I'm fine with him coming back on a minor league deal as long as they don't count on him to be a major piece of the pen. Right now, he's a low-risk, high-upside play.
*****Official Cubs 2020 thread*****
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I'm fine with him coming back on a minor league deal as long as they don't count on him to be a major piece of the pen. Right now, he's a low-risk, high-upside play.
The Theo Epstein Fanboy Bus will have very few people still on-board by July of this year.
This offseason is extremely disheartening, and the only saving grace is that the NL Central lacks a great team, and the Cubs should still have the best offense in the division.
With that said, the lack of exciting activity is what happens when you have the #2 payroll, a bottom-tier farm system, and an ancient pitching staff.
Theo and his buddies finally realized they might have a pitching deficiency long after some posters on Hawkeye Report expressed concern. They have made some good front office moves this year, hiring a new Director of Scouting who has a background in STL and Oakland, replacing the incompetent Jason McLeod (whose responsibilities will hopefully not extend beyond fetching coffee and drycleaning).
Unfortunately, it's likely going to be too little, too late unless Theo and Ricketts have a mutual understanding that they will play the long game, and extend Theo's contract beyond 2021.
This offseason is extremely disheartening, and the only saving grace is that the NL Central lacks a great team, and the Cubs should still have the best offense in the division.
With that said, the lack of exciting activity is what happens when you have the #2 payroll, a bottom-tier farm system, and an ancient pitching staff.
Theo and his buddies finally realized they might have a pitching deficiency long after some posters on Hawkeye Report expressed concern. They have made some good front office moves this year, hiring a new Director of Scouting who has a background in STL and Oakland, replacing the incompetent Jason McLeod (whose responsibilities will hopefully not extend beyond fetching coffee and drycleaning).
Unfortunately, it's likely going to be too little, too late unless Theo and Ricketts have a mutual understanding that they will play the long game, and extend Theo's contract beyond 2021.
We'll see how it goes. I'm still cautiously optimistic about this year. The Cubs aren't going to win 100 games, but to your point, there's not a great team in the Central this year, and the Cubs could still have the potential to win 90-95 games. Teams remake bullpens all the time in an offseason (Cubs have done it more than once) and they still (at least as of this moment) have KB, Contreras, Javy and Rizzo. Schwarber was a very good hitter the 2nd half of last year.
I'm going to withhold judgment until I see who is playing CF/2B, who is batting leadoff and who fills out the rotation....then we'll see how spring training goes. In the past, Theo has done a good job of getting under-the-radar/relatively cheap pitching in the past and he may well go back to that strategy this year by finding a serviceable starter for a relatively low cost (see Feldman, Hammel and others). Maybe Chatwood can be a key piece this year, either in the back end of the bullpen or as a starter. He was significantly improved last year.
I'm going to withhold judgment until I see who is playing CF/2B, who is batting leadoff and who fills out the rotation....then we'll see how spring training goes. In the past, Theo has done a good job of getting under-the-radar/relatively cheap pitching in the past and he may well go back to that strategy this year by finding a serviceable starter for a relatively low cost (see Feldman, Hammel and others). Maybe Chatwood can be a key piece this year, either in the back end of the bullpen or as a starter. He was significantly improved last year.
The cubs won 84 games last year, the current roster looks much worse. obviously it is December and not april so much will change but i dont see the reasons for optimism.
I'm mostly just pointing to the fact that the Cubs don't even have a full 40-man yet. I assume they'll at least have a full roster by Opening Day. I'll have the whole season to piss and moan.
I don't have any real reason to expect drop-off from Contreras, Rizzo (unless his back becomes chronic, but I expect him to get more scattered days off this year), Baez or Bryant. I'm optimistic Schwarber can keep doing what he was doing the 2nd half. That's a really good offensive starter pack. I'm optimistic the pen can be significantly better this year. It's going to come down to what they do in the pen, what they do at CF/2B and what they do with the rotation. They need to go into the season with 6-7 potential starters, as Lester will likely miss a month+ at various points. Hopefully Darvish is the guy we saw in the 2nd half and I don't see any particular reason to expect a Hendricks drop-off. Quintana will be who he's been.
