Offseason Rumors & Transactions Thread

[ChiCubsFan]

I would be surprised if Ross is Lester's personal catcher regardless of splits. Would imagine Montero is catching for Lester opening day. Think it would send a very bad message if Lester insists on Ross despite the fact that Montero is excellent defensively and was targeted as our number one catcher.

 

Obviously the front office places great emphasis on pitch framing, and it's easy to see why, based on all the studies that have been popping up - Maddon has been talking about it at least for the last 3-4 years, so this isn't some new passing fad.

 

According to the stats in the article posted by davell, if we had Montero catching instead of Castillo last year, teams would have scored 7% less runs against us on the season. Don't know how to quantify heightened pitch counts, etc, but would imagine there is very significant value there as well.

 

No way Castillo's offensive upside comes close to covering that gap, and would imagine that this run differential more than justifies the salary differential between the two players.

 

Once we got Montero, Castillo's value as trade bait to a team less smitten with pitch framing stuff is most likely worth more than his value catching every 5th day for the cubs. And we've got a great defensive tandem with good splits to for the next few years as we wait to see whether Schwarber is for real.

 

Good post and welcome to the boards :good:

 

Agreed. And welcome as well.

[jersey cubs fan]

7% fewer runs? Yeah that's realistic.

[benzona79]

7% fewer runs? Yeah that's realistic.

 

Well, there were 707 runs scored against the cubs last year.

Miguel Montero had 24 runs above average, while castillo was at -24.4 - so 48.4/707=6.85%.

 

Yeah, seems a bit crazy, but you know, I remember reading a Maddon quote in which he claimed Molina saved 50 runs by his pitch framing abilities in 2012, so it's in the ballpark.

 

And thanks for the welcome everyone!

[benzona79]

oh, and by the way - just found the baseball prospectus article talking about the Molina 50. Apparently 50 runs saved correlates to 5 wins.

[hankp101]

Another optimistic interpretation, maybe Lester didn't have Ross as his personal catcher because he thinks Ross is a righteous dude, but rather because he values pitch framing. If that's the case he'd likely be cool with montero catching him as well. One can hope, right?

 

 

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[Tracer Bullet]

7% fewer runs? Yeah that's realistic.

 

this is jersey's way of saying welcome

[Lefty]

7% fewer runs? Yeah that's realistic.

 

Well, there were 707 runs scored against the cubs last year.

Miguel Montero had 24 runs above average, while castillo was at -24.4 - so 48.4/707=6.85%.

 

Yeah, seems a bit crazy, but you know, I remember reading a Maddon quote in which he claimed Molina saved 50 runs by his pitch framing abilities in 2012, so it's in the ballpark.

 

And thanks for the welcome everyone!

 

Welcome. You don't think very much of your mother, do you?

[benzona79]

7% fewer runs? Yeah that's realistic.

 

Well, there were 707 runs scored against the cubs last year.

Miguel Montero had 24 runs above average, while castillo was at -24.4 - so 48.4/707=6.85%.

 

Yeah, seems a bit crazy, but you know, I remember reading a Maddon quote in which he claimed Molina saved 50 runs by his pitch framing abilities in 2012, so it's in the ballpark.

 

And thanks for the welcome everyone!

 

Welcome. You don't think very much of your mother, do you?

 

 

Haha, no she's good. I don't mean it literally :D

[SouthSideRyan]

If Castillo was costing our pitchers that much then Chris Bosio is the greatest pitching coach and/or human In The world

[ScrubMD]

Taking away 24 runs would take the team ERA from 3.91 to 3.76, from 21st to 19th. I don't think it would change the standing of Bosio very much.

[Cubswin11]

The Padres have had discussions about trading for Cole Hamels with newly acquired Wil Myers part of the package, reports Ryan Lawrence of the Philadelphia Daily News. The Padres only finalized the trade for Myers on Friday.

[Guest]

The Padres have had discussions about trading for Cole Hamels with newly acquired Wil Myers part of the package, reports Ryan Lawrence of the Philadelphia Daily News. The Padres only finalized the trade for Myers on Friday.

 

Gonna be a lot of pissed off former San Diego GM's if the Padres keep throwing money around this offseason.

[SouthSideRyan]

Taking away 24 runs would take the team ERA from 3.91 to 3.76, from 21st to 19th. I don't think it would change the standing of Bosio very much.

 

Wouldn't FIP (Where the Cubs were 6th, and would move to 2nd behind the Nats)make more sense?

[Guest]

Pirates won the bidding for SS Jung-Ho Kang, reportedly for a 5 million posting fee.

