The gang bemoans the Cubs' refusal to release DJ from his glass case of emotion, banter about the potential value of Patrick Wisdom, wonder what it would look like for the team to end up with a satisfactory offseason at this point, and then absolutely ACE a Random Cub of the Week. 2024 is off to a roaring start.

Shorthanded, denied big news, and with the Dodgers' acquisition of Yoshinobu Yamamoto hanging over them like a dark cloud, the gang stays chatty for the final 2023 episode of TINAR. It's about new Cubs coaches. It's about the future. It's about a labored Aaron Sorkin analogy. What's not to love? Happy holidays, everyone.

The Chicago Cubs are testing their fans' patience and threatening some of their sanity. In the latest episode of This is Not a Rebuild, the guys try to make sense of the team's approach to free agency, take turns ranting on subjects ranging from Eric Hosmer to the sustainability of any sector of our economy, and then close with a Random Cub of the Week!

The gang discusses the Chicago Bears, for some reason. Also, whether MLB players tend more strongly to be married with children than their counterparts of the same age in the broader population. Oh, and they chat a fair bit about Bo Bichette, Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the Cardinals relentlessly signing old, mid pitchers, and other topics relevant to the Cubs' offseason.

Sure, we talk a little Shohei Ohtani on this show. We talk a little Patrick Wisdom and Nick Madrigal. We cover the Cubs offseason a little. But folks: this episode is all about moons. We did a two-round draft, the first in what will be an annual ritual. This is the important stuff. Please get involved. Todd desperately needs a new scouting director.

In what is not quite an emergency podcast, the gang gathers to celebrate and marvel at the hiring of Craig Counsell as the Cubs' manager for the next half-decade. Included: -How this went down, and why it was so wild -What this does for expectations around the rest of the offseason -Discussion of some of the contract estimates published this week by MLB Trade Rumors, and whether the Cubs make sense for any of those guys at the prices provided.

The guys reconvene after too long apart, to discuss the Chicago Cubs: -Losing Marcus Stroman to a contract option -Keeping Kyle Hendricks and Yan Gomes via club options for 2024 -Being tied to Juan Soto in trade rumors -Maybe really needing Shohei Ohtani, but having a tough fight ahead if they want him -Trying to land a front-of-the-rotation starter this winter, via free agency or trade Free agency is now officially open. Let's see where this all goes.

The gang convenes to discuss the Cubs' minimal news tidbits during this lull (for teams left out of the playoffs) in the baseball schedule. They go back and rehash their predictions for this season, made in late March, and reflect on the season that was through that lens. Also, they try and fail to figure out what the plural form of Nostradamus should be.

We gather, in this episode, to lay to rest the 2023 Cubs. Not every end of a season feels like a death in the family, but this one did. As we worked through it, though, we realized that (perhaps) it felt more like the digestible demise of an old family member, rather than the painful and violent loss that it might have seemed to be even a week ago. An interesting offseason looms, and we talked at length about who the Cubs might pursue, where they made measurable and lasting progress in 2023, and whether or not bringing back the manager makes any sense. (Ahem.)

We lead this week with a few special segments to get you smiling a bit, with baseball takes that run wider than the Cubs and come from new perspectives. Then, we get to the terrible part: trying to make sense and meaning out of this lousy September showing from a team that seemed poised for just the opposite. It's a complicated topic, and these are complicated times.