Offseason Rumors

[Guest]

Cano is behind Tanaka and Ellsbury on the list of players I'd be interested in blowing most/all of the offseason's spending money on.

[Cubswin11]

With the Mets and Dodgers 'out' on Cano and the nyy possibly moving on, what is his market going to be. Obviously 300 is not going to happen, 250 is looking doubtful, if his price tag drops to 7/175-200 range what teams would be in?

Just a guess on my part but possibly Seattle and Texas? If his market continues to not develop and/or his price drops to $20-25 millionish a year I think the Pirates should/could make a run at him. Then move Alvarez to 1B and Walker to 3B

Edited November 19, 2013 by Cubswin11

[Cubswin11]

Cano is behind Tanaka and Ellsbury on the list of players I'd be interested in blowing most/all of the offseason's spending money on.

He's my #1 assuming we aren't talking like a $100+ million difference in total contract (or contract+posting in Tanaka's case) between those three.

[NOLA]

With the Mets and Dodgers 'out' on Cano and the nyy possibly moving on, what is his market going to be. Obviously 300 is not going to happen, 250 is looking doubtful, if his price tag drops to 7/175-200 range what teams would be in?

Just a guess on my part but possibly Seattle and Texas? If his market continues to not develop and/or his price drops to $20-25 millionish a year I think the Pirates should/could make a run at him. Then move Alvarez to 1B and Walker to 3B

 

Trade for Shark and that's a helluva team.

[Guest]

Wasn't Huntington just crying poor about not being able to give Burnett a QO? I don't think they have the money to seriously be in play for Cano.

[imb]

the dodgers are "out." If Cano's price dropped to a level where we could afford him, they would definitely be back in.

[Guest]

the dodgers are "out." If Cano's price dropped to a level where we could afford him, they would definitely be back in.

I'm betting he stays with the Yanks.

[Guest]

This isn't my favorite rumor, but it's fun to play the what-ifs that go with it:

 

@TomLoxas Hearing #Cubs and #Orioles discussed Samardzija and Wieters in talks.

 

He might not mean in the "Samardzija going and Wieters coming in the same deal", but let's assume that's the case. In terms of value, you're probably looking at the Orioles throwing in a small piece to balance the deal, as Wieters/Samardzija are similar players in value but Wieters will make a good bit more these last two years. The fun part is thinking of what that means for Castillo. Looking at who might be in the market for a catcher, the Jays, Angels, and Rangers seem like the most logical fits.

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

the dodgers are "out." If Cano's price dropped to a level where we could afford him, they would definitely be back in.

I'm betting he stays with the Yanks.

 

If the Dodgers are out he must have wanted part ownership of the team or Magic Johnson's house.

[Cubswin11]

This isn't my favorite rumor, but it's fun to play the what-ifs that go with it:

 

@TomLoxas Hearing #Cubs and #Orioles discussed Samardzija and Wieters in talks.

 

He might not mean in the "Samardzija going and Wieters coming in the same deal", but let's assume that's the case. In terms of value, you're probably looking at the Orioles throwing in a small piece to balance the deal, as Wieters/Samardzija are similar players in value but Wieters will make a good bit more these last two years. The fun part is thinking of what that means for Castillo. Looking at who might be in the market for a catcher, the Jays, Angels, and Rangers seem like the most logical fits.

Do they have another internal option to replace Wieters if traded? Wonder if Castillo would be included with Samardzija to increase the prospect(s) return. I'm in favor of the idea of a Samardzija for Wieters deal with a prospect or two coming our way. This all could have been avoided had we just drafted Wieters, however.....

 

Edit:

 

Just saw that Loxas guy also has this to say (no idea who he is or if he's legit)

 

What is known is if the Cubs deal Samardzija, they want young pitching in return. That's why even if the Orioles did include Wieters, the deal would have to be expanded to include either of top pitching prospects Dylan Bundy or Kevin Gausman, I'm told.

A deal like this is complicated, as the Cubs would likely include young catcher Wellington Castillo.

http://www.chicagonow.com/loxas-factor/2013/11/cubs-and-orioles-talk-samardzija-and-wieters/

Edited November 20, 2013 by Cubswin11

[Cubswin11]

According to someone/post on PSD the Rockies might be more interested in moving Fowler than Cargo. I'd hope we'd be all over a Fowler trade if he were to be made available.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

The only thing about Fowler that intrigues me is that maybe he's just so bad in CF that moving to a corner would improve his value.

[KingCubsFan]

The only thing about Fowler that intrigues me is that maybe he's just so bad in CF that moving to a corner would improve his value.

I would think just moving from Coors to Wrigley would improve his value quite a bit.

[KingCubsFan]

This isn't my favorite rumor, but it's fun to play the what-ifs that go with it:

 

@TomLoxas Hearing #Cubs and #Orioles discussed Samardzija and Wieters in talks.

