Random Cubs Musings

[Felix Leiter]

Kaplan's been ranting the last few days on CSN, pointing his boney finger at the camera, telling the Cubs to spend some of their $$$ on free agents next year. He's probably reacting to people who sit and laugh at his act and what a fool he has become.

 

I think our acquiring any big time free agent next year depends on the development of the kids. Assuming Baez and Bryant are here at year's end, who's next? Valbeuna at 3rd would be nice, as would Olt solving his batting problems(if possible). That leaves SP. From the list I've seen, alot of older 4-5 SP and no aces. We'll have plenty of those already.

 

Patience, Boys.

[Guest]

Kaplan's been ranting the last few days on CSN, pointing his boney finger at the camera, telling the Cubs to spend some of their $$$ on free agents next year. He's probably reacting to people who sit and laugh at his act and what a fool he has become.

 

I think our acquiring any big time free agent next year depends on the development of the kids. Assuming Baez and Bryant are here at year's end, who's next? Valbeuna at 3rd would be nice, as would Olt solving his batting problems(if possible). That leaves SP. From the list I've seen, alot of older 4-5 SP and no aces. We'll have plenty of those already.

 

Patience, Boys.

 

Aren't you the dude who called Samardzija a 3 on a good team?

[Guest]

From the list I've seen, alot of older 4-5 SP and no aces. We'll have plenty of those already.

 

There is a fantastic group of SP options in free agency this winter. None of the 10 best pitchers in baseball will be available so I'm not sure if they meet your 'ace' threshold, but there's an abnormally high number of good pitchers coming available.

[Felix Leiter]

From the list I've seen, alot of older 4-5 SP and no aces. We'll have plenty of those already.

 

There is a fantastic group of SP options in free agency this winter. None of the 10 best pitchers in baseball will be available so I'm not sure if they meet your 'ace' threshold, but there's an abnormally high number of good pitchers coming available.

 

Here's the list below of FA SP and I fail to see any fantastic pitchers. I see average at best.

 

Brett Anderson *

Josh Beckett

Chad Billingsley *

Joe Blanton *

A.J. Burnett *

Chris Capuano

Bruce Chen *

Wei-Yin Chen *

Kevin Correia

Johnny Cueto *

Jorge De La Rosa

Ryan Dempster

Scott Feldman

Gavin Floyd

Yovani Gallardo *

Jason Hammel

J.A. Happ *

Aaron Harang

Dan Haren *

Roberto Hernandez

Luke Hochevar

Hisashi Iwakuma

Josh Johnson

Kyle Kendrick

Hiroki Kuroda

John Lannan

Colby Lewis

Jon Lester

Paul Maholm

Justin Masterson

Brandon McCarthy

Brandon Morrow *

Jeff Niemann

Ross Ohlendorf

Felipe Paulino *

Jake Peavy

Wandy Rodriguez

Max Scherzer

James Shields

Carlos Villanueva

Ryan Vogelsong

Edinson Volquez

Jerome Williams

[Sammy Sofa]

You can easily form several solid or better rotations out of that. Edited June 11, 2014 by Sammy Sofa

[Guest]

From the list I've seen, alot of older 4-5 SP and no aces. We'll have plenty of those already.

 

There is a fantastic group of SP options in free agency this winter. None of the 10 best pitchers in baseball will be available so I'm not sure if they meet your 'ace' threshold, but there's an abnormally high number of good pitchers coming available.

 

Here's the list below of FA SP and I fail to see any fantastic pitchers. I see average at best.

 

Brett Anderson *

Josh Beckett

Chad Billingsley *

Joe Blanton *

A.J. Burnett *

Chris Capuano

Bruce Chen *

Wei-Yin Chen *

Kevin Correia

Johnny Cueto *

Jorge De La Rosa

Ryan Dempster

Scott Feldman

Gavin Floyd

Yovani Gallardo *

Jason Hammel

J.A. Happ *

Aaron Harang

Dan Haren *

Roberto Hernandez

Luke Hochevar

Hisashi Iwakuma

Josh Johnson

Kyle Kendrick

Hiroki Kuroda

John Lannan

Colby Lewis

Jon Lester

Paul Maholm

Justin Masterson

Brandon McCarthy

Brandon Morrow *

Jeff Niemann

Ross Ohlendorf

Felipe Paulino *

Jake Peavy

Wandy Rodriguez

Max Scherzer

James Shields

Carlos Villanueva

Ryan Vogelsong

Edinson Volquez

Jerome Williams

 

You have a really, REALLY strange definition of "average at best"

[Clem Fandango]

That's a good crop, and you even have TOR arms like Scherzer and Shields and Iwukama. They're all a little older though and probably wouldn't look for shorter term (3-4 year) deals considering it's probably their last chance to cash in big. I also wouldn't be against a trade and sign of Hammel, assuming they trade him (which was kind of the point of acquiring him in the first place). Haren has been decent this year, too, and been performing well enough to be a solid 4-5 starter, so he'd probably be affordable.

