The Cubs Are Better Than You Think

When the Cubs executed their trade-deadline fire sale last July—after they had traded Yu Darvish and nontendered Kyle Schwarber in December 2020—it appeared that they would be entering a multiyear transition. Perhaps this wouldn’t be the type of long rebuild they endured a decade ago, but it was hard to imagine they could be competitive after trading Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Javier Báez and Craig Kimbrel.

It’s true, they are the fourth most valuable franchise in MLB, worth approximately $3.8 billion, according to the latest Forbes estimates; it just seemed like the Ricketts family didn’t want to open up the checkbook. After all, why in the world would they choose to trade their trio of…