4) Not addressing their DH issue
Some NL teams held off on getting more of a permanent DH because of the lockout. But all the teams knew by mid-March (at the latest) that the DH was permanently coming to the NL in 2022.
Many teams made their biggest offseason signings after the lockout ended but the Cubs decided to do nothing about their DH spot … and their offensive production there suffered for it.
Franmil Reyes joined the Cubs in early August and he ended up being their most frequent DH (48 games). He hit .234/.301/.389 with the Cubs, which amounted to a 93 OPS+. Willson Contreras was their best overall hitter and he DH’d the second-most (39 times).
But if Contreras was DH’ing, that means he’d be replaced by Yan Gomes or P.J. Higgins, who had an OPS+ of 75 and 95. In other words, they could keep Contreras in the lineup but they lost offense because of who they replaced him with.