The ' 2021 season was quite the ride. They were in first place in late June and by late July a purge of nearly every tradeable a set transpired. They were predictably a pretty bad team, overall, the rest of the way. Now the goal for club president Jed Hoyer is to build the next contender. How soon will that happen?Some of that depends upon how aggre sive the Cubs are this offseason. They currently only have about $67 million in payroll committed to 2022 and they were over $200 million in 2019. Given the "biblical lo ses" comments from chairman Tom Ricketts in facing empty ballparks for 2020 and how relatively empty Wrigley Field was in September of 2021, surely they don't want to mire in obscurity for long. Hoyer has said the team is willing to spend some money in free agency this offseason, too.Hoyer hasn't been shy in pointing out the top priority is the rotation. has already been added in a slightly savvy waiver claim. He and appear to be the only sure things, though Tony Phillips Jersey it's po sible and either or will get a shot.Would they spend big enough to land or even ? It's unclear, but Stroman seems like an excellent fit. It feels like an ideal offseason would be landing someone of Stroman's ilk along with a high-upside arm that would cost le s like a or Carlos Rodn. It's unclear what kind of arms they'd be interested in via trade. Would the flip inside the division? Would the Cubs cough up the prospect currency needed to get Rollie Fingers Jersey from the A's when he's entering his age-33 season? Both seem unlikely.No, free agency seems like the path here and my hunch is they'll look at more volume from the Gray-Rodn group than going totally on the high end. There's still a path to succe s here if they hit on the right pitchers. Something like Gray, Miley, Hendricks, Wood and Mills/Steele/Thompson could end up being a serviceable rotation, so long as they are getting the most out of every arm.It's po sible the Cubs found some valuable players down the stretch in , and while and could also prove to be useful. If the Cubs are looking to contend, however, there needs to be more surefire thunder.The first place everyone wants to look would be shortstop. doesn't have power, has been injury-prone to this point in his career and is likely an average-at-best defender at short. He should be a more a utility man. There are five stud free agent shortstops, too, with a Javier Bez reunion being at least a remote po sibility. , 27 Mark McGwire Jersey , is the name we've heard most connected to the Cubs. 's price is likely going to be higher than the Cubs want to pay. is going to be 32 next year and the Cubs surely would want someone younger given that contending in 2022 might not be the most realistic plan. is 29 and coming off a rough season.I'd say it's Seager or nothing among the shortstops, unle s Bez's market bottoms out and he takes a one-year, show-me deal like Semien did with the . Speaking of po sible reunions -- especially with the good chance the DH comes to the NL -- , and should all be on Hoyer's radar. Among non-returnees, and also make sense in this group as considerations. As constructed, the lineup needs another Santiago Casilla Jersey bopper.Believe it or not, the Cubs' best offensive month in 2021 was the last one, hitting .265/.343/.446 against a league average slash of .250/.320/.423. If Ortega, Schwindel and Wisdom prove to be for real and can find any sort of consistency (he hit .323/.400/.665 with 14 homers in his last 44 games), adding something like Seager and Soler -- remember, will be added to the mix as well -- makes the offense look pretty strong.If the Cubs are doing something like adding Stroman, Seager, Soler and another starting pitcher, there is absolutely no reason to trade Contreras. In this case, he should be extended. He's one of the better catchers in baseball, especially now that he's learned how to frame. He was already one of the highest-upside bats and has as good an arm as anyone, but now the framing added means he's very valuable. He's coming off his best career WAR season. He's also one year away from free agency. If all the offseason shopping is going to come in looking for bargains on short deals just to patchwork a decent but non-contending team, just trade Contreras.Hoyer needs to find the sweet spot here. If the Cubs are planning on at least pretending to contend in 2022, Contreras needs to be around and they shouldn't send him into the season the same way they did Bez, and last year. An extension needs to get done. This would show the fan base the front office has the ability to do so with a championship core player and would further establish Contreras as a team leader for the next contending Cubs.If no extension is going to Glenn Hubbard Jersey happen, again, trade Contreras. The free agent catcher cla s is brutal and enough teams planning to contend would love to have him aboard. It also takes the po sibility of a Contreras in-season injury crushing his trade value off the table. He's a catcher and gets hit by pitches a good number of times when he's batting, so there's plenty of risk of that happening.