the draft. The Toronto Blue Jays took six players, the only team to take more than three. Right now Martinez looks like a solid above-average middle reliever, with excellent stuff, above average movement, and a blistering fastball / slider / splitter combo. If he can figure out how to control what he throws, he’ll be a menace from the mound.

January 11, 2028: We’ve made a number of smaller minor league signings, but the best one committed today. Esteban Florial, who is an excellent all-around outfielder with a cannon for an arm, signed a minor league deal that becomes $1.5 million if he makes the major league roster this season. With his emphasis on defense and solid hitting at the AAA level, there’s a very solid chance he’ll make it up this spring.

January 19, 2028: Albert Pujols (98.8%) and Robinson Cano (79.9%) were each inducted into the Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility! Carlos Beltran (85.1%) made it in during his sixth year. Andy Pettitte (22.3%) dropped out in his final year in consideration, while eleven others were removed for failing to reach the five-percent threshold.

January 20, 2028: We signed 16-year-old Alejandro Zarate, a Dominican / Spanish born right-handed starter, to an IFA contract with a $3.4 million bonus. We have one other IFA we’re pursuing, but we may not have enough under the cap to get a deal done despite our strong relationship with him.

January 25, 2028: The strong relationship paid off! We’ve officially signed 17-year-old German reliever Benedikt Schwartz to a $1.3 million signing bonus, $100,000 less than he was originally asking, to join our international complex. He projects to have plus-plus stuff and ability to avoid home-runs, to go with an excellent fastball and curve combo. He has “star closer” written all over him!

February 2, 2028: Cristian Pache has agreed to a one year deal worth $4,750,000 to back Pete Crow-Armstrong up at center field this season. The 29-year-old had been expecting a huge long-term payday that was not forthcoming from any other managers, so he came crawling back to us in January and made a deal. He’s got a 70-rating in center, and hit .267 last year for Jacksonville and St. Louis, with 25 doubles and nine homers. I wasn’t comfortable riding this season out without a capable center fielder in case o injury, and he fits that bill even if it’s just on a one-year basis. I waived / DFA’d Alexander Albertus to make room for him on the 40 man, and had forgotten he was in the development lab, which removed him from the program -- lesson learned; always check the Dev Lab before making demotions.

February 18, 2028: Of all our development lab prospects this season, the only player to do well this year was Owen Caissie, who was working on general strength and conditioning. According to our scouts, his work on core conditioning has him looking far more fluid on the field, and though I’m not seeing any specific area that got boosted, he has made our spring training roster and will be fighting for a spot in the outfield this coming season.

In other news, Corbin Burnes and Royce Lewis will each remain on the IL for two to three months, with Burnes looking to have taken a pretty big hit due to his season ending injury last year. But our scouts still think he’s got the stuff and movement to remain a top pitcher in the league, despite his power pitches having suffered from the long recovery time.

March 3, 2028: Our #1 prospect in the farm system, shortstop Arturo Malclonado, at age 17, has developed rapidly and is now earning a chance on the spring training fields. He’s already a solid defender at second base and is well on his way to being a top defensive shortstop. Our plan right now is to promote him to “A” ball in Myrtle Beach, to see how he handles some tougher competition.
 
Opening Day Roster
C - Moises Ballesteros
1B - Juan Soto
2B - Matt Shaw
3B - James Triantos
SS - Gabriel Arias
LF - Duncan Garcia
CF - Pete Crow-Armstrong
RF - Seiya Suzuki
DH - Matt Mervis, Ismael Banda

Bench: Connor Burns, Jorbit Vivas, Cristian Pache

SP1 - Justin Steele
SP2 - Andrew Painter
SP3 - Jordan Wicks
SP4 - Hurston Waldrep
SP5 - Hayden Wesneski (Fo)

Closer - Luke Little
Setup - Zack Brzykcy, Hayden Seig
Middle - Javier Asad, Mike Baumann, Justin Martinez (Op), Jarlin Garcia
Long - Seranthony Dominguez

2028 Season: The NL Central started out completely below par this year, and by the time all star voting opened up we had a 22-23 record but led the division by half a game over Milwaukee. We were 46-45 on the day of the draft, but by that point St. Louis had recovered to lead the division with a 51-41 record, and we were 4.5 games out in third, a game behind the 46-43 Braves. We wound up being eliminated from playoff contention on the last day of the season with a 4-3 10th-inning loss against the Diamondbacks on the road, finishing the season with an 86-76 record, seven games back of St. Louis. But we made a profit, so Ricketts remains happy. And the fans are happy to hear that Arturo Malclonado did very well, rising up to A+ in South Bend, where he hit .269 with 24 doubles and 31 homers! “El Mechon,” as he’s called, just turned 18, and is now ranked 8th overall in the BNN prospect rankings! His fielding has rapidly improved, and he’s now rated 65 at both 2B and SS! I suspect he’ll be in the starting lineup for us next year, barring any setbacks. As for the playoffs, St. Louis won the Division Series against the Padres 3-1, but lost the NLCS to the Jacksonville Earthquakes, which went on to beat the Boston Red Sox 4-3 in the World Series.