Cubs didn't play the NYY in 2019, moran. Nor did they play them in 2018. They did in 2017 and that didn't end well for the Cubs either.
You new here?
Pass. Riley struck out 108 times in 313 PAs and Inciarte has become a walking member of the disabled list. I would want Christian Pache over him. Also, what level pitcher?
this is the problem with trying to trade a superstar, you can’t possibly get equal value back.
Remember the halcyon days in the summer of 2018, when esteemed members of this thread said the following?:
1. The contracts Theo gave out that offseason wouldn’t be detrimental because it was “just money, not prospects” and that those contracts would not keep them from continuing to be a big player in the FA market.
2. There was substantial pitching talent in the lower minors (hahahahaha hahahahaha).
3. That the Cubs inability to develop pitching wouldn’t hamper their roster flexibility.
Those were the days.
The Epstein sycophants have either left or are pretending they never were sycophants.
1. The contracts Theo gave out that offseason wouldn’t be detrimental because it was “just money, not prospects” and that those contracts would not keep them from continuing to be a big player in the FA market.
2. There was substantial pitching talent in the lower minors (hahahahaha hahahahaha).
3. That the Cubs inability to develop pitching wouldn’t hamper their roster flexibility.
Those were the days.
The Epstein sycophants have either left or are pretending they never were sycophants.
There’s a chance they will trade Rizzo, doubtful, but there’s a chance. Not really going out on a limb with my prediction both Bryant and Contreras are traded. And I’d take that Atlanta deal if it is a young pitcher like Kyle Wright.
I can only think of a few trades in my lifetime where a team got equal value or better back in return. But, if you have to do it, pick from a solid franchise that produces talent. There are some decent prospects in the Braves system. Primarily this is a salary dump. Let’s not kid ourselves.
In the Braves situation... if they're serious about a run at Bryant, that means they think he's a missing piece to a pennant run. So they're NOT giving up anyone that can help them win in the next year or two.
Translate that to the Cubs approach... Cubs realize they aren't winning with the current roster makeup. Bryant is available because he can bring top minor leaguers so the Cubs can be competitive during Baez's prime years. That's what was the White Sox mantra when they dealt Chris Sales.
Now, two years later... the CWS look to be competitive.
It certainly seems like Cub mgmt is telegraphing their approach pretty clearly.
My quibble with that trade as always has been that the Cubs got the wrong pitcher from the Yankees. They should have asked gotten Andrew Miller.
What great bounty did the Yankees get for Chapman? They have one guy that is a MLB player, unless I am wrong and Billy McKinney is crushing it for the Bronx Bombers. The Cubs got a closer for 2016 and a WS title. I think they'd have been alright with Miller, instead. But, the WS title was nice all the same.
I listened to a little talk on the Score today, and they are reporting that Jon Morosi has the Nationals in the KB sweepstakes .They know they won't be able to retain Rendon, and they do have a good farm system to try and get at least one serviceable player back for taking on his salary.
Just responding to your quote that you have only seen a superstar get equal value a few times in your lifetime, and I assume you look at Chapman as a superstar back then. I agree that none of the other players amounted to crap but Torres for a rental of Chapman is certainly at least equal value.
Now would I go back and undo the trade, hell no, that world series run and championship were the highlight to my 40 years of baseball watching.
I would not classify Chapman as a superstar, but Theo got a key piece for something I was beginning to wonder about seeing in my lifetime. Very high level, but not a superstar.
Not linking, but Al Yellon has a decent proposal on BCB that gets the Cubs Victor Robles from the Nationals, along with some pieces. Including the kind of roll of the dice pitcher you’d need to throw in this kind of a deal.
As I’ve said, we all know this is about money, and that would be a decent starting point for a trade.
As I’ve said, we all know this is about money, and that would be a decent starting point for a trade.
