*****Official Cubs 2024 Thread 🪦*****

[cigaretteman]

There was no word on the status of Ross, a favorite of President of Baseball Operations Jed Hoyer. Ross could move into the front office after Craig Breslow left to run the Boston Red Sox.

In shocking move, Cubs fire David Ross as manager and hire Craig Counsell to replace him

Counsell’s five-year deal makes him the highest-paid manager in major-league history, his representation at Meister Sports Management confirmed on social media. His contract is worth $40 million — or a record-setting $8 million per season — according to multiple reports.

chicago.suntimes.com

 

[hawkifann]

WTAF?

If the Cubs just dumped him no warning I may need to reevaluate supporting them.

Is there a bad Ross story about to break?

This makes no sense.

There’s a report out there that it’s really just like the Joe Maddon situation - nothing really to do with Rossy, I think they all still very much like him, but an opportunity fell in their lap and they took it. I think the most important thing about the Counsell hire is that it shows the Cubs are likely to be very aggressive this offseason.

 

[hawkifann]

There was no word on the status of Ross, a favorite of President of Baseball Operations Jed Hoyer. Ross could move into the front office after Craig Breslow left to run the Boston Red Sox.

In shocking move, Cubs fire David Ross as manager and hire Craig Counsell to replace him

Counsell’s five-year deal makes him the highest-paid manager in major-league history, his representation at Meister Sports Management confirmed on social media. His contract is worth $40 million — or a record-setting $8 million per season — according to multiple reports.

chicago.suntimes.com

Jeff Passan had a tweet that Ross is being let go and there are some others that talk about Ross instantly becoming a candidate for other jobs.

I’m sure players were blindsided, but Jed & Carter have worked hard to fill the org with professionals top to bottom and Counsell has an excellent rep around the game, so I think this should work out fine on that front.

 

[win1forthe]

Bottom line....the Cubs are better today than they were yesterday...even if they lost Jared Young to the Cardinals.

 

[hawkirugged17]

 

[lucas80]

WTAF?

If the Cubs just dumped him no warning I may need to reevaluate supporting them.

Is there a bad Ross story about to break?

This makes no sense.

Big boy move. Hopefully this signals an aggressive offseason for trades and FA acquisitions.

 

[lucas80]

Very surprising. I assume that will piss of a lot of players.

Nah, they want to win. Counsel is a good manager, and the Cubs upgraded. They aren't trashing Ross. He'll get a nice send off, and he's getting paid.

 

[HawkeyeHitman]

Ian Happ should be scared now because his adoptive father is out of a job.
Seiya Suzuki might as well join a Korean boy band because Counsel isn’t going to put up with his Justin Bieber antics.

 

[ihawk in FWB]

Ian Happ should be scared now because his adoptive father is out of a job.
Seiya Suzuki might as well join a Korean boy band because Counsel isn’t going to put up with his Justin Bieber antics.

 

[lucas80]

I've got an ear to the Score, and they are having trouble digesting this news, and doing their normal Bears Monday. They are trying to line up guests to talk about what happened, but I am sure they are all in the dark, and speechless.
Ron Coomer will be on around 3:30, so let's see what he says.

 

[lucas80]

Coomer talking about Counsel's attention to detail... Ross made maddening moves, and missed things. I think Coomer just nodded to this. Also talking about how Counsel manages to the team's strengths, and isn't wedded to his style.
I am really wondering about some of the usage decisions by Ross playing into this move?

 

[hawkifann]

Ian Happ should be scared now because his adoptive father is out of a job.
Seiya Suzuki might as well join a Korean boy band because Counsel isn’t going to put up with his Justin Bieber antics.

This more absolutely idiotic drivel.

 

[hawkirugged17]

 

[hawkifann]

Coomer talking about Counsel's attention to detail... Ross made maddening moves, and missed things. I think Coomer just nodded to this. Also talking about how Counsel manages to the team's strengths, and isn't wedded to his style.
I am really wondering about some of the usage decisions by Ross playing into this move?

Likely so, but also, I don’t think Ross would have been let go except that they were able to score an upgrade. They weren’t going to just fire him and go do a search, but they waited until after Counsell’s contract expired Nov. 1 (would have needed Brewers permission to talk to him while still under contract) and then things came together in a few days.

