This is the Cubs we are talking about. They're probably the most patient fanbase in baseball at this point.
Theo gets a #2 draft back this year. He restocked his rotation big time this year, and it is probably better than the Red Sox's this year. Soler, Rizzo, Castro make a strong core for the future, and they have pretty insane payroll flexibility in the coming years. They're probably a .500 team the next few years but they'll be back to prominence soon enough.
They have 15 million more under the luxury threshold. 19 million if they trade Salty. 31 million if they trade Ellsbury too. That's more than enough room for Marcum, but at the beginning of the offseason, the word was that Ben was looking to trade for starters, not buy them, so we'll see.