[Felix Leiter]

Kaplan's been ranting the last few days on CSN, pointing his boney finger at the camera, telling the Cubs to spend some of their $$$ on free agents next year. He's probably reacting to people who sit and laugh at his act and what a fool he has become.

 

I think our acquiring any big time free agent next year depends on the development of the kids. Assuming Baez and Bryant are here at year's end, who's next? Valbeuna at 3rd would be nice, as would Olt solving his batting problems(if possible). That leaves SP. From the list I've seen, alot of older 4-5 SP and no aces. We'll have plenty of those already.

 

Patience, Boys.

 

Aren't you the dude who called Samardzija a 3 on a good team?

 

Yup, he's still a #3 on a good team. If he was a #1, teams would be falling all over themselves to get him now. He's not and they're not.

[Guest]

Kaplan's been ranting the last few days on CSN, pointing his boney finger at the camera, telling the Cubs to spend some of their $$$ on free agents next year. He's probably reacting to people who sit and laugh at his act and what a fool he has become.

 

I think our acquiring any big time free agent next year depends on the development of the kids. Assuming Baez and Bryant are here at year's end, who's next? Valbeuna at 3rd would be nice, as would Olt solving his batting problems(if possible). That leaves SP. From the list I've seen, alot of older 4-5 SP and no aces. We'll have plenty of those already.

 

Patience, Boys.

 

Aren't you the dude who called Samardzija a 3 on a good team?

 

Yup, he's still a #3 on a good team. If he was a #1, teams would be falling all over themselves to get him now. He's not and they're not.

 

Jesus Christ.

[Guest]

Scherzer, Lester, Shields, Santana, Masterson, Liriano, Beckett, plus strong bounce-back/short-term candidates like Billingsley, De La Rosa, Hammel, McCarthy, Harang, Volquez, Morrow, and Maholm. Maeda will be coming over from Japan too. That is good.

[Guest]

From the list I've seen, alot of older 4-5 SP and no aces. We'll have plenty of those already.

 

There is a fantastic group of SP options in free agency this winter. None of the 10 best pitchers in baseball will be available so I'm not sure if they meet your 'ace' threshold, but there's an abnormally high number of good pitchers coming available.

 

Here's the list below of FA SP and I fail to see any fantastic pitchers. I see average at best.

 

Brett Anderson *

Josh Beckett

Chad Billingsley *

Joe Blanton *

A.J. Burnett *

Chris Capuano

Bruce Chen *

Wei-Yin Chen *

Kevin Correia

Johnny Cueto *

Jorge De La Rosa

Ryan Dempster

Scott Feldman

Gavin Floyd

Yovani Gallardo *

Jason Hammel

J.A. Happ *

Aaron Harang

Dan Haren *

Roberto Hernandez

Luke Hochevar

Hisashi Iwakuma

Josh Johnson

Kyle Kendrick

Hiroki Kuroda

John Lannan

Colby Lewis

Jon Lester

Paul Maholm

Justin Masterson

Brandon McCarthy

Brandon Morrow *

Jeff Niemann

Ross Ohlendorf

Felipe Paulino *

Jake Peavy

Wandy Rodriguez

Max Scherzer

James Shields

Carlos Villanueva

Ryan Vogelsong

Edinson Volquez

Jerome Williams

Based on fWAR, the #2, #13, #16 & #18 ranked pitchers from 2013 are all FA at the end of this year.

[Sammy Sofa]

Yup, he's still a #3 on a good team. If he was a #1, teams would be falling all over themselves to get him now. He's not and they're not.

 

You're being real stingy with this insider knowledge you apparently have.

[Guest]

Based on fWAR, the #2, #13, #16 & #18 ranked pitchers from 2013 are all FA at the end of this year.

 

And 6, 14, 16, and 24 in 2014, and 2 of those don't overlap.

[Clem Fandango]

Kaplan's been ranting the last few days on CSN, pointing his boney finger at the camera, telling the Cubs to spend some of their $$$ on free agents next year. He's probably reacting to people who sit and laugh at his act and what a fool he has become.