 

He might not mean in the "Samardzija going and Wieters coming in the same deal", but let's assume that's the case. In terms of value, you're probably looking at the Orioles throwing in a small piece to balance the deal, as Wieters/Samardzija are similar players in value but Wieters will make a good bit more these last two years. The fun part is thinking of what that means for Castillo. Looking at who might be in the market for a catcher, the Jays, Angels, and Rangers seem like the most logical fits.

Do they have another internal option to replace Wieters if traded? Wonder if Castillo would be included with Samardzija to increase the prospect(s) return. I'm in favor of the idea of a Samardzija for Wieters deal with a prospect or two coming our way. This all could have been avoided had we just drafted Wieters, however.....

 

Edit:

 

Just saw that Loxas guy also has this to say (no idea who he is or if he's legit)

 

What is known is if the Cubs deal Samardzija, they want young pitching in return. That's why even if the Orioles did include Wieters, the deal would have to be expanded to include either of top pitching prospects Dylan Bundy or Kevin Gausman, I'm told.

A deal like this is complicated, as the Cubs would likely include young catcher Wellington Castillo.

http://www.chicagonow.com/loxas-factor/2013/11/cubs-and-orioles-talk-samardzija-and-wieters/

Trading Samardzija and Castillo for Wieters and Bundy/Gausman looks like a break-even proposition, at best.

[Guest]

Castillo has more value than Samardzija does, so it would be something like Gausman + Bundy, if not those two exactly.

[Guest]

Yeah, I don't really want the Cubs to trade Castillo. He hit for power in the minors and he just got better and better as the season went along.

[Guest]

I see no reason to trade castillo. He quietly had a really good year without hitting for much power.

[Clem Fandango]

The only thing about Fowler that intrigues me is that maybe he's just so bad in CF that moving to a corner would improve his value.

I would think just moving from Coors to Wrigley would improve his value quite a bit.

 

Career Home/Road Splits (667 games, 2,635 PA's)

Home: 333 G .298/.395/.485/.880 27 HR 146 RBI 65 2B 33 3B

Away: 334 G .241/.333/.361/.694 13 HR 64 RBI 55 2B 20 3B

 

Fowler is a train wreck away from Coors. Unless he's coming for cheap, I would pass with the quickness. A .700 OPS for a cheap outfielder as a stopgap... okay, sure. But Fowler would be sold as a solid offensive piece for whatever team he's traded to and he's just not going to be worth what Colorado would likely ask for him.

[Guest]

- I'm pretty sure the Coors hangover effect is still a thing.

- Most players hit at least a little better at home than on the road

- About 35% of Fowler's Road PAs have come in extreme pitcher's parks(SD, SF, LAD)

 

By and large, big home/road splits for Coors players are vastly overblown.

[Clem Fandango]

It'd be one thing if he barely hits for power. That'd be understandable. It's that he barely hits at all away from Coors that troubles me. Here's all the ballparks where he has a .750 OPS or higher for his career besides Coors:

 

LAA (3 G, .788)

TEX (3 G, 1.448 hitters park)

CIN (15 G, .748 - close enough... hitters park)

DET (6 G, .786)

PHI (19 G, .767 - hitters park)

ARI (39 G, .847 - hitters park)

STL (17 G, .775)

WAS (12 G, .956)

 

Every other park is less than .750 OPS. Of those 22 parks, 13 of them he has an OPS under .700. Of those 13, 8 of the he has an OPS below .600.

 

Even in the parks where he has a decent OPS, only 3 of them are pretty good to great, and one of them is only a 3 game sample size. To make it even worse, his bad numbers away from Coors come WITH a .329 BABIP, so he's not unlucky. If anything he's been more lucky than normal, and he still can't reach a .700 OPS. In my mind he's closer to replacement level away from Coors than someone of value, but Colorado won't market him as such, and for that I'd prefer the Cubs stay away. I just don't trust his bat away from Coors. His numbers are uninspiring.

 

Like I said if he came cheap, that'd be one thing and it'd be worth looking into, but I don't see Colorado doing that. I see them asking for a valuable prospect and/or MLB player in return.

[Guest]

Again, you can't just discard over half of Fowler's MLB career just because it can't be taken at face value.

[gscool89]

Cubs add Alcantara and Beeler to the 40 man

[SouthSideRyan]

Again, you can't just discard over half of Fowler's MLB career just because it can't be taken at face value.

 

I also think people are still adapting to what constitutes an "average" OPS

[Guest]

Random thought I had, especially given that Shark for Wieters rumor, as well as Dave Cameron's "Navarro is a very similar player to Saltalamacchia" comment today:

 

Who says no in a Castillo for Quintana deal? Castillo's been slightly more productive on a rate basis and doesn't have the TINSTAAPP worries, while Quintana's had the best full season and has an extra year of team control. The Sox are supposedly hard after a catcher too. Would you rather have Shark and Castillo or Quintana and Wieters?

[SouthSideRyan]

I worry about a guy who was allowed to walk free 2 years ago, and just became a starter 2 seasons ago