November 5, 2028: Ricketts is opening up his pocketbook and raising our budget significantly in the hopes that we can make some real moves this offseason and get over this “ten-games-over-.500” hump to go deeper into the playoffs. Here’s our development lab plan this offseason:

SS Arturo Malclonado (A+) ... Strength and Conditioning
RP Benedikt Schwartz (INT) ... Add Pitch to Arsenal
LF Duncan Garcia (MLB) ... Plate Discipline
3B Mike Bresser (Rookie) ... Gap Power
1B Arturo Perales (Rookie) ... Quality of Contact
SP Chris Servantes (Rookie) ... Improve Control

[jksander]

December 6, 2028: Today we signed two big whales of the FA market! First off, Yoshimatsu Ishida, a 23-year-old Japanese ace-in-the-making, signed a $258.5 million deal that covers a 10-year span. He’ll have a $23 million contract in his first year, rising to $26 million in years four through seven, after which point he’ll have a chance to either opt out or accept the three years at the back end, at $27.5M per. He has one of the best splitters in baseball, a changeup with tornado action, and excellent strike-throwing ability and movement on his pitches. If he can develop his fastball and curve to reach the level of those two pitches, he’s going to be a God playing among men.

We also signed Ronald Acuna Jr. to be our designated hitter on a four year deal worth $29.2 million per year ($116.8M total). Acuna Jr. hit .295 and slugged .508 last year whle stealing 26 bases, hitting 17 doubles and 33 homers and putting together 5.0 WAR. He’s passable in left or right field, but his bat’s where it’s at and that’s what we’re paying the big bucks for! We still have a little wiggle room financially for the year, but not a lot ... these two big guns are our big bet on the present and our best shot at winning now.

December 11, 2028: Emboldened by our big signings, 33-year-old Justin Steele signed a three year extension to his existing contract. He’s already set to make $30,500,000 per year in this and next season, but has agreed to play in 2031 and 2032 at $28,500,000 with a player option to stay on at 37 for $25,000,000. It’s our way of saying we’d like him to retire in a Cub uniform ... he’s a homegrown starter drafted in 2014 in the fifth round, and he’s gone on to post a 92-55 record as a starter with a 3.45 career ERA, 1,384 strikeouts and 31.8 total WAR. In 2025 he finished third in the Cy Young voting in the NL, and has posted double digit wins in the last six seasons in a row, throwing 230 innings of work last year while finishing 14-8 and posting 5.7 WAR. Not to mention he’s a fan favorite, loyal almost to a fault, and his work ethic is beyond reproach.

December 22, 2028: We didn’t pick anyone in the Rule 5, and no Cubs were drafted. Only 15 players were taken overall, including just three in the second round.

January 17, 2029: Tom Ricketts is so ecstatic over the deals we’ve made, he’s raised our budget another $20 million! In Hall of Fame voting, three first year players made it in: Miguel Cabrera (98.7%), Max Scherzer (96.8%) and Zack Greinke (84.3%)! Bobby Abreu dropped off after ten years, with just 26.6% of the votes.

January 20, 2029: We’ve signed a pair of IFAs so far this year: 17-year-old Dominican second baseman Rodolfo Esquivel (4.5 stars, $1,700,000) and 16-year-old Venezuelan / Spanish shortstop Jorge Tierrablanca (5 stars, $700,000). We still have one offer outstanding to complete this IFA class, and if we get him it’ll be huge.

January 25, 2029: We did it, finally signing 16-year-old Dominican catcher Jorge Flores (5 stars, $2,350,000) to complete our incredibly solid IFA class this year. As spring training grows nearer, expectations are rising for what the ceiling will be for this Cubs ballclub.

