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*****Official Cubs 2021 thread*****

Mark it dude!

Obviously a lot of questions and time between now and then. You would think offense would be first priority, but most of the offense is locked in so not really that much wiggle room there without trades. And obviously trading any of the core isn't going to net you much this offseason, because of teams not wanting to take on too much salary and most importantly these guys sucked this year.

I'd definitely think Alzolay and Mills will get rotation spots as they are going to be trying to save money, which seemingly only leaves one opening. If Lester would take a cheapish deal that would be fine by me, as I don't see too many good internal options that are actually ready to start the season in the rotation.

Bullpen actually looked good by the end of the year, so not necessarily a big overhaul there but adding another legit lefty should be top priority. Hard to think the young kid Carraway (sp?) would be ready for that role to start the season, but hopefully could be a weapon in the 2021 playoffs and world series :rolleyes:

Oh well at least I don't have to watch them suck at the plate for a while...
 
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Manager David Ross was over-rated for his ability to
communicate with and motivate his players. He was
second-guessed on a lot of his decisions this season.
However, he was a rookie manager in 2020 so there is
hope that he will improve in 2021.
 
Manager David Ross was over-rated for his ability to
communicate with and motivate his players. He was
second-guessed on a lot of his decisions this season.
However, he was a rookie manager in 2020 so there is
hope that he will improve in 2021.

He did well, but he certainly made some mistakes as well. We'll see how he handles the offseason.

I'm not even that upset by this. I'm more sad that I won't have a rooting interest in baseball games to watch now than I am about the Cubs actually losing. I think this whole season is so screwed up I really don't care who wins because none of it seems real. I did enjoy the entertainment of the games though.

As for next year? Ugh, they have to fix the hitting. I think the whole "not getting to watch video" thing got into their heads. Maybe it was a legit factor, but ultimately they have to learn how to hit in the majors without it.

Bryant cost himself probably $200 million this summer, and that was before coronavirus blew up the season and budgets. He might have played himself into affordability for the Cubs. I kind of hope they do sign him for cheap. Maybe even just a 1 year contract. After a year and a half of sub-par play, I think Bryant was finally getting frustrated. I bet he is going to head into the offseason with a different mind set and is going to focus even more than he has in the past on having a good season next year. I bet he has MVP like numbers next year because he is going to have something to prove. If he doesn't, then I'm not sure there is ever getting back to where he was before being hit in the head.
 
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Would you support trading away all but one of the following: Baez, Bryant, Rizzo, Happ, Contreras, Heyward?

I would. But which one to keep?

Based on this season, Happ and Contreras are must keeps. I'd try to resign Rizzo to an appropriate contract, but not spend too much. I don't think you'd get enough to justify trading Baez this year and I'd want to see how he plays next year. I think his contract is up then anyway. Bryant...well, I talked about him in a previous post.
 
Based on this season, Happ and Contreras are must keeps. I'd try to resign Rizzo to an appropriate contract, but not spend too much. I don't think you'd get enough to justify trading Baez this year and I'd want to see how he plays next year. I think his contract is up then anyway. Bryant...well, I talked about him in a previous post.

This for sure. Unless someone is willing to pay what Bryant or Baez was worth last offseason (won't happen) then you just aren't going to get enough for them. They both can certainly be all stars again, but I kind of doubt either will ever be an MVP candidate again...

I'd be listening on any trades for anyone, but just don't see them getting enough to justify it. Maybe a team would take a stab at Schwarber or Heyward and give us a great and good prospect in return.
 
This for sure. Unless someone is willing to pay what Bryant or Baez was worth last offseason (won't happen) then you just aren't going to get enough for them. They both can certainly be all stars again, but I kind of doubt either will ever be an MVP candidate again...

I'd be listening on any trades for anyone, but just don't see them getting enough to justify it. Maybe a team would take a stab at Schwarber or Heyward and give us a great and good prospect in return.
Heyward isn't worth anything with his contract and schwarber just sucks lol.

What happened to javy, he could hit a ball 2 feet out the zone, now he can't hit anything in the zone??? I expect a bounce back but doubt hell ever become elite. Exciting but not elite.
 
Blow it Up! Sick of the aiming for the fences at every bat in every game sht just to score 0 runs.
 
This for sure. Unless someone is willing to pay what Bryant or Baez was worth last offseason (won't happen) then you just aren't going to get enough for them. They both can certainly be all stars again, but I kind of doubt either will ever be an MVP candidate again...

