CHICAGO – It’s very safe to say that a new era of Cubs’ baseball is well underway on the north side.
The previous one was ended unceremoniously at the trade deadline in July of 2021 as the core of the 2016 World Series championship team was dismantled with a number of players on expiring contracts.
Those were the first major moves by Jed Hoyer after taking over as president of the Cubs from Theo Epstein, and he’s attempted to do some retooling this winter. The biggest moves were the pre-lockout signing of pitcher Marcus Stroman and the post-lockout signing of Seiya Suzuki, who figure to be faces of the franchise in this new era.
But a healthy amount of questions still linger about the team heading into the 2022 season, where expectations are naturally tempered as a new-look team starts a new era of Cubs’ baseball. Can Frank Schwindel and Patrick Wisdom keep up their efforts from the year before? Can Nico Hoerner and Nick Madrigal solidify the Cubs’ middle infield? Can Kyle Hendricks return to form after an uncharacteristically-high 4.77 ERA in 2021?
Of course, what will be Willson Contreras’ future with the team as the sides still can’t agree on a long-term deal?
Michael Cerami of Bleacher Nation appeared on WGN News Now Sports Talk to discuss those topics and many others on the team as the April 7th Opening Day approaches quickly. You can watch his entire discussion with Larry Hawley on this edition of the program by clicking on the video above.
If you are interested in following Michael’s work in Twitter, click here.
