The Cubs did just about as much to improve their team over the league-mandated transaction freeze as they had during the frigid free agency period, relying instead upon guile and luck to carry them. The latter of those disappeared as soon as summer camp opened with news that José Quintana had suffered nerve damage to his left thumb when he cut it washing dishes.
But since everything is unpredictable at this point, the Cubs are still in more or less the same spot they were just before spring training originally opened roughly an eternity ago.