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Cubs bullpen rumors

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Transmogrified Tiger

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Mooney says the team is looking into John Axford, presumably as the nominal closer: http://www.csnchicago.com/cubs/cubs-looking-axford-search-potential-closer

 

Axford is interesting. His K rate has declined a bit from his glory years in Milwaukee, but so has his walk rate, and his velocity is still pretty great. From a superficial look, it seems like he's had some extreme swings in HR rate that have led him to either be dominant(early Milwaukee, St. Louis) or downright bad(late Milwaukee). If he can settle his HR/FB rate somewhere between the 4% and 18% extremes, he'd be a very good candidate for a couple million bucks.

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Rob Knoxville Smokies

Rob

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Mooney says the team is looking into John Axford, presumably as the nominal closer: http://www.csnchicago.com/cubs/cubs-looking-axford-search-potential-closer

 

Axford is interesting. His K rate has declined a bit from his glory years in Milwaukee, but so has his walk rate, and his velocity is still pretty great. From a superficial look, it seems like he's had some extreme swings in HR rate that have led him to either be dominant(early Milwaukee, St. Louis) or downright bad(late Milwaukee). If he can settle his HR/FB rate somewhere between the 4% and 18% extremes, he'd be a very good candidate for a couple million bucks.

 

His swinging strike percentage last year was actually the highest its been since 2010. I wouldn't be shocked at all to see the strikeout rate climb back up a bit.

 

On the negative side of things, his first pitch strike percentage last year was his lowest of his career. So I'm not sure the improved walk rate isn't a mirage.

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Guests
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Both of those ticked up a good bit in his brief time in St. Louis, so hopefully they found something or Milwaukee was holding him back from making those improvements.
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Posted
@FeinsandNYDN Source: Cubs and Royals are among the suitors for Joba Chamberlain. Doesn't sound like anything is imminent with either, however.

 

Joba's an interesting acquisition, but I just don't see how he fits with what the Cubs are trying to do this offseason.

jersey cubs fan GOAT

jersey cubs fan

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@FeinsandNYDN Source: Cubs and Royals are among the suitors for Joba Chamberlain. Doesn't sound like anything is imminent with either, however.

 

Joba's an interesting acquisition, but I just don't see how he fits with what the Cubs are trying to do this offseason.

 

How so? Because he's not team controlled?

 

I thought one thing they'd do is aggressively restock the bullpen and try to improve by not being horrible at the back end. I think he fits.

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@FeinsandNYDN Source: Cubs and Royals are among the suitors for Joba Chamberlain. Doesn't sound like anything is imminent with either, however.

 

Joba's an interesting acquisition, but I just don't see how he fits with what the Cubs are trying to do this offseason.

 

How so? Because he's not team controlled?

 

I thought one thing they'd do is aggressively restock the bullpen and try to improve by not being horrible at the back end. I think he fits.

 

Because he's neither very cheap nor reasonably certain to be an effective reliever. I'm cool with them taking on castoffs that might have a shot to improve upon past performance, and I'm cool with paying a couple million bucks to get a decent reliever to stabilize the pen. But unless the payroll is going to be a good bit higher than it was last year, I'm not a huge fan of paying the money for a guy without the "certainty" that he'll be any good.

muntjack First Round Pick

muntjack

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Seems like the bullpen is where they're going to spin vets off this year. I like it considering we have a good young group of back-end guys to slide into those roles.

 

Not a fan of Joba, however.

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Guests
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Consolidating a bit here:

 

@GDubCub Cubs looking at reliever trade market. Eyeing Nats' Storen, Clippard among others.

 

@AdamKilgore The Cubs have interest in Drew Storen to fill open closer role, source said. Nats would listen. Schierholtz, Russell are pieces that fit.

 

Storen would do very nicely as the nominal closer who's also a good reliever. I get why he's expendable in a pen that has Soriano, Stammen, and Clippard, but I'm not sure I get the Cubs angle. Russell makes a bit of sense since they're light on LH RP, but Russell for Storen as principals doesn't make sense. Schierholtz I guess would be a 4th OF, but they aren't platooning Werth and Span & Harper are LH, so there aren't a ton of ABs out there for him.

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Either this is overkill, or the Cubs aren't as sold on the Cabrera/Grimm/Rosscup/Ramirez/whomever else tier of guys that would seem to need jobs in the pen.

 

My best guess is that they believe in those guys as much as we do(at least in the aggregate), but that they have less faith in Strop/Parker being all that different from them compared to us.

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@AdamKilgoreWP Seems as though talks btw Nats & Cubs about Clippard and Storen never went anywhere. Told that one is dead.
dfnowak Draft Eligible

dfnowak

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http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/chi-chicago-cubs-closer-role-20131210,0,1403833.story

 

Sounds like even signing a closer is too expensive for the poor Cubs.

 

Respect your opinion, but I didn't come away from that story thinking that.

If they are even considering a closer by committee approach for next year, that just tells me they don't want to spend money on a closer. B/c they are spending so much money on the roster elsewhere? Just tired of the lack of improvement to the big league roster.

davell Chicago Cubs

davell

Old-Timey Member
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I can understand that, but why spend BIG money on a guy that's not likely to get enough chances to make a real difference anyway. I'd prefer to create a closer or to sign a cheaper type, like an Axford anyway. At any rate, I expect us to go into the year with a clear 9th inning guy and it won't be Strop or anyone else currently on the roster.
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Posted
Posted
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/chi-chicago-cubs-closer-role-20131210,0,1403833.story

 

Sounds like even signing a closer is too expensive for the poor Cubs.

 

Respect your opinion, but I didn't come away from that story thinking that.

If they are even considering a closer by committee approach for next year, that just tells me they don't want to spend money on a closer. B/c they are spending so much money on the roster elsewhere? Just tired of the lack of improvement to the big league roster.

 

They shouldn't be doing what you're suggesting even if they had gobs of money to spend.

 

Overpaying for a guy with the closer label (be it money or assets) is the type of dumb thing we should be happy won't be happening anymore.

dfnowak Draft Eligible

dfnowak

Old-Timey Member
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I know it will be a lost season, but lets not make it worse by letting the bullpen blow every save in games we're actually winning. And I wouldnt expect them to throw gobs of money to sign someone. Is there any FA that could be signed for a one year deal? Balfour, Rodney, Benoit, or Veras? I would rather start with a known than watch them play musical chairs with the closer role.
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Guests
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Posted
They're going to do that, the only thing that's been more telegraphed is that Samardzija is getting traded. That's why you've seen rumors for a half dozen or more reliever options they're looking to choose from. You're overreacting from Renteria talking up the existing players in response to a specific question.

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