Jed Hoyer was on MLB Network at 2:15 today. Just general convo, but sure sounded like the Cubs aren't going to spend big for the next few years.
I took the interview as ownership has changed their approach and has limited Hoyer/Theo maneuverability in roster moves. Didn't sound to me like Castellanos is coming back.
I took the interview as ownership has changed their approach and has limited Hoyer/Theo maneuverability in roster moves. Didn't sound to me like Castellanos is coming back.
He talked a lot about his "core group". But that was likely just the company line.
If you’re building for the future you don’t trade for Whit. He turns 31 in January.
Once the Cubs determine that K. Bryant
will never sign a long term deal with them,
then they will listen carefully to all trade
offers. Bryant got burned when he started
with the Cubs on contract issues. He has
not forgotten how they treated them.
will never sign a long term deal with them,
then they will listen carefully to all trade
offers. Bryant got burned when he started
with the Cubs on contract issues. He has
not forgotten how they treated them.
BS, bryant like all boras clients will take the highest offer.
Agreed. The grievance is business. Other than the grievance, KB has always come off as a model teammate. He's great with the fans and has never come across as ultimately unhappy with the organization.
This is ultimately going to come down to cost. I keep hearing about "signs" that the Cubs aren't going to be "spending much" for the next few years. I'm curious what that really means. I think it means that they won't be looking to be above the luxury tax threshold vs. a wholesale reduction.
As the roster currently stand, the Cubs are committed to $181.55M for guys under contract or arb-eligible (using estimates for the arb guys) plus $500k cap hit they're still taking for Brad Brach. So that's $182.05M. Add another $15M or so to fill out the rest of the 40-man with guys around the league minimum and the Cubs are at $197M. Add $15M in benefits and $2.5M in minor league salaries and the Cubs are a little over $214M, about $6.5M over the cap.
It appears to me that the Ricketts want to hover below the luxury tax threshold. That's not my choice, but it's also not my money. They're currently the 4th highest payroll, but they sit ahead of the Yankees and the site hasn't added Cole yet.
If the Cubs were actually looking to slash payroll and get by on the cheap, they'd deal KB and use him or a package with Schwarber and/or Contreras to entice someone to take Heyward's contract. Dealing those 4 players would clear something close to $55M....but I don't see that happening. I expect they'll keep the payroll around $200M.
More money comes off the books after next year: Lester, Chatwood, Quintana, Cotton & Winkler (based on today's 40-man) - for a total of $40M per year. There's going to be a lot of focus by Jed & Theo on what they're going to keep as the core going forward.
While that's true, it's because the Cubs aren't likely to be the high bidder. I don't get any sense that KB is desperate to leave Chicago. If the Cubs went after him and offered him the best deal, I'm quite confident he'd take it. I just don't think they will.
I get the impression there's some hard feelings on KB's part. And while what mgmt did is perfectly legal/allowed and fiscally wise... it's really bad from a PR standpoint.
I think there's hard feelings from KB about the fact that this door was left cracked by MLB. Cubs are far from the only team to do this....though I agree with every word of your last sentence.
I think it's a horrible framework. Braves did it to Acuna, Astros did it to Springer, Nats did it to Harper, Rays did it to Longoria and I'm pretty sure the White Sox did it to Jimenez this year. It was going to happen to Vlad Jr, until he got hurt and the situation became moot. All that said, I think that's exactly why Bryant should lose the grievance. This should be handled by MLB across the board and likely resolved through the CBA. The Cubs broke no rules, as shady as it was. If KB wins, suddenly many teams' long-term plans will be thrown a curve, as I assume many players would follow to hit FA earlier.
sox signed eloy to a long term deal before the season started or that would have happened.
ive never seen any indication from kB that he doesn’t like being a cub or holds any hard feelings. Let’s be honest he’s already made 50 million and will make another 20 or so next season.
Oh yeah, I forgot about the contract extension for Eloy.
The problem with Boras clients is that the top guys rarely sign early. Sometimes it costs them money. See "Arrieta, Jake".