February 16, 2029: Of our six major developmental projects this year, three players succeeded in their plans! Arturo Perales, in our Dominican Rookie League, worked all winter to improve his contact and our scouts say he’s shown solid progress for a player of his age. Duncan Garcia, our primary MLB left fielder, worked this year on his plate discipline and appears to now have reached his full potential as a hitter as a result. He hit just .228 last year but power-bombed 35 homers, so I am hopeful he’ll make better non-homer contact this season as he enters his third year in the majors. Finally, Arturo Malclonado, our shorstop of the future, spent the offseason working on strength and conditioning as he hopes to make the leap to the majors. Our scouts say his overall durability has improved, and he’s making better, stronger contact with the ball when he’s at the plate. All in all, I’d say it’s been a really solid offseason!
 
February 18, 2029: Bad luck hit us hard in spring training, with Ronald Acuna Jr. straining his hip -- he’ll miss at least four to five weeks, which means he won’t likely be available on opening day.

March 30, 2029: We won 16 games during the spring season, and had the best record in the Central, but we were racked with injuries, to the point where managing the IL was a full-time job. We’re lucky in that of our projected opening day starters, only Royce Lewis (fractured foot, 1-2 weeks) and Seiya Suzuki (elbow inflamation, 2 weeks) remain unavilable. It could have been a lot worse -- at least Acuna Jr. is back, though he’ll be playing in the outfield due to the loss of Suzuki.

Opening Day Roster
C - Moises Ballesteros
1B - Juan Soto
2B - Osleivis Basabe
3B - James Triantos
SS - Arturo Malclonado
LF - Ronald Acuna Jr.
CF - Pete Crow-Armstrong
RF - Matt Shaw <-(out of necessity ... Seiya will be back out there a.s.a.p.!)
DH - Matt Mervis

Bench: Connor Burns, Ismael Banda, Jorbit Vivas, Josh Rivera

SP1 - Yoshimatsu Ishida
SP2 - Justin Steele
SP3 - Corbin Burnes
SP4 - Andrew Painter
SP5 - Jordan Wicks

Closer - Luke Little
Setup - Justin Martinez, Zach Brzykcy
Middle - Drew Gray, Hayden Seig
Long - Seth Keener, William Kempner
Lefty Specialist - Blake Weiman

[jksander]

2029 Season: We started typically slow, which is not a shock for Cubs fans in general, but by mid-June we found ourselves quickly heating up, with a 37-28 record and a growing lead on Pittsburgh, who sat 2.5 games back on June 11. At that point we worked out a trade that sent Corbin Burns (retain: 25%) to the Phillies in exchange for RHP Hunter Greene and minor league right fielder Kala’I Rosario. Burns has been struggling and had requested a change of scenery, and Greene has good potential as a back-of-the-rotation starter at a more reasonable price (the deal adds $5.5 million to our budget room, enough to help us as we search for an additional bat to fuel our quest toward playoff dominance). By draft day we’d improved our record to 54-37, with a 7.5 game lead on the Cardinals and a 9.5 game lead on Pittsburgh, and on the eve of the draft we pulled off a huge prospect deal with the Tampa Bay Rays that sent us second baseman Junior Caminero (.350/.404/.660 with 14 doubles and 27 homers and 4.7 WAR) in exchange for AA right handed pitcher DeMario Borrayo (#70 BNN), AAA center fielder Christian Franklin and A+ shortstop Lupe Garza, our second-rounder from 2027. The Rays are full-on in rebuild mode, and we’re loaded with prospects, so now seemed the time to really buy in.

We went on a flat-out tear from there as the whole team came together and took control of the division. We had a 12-game lead on the Cardinals when rosters expanded on September 1, our record at 78-56, and we clinched the division title by the middle of the month, cruising to a 95-67 record, the best of my tenure as GM by a game. Our nearest competitor in the division, St. Louis, finished 82-80 and did not make the playoffs. Junior Caminero finished with a team-high 41 homers, 112 RBIs and 105 runs scored, while PCA hit .284 with 27 doubles, 20 homers and 11 stolen bases, putting together another 5.0 WAR season. Yoshimatsu Ishida finished with a 17-9 record in his debut season, with a 2.73 ERA through 198.0 innings, striking out 193 with a 1.16 WHIP, while Justin Steele had his best record yet, going 19-7 with a 3.41 ERA, 212 K’s and a 1.17 WHIP through 224.2 innings, giving him 112 career wins at age 34. Rookie shorstop Arturo Malclonado, at the young age of 19, played in 140 games and hit .217 with 18 doubles, 12 homers and 49 RBIs, a 2.2 WAR season that was bolstered by an incredible +16.4 zone rating at shortstop through 1,223.1 innings ... with 178 putouts, 69 double plays and only 14 errors.

