Chicago had a chance to end its offseason with a star acquisition, but failed to get the deal done. Here's why it was such a troubling outcome for the big-market franchise.

Just last week, longtime Houston Astros star Alex Bregman signed a lucrative three-year, $120 million deal with the Boston Red Sox. The deal put an end to the

The Cubs have tried to get creative with contract structure in order to compete while also avoiding uber-long deals. They won the Cody Bellinger sweepstakes last year, for example, by front-loading his three-year, $80 million deal and including two opt-outs.