MLB insider doubts impact of Chicago Cubs, Boston Red Sox's offseason moves despite Kyle Tucker, Garret Crochet, Walker Buehler acquisitions

The Chicago Cubs and the Boston Red Sox went into the 2024 season with promising rosters and solid managers in Craig Counsell and Alex Cora respectively. However, both clubs were dumped out of playoff contention in September.

Looking to make changes, they added number of key pieces to their rosters. Arguably the biggest moves for them have been: Cubs trading for Kyle Tucker from the Houston Astros and Boston getting Garret Crochet from the Chicago White Sox via trade and signing Walker Buehler to a one-year contract. But will these moves alongside a few more splashes be enough to make them contenders?

As per MLB insider Jeff Passan on the Talkin' Jake podcast, both Chicago and Boston haven't gone all-in this season, like the Los Angeles Dodgers. Passan said that while both Buehler and Tucker are big names, the clubs need to add more firepower from the free agency pool (42:10).

"Los Angeles Dodgers have shown is that they are playing a full measure game and if you're a team that's going to go only half measures, it's not going to work out great for you and that's where I think the Cubs and the Red Sox fall into at this point. They have had a half measure winter, the half with the trades has been phenomenal like getting Garrett Crochet. ...

"I think adding Buehler, like on a one-year deal, the upside there is absolutely enormous. With the Cubs, another team that was sort of on the cusp of a playoff spot last year, and they go out and, you know, get one of the 10 most talented players in all of baseball in Kyle Tucker."

He concluded:

"You got to add to that, it's got to be more than Ryan Presley, like it has to be more than these little incremental moves, like you want to get leaps and bounds bigger, not just go sort of slightly, like you want jumps, not steps, and this was not a jump kind of winter in free agency for either of those teams."

---

Jeff Passan wants big market clubs, like the Cubs and Red Sox, to take changes

Apart from the Los Angeles Dodgers, none of the big market clubs have been as extravagant as they should be.

As per Jeff Passan, the Cubs and the Red Sox are the primary examples that the big market clubs are being too conservative. He's of the opinion that winning with smaller payrolls is possible but with big clubs, their higher payroll gives them an opportunity to correct mistakes (44:28):

"You can still build a good, sustainably winning team with a low payroll, your margin for error is just minuscule at that point. And what these large market teams don't seem to ... they understand it, but they don't seem to embrace it, is that the beauty of being a large market is that it buys you that margin for, buys you the ability to screw up on a contract or two and have dead money and have it look ugly in pursuit of something greater."

It remains to be seen whether any of the clubs, whether with a big payroll or not, are able to match up to the standards of the Dodgers on the field. For now, clubs like the Cubs and the Red Sox can just hope to find winning momentum.