*****Official Cubs 2023 thread*****
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3rd place in 2022 with a nice strong 8-2 finish
starting pitching isn’t too bad but the bullpen needs a major overhaul
need another big bat in the lineup too
starting pitching isn’t too bad but the bullpen needs a major overhaul
need another big bat in the lineup too
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I would agree that if we can keep the pieces together and with nice additions I think 85 wins is feasible
The Cubs are in substantially better shape as an organization than they have been at any time since they lost the one-game playoff to Milwaukee in 2018. If it were possible to have taken out a "short" position on the Cubs in the middle of 2018, I would have bet my kids' education accounts on it, and it would have paid out handsomely.
Finally, the organization has a competent pitching infrastructure, and we are already seeing the fruits of it at the big league level. With a buyout of Heyward, they have zero bad contracts on the books. Jed Hoyer has been tremendous with his trades.
Also, below are the wins above replacement and salary of the marquee players dealt at the 2021 deadline (one Win Above Replacement is generally $8M/win):
Had the Cubs overpaid for these franchise cornerstones so that fans could get nostalgic about 2016 for years to come (which some in here wanted them to do), they would have a top 8 payroll, a worse farm system, and would still be finishing 3rd in the division, maybe around .500.
The Cubs are built to compete for years to come -- just need a "star" type position player.
Finally, the organization has a competent pitching infrastructure, and we are already seeing the fruits of it at the big league level. With a buyout of Heyward, they have zero bad contracts on the books. Jed Hoyer has been tremendous with his trades.
Also, below are the wins above replacement and salary of the marquee players dealt at the 2021 deadline (one Win Above Replacement is generally $8M/win):
- Javy Baez - 2.0 WAR, 90 wRC+ (100 is league average), $23.3M AAV
- Kris Bryant - 0.6 WAR (played only 42 games with nagging injuries), 125 wRC+, $26M AAV
- Anthony Rizzo - 2.4 WAR, 132 wRC+, $16M AAV. A fine season for Rizzo
- Craig Kimbrel - 0.9 WAR, 3.23 FIP, lost closer job, $16M AAV
Had the Cubs overpaid for these franchise cornerstones so that fans could get nostalgic about 2016 for years to come (which some in here wanted them to do), they would have a top 8 payroll, a worse farm system, and would still be finishing 3rd in the division, maybe around .500.
The Cubs are built to compete for years to come -- just need a "star" type position player.
I’m not ready to say that but they could be with a few good additions
There’s no Cubs baseball today, but that doesn’t mean that today – October 6th – isn’t a huge day in Cubs history. Come join me on a journey through the ghosts (and goats) of Cubs baseball past. We’ll visit Babe Ruth & Lou Gehrig, talk about Dizzy & Steve Trout and learn a little more about a goat and a shooting while we wind our way through 6 stops in 85 years of Cubs post-season history. Like any trip through a Cubs postseason, it’s a bumpy ride, so buckle up.
I'm going to state here that I am going to do my best to not judge the offseason until it's done, but either of these guys would be a sign that the Cubs are spending.
What do you mean? The Cubs are going to to offer him the QO so that they get a comp pick when he signs somewhere else. There will be a small chance that the market Willson thinks is there isn’t, and he may wind up taking the QO for 2023, but it’s been pretty clear for a while that the Cubs were not making any effort to get a deal done.
Nah, I think they’ll be good next year. How good depends on how aggressive they are in shoring up the holes.
I think they trade 4 or so prospects from the 40 man and get bieber
Sign Turner, and sign a righty home run hitter to play 1st until mervis is ready
Sign Turner, and sign a righty home run hitter to play 1st until mervis is ready
Would love to lock up Nico but I worry that Happ is a guy that doesn't handle pressure well, hence is breakout in '22 when there was little of it
I have the feeling Willson ends up a Cardinal and torments us for the next 5 plus years
They really don’t. The Qualifying Offer is a technicality/procedural step in order to get a compensation pick. Them extending a qualifying offer is not necessarily an indication that they’re putting any effort into extending Contreras.
Anything is possible, but while I’m sure Willson has a friend on that team and had a conversation, Contreras isn’t exactly the standard MO kind of player for the Cardinals. They’ve been pretty consistent on keeping a defensive minded catcher over the years and they have enough big bats that they don’t have to get Contreras. But…we’ll see.
I get what happens if he says no, but there is a chance he says yes. That’s not what the Tweet I linked said.
That’s not Jed Hoyer saying Willson is “gone for sure” - that’s Bob Nightengale. Bob has a long history of extrapolating and taking an extreme end of an argument and planting his flag.