 

[wausauhawk]

As a Brewers fan, this is a big get for the Cubs. Counsell seemed to be loved by his players & is masterful at managing the bullpen. I will say, as great as he's been in the regular season competing against teams w much higher payrolls, he's made baffling moves in the playoffs(such as including Jesse Winker on the playoff roster, & then proceeding to use Jesse Winker in key spots in the DBacks series). The Brewers have won 1 game their last 4 trips to the postseason.

 

[lucas80]

In other news: Drew Smyly will not opt out. He's relatively cheap, usable depth as long as he isn't overused at this point.
Luiz Vazquez was added to the 40 man roster today. He moved pretty slowly through the system on his superior glove work. The last 1.5 seasons the bat caught up. He's a decent candidate to be a bench guy in the majors. The Cubs stood a good chance of losing him in minor league free agency.
Former first round pick Brendon Little was traded for cash to the Jays.

 

[HawkBall23]

A fairly accurate depiction of my reaction to the Counsell hire when I seen it on my sports news feed this afternoon,

 

[ICWestfan]

I like it. Now the Cubs need to resign Belli, trade for Soto and Alonso, sign your #1 pitcher and add some BP depth and boom! World series!

 

[hawkifann]

I like it. Now the Cubs need to resign Belli, trade for Soto and Alonso, sign your #1 pitcher and add some BP depth and boom! World series!

Sign Ohtani & Hoskins along with Nola or Yamamoto and grab a couple leverage BP arms. Pick up either Belli or Soto and win big.

 

[HawkeyeHitman]

The rotation is set with
Steele
Tallion
Hendricks
Wicks
Assad
They have Horton, Brown and others to fall back on.

 

[MeetTheFerentzes]

The rotation is set with
Steele
Tallion
Hendricks
Wicks
Assad
They have Horton, Brown and others to fall back on.

Which of these guys do you predict that you’ll turn on first? Can’t stick with just trashing Happ and Suzuki forever. What will he have to do?

 

[hawkifann]

The rotation is set with
Steele
Tallion
Hendricks
Wicks
Assad
They have Horton, Brown and others to fall back on.

I think the Cubs are definitely going to add a starter. No way they go into the season with Taillon & Hendricks at 2/3. I’m hoping they add Nola, Yamamoto or Snell. Sign Ohtani as well and then you’re set for 2025 also.

 

[win1forthe]

I think the Cubs are definitely going to add a starter. No way they go into the season with Taillon & Hendricks at 2/3. I’m hoping they add Nola, Yamamoto or Snell. Sign Ohtani as well and then you’re set for 2025 also.

Out of those three you listed, from what I’ve heard, the most likely is Yamamoto. But I’d be happy with any of the three.

 

[QChawks]

I like it. Now the Cubs need to resign Belli, trade for Soto and Alonso, sign your #1 pitcher and add some BP depth and boom! World series!

same

Ross seemed a terrific clubhouse guy but his manager skills weren’t that great

 

[HawkeyeHitman]

I think the Cubs are definitely going to add a starter. No way they go into the season with Taillon & Hendricks at 2/3. I’m hoping they add Nola, Yamamoto or Snell. Sign Ohtani as well and then you’re set for 2025 also.

Wicks and Assad will be more than good enough to be starting pitchers. Horton will contend for Rookie of the Year this season.
The 2025 rotation will be Steele, Horton, Wicks, Assad and Brown/Tallion just like the Braves of the 1990s. Everyone has a weird obsession with Japanese players. They are mentally weak and cost a lot of money.

 

[MeetTheFerentzes]

Bottom line....the Cubs are better today than they were yesterday...even if they lost Jared Young to the Cardinals.

Lost Estrada to the Padres, also. When the team announced that those two had been outrighted, I assumed it meant that they had cleared waivers. Apparently not. Oh, well. Not great losses in the grand scheme of things.

 

[hawkifann]

Wicks and Assad will be more than good enough to be starting pitchers. Horton will contend for Rookie of the Year this season.
The 2025 rotation will be Steele, Horton, Wicks, Assad and Brown/Tallion just like the Braves of the 1990s. Everyone has a weird obsession with Japanese players. They are mentally weak and cost a lot of money.

