*******Official Cubs 2025 Thread*******

[tumorboy]

I'm still lurking the Cub's thread, but I absolutely still don't understand why Cub mgmt refuses to go after the big names on the market?????

They are in the only division in baseball without a dominant franchise and in a position where 90 wins wins the division 8 out of every 10 seasons.
Spend the $$$ and prove you are trying to win!
Shopping at Dollar General doesn't win titles.

Don’t see any big names other than Soto that are worth the multi year investment. And even him at supposedly 500 to 600 million is kinda nuts. Maybe go after the Chinese pitcher. Burnes is tempting but lots of miles on the arm and near 250 million plus is too risky as well.

 

[MitchLL]

Don’t see any big names other than Soto that are worth the multi year investment. And even him at supposedly 500 to 600 million is kinda nuts. Maybe go after the Chinese pitcher. Burnes is tempting but lots of miles on the arm and near 250 million plus is too risky as well.

That's just this year's guys.
It's pretty much the same story every year.

 

[MitchLL]

Subjectively, I'd say you tried a little too hard on that one.

Not really.

 

[tumorboy]

That's just this year's guys.
It's pretty much the same story every year.

It going after guys gets you Swanson and Hayward.

 

[hawkifann]

Don’t see any big names other than Soto that are worth the multi year investment. And even him at supposedly 500 to 600 million is kinda nuts. Maybe go after the Chinese pitcher. Burnes is tempting but lots of miles on the arm and near 250 million plus is too risky as well.

It’s a stronger pitching market than position players. If the Cubs wind up trading Bellinger, I wouldn’t hate Anthony Santander, but I think a bat upgrade likely comes from trade. I could see the Cubs going after potentially 2 starters and a couple relievers. In the pen, I’d love for the Cubs get get AJ Minter & Ryne Stanek and bring Jorge Lopez back. On the starter side, Roki Sasaki is the crown jewel if they can get him, otherwise, I’d like to see maybe like a Nick Pivetta plus an injury recovery flyer on Shane Bieber or Walker Buehler. Lots of options on the table.

 

[tumorboy]

It’s a stronger pitching market than position players. If the Cubs wind up trading Bellinger, I wouldn’t hate Anthony Santander, but I think a bat upgrade likely comes from trade. I could see the Cubs going after potentially 2 starters and a couple relievers. In the pen, I’d love for the Cubs get get AJ Minter & Ryne Stanek and bring Jorge Lopez back. On the starter side, Roki Sasaki is the crown jewel if they can get him, otherwise, I’d like to see maybe like a Nick Pivetta plus an injury recovery flyer on Shane Bieber or Walker Buehler. Lots of options on the table.

Well I’m talking about guys that won’t cost you some money. But guys that will cost you a shitload of money. Bergman, Soto, Adames, Burnes, Snell, Fhalerty.

 

[hawkifann]

Well I’m talking about guys that won’t cost you some money. But guys that will cost you a shitload of money. Bergman, Soto, Adames, Burnes, Snell, Fhalerty.

We’ll see what they do. There’s a lot of chatter about Bellinger potentially getting traded and I think the Cubs were genuinely surprised to see him opt in. I wouldn’t be surprised if they made a major addition if Bellinger goes. They’re going to spend up near the CBT again and they’re currently $40-50M below that for this year, and more than that if Bellinger gets traded.

 

[MeetTheFerentzes]

For the Cubs? No, I strongly disagree. Rosario had a surprising season and showed some real pop and speed for sure, but he also struck out roughly 1/3 of the time at low A (147/456 PA). That’s a ton at that level. He has some real potential, but we’re talking several years down the road and purely within the Cubs system, he’s behind several other prospects closer to the bigs/rated more highly than he is. This was trading from depth, which is a great place to be.

Maybe Eli Morgan will come to Chicago and absolutely suck and then we can complain about the trade, but what we know about Morgan now is that he has multiple plus pitches, an elite hard contact/barrel rate, can go multiple innings and pitch in a lot of roles. He’s 28 and cost controlled for 3 years. There’s a lot to like about this deal.

Also, I think both sides feel good about this deal. I’m ok with both sides getting what they want.

Um, read the part of your post that I highlighted in my response....

 

[hawkifann]

Um, read the part of your post that I highlighted in my response....

Ah ha. The bolded part was sitting below the “See More” button. Now I see what you meant and can’t disagree. There are still worlds where the Cubs win this deal (Morel may never hit and Bigge/Johnson may not pan out), but I know which side I’d bet on at this point.

 

[Brian_Fantana]

It’s a stronger pitching market than position players. If the Cubs wind up trading Bellinger, I wouldn’t hate Anthony Santander, but I think a bat upgrade likely comes from trade. I could see the Cubs going after potentially 2 starters and a couple relievers. In the pen, I’d love for the Cubs get get AJ Minter & Ryne Stanek and bring Jorge Lopez back. On the starter side, Roki Sasaki is the crown jewel if they can get him, otherwise, I’d like to see maybe like a Nick Pivetta plus an injury recovery flyer on Shane Bieber or Walker Buehler. Lots of options on the table.

Sasaki looks like the real deal. If he waits until after Jan 15th, it would let all team's bonus pool reset and found the below #'s online, so I am guessing he will wait. I get how much he could get for a bonus; but any idea how much of a contract a team could offer? Any idea if there are limits on first contracts in these situations once he signs the bonus?

If Sasaki signed this year, his maximum bonus would be $2,502,500 with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

In the 2025 period, the Athletics, Cincinnati, Detroit, Miami, Milwaukee, Minnesota, Seattle and Tampa Bay each have $7,555,500 available.
Arizona, Baltimore, Cleveland, Colorado, Kansas City and Pittsburgh have $6,908,600 apiece, followed by Atlanta, Boston, the Chicago Cubs and White Sox, the Los Angeles Angels, New York Mets and Yankees, Philadelphia, San Diego, Texas, Toronto and Washington at $6,261,600.

On another note, read that the Cubs seem to be favoring Fried over the group out there. I'd be happy with any of the top 3 or 4