Brewers’ arch rival starts 2025-26 offseason with a series of penny-pinching moves

The Milwaukee Brewers have never been the apple of the national media's eye as a small-market club with only a couple of brand-name stars on the roster at any given moment.

However, with that status comes some peace of mind as well. Fans have been upset over the various cost-saving trades over the years (Corbin Burnes, Josh Hader, Devin Williams, etc.), but since things tend to work out for the Crew, the national media never gets too incendiary with their reactions. The same phenomenon can be seen with the Freddy Peralta rumors right now — most have simply accepted he'll be dealt for young pieces the Brewers will mold into future core components of the roster.

The Chicago Cubs, on the other hand, don't have quite the same luxury. As one of MLB's premier big-market franchises, people know when they do something stupid.

Well, stupid seems to be the name of the game in the Windy City this offseason. The Cubs shockingly declined Shota Imanaga's team-friendly contract, allowing the Japanese southpaw to hit free agency. Subsequently, they sent Andrew Kittredge back to the Baltimore Orioles for... cash.

The Cubs have never operated in the same way other big-market franchises like the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees do, but these cost-saving measures are an extreme even for them.

Cubs' fears surrounding 2027 MLB lockout could gift Brewers 2026 NL Central title

Look, every team is terrified of what the next round of CBA negotiations may bring. The economic parameters of the sport may change forever, and being caught off guard by them could harm a team for an indeterminate amount of time.

Still, there's a difference between being terrified and being paralyzed. The Cubs simply don't know what to do right now. They're the person who throws their wallet and all the change in their pocket at any random person who approaches them on the street, just in case they might be a mugger.

And none of this is to say Imanaga or Kittredge were fundamental pieces to their core; the Brewers hit Imanaga so hard in Game 2 of the NLDS that the Cubs simply couldn't bear to let him take the mound in Game 5.

This is more so just an admission of fear, and a failed rebuild. The Cubs tore things down in 2021, spent a few years restructuring everything, and then emerged in 2025 only to fall short of the Brewers in the regular season and the playoffs. Now, they're enacting cost-cutting measures ahead of a free agency period that they almost certainly won't partake in (to any serious degree) because of the very same lockout fears that are driving these roster-stripping moves in the first place.

Of course, the Cubs could reinvest these savings into big-name stars in an all-in approach for 2026. But after they pocketed the change on Cody Bellinger's salary dump last year, Cubs fans shouldn't be holding their breath.

Now, the Brewers shouldn't get complacent, seeing as they too fell well short of the Dodgers in the postseason. But after a one-year challenge from the Cubs for the NL Central crown, their throne may go uncontested next season.