I'd be listening on any trades for anyone, but just don't see them getting enough to justify it. Maybe a team would take a stab at Schwarber or Heyward and give us a great and good prospect in return.

I would take a few high upside (top 100-150) A ball prospects for Bryant and hope you hit on 1 of them. That is better than paying him $20+ million next year. Otherwise you are hoping he bounces back and can trade him at the deadline.
 
I would take a few high upside (top 100-150) A ball prospects for Bryant and hope you hit on 1 of them. That is better than paying him $20+ million next year. Otherwise you are hoping he bounces back and can trade him at the deadline.
I'd let it ride...pay him next year and wait for an elite prospect mid season!! He'll be ready to play.
 
Can‘t disagree with that thought but then your paying him $17 million next year hoping he bounces back. This is all going on when money is extremely tight.
I see it as buying a better prospect by betting on him having a bounce back. If you're gambling on him bouncing back, just to trade him then it doesn't really matter if it hurts your payroll next year. You're not looking to win it all in 2021 which is almost a pipe dream anyways. If richetts want to stay below luxury in future I think a smart move would be trying to "buy" prospects next season.
 
Rossy needs to do a better job with lineups...no reason schwarber should be clean up and no reason he should be up to bat with bases loaded in 5th!! How the hell did he never have heyward move above that chump??
 
Rizzo is still a top 5 defensive player but his swing is a little slower, you exercise the option because it’s very fair for his play.

You might get KB and javy for less next year than this year but you’ll have to beat them up in an arbitration case. If you don’t plan to sign them long term you might as well try.

Heyward had a solid year but he’s still untradeable.

Contreras improved tremendously this year defensively, his value is high, this might be the guy that gets traded.

Schwarber is more valuable with a full time dh but probably still can’t get enough to trade him.

I see the cubs going cheap on the pitching staff after darvish and Kyle. I definitely think we see mills and adzolay. Someone mentioned Lester for the other spot, I don’t see it. I think we’re looking at a league minimum guy here.

Hopefully some of these guys can have a big first half and bring back some value because it’s going to be a long season IMO.
 
Rizzo is still a top 5 defensive player but his swing is a little slower, you exercise the option because it’s very fair for his play.

You might get KB and javy for less next year than this year but you’ll have to beat them up in an arbitration case. If you don’t plan to sign them long term you might as well try.

Heyward had a solid year but he’s still untradeable.

Contreras improved tremendously this year defensively, his value is high, this might be the guy that gets traded.

Schwarber is more valuable with a full time dh but probably still can’t get enough to trade him.

I see the cubs going cheap on the pitching staff after darvish and Kyle. I definitely think we see mills and adzolay. Someone mentioned Lester for the other spot, I don’t see it. I think we’re looking at a league minimum guy here.

Hopefully some of these guys can have a big first half and bring back some value because it’s going to be a long season IMO.
No way in hell kb is a cub after 2021, might as well put your gloves on!!! :D
Can't imagine javy not getting a lil bump.

If they can't extend Rizzo he'll be good trade bait mid season. Hopefully the tanks and dodgers both lose, they'll be getting more desperate!
 
Can‘t disagree with that thought but then your paying him $17 million next year hoping he bounces back. This is all going on when money is extremely tight.

I don't think he's where you cut. Assuming the guys get relatively normal prep and have something approximating a normal, 162-game season, the odds that he's not an above average player are low. If we toss this season out, his worst full season was 2018, when he had a 125 wRC+ (100 is league average) and 2.3 WAR. His 2nd worst season was 2019, when he was 135 wRC+ and 4.8 WAR. There was a good study by Fangraphs a few years ago that 1 WAR was worth about $8M on the FA market. Unless you think KB is simply broken and irreparable (I disagree), he's worth bringing back or trading. You can't just let him walk.
 
I don't think he's where you cut. Assuming the guys get relatively normal prep and have something approximating a normal, 162-game season, the odds that he's not an above average player are low. If we toss this season out, his worst full season was 2018, when he had a 125 wRC+ (100 is league average) and 2.3 WAR. His 2nd worst season was 2019, when he was 135 wRC+ and 4.8 WAR. There was a good study by Fangraphs a few years ago that 1 WAR was worth about $8M on the FA market. Unless you think KB is simply broken and irreparable (I disagree), he's worth bringing back or trading. You can't just let him walk.