So bring on the playoffs! We were solid enough to not need to make a wildcard appearance this season, getting instead to wait on the results of a three-game series between the Diamondbacks and the Giants. It took three games, but the home-field Giants pulled it out. In the NLDS, we took game one 2-0 and game two 6-4, completing the sweep on the road with a 9-7 victory -- despite Justin Steele coming out of the game in the third inning, the bullpen held it together and Drew Rom (a player we picked up off waivers in April!) picked up the win. With four days to rest heading into the NLCS, we should have been fresh and ready, but they came out and beat us 5-1 on our field to start the series. We shut them out in game two, 2-0, Andrew Painter picking up his second playoff win with two hits, two walks and 10 K’s in a six-inning effort that Little saved. On the road in Atlanta, Drew Rom picked up his second bullpen win, 4-2, to put us ahead (with Little getting save number three), and though the Braves took game four 4-1, we won game five 6-2 and went back to Chicago ready to get the monkey off our back. Unfortunately we got shellacked in game six, losing 14-6 to the Braves as Painter collapsed, giving up six runs in 2.2 innings, putting everything on the line for a seventh game. We turned the tables on them with a 14-5 game seven blowout, securing our first trip to the World Series since 2016 with a 7.1 inning nine hit three strikeout five run effort by Steele that Wicks then closed out. Unfortunately we lost Moises Ballesteros for the remainder of the year due to recurring back spasms, which meant Connor Burns, our 70-rated backup catcher, was going to get a baptism by fire, with our rookie, Arturo Malclonado our only available backup in case of a calamity.

In the World Series against Detroit, we came out quickly and put them away 7-3 in game one, but lost game two in a 3-0 shutout. Detroit then took game three 8-4, but we won an epic game four by a 12-7 margin in 12 innings, scoring five runs in the final frame to absolutely crush them and evening the series at 2-2. We took a 3-2 series lead in game five by beating them on the road 6-4 as Painter picked up his third win of the postseason, but Detroit crushed us 10-2 in game six -- an eerie reminder of our game six collapse in the NLCS. All this added pressure to us in game seven at Wrigley on the first of November, but again we played our best ball under pressure ... Yoshimatsu Ishida pitched 6.1 shutout innings with one hit, one walk and six K’s, and Fraudy Maldonado, who signed a minor league deal with us back in April, won it for us in the seventh when Royce Lewis hit a two-run homer! Little got the save, his fourth, as we won this one 2-0 and took the championship.

This time it only took 13 years to bring a new title to Wrigleyville ... but can we keep the team together this time?
 
November 3, 2029: As you would expect, Tom Ricketts is through the roof excited about the title and the parade being prepared in our honor -- so much so that he’s extended my contract with the team for another three years at $2.2 million per! Luke Little is the biggest name on our roster who, if we can’t get a deal made, will be on his way out -- from his humble beginnings in 2020 as a fourth-round pick, Little has become the best closer in the game, saving 181 games with a 3.26 ERA, striking out 674 and putting together 12.0 WAR as a reliever. He made $16.8 million this year in his final arb year, and though other closers may be available on the market this offseason, he’s the best and the youngest. So we’re doing what we can to get an extension through.

November 4, 2029: We’re sending the following players to the Development Lab for the offseason:

3B Mike Bresser (AA) ... Gap Power
CL Haywood Darrach (Rookie) ... Secondary Pitch Improvement
2B Jon Wall (Rookie) ... Gap Power
RF Benny Grafer (Rookie) ... Plate Discipline
C Jose Flores (Rookie DSL) ... Improve Defense at Catcher
SP Chris Stout (Rookie ACL) ... Improve Control

November 10, 2029: It’s unfortunate, but Luke Little has broken off negotiations with us, wanting a far bigger payday than I’m willing to extend to a reliever, even as good as he is. We’re going to offer him a one year Qualifying Offer ($18.9 million) but it’s unlikely he’ll accept it. At the least, we should get a compensatory pick from whoever does decide to give him that big payday. In the interim we’ll be able to look for a stopgap closer in free agency or promote from within.

November 12, 2029: Luke Little was named Reliever of the Year, which I expect is going to drive his price up even further. At age 29, he made 57 relief appearances and picked up saves in 38 of them, opponents hitting just .206 against him which helped him to a 2.04 ERA. He’s wanting a contract with at least seven years and $300+ million attached, however, which is just too rich for my taste.

