Chicago Cubs’ struggles linked to the same front office blind spot

The Chicago Cubs are probably one good losing streak away from having to really assess whether their lofty postseason aspirations are realistic. Then, decisions will have to be made regarding a partial rebuild for a roster that seemed already set for the most part as it rolled into this 2026 season.

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Now in fourth place in the NL Central Division—and 6.5 games behind the first place Milwaukee Brewers—the Cubs would miss the playoffs if the season ended today. Luckily for them, there’s still about four months to go for a turnaround from recent poor form.

The question, though, is how to fix what’s broken on this team with not much depth coming internally and long shot options down the road when it comes to trades.

What Chicago really needs is a time machine.

Changing the Cubs’ player acquisition focus

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Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer and his entire operation need to go back in time and change their entire outlook on scouting and selecting young talent. Rather than hyper-focus on multi-tool stud position players, they should’ve focused on strong, talented—and healthy—arms.

Hoyer’s philosophy has always been to gravitate towards position players, likely because of the inherent greater risk involved in drafting and developing young pitchers. That would certainly fit into his decision-making profile as someone who works analytics and charts probability.

Unfortunately, high-level success often requires high-level risk.

The Brewers are the perfect example of a front office that has excelled at pitcher development and won’t stop reaping the benefits because of it.

The latest example of this is Jacob Misiorowski, who’s been dominant this season, but who also came with some major risk earlier in his career as a high-ceiling prospect with question marks concerning control. The safe draft pick for Milwaukee would’ve been a position player with a more chartable developmental trajectory. And that’s probably where Hoyer and his front office would’ve gone.

The Cubs’ history of drafting and developing young pitchers has been abysmal for a team with an otherwise sound player development system. At the moment, there are zero healthy high-end young arms anywhere near the top of the organization.

Always bargain hunting

Cade Horton and Jaxon Wiggins, who ARE top-level talents, are—not surprisingly—injured and surrounded by uncertainty. They were actually drafted by the Cubs coming right off Tommy John surgery, presumably because their injury status made them a better draft bargain.

Even when acquiring pitchers via trade or free agency, Hoyer gravitates towards bargains. The oft-injured Matthew Boyd was signed to a budget two-year deal prior to the 2025 season. Edward Cabrera, who also has a significant history of injury in his young career, was acquired via trade with the Miami Marlins prior to this season. Reliever Hunter Harvey, who’s seemingly spent more time on the IL over the course of his career than on active rosters, was signed this past offseason on a one-year deal.

Rolling the dice on budget pitchers looks like absolute brilliance when the gamble pays off. They are disastrous, however, when they don’t. And, right now, the Cubs are dealing with some of that disaster. Horton, Boyd, Cabrera, and Harvey—who were all counted on to be valuable assets on a playoff-bound Cubs team—have combined to throw 89.1 innings so far.

But, seeing this mess they’re in this year, will the Cubs and Hoyer ever start investing in young power arms?

They better.

Pitching has become a bigger and bigger key to building any winning organization. It gives teams dominance at the major league level as well as tradeable assets to acquire other puzzle pieces down the line.

Without healthy young stud pitchers, we get the team we see today from the North Side—a fractured mess that gradually falls to pieces trying to compensate for their crucial pitching weakness.

The post Chicago Cubs’ struggles linked to the same front office blind spot appeared first on ChiCitySports.

Source: https://www.chicitysports.com/chicago-cubs-struggles-pitching-jed-hoyer-boyd-horton-cabrera-harvey/