Going back to this past offseason, the Chicago Cubs were coming off a disappointing result when they squandered their late Wild Card lead and were left out of the playoffs once again.

Injuries to the bullpen was a major reason for their ultimate collapse, and it seemed like that would be a prime area the organization would look to upgrade before embarking on the 2024 campaign.

With some high-profile players on the open market, or seemingly made available via trade, there was some hope the Cubs would be aggressive in the winter and put together a roster that would compete for the division title and get back into the playoffs.

Handing Craig Counsell the most lucrative managerial deal in Major League Baseball history signaled they might be headed in that direction, especially after they fired David Ross to get this done.

Chairman Tom Ricketts and president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer proclaimed they would put together a contending team, giving fans hope that after a few years of watching other teams play fall baseball, they would be able to watch their own chase a championship.

Instead, they saw supposed target after target wind up with other franchises as Chicago was one of the last clubs around the league to make an offseason addition.