November 14, 2029: Yoshimatsu Ishida was named Rookie of the Year, with 26 first place votes out of a possible 30, finishing with more than double the points of his nearest rival. He had a 17-9 record through 33 starts, with a 2.73 ERA and 193 K’s against 50 walks. That ten year deal is looking better every day! To think, he’s just turned 24 ...

November 25, 2029: As expected, Luke Little rejected our QO and will be filing for free agency. Moises Ballesteros got an arb contract north of $21 million for this year, his final arbitration year, and Tom Ricketts is insistent that we get him resigned ... at 26 he’s one of the rare solid catchers who can both field and hit. Right now he’s asking for $31 million for a one year extension, or for $311 million over a seven year deal. I’m hopeful we can find numbers somewhere in the middle, but this is one I’ve got to make happen if I’m going to keep a good relationship with my owner (who has been willing to spend money so I want to keep him that way!)

[jksander]

December 4, 2029: We made a big free agent signing this morning, with 28-year-old shortstop Noelvi Marte, formerly of Cincinnati, agreeing to a seven year deal totalling $177.2 million, starting at $25.2M and rising to $26.4M in year five, after which he can opt out or accept two additional years at $23.2M. He put up 3.2 WAR this year while hitting .291 with 25 doubles, 17 homers and 84 RBIs.

December 5, 2029: Ricketts can rest easy, we’ve resigned Moises Ballesteros to ensure he’ll remain a Cub through at least 2037! The total deal is worth $253.5 million through 2039 if he doesn’t opt out after year seven, starting at $25 million and building to $35 million right before the option year. If he stays, he’ll get $27.5M in 2038 and 2039. This deal was well under his original ask which was well over $300M, so I think it’s a fair deal all around and ensures he’ll be behind the plate as a Cub for as long as his body can handle it (and at the plate for even longer, if his bat can stay as strong as it’s been!)

In other news, we’ve freed up some cap space by moving Royce Lewis (at 40% retention) to the Marlins in exchange for a pair of relievers and a backup center fielder. He was on the final year of his contract anyway, and had been enough of an injury risk that, with Noelvi Marte signed, made him superfluous.

December 8, 2029: Jorge Flores has completed his development work on his catching defense, and he’s improved from 35 to 40 in catcher ability, opening up further potential the scouts hadn’t expected to see as well! He’s going to spend the next four to five weeks working on baserunning fundamentals, and if that goes well we’re going to work further on his base stealing.

December 13, 2029: Seiya Suzuki, who is in the final year of his contract and earning $23.2 million, has signed an extension to stay through next year at $2.2 million. He’s loyal and smart, and still has a great bat though his fielding ability is starting to fade. I think his leadership in the clubhouse is worth the money, particularly as he trains our young up-and-coming players.

December 22, 2029: Another year, another Rule 5 passes with little fanfare. We took no one and lost no one.

January 2, 2030: Today we made our final free agent signing, as Kolby Allard, formerly of Pittsburgh, agreed to a one year deal to be a backup starter, taking home $2 million for the pleasure. He’s 32, but should be perfect as a spot starter or back of the rotation guy.

January 10, 2030: We’ll get a supplemental first rounder for Luke Little, who signed a $211 million / seven year contract with the Toronto Blue Jays. That’s not a bad return at all, based on how the upcoming draft is looking! We thought about signing a closer out of free agency, and then decided to just give Hunter Greene the job, considering he’s 30 and already earning $15.4 million per year. He has 50 career saves so far and a 4.89 career ERA, playing for Cincinnati, Baltimore, Philly and ourselves. Time to see what he’s made of while we groom our up-and-coming bullpen arms.

January 15, 2030: Jorge Flores continues to have solid successes this year in his development work! He’s now progressing to work on his base-stealing technique, and has continued to show strong work ethic. In other news, Tom Ricketts has been pleased with our progress toward the goal of a repeat title, and has boosted our budget again accordingly. But I suspect we’re going to have to make some tough decisions next offseason as our payroll is now well over $300 million per year. As long as he keeps writing the checks, that’s all good, but eventually if we have an underperforming season I suspect that spigot of money will get turned off.

January 16, 2030: Nobody got into the Hall of Fame this year, though Ryan Braun (74.8%) came close in his fifth year on the list. There are three or four guys who are close enough that I expect they could get in next year. Sometimes you just never know.

