CHICAGO — The Chicago Cubs went far outside their comfort zone in offering Tanner Scott a four-year, $66 million contract this past offseason. Jed Hoyer’s front office typically avoids major long-term investments in the bullpen, viewing the injury risks as too great and recognizing that relievers’ performances are inherently volatile. Scott, however, was the exception.
The free-agent market is also unpredictable, though the past several winters have shown that the Los Angeles Dodgers almost always seem to get what they want. Scott took a four-year, $72 million deal with the defending World Series champs that included a $20 million signing bonus and $21 million in deferred money. On and off the field, the Dodgers are simply hard to beat.
Once again, the Cubs are rebuilding their bullpen on the fly. It would certainly look different with Scott, a lefty who has a cutting fastball and nasty swing-and-miss stuff. But it might not be exponentially better at this moment, considering how Ryan Pressly has settled into the closer’s job. The weak spots are at the bottom of the bullpen depth chart, which is why the Cubs will keep cycling through relievers.
“They were one of the teams that talked to me,” Scott said before Tuesday’s game at Wrigley Field, sidestepping questions about how seriously he considered Chicago and whether the Cubs made a comparable offer. “It ultimately came down to me choosing the Dodgers. I felt like I fit best here. And I’m happy with my decision.”
HAPPER CALLED GAME. pic.twitter.com/oT5O3f72R3
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) April 23, 2025
Scott then witnessed the extreme nature of the Friendly Confines as the Cubs needed 10 innings to complete a wild 11-10 comeback victory. A crowd of 36,425 watched Shota Imanaga vs. Shohei Ohtani on a pleasant 71-degree evening. Gage Workman, a Rule 5 pick on the roster bubble, committed two costly errors at third base that forced the Cubs to play catch-up. Kyle Tucker and Pete Crow-Armstrong launched home runs, part of a relentless lineup that generated 17 hits. And with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, Scott gave up Miguel Amaya’s score-tying home run, which landed in the center-field basket, another welcome-to-Wrigleyville moment.
“It’s a fun team to watch,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “Come out to the park and watch the team play because this homestand, they’ve done some amazing things, and some resilient things, most importantly. You win games like that early in the season, it’s a great kind of carry forward for the rest of the season.”
Scott’s first trip to Wrigley Field was for the Northwestern-Illinois college football game in 2010, an event mostly remembered for the tight layout that forced both teams to run plays toward the same end zone. (Scott, who grew up in Ohio, has a brother who went to Northwestern.) Scott later trained at Tread Athletics with Tyler Zombro, the Cubs’ newly hired special assistant who focuses on pitching instruction, research and development. The Cubs had long viewed Scott as potentially the next Andrew Miller, another talented left-handed pitcher who bounced around before fully establishing himself as an All-Star reliever.
Right now, though, no other franchise could offer the chance to play for a potential dynasty and work with so much Hall of Fame-caliber talent. Scott also considers Dodgers reliever Evan Phillips a close friend. They previously played together with the Baltimore Orioles, and Scott was a member of Phillips’ wedding party. The Dodgers, Scott said, “were the first team to call me in the offseason,” and the interest was obviously mutual.
“This is a place where people want to play,” Scott said. “They want to be a part of it. You look at the lineup, you look at the staff, it’s pretty good. It’s fun. It’s a great clubhouse environment where you look forward to coming to work every day.”
Kyle Tucker is congratulated by Ian Happ after his eighth-inning homer against the Dodgers. (Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
The Cubs believe they have similar elements in place, but they still have roughly 85 percent of the season remaining to prove that they are serious playoff contenders. In the early going, good starting pitching and an explosive offense have compensated for some of the bullpen issues. The organization’s pitching depth will continue to be tested since the biggest deals won’t happen until much closer to the July 31 trade deadline.
“You make all the phone calls and do all the work on it, but it’s highly unusual,” Hoyer said. “There’s only a small handful of teams in baseball right now that are viewing themselves as sellers entering the season. Other teams might be opportunistic, but usually, the tax that would come with it is tremendous.
“April, May, most of June — those are usually the months when you have to deal with things from within. Again, that’s why you build depth in the offseason. Because the trade market doesn’t really open up that much. You can make small deals here and there. But to get a stabilizing force, so to speak, takes a number of months.”
The Cubs shouldn’t wait until the last minute. For reference, Scott was traded twice in his career – from the Orioles to the Miami Marlins on April 3, 2022, and then from the Marlins to the San Diego Padres on July 30, 2024. Scott contributed to the Marlins edging out the Cubs for a wild-card spot in 2023, and his addition helped the Padres push the Dodgers to the brink of elimination last October.
“You know going into the season that (the bullpen is) the area of the team that you’re going to be constantly working on,” Hoyer said. “If you have a position on the field that’s struggling, you’re not very often going to go on waivers and find someone that’s going to help you. In the bullpen, it happens all the time. It’s never a finished product. I expect that we’ll continue to add guys. We’ll continue to make some deals.”
The Cubs are soon expected to add lefty reliever Drew Pomeranz to their active roster, hoping to catch lightning in a bottle after that minor trade with the Seattle Mariners. Tyson Miller — who became one of the club’s top relievers after the Mariners designated him for assignment last May — is making progress in his rehab assignment with Triple-A Iowa.
So far, the Cubs have demonstrated the next-man-up attitude required to get through a 162-game season. Contributions from all over the 40-man roster and more reinforcements will be needed to get into the October tournament. After Tuesday’s walk-off win, Counsell sat down in the Wrigley Field interview room and gave a shout-out to Gavin Hollowell, who was just promoted from Iowa and held the Dodgers scoreless in the eighth and ninth innings: “Performances like that give you a chance for the magic to happen.”
(Top photo of Michael Busch dousing Ian Happ with water after his walk-off hit against the Dodgers: Matt Marton / Imagn Images)