Horton won’t even be up in the bigs until the 2nd half, most likely. There are still concerns with getting him ramped up to a full season workload. he threw 53 innings in college in 2022 and stretched up to 88 innings last year. They’re not just going to pop him in the ML rotation to throw 150+ this year. Look for him to maybe spend a month or so in extended spring training before heading to AA or AAA in May, then they’ll let him run. I think we’ll see him in Chicago at some point in 2025 and he’ll likely top out around 120-130 innings.

 

[hawkifann]

Lost Estrada to the Padres, also. When the team announced that those two had been outrighted, I assumed it meant that they had cleared waivers. Apparently not. Oh, well. Not great losses in the grand scheme of things.

I still had hopes for Estrada, but we’ll see. It was weird the way those guys were reported - “outrighted” almost always equates to assigned, which means they’ve cleared waivers. I would have expected to see it reported that they were placed on waivers or designated for assignment and then we find out what happened.

Young may find a ML bench/platoon role somewhere and more power to him.

 

[hawkifann]

 

[hawkifann]

 

[lucas80]

View embedded media

I heard that on the Score tonight. Pretty interesting news. Maybe it anchors him to a spot, or just makes him more appealing to the Mets in a Pete Alonso trade?

 

[hawkifann]

I heard that on the Score tonight. Pretty interesting news. Maybe it anchors him to a spot, or just makes him more appealing to the Mets in a Pete Alonso trade?

Hard to say on any of it. When you look at the offseason non-pitching targets most linked to the Cubs, there’s Belli, Soto, Ohtani, Chapman, Hoskins. Movement on any one of those guys would block moves on others…or promotion of internal options could also prevent some of those moves. It’s going to be really interesting to watch.

 

[lucas80]

Interesting article on what the Padres may want for Juan Soto. I have seen stuff recently that they want to hold onto him until the deadline, but with all the big money on their books they need to move him. And, according to the article they want cheap pitching in return.
https://www.bleachernation.com/cubs/2023/11/08/juan-soto-padres-ask/

 

[RNHawk]

Wicks and Assad will be more than good enough to be starting pitchers. Horton will contend for Rookie of the Year this season.
The 2025 rotation will be Steele, Horton, Wicks, Assad and Brown/Tallion just like the Braves of the 1990s. Everyone has a weird obsession with Japanese players. They are mentally weak and cost a lot of money.

What about Stroman

 

[hawkifann]

What about Stroman

Not sure if this is tongue-in-cheek, but I’ll play it straight - Stroman opted out of his contract and is a free agent. While that wouldn’t stop the Cubs from signing him, I don’t think they will. I think they’re going to look for 1-2 starters that generate more whiff.

 

[RNHawk]

Not sure if this is tongue-in-cheek, but I’ll play it straight - Stroman opted out of his contract and is a free agent. While that wouldn’t stop the Cubs from signing him, I don’t think they will. I think they’re going to look for 1-2 starters that generate more whiff.

it was a serious question haven't been following along really, been a busy fall

 

[HawkeyeHitman]

What about Stroman

I would resign Stroman over that Japanese garbage. Also I wouldn’t give up on Hayden Wesneski. It’s going to help Hayden a lot now that Ross is gone.

 

[HawkeyeHitman]

Horton won’t even be up in the bigs until the 2nd half, most likely. There are still concerns with getting him ramped up to a full season workload. he threw 53 innings in college in 2022 and stretched up to 88 innings last year. They’re not just going to pop him in the ML rotation to throw 150+ this year. Look for him to maybe spend a month or so in extended spring training before heading to AA or AAA in May, then they’ll let him run. I think we’ll see him in Chicago at some point in 2025 and he’ll likely top out around 120-130 innings.

Horton will be playing with the Cubs by Memorial Day.

 

[hawkifann]

Horton will be playing with the Cubs by Memorial Day.

Then he’ll be shut down by Labor Day.

 

[HawkeyeHitman]

Then he’ll be shut down by Labor Day.

Craig Counsell will manage that Horton make it through the season. Counsell wants to win baseball games unlike Ross who just wanted to be a celebrity.