[jksander]

January 28, 2030: We’ve made a pair of IFA deals, signing 17-year-old Venezuelan left fielder Juan Rivera (5 stars, $2,310,000) and 16-year-old Venezuelan right handed reliever Ernesto Correa (5 stars, $1,000,000). We have a couple additional offers out as well as we get closer to spring training.

February 2, 2030: We’ve signed our final two IFAs of the season, adding 16-year-old Dominican center fielder Jorge Figueroa (3 stars, $1,300,000) and 16-year-old Dutch shortstop Erjan Van Zelst (3 stars, $320,000) to our international complex.
 
February 14, 2030: Juan Flores completed his base-stealing technique program successfully, a trifecta performance that has led to his “stealing ability” rising from 40 to 45 in skill rating, He’ll remain in our Dominican Rookie League and is unlikely to make the jump to the majors anytime soon, but I’m hopeful he’ll be ready to make the jump to “A” ball next year at the least, if he can keep making improvements.

Spring training begins today as we prep to defend our championship with a giant target on our backs. All eyes will be on 20-year-old rookie third baseman Mike Bresser, who we drafted 19th overall in the 2028 draft. Bresser is one of the best young fielders at third base in the league, and though he’s most likely going to return to the minors for at least another season, it’s our chance to get a good look at the #15 prospect in the BNN rankings and see how he matches up against top talent.

February 16, 2030: We got results back from our final training sessions in the development lab. Of them all, rookie baller Benny Grafer had the best result, completing his work on his plate discipline to an outstanding degree, to the point where he may have actually increased his potential in contact and eye ratings, with his eye rating climbing from 25 to 30. He’s a long way from making it to the bigs, but we’re pleased with the results. John Wall improved his gap rating from 25 to 30 as well, which we’re hoping will show results as he plays this year in the Arizona Complex League. And finally, our 10th rounder from last year’s draft, Haywood Darrach, spent the offseason working on his two pitches, particularly his curveball, which has improved markedly with his overall stuff rating rising from 25 to 30. He has potentially explosive stuff overall, and if he keeps progressing, he could be our closer of the future in the next few years. As of right now he’s expected to start with “A” Myrtle Beach this season, skipping straight over the rookie league.

March 24, 2030: Mike Bresser will play this season starting out with AAA Iowa, as he still needs to find more solid discipline at the plate against top pitching, but he had a solid spring and benefitted from the experience. He is our only prospect currently looking like he could make the jump to the majors by next year. Here’s our current opening day roster:

Opening Day Roster
C - Moises Ballesteros
1B - Ronald Acuna Jr.
2B - Arturo Malclonado
3B - Junior Caminero
SS - Noelvi Marte
LF - Matt Shaw
CF - Pete Crow-Armstrong
RF - Juan Soto
DH - Duncan Garcia

Bench: Connor Burns, James Triantos, Victor Mesa Jr., Seiya Suzuki

SP1 - Yoshimatsu Ishida
SP2 - Andrew Painter
SP3 - Justin Steele
SP4 - Jordan Wicks
SP5 - Dax Fulton

Closer - Hunter Greene
Setup - Kolby Allard, Jaylen Nowlin
Middle - Zach Brzykcy, Hayden Seig, William Kempner
Long - Seth Keener
 
2030 Season: We’ve got one of the most expensive teams in baseball, but that hasn’t stopped the rest of the NL Central from trying to keep pace, and by early July we were locked in a tight divisional battle with a 52-41 record, trailing the Cardinals by three games but ahead of Milwaukee by one with Cincy and Pittsburgh fading in the rear view. Andrew Painter signed his contract extension during the All Star weekend, committing to at least two more years with us before a player opt out after the 2032 season, with an AAV of around $23 million ... a bargain for a guy who’s been right in the Cy Young conversation all season. We briefly took the divisional lead before the trade deadline, battling St. Louis neck and neck from there, and this year we let it all ride, feeling confident in our ability to get the job done. We took control of the division in early August, leading by 5.5 games at roster expansion, and we clinched by the middle of the month, finishing the regular season with a 95-67 record, with Milwaukee (89-73) and St. Louis (87-75) both qualifying as wildcards.

