Crane Kenney says the Cubs aren’t done spending this offseason

The Cubs made two significant signings during the Winter Meetings — Cody Bellinger and Jameson Taillon. The impact those two will have on the Cubs roster remains to be seen.

Friday morning, Cubs President of Business Operations Crane Kenney was on 670 The Score and said publicly the Cubs aren’t done spending money:

“There’s a ton of talent still to be added and then the trade market really opens up in earnest after the big free agents are gone,” Cubs president of business operations Crane Kenney said on the Mully & Haugh Show on Friday morning. “We may be in the third inning of our offseason in terms of how the roster will look come February.”

That seems a reasonable analogy, and to me it implies the Cubs absolutely will spend more money — hopefully some of it on one of the two top free-agent shortstops still on the market, either Dansby Swanson or Carlos Correa. For the record, I’d be fine with either one on the Cubs’ Opening Day roster.

Then there’s the matter of a catcher to pair with Yan Gomes, perhaps a veteran reliever or two as I suggested earlier today, and perhaps others. On the Score, Kenney reiterated what he’s said several times previously, that the Cubs do have significant money to spend:

“The business is still healthy, and that left Jed (Hoyer) with a lot of money to spend this year – like last year, where he didn’t spend all the money he had last year because he didn’t see transactions that made sense to him. I hope there are transactions that make sense to us this year to spend all the money that he has. He’s gotten off to a good start. The goal is always the same – it’s to win another championship. If a player can help us get closer to that goal, I think you’re going to see him be very aggressive.”

I hope Kenney is right. It’s still 111 days until Opening Day and 78 days until the Cubs play their first Spring Training game at Sloan Park, so there’s lots of time left — and lots of free agents still on the board, not to mention guys the Cubs might target in trade.

Even with the additions of Bellinger and Taillon, the Cubs should still be somewhere around $50 million below the first luxury tax level ($233 million) for 2023.

As always, we await developments.