Man you really dissect everything. It is just a feeling... one based on a history of seeing Cubs move on to have big success elsewhere and the Cardinals usually getting the last laugh on us up until the mid 2010's. Not surprised at all to see Q do what he did as a dirty byrd, same would apply if Willson ends up there. But yeah, we shall see
It sounds like the Cubs and Drew Smyly are talking about passing on the mutual option for 2023, and reaching a 2 year deal.
https://www.bleachernation.com/cubs...-with-drew-smylys-camp-to-work-on-a-new-deal/
https://www.bleachernation.com/cubs...-with-drew-smylys-camp-to-work-on-a-new-deal/
Watch this be the first announced move and Cub twitter will freak the eff out about how it’s going to be a bargain basement offseason of doing nothing.
”Spend intelligently”? This is what that looks like.
What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be watching the Sox and their loaded team in the playoffs?
Oops.
That's not going to set well with the Yankees and their fans. I think their fans already feel like we got over on them in that trade.
Now, both NY teams are going to hate the Cubs, but that's a good thing.
Looks like we "Heuered" the Yankees with that trade.
All joking aside, I hope that Scott (and Codi) recover well and have long careers. But I will really enjoy having Wesneski on OUR roster.
Dodgers leave Kimbrel off their playoff roster for the NLDS. Also, from Bleacher Nation:
Really bad few days to be a former Cubs late-inning reliever, man.
Aroldis Chapman didn’t show up for practice and got the boot. David Robertson got too happy about a dinger and hurt his calf. Scott Effross was about to be a key piece for the Yankees and his elbow popped.
And now the FOURTH former Cubs late-inning reliever to be left off his team’s LDS roster this year, though this one is purely performance related:
Craig Kimbrel, who was so brilliant for the Cubs in late 2020 and the first half of 2021, has struggled so badly since that he’s not even an option for the Dodgers’ bullpen. The bad times started as soon as he joined the White Sox, and they didn’t get much better after a trade to the Dodgers for A.J. Pollock. Although the peripherals weren’t necessarily terrible for Kimbrel this past year, his strikeout rate plummeted, and it seemed like he got knocked around (or get wild) at just the wrong times.
In the end, Kimbrel posted a 3.75 ERA (5% better than league average) over 60.0 innings, but his walk rate really blew up over the final month and a half of the season, and the Dodgers no longer had confidence that he could throw strikes consistently enough to be a useful back-end reliever.
Kimbrel, 34, will be a free agent after the postseason. Some team will try to reclaim him and get him back to where he was with the Cubs (and I wonder aloud if that team should, in fact, just be the Cubs). It’s hard to know if his Hall-of-Fame-trajectory days are behind him, though.
https://www.bleachernation.com/cubs/2022/10/11/craig-kimbrel-left-off-dodgers-nlds-roster/
Anyone else wondering if the Cubs might try to make Kimbrel or Chapman a reclamation project? If so, my thinking is the odds would be higher on Kimbrel.
Thoughts?
Craig Kimbrel Left Off Dodgers NLDS Roster
October 11, 2022, by Brett Taylor Chicago CubsReally bad few days to be a former Cubs late-inning reliever, man.
Aroldis Chapman didn’t show up for practice and got the boot. David Robertson got too happy about a dinger and hurt his calf. Scott Effross was about to be a key piece for the Yankees and his elbow popped.
And now the FOURTH former Cubs late-inning reliever to be left off his team’s LDS roster this year, though this one is purely performance related:
Craig Kimbrel, who was so brilliant for the Cubs in late 2020 and the first half of 2021, has struggled so badly since that he’s not even an option for the Dodgers’ bullpen. The bad times started as soon as he joined the White Sox, and they didn’t get much better after a trade to the Dodgers for A.J. Pollock. Although the peripherals weren’t necessarily terrible for Kimbrel this past year, his strikeout rate plummeted, and it seemed like he got knocked around (or get wild) at just the wrong times.
In the end, Kimbrel posted a 3.75 ERA (5% better than league average) over 60.0 innings, but his walk rate really blew up over the final month and a half of the season, and the Dodgers no longer had confidence that he could throw strikes consistently enough to be a useful back-end reliever.
Kimbrel, 34, will be a free agent after the postseason. Some team will try to reclaim him and get him back to where he was with the Cubs (and I wonder aloud if that team should, in fact, just be the Cubs). It’s hard to know if his Hall-of-Fame-trajectory days are behind him, though.
https://www.bleachernation.com/cubs/2022/10/11/craig-kimbrel-left-off-dodgers-nlds-roster/
Anyone else wondering if the Cubs might try to make Kimbrel or Chapman a reclamation project? If so, my thinking is the odds would be higher on Kimbrel.
Thoughts?
No on both. Chapman has checked out. Kimbrel might have some innings left in him, but it’s worth nothing more than a non-roster invite for ST to find out.
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