Milwaukee won the wild card matchup that fed into our end of the playoff bracket, setting up an NLDS round-of-five between ourselves and the Brewers, who haven’t been in the playoffs since 2027. We took game one 4-2, and our bullpen won game two for us 8-6, with Jaylen Nowlen getting the win and Hunter Greene saving his second game in a row to go with the 40 he saved during the regular season, Matt Shaw hitting a two-run single in the bottom of the eighth to break a 5-5 tie. And we completed the sweep in Milwaukee, scoring six runs in the top of the third and holding tough to win 6-1! That brought up the New York Mets (92-70) for the NLCS, and we stayed sharp, quickly taking a 2-0 series lead with 9-2 and 6-5 wins at home. But the Mets broke our win streak in game three on the road, a 14-inning marathon that saw Steele take a 4-3 lead into the middle of the eighth, only to have Greene blow the save ... in the bottom of the 14th, Pete Alonzo hit an RBI single and Leonardo Balcazar scored the winning run as we lost 5-4. Jordan Wicks picked up a win for us in game four, however, after blowing a 7-5 lead in the bottom of the eighth, when Junior Caminero hit a two-run homer to win it in the top of the ninth 9-7! But the Mets, desperate to stay alive, completely shut us down in game five, winning 6-0 and sending this series back to Wrigley. Justin Steele held tough through 5.1 innings with four earned runs, thanks to our bats already having driven in nine runs, and the bullpen held it as we closed the NLCS out with a 9-4 win!

Back in the World Series for the second year in a row (the only time that’s happened since 1907-08!) we had a rematch of last year’s series against Detroit (96-66), and this time they had home-field advantage! Yoshimatsu Ishida won his third game of this year’s playoffs in game one, lasting six innings with four hits, five strikeouts and one earned run, and our bullpen held it ... we’d win the first one 3-1! But Detroit blew us out 10-2 in game two, sending the series back to Wrigley knotted 1-1. Steele laid an egg in the third game, spotting Detroit a 5-0 lead by the third inning and they coasted to a 6-0 shutout win to take the series lead. In game four we took a 0-0 tie into the sixth, spotted them two runs, and then Juan Soto hit a flyball single that drove Matt Shaw and Junior Caminero in to score and give us a 3-2 lead, which was enough to win it as Greene held on for his fifth playoff save this season. We had a chance to take the series lead, but Detroit took a 4-0 lead and cruised to a 7-3 victory in game five, taking a 3-2 lead into game six back in Detroit. Tied 1-1 in the bottom of the ninth inning, Colt Keith led off the frame with a walk-off homer to cap the 4-2 series win for Detoit as they took the title and cemented a new rivalry with our Cubs.

This was Detroit’s fifth championship, but their first since 1984.

November 2, 2030: Ricketts got in touch after the heartbreaking loss in game six, and while he says he’s willing to keep the money flowing to accomplish it, he now sees us as on the verge of building a dynasty, and he’s not going to be happy with anything less than another World Series for his money. I expect he’s going to start meddling a lot more in day-to-day operations if I don’t stay on my game. Here are our offseason plans for player development:

CL Haywood Darrach (Rookie ACL) ... Endurance Training
3B Mike Bresser (MLB) ... Strength and Conditioning
2B Arturo Malclonado (MLB) ... Generate Batspeed
SP Yoshimatsu Ishida (MLB) ... Add Pitch to Arsenal
RP Dashawn Jemmott (A) ... Secondary Pitch Improvement
SP Juan Olmo (A+) ... Increase Pitch Movement

[jksander]

November 10, 2030: Matt Shaw and Duncan Garcia won Platinum stick awards this season for us as left fielder and designated hitter respectively. Shaw put up 4.1 WAR playing left field, hitting .278/.316/.485 with 26 homers, 103 RBIs and 22 stolen bases, while Garcia powered in 36 homers and 15 doubles while hitting .245, accounting for 1.6 WAR as the designated hitter, but he couldn’t compete with the likes of Shohei Ohtani, who hit another 49 homers this year, giving him 470 for his career even as he shows signs of decline at age 36.

November 15, 2030: Yoshimatsu Ishida finished fourth in the NL Cy Young polling, and won the NL’s Great Glove award for pitching. He just turned 25 and finished his second season as an MLB ace, putting together an 18-7 record with a 3.76 ERA through 198.2 innings, striking out 210 with a 1.17 WHIP and 5.6 WAR. If he can keep playing like this, he’s on his way to being a generational talent from the mound!

December 22, 2030: The Rule 5 draft went six rounds today, but no one from our team was picked and we didn’t see anyone of interest. It’s been a slow offseason with free agency being below average in general, though we do have one player in particular we’ve been keeping an eye on. It’s not going to be as big a splash as we’ve made in past seasons, but we also aren’t in a position where we really need to shove square pegs into round holes ... the bulk of what made the last two years a success remains part of our roster already.

