Cubs: 3 free agents to sign and 1 to avoid

Cubs free agent to avoid: Max Scherzer, SP

Despite the fact that Chicago needs to build out their pitching staff, they have to do so wisely. The antithesis of that would be going after Max Scherzer.

No one is denying the fact that Scherzer, at his best, is one of baseball’s elite hurlers. There’s a good chance that, after splitting 2021 between the Dodgers and Nationals, that he probably should be the NL Cy Young winner. He’s truly among the best whenever he takes the bump. But there is a lot of downside to signing him as well.

For starters and, perhaps, most notably, Scherzer will turn 38 years old next season. Though he showed few signs of declining this past season, the fact remains that a step down in performance could be coming soon given his age, especially considering that some injury concerns popped up in the postseason.

When you factor that into the idea that Scherzer is going to be looking for a massive contract this offseason, it starts to not seem worth it for the Cubs. Even if Chicago is interested in aggressively beginning a rebuild this offseason, they want to do so with a long-term outlook. Paying top dollar for a pitcher in his late-30s isn’t exactly something that fits into that plan of attack.