Other than trolling, I’m not quite sure what you’re looking for here. The Cubs made these moves in the last 24 hours because the Cubs never changed course after 2018-2019. The core was always going to get more expensive together - Rizzo, KB, Javy, Schwarber, Almora were always going to hit FA at the same time, but the Cubs made no significant deals along the way, setting this up.
The Cubs could have made no trades and kept all, hoping to extend 1-2 of them, but this was a .500 team without any trades. The last 24 hours has really sucked, but I also remember growing up on the Cubs and watching them fall in love with guys and not be willing to make the hard move to set up a real window of contention. Jed made a gutsy play, we’ll see how it works out.
They’re not ”tossing in the towel” unless they’re non-competitive for the next 2-4 seasons. As mentioned all over this thread, the Cubs have a crap ton of money to spend and some good young players. They have quite a bit of young potential at the low-end of the minors, which could make good off-season trade bait.