December 26, 2030: We’ve made our main free agency acquisition just after the Christmas holiday, with 23-year-old Korean right fielder Yun-Tae Kim agreeing to join our roster for the next five seasons! Kim posesses outstanding contact ability, excels on the basepaths and has above average defensive ability, with excellent gap power but little to no home-run power. We signed him to a deal worth $12.7 million overall, starting at $1.2 million this year and rising to $4 million by 2035. He’s good enough to take a flyer on now to back up Juan Soto who is nearing the end of his contract depending on if he buys into his player option next year. If not, Kim would make a high quality (and inexpensive) replacement for Soto’s solid but expensive bat. Seiya Suzuki remains valuable for his leadership in the clubhouse and as a fill-in player off the bench, and is considering a one year extension at $1,250,000 to stay for another season as well.

December 30, 2030: Suzuki got back with us and agreed to the terms, so he’ll play one more year for us at $1.25 million next season, though even he ackowledges he’s nearing the end of his career and is glad to be able to go out on his own terms having played for no one in the MLB but the Cubs.

January 15, 2031: It’s a big year for the Hall of Fame! Justin Verlander (99.3%) was almost a unanimous first-year pick, getting in easily, while Ryan Braun (83.0%, 6th Year), Adam Wainwright (81.7%, 3rd Year) and Yadier Molina (80.7%, 4th Year) all made it in as well. Jimmy Rollins only got 13.1% in his 10th year, and has dropped out of eligibility. It is NOT a good year for International Free Agents, and we’re passing on bidding this season, with our scout Nakamura doing a good enough job on his own efforts to save us the money this go-around.

February 15, 2031: Yoshimatsu Ishida became my first player to ever succeed at adding a pitch! He spent all offseason working on a slider, and though it’s not a pitch that’s likely to become one of his main pitches, it’s definitely capable of fooling batters while he alternates between his premium curve, changeup and splitter ... crazy that his “worst” pitch other than the new slider is a plus fastball he can throw at 97 miles per hour! Our other true success this offseason was Malclonado’s work on batspeed and home run power. As a result of his hard work all winter, he’s seen noticeable increases in bat speed and overall power, making him one of the more dangerous young sluggers in the game at the moment. He’s only 20 but could easily become an MVP-level candidate if he can keep digging for results. He’ll be arbitration eligible after this season, and we’re not interested in waiting -- we want to lock him in as our star of the future NOW.
 
March 2, 2031: He’s a Cub long term! Arturo Malclonado signed a 13-year deal that locks in his arbitration years and guarantees he’ll remain in Chicago through at least 2041. The deal starts him at $5 million next year, with $5 million yearly increases until year four. He’ll then have two $20 million years, two $25 million years and three $30 million years. At that point he can decide to opt out and go for a big free agency deal, or take three more years at $35 million each. For a kid we discovered in the Dominican Republic, completely free of IFA bonuses and the like, this was his chance to lock in mind-blowing money long term and play at Wrigley through the heart of his career.

March 13, 2031: This is tough news for a veteran who hoped to have one more shot at the majors, but 34-year-old reliever Cody Morris tore the labrum in his shoulder and has decided to hang up his cleats. Over eight seasons with Cleveland, the Yankees, Arizona, Boston, Atlanta and now Chicago, Morris played in 218 major league games, putting together a 27-27 record with a pair of saves, a 4.36 career ERA, 582 strikeouts and 3.1 career WAR. It’s tough to see anyone’s career end, but to have it happen in spring training is the absolute worst.

March 28, 2031: Another offseason’s in the books, and we’re ready to challenge for a club-record third-straight World Series trip! But it’s a long season, and there’s plenty left to happen before we can make that goal a reality. Here’s our opening day roster:

Opening Day Roster
C - Moises Ballesteros
1B - Ronald Acuna, Jr.
2B - Arturo Malclonado
3B - Noelvi Morte
SS - Junior Caminero
LF - Matt Shaw
CF - Pete Crow-Armstrong
RF - Juan Soto
DH - Duncan Garcia

Bench: Connor Burns, James Triantos, Yun-Tae Kim, Seiya Suzuki

SP1 - Yoshimatsu Ishida
SP2 - Justin Steele
SP3 - Andrew Painter
SP4 - Jordan Wicks
SP5 - Kolby Allard

Closer - Hunter Greene
Setup - Dax Fulton, Carmen Mlodzinski
Middle - Jaylen Nowlen, Hayden Seig, Codi Heuer
Long - Drew Gray