With the start of the regular season quickly approaching for the Chicago Cubs, the franchise is hopeful their great offseason will translate into more wins.

The Cubs were certainly a big winner this winter. Despite shedding payroll, Chicago was able to find ways to improve significantly on the trade market.

For their lineup, they acquired star outfielder Kyle Tucker from the Houston Astros. The All-Star outfielder will provide them with the star and the slugger that they desired in the middle of their order.

With a couple of veteran additions to their bench, the lineup of the Cubs should be a solid one assuming some of the young talent continues to take strides forward.

Another area that needed to be addressed was the bullpen. The additions of Eli Morgan and Ryan Pressly will help strengthen the unit that was a weakness last year.

Even though the rotation was arguably the biggest bright spot last year, Chicago signed Matthew Boyd and Colin Rea to bolster the back half of the unit.

Overall, this is certainly an improved team, but how good they can be is yet to be determined. While the team has certainly improved, knocking off a team like the Los Angeles Dodgers is going to be a challenging task. If they want to accomplish that feat, some more additions might need to be made.

Zachary D. Rymer of Bleacher Report recently spoke about the Cubs being a good landing spot for star pitcher Dylan Cease from the San Diego Padres.

Adding the talented right-hander would be a significant splash for Chicago and potentially make them a real threat in the National League West.

Last season, Cease totaled a 14-9 record with a 3.47 ERA and 224 strikeouts. He finished fourth in the National League in Cy Young voting, and is proving to be one of the better pitchers in baseball.

While the starting rotation for the Cubs is good, adding Cease would make it great. Come October, if Chicago is going to win, they are going to be facing some elite pitchers. Even though their rotation has been solid, they could use a star like the right-hander.

With this feeling like a team in win-now mode with a couple of impending free agents after the season led by Tucker, the Cubs need to have that mindset when it comes to improving the roster.

While the Padres will be trying to compete as well this season, they know that they can’t lose a pitcher the caliber of Cease for nothing. Chicago has a great farm system of talent they can offer, and he will be an interesting name to monitor.