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The Chicago Cubs have wasted little time getting to work this offseason, which bodes well for their chances of making strides in 2025.

Many fans are understandably concerned that the squad will carry over from last season unaltered into the upcoming campaign due to the abundance of unanswered questions surrounding this group.

That should be a good sign that they’ve landed at least one or two of the players they’ve been linked to for the past few months.

That doesn’t imply they have to shell out $800 million to assemble a respectable squad, but spending money is the point.

Max Fried, who may be one of baseball’s most unheralded free agents, is one of the players to whom they have been linked. Keep in mind that there aren’t many better than Fried when he’s playing his best.

The injuries he’s endured are the sole reason his value is lower than what was anticipated a few years ago. In his prime, this player has been virtually unhittable.

Despite what some have said, the most recent contract forecast for the Cubs on the left-hander is positive. Fried lands a five-year, $140 million deal, according to The Athletic’s Tim Britton.

Fried’s worth isn’t exactly where it was after his 2022 season, when he finished second for the Cy Young Award. After missing significant time in 2023 due to hamstring and forearm issues, he struggled to maintain consistency in 2024, leading to his worst earned run average (ERA) since 2019. Even with his two worst seasons, Fried remained a top-10 left-handed starter with an ERA of 3.25. Fried is the best lefty in the previous five years, with Framber Valdez of Houston being the only other contender. There’s no need to worry about the trendline; Fried’s strikeout rate was comparable to Corbin Burnes’. Soft ground contact rather than swing-and-miss has always been Fried’s method of operation. In free agency, that strategy is frequently underappreciated.

Fried has numbers that are competitive with the best MLB arms, as Britton mentioned. That’s because he shares that trait with other pitchers.

Some worry that Chicago’s rotation leans too heavily on left-handed pitchers, as indicated above. That might be an issue in certain postseason series, but with a leader like Fried at the helm, they usually come out on top.