3 Cubs who weren’t traded at the deadline, but will be gone this offseason

Marcus Stroman will leave Cubs for a fair deal elsewhere

This narrative, all season long, has been complicated.

On one hand, Marcus Stroman has been a Cy Young candidate and outwardly appears deserving of a contract extension, especially when he clearly wants to be in Chicago and might take a below-market deal to stay for the next few seasons.

On the other hand, Stroman is 32 years old and potentially pitching the last elite season of his career. Chicago, already with some questionable contracts on its books, including the aforementioned Taillon in the starting rotation, may not be wise to hitch its cart to an aging pitcher on a lucrative multi-year deal.

There’s plenty of nuance here, but one thing is clear: Stroman will get paid. He technically has one more year on his deal but has a player opt-out after this season that he would be wise to exercise. With a league-leading 0.6 hits per nine innings and a second-best-in-majors ground ball rate, there’s lots to love about Stroman who has put forth a 3.85 ERA and 15 quality starts (tied for third in MLB).

Stroman, similar to Bellinger, will get offers elsewhere that the Cubs just can’t reasonably match.

While Stroman appears more likely to give Chicago a discount than Bellinger, I think he may sour on the organization after they failed to engage with him on a midseason contract extension despite his very public pleas to get something worked out.

One wrinkle, here, though… If the Cubs can get out of some money (such as by trading Taillon, for instance) I could see them committing it to Bellinger or Stroman.