I don’t think he is broke but I am not confident he can become close to the player he was. He seems to get hurt more often and I wonder if he mentally is struggling which can be hard to get out of. I would like to save the $20+ million and get a few low level but high upside prospects. You can give Bote the job for the next year as he is already signed long term and see how that plays. If you aren’t going to try and resign Bryant long term (which I can’t believe they will even try anymore other than a low ball token offer) get what you can for him now and save some money instead of putting all your faith in him that he will bounce back and you can flip him at the deadline for better prospects all while paying him $17 million till the deadline.
 
I don’t think he is broke but I am not confident he can become close to the player he was. He seems to get hurt more often and I wonder if he mentally is struggling which can be hard to get out of. I would like to save the $20+ million and get a few low level but high upside prospects. You can give Bote the job for the next year as he is already signed long term and see how that plays. If you aren’t going to try and resign Bryant long term (which I can’t believe they will even try anymore other than a low ball token offer) get what you can for him now and save some money instead of putting all your faith in him that he will bounce back and you can flip him at the deadline for better prospects all while paying him $17 million till the deadline.

Are the Cubs really going to get "a few" "high upside" prospects for a guy who costs what Bryant costs, coming off a horrendous year as he heads towards free agency? I'm not opposed to a trade if there's something there, but the Cubs are better off letting it ride than trading him for a bag of balls or simply not offering arbitration.
 
Are the Cubs really going to get "a few" "high upside" prospects for a guy who costs what Bryant costs, coming off a horrendous year as he heads towards free agency? I'm not opposed to a trade if there's something there, but the Cubs are better off letting it ride than trading him for a bag of balls or simply not offering arbitration.

Fair point, I think you can get a few high upside/risk A ball players from a team, not top 100 players. But maybe a few that could break into the top 100 with a good minor league season.
 
It will be interesting to see what happens with Lester. The Cubs are going to pay him $10 million to walk away, but would he come back for one year for a low dollar contract? I do not believe that this is going to be a good offseason for FAs in general, never mind guys like Lester who are on the tail end of their careers. If 2020 he'd probably have gotten a 2 year deal, with some kind of walk away 3rd year option. Even with the Cubs essentially helping another team by chipping in $10 million, it's hard to see a team pushing out a multi year deal to Lester, not for any significant $. He might wind up with $10 million to end this contract, and take $5 million to play in Chicago. That might be better for him and his family.
Just saying.
 
I think Lester is back next year as the #5 with a very team friendly contract.

The offense is screwed. Heyward isn’t going anywhere, I doubt there is much of a market for Bryant or Rizzo, Baez will be Baez-equal parts great and frustrating. There just isn’t much flexibility with money or tradeable pieces.

Like my neighbor just said, at least they won a World Series in our lifetime.
 
Like my neighbor just said, at least they won a World Series in our lifetime.

That sums up the feelings of this Cubs fan since 1982. Five of six years in the playoffs, 3 NLCS appearances and a World Series title were inconceivable to me in 2014. Forever grateful for this successful run.

It just happened that the best successes came right away and for many reasons this group could not build on it. Glad I don’t have to try and figure it out but I will be watching with great interest!
 
The last dynasty in MLB was the New York Yankees who won the
World Series Championships in 1996, 1998, 1999, and 2000.
They had two Hall of Famers in Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera in
that run. The Cubs do not have any Hall of Famers on their current
roster.
 
The last dynasty in MLB was the New York Yankees who won the
World Series Championships in 1996, 1998, 1999, and 2000.
They had two Hall of Famers in Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera in
that run. The Cubs do not have any Hall of Famers on their current
roster.

We'll see what happens with the younger guys on this team, but I think Jon Lester will get in and Craig Kimbrel is going to have a good shot. That said, neither of them had peak years this year for sure.
 
I hope the cubs move on from Kimbrel

To what extent? He's under contract for next year. He's just another guy the Cubs are going to have on a 1-year deal next year. It'll be interesting to watch. They have a lot of guys that probably aren't worth trading at this point unless/until you get into next year and they are performing.
 
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Unfortunately, this team isn't going to be better next year. They will get worse for the next 2-3 years and then maybe the rebuild will begin. The Cubs have officially mirrored the Tigers since their last W.S. - huge contracts on underperforming players, horrible trades and bare cupboard of a farm system.
 
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