 

I think our acquiring any big time free agent next year depends on the development of the kids. Assuming Baez and Bryant are here at year's end, who's next? Valbeuna at 3rd would be nice, as would Olt solving his batting problems(if possible). That leaves SP. From the list I've seen, alot of older 4-5 SP and no aces. We'll have plenty of those already.

 

Patience, Boys.

 

Aren't you the dude who called Samardzija a 3 on a good team?

 

Yup, he's still a #3 on a good team. If he was a #1, teams would be falling all over themselves to get him now. He's not and they're not.

 

http://i.imgur.com/9Ztn0.gif

[Guest]

I had no idea Iwakuma was a FA. He's older but I like him a lot. Probably because I lucked into him at the end of my auction last year and he became a $1 keeper for me.

[Guest]

I had no idea Iwakuma was a FA. He's older but I like him a lot. Probably because I lucked into him at the end of my auction last year and he became a $1 keeper for me.

 

He is not, he has a 7 million option that will be picked up unless his arm falls off.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Yup, he's still a #3 on a good team. If he was a #1, teams would be falling all over themselves to get him now. He's not and they're not.

 

I feel like there might be a number in between you just skipped over.

[treebird]

just one guy out of many, but it should be noted that masterson's velocity is down considerably this year and he hasn't been super great. let's avoid him.

[Guest]

I had no idea Iwakuma was a FA. He's older but I like him a lot. Probably because I lucked into him at the end of my auction last year and he became a $1 keeper for me.

 

He is not, he has a 7 million option that will be picked up unless his arm falls off.

 

I was thinking that might be the case but I figured the option guys were the asterisk guys and he didn't have one.

[davell]

Sorry, got pulled away for a few hours. But yeah, I got the Hoyer comments from Sharma and Kaplan being retweeted. It was an interview this morning on Kap and Haugh.

 

TT and David both listed reasons why I don't see us going after a 3B.

 

If we do spend next offseason though, wouldn't it make sense to keep Shark? Surely the NTC issue wouldn't keep it from happening in the end....

[Andy]

If we do spend next offseason though, wouldn't it make sense to keep Shark? Surely the NTC issue wouldn't keep it from happening in the end....

Does he still have an NTC? I thought we gave him one in the original 5Y/10M deal Hendry gave him, but that would have expired by now, no?

[Guest]

If we do spend next offseason though, wouldn't it make sense to keep Shark? Surely the NTC issue wouldn't keep it from happening in the end....

Does he still have an NTC? I thought we gave him one in the original 5Y/10M deal Hendry gave him, but that would have expired by now, no?

 

He doesn't have an NTC. There has been speculation (if not flat out rumors) that he would want one and that that has been an obstacle in extension talks.

[Guest]

Improving our chances: Wainwright to have MRI on elbow.

[Tryptamine]

So currently Valbuena is sitting with an .855OPS and after today's game, likely on pace for around a 3.8fWAR. Does Theoyer give any thought to an extension or do they just dump him after arbitration?

[Lenny]

From the list I've seen, alot of older 4-5 SP and no aces. We'll have plenty of those already.

 

There is a fantastic group of SP options in free agency this winter. None of the 10 best pitchers in baseball will be available so I'm not sure if they meet your 'ace' threshold, but there's an abnormally high number of good pitchers coming available.

 

Here's the list below of FA SP and I fail to see any fantastic pitchers. I see average at best.

 

Brett Anderson *

Josh Beckett

Chad Billingsley *

Joe Blanton *

A.J. Burnett *

Chris Capuano

Bruce Chen *

Wei-Yin Chen *

Kevin Correia

Johnny Cueto *

Jorge De La Rosa

Ryan Dempster

Scott Feldman

Gavin Floyd

Yovani Gallardo *

Jason Hammel

J.A. Happ *

Aaron Harang

Dan Haren *

Roberto Hernandez

Luke Hochevar

Hisashi Iwakuma

Josh Johnson

Kyle Kendrick

Hiroki Kuroda

John Lannan

Colby Lewis

Jon Lester

Paul Maholm

Justin Masterson

Brandon McCarthy

Brandon Morrow *

Jeff Niemann

Ross Ohlendorf

Felipe Paulino *

Jake Peavy

Wandy Rodriguez

Max Scherzer

James Shields

Carlos Villanueva

Ryan Vogelsong

Edinson Volquez

Jerome Williams

 

This FO hasn't given us one reason to doubt their ability where SP's * are concerned.

 

*appropriate valuation