[Lefty]

The Padres have had discussions about trading for Cole Hamels with newly acquired Wil Myers part of the package, reports Ryan Lawrence of the Philadelphia Daily News. The Padres only finalized the trade for Myers on Friday.

 

Wouldn't Myers coming to us make sense? Maddon and Hoyer have connections with the principals and if Myers wrist is satisfactory, isn't he the kind of guy the Cubs are eagerly collecting? In a three-way deal, Alcantara, Castillo, Wood and Castro for Myers and Hamels?

[NonProfitCow]

Pirates won the bidding for SS Jung-Ho Kang, reportedly for a 5 million posting fee.

Good. Guy is gonna get chewed up in MLB.

[Felix Leiter]

The Padres have had discussions about trading for Cole Hamels with newly acquired Wil Myers part of the package, reports Ryan Lawrence of the Philadelphia Daily News. The Padres only finalized the trade for Myers on Friday.

 

Wouldn't Myers coming to us make sense? Maddon and Hoyer have connections with the principals and if Myers wrist is satisfactory, isn't he the kind of guy the Cubs are eagerly collecting? In a three-way deal, Alcantara, Castillo, Wood and Castro for Myers and Hamels?

 

Myers can't play CF and barely average corner OF. The Phils have no OF prospects and want to get younger. Would Castro and Almora be enough for Hamels?

[Guest]

jesus [expletive] christ

[Lefty]

jesus [expletive] christ

 

I doubt he's available.

[Tryptamine]

The Padres have had discussions about trading for Cole Hamels with newly acquired Wil Myers part of the package, reports Ryan Lawrence of the Philadelphia Daily News. The Padres only finalized the trade for Myers on Friday.

 

Wouldn't Myers coming to us make sense? Maddon and Hoyer have connections with the principals and if Myers wrist is satisfactory, isn't he the kind of guy the Cubs are eagerly collecting? In a three-way deal, Alcantara, Castillo, Wood and Castro for Myers and Hamels?

 

Myers can't play CF and barely average corner OF. The Phils have no OF prospects and want to get younger. Would Castro and Almora be enough for Hamels?

 

We should probably throw in Baez and Valbuena too.

[apete6]

The Padres have had discussions about trading for Cole Hamels with newly acquired Wil Myers part of the package, reports Ryan Lawrence of the Philadelphia Daily News. The Padres only finalized the trade for Myers on Friday.

 

Wouldn't Myers coming to us make sense? Maddon and Hoyer have connections with the principals and if Myers wrist is satisfactory, isn't he the kind of guy the Cubs are eagerly collecting? In a three-way deal, Alcantara, Castillo, Wood and Castro for Myers and Hamels?

 

Myers can't play CF and barely average corner OF. The Phils have no OF prospects and want to get younger. Would Castro and Almora be enough for Hamels?

 

We should probably throw in Baez and Valbuena too.

 

If the Cubs got Myers and Hamels for Alcantara, Castillo, Wood, and Castro, they would probably have to have an FBI investigation for stealing things. LOL. With Baez and Valbuena in there, it STARTS to become realistic.

[Guest]

 

Wouldn't Myers coming to us make sense? Maddon and Hoyer have connections with the principals and if Myers wrist is satisfactory, isn't he the kind of guy the Cubs are eagerly collecting? In a three-way deal, Alcantara, Castillo, Wood and Castro for Myers and Hamels?

 

Myers can't play CF and barely average corner OF. The Phils have no OF prospects and want to get younger. Would Castro and Almora be enough for Hamels?

 

We should probably throw in Baez and Valbuena too.

 

If the Cubs got Myers and Hamels for Alcantara, Castillo, Wood, and Castro, they would probably have to have an FBI investigation for stealing things. LOL. With Baez and Valbuena in there, it STARTS to become realistic.

 

Uh, did you read the post he replied to?

[bukie]

I wasn't aware Ruben Amaro posted here.

[Clem Fandango]

According to CBS Sports' Jon Heyman, starter Dan Haren is "holding out hope" for a trade to the Angels or Padres.

Haren told ESPN Los Angeles in November that he would rather retire than pitch for a team located outside of Southern California due to family reasons, and now that pledge will be put to the test following the December 11 trade that sent him from the Dodgers to the Marlins. Haren had an underwhelming 4.02 ERA and 145/36 K/BB ratio in 186 innings this past season for the Dodgers and a 4.67 ERA in 2013 for the Nationals, so moving him might not be all that easy for Miami. He is 34 years old.

 

Yikes. Clearly Friedman used this to his advantage, traded him for something he wanted, and will now accept him back for pennies on the dollar.

[treebird]

Haren had an underwhelming 4.02 ERA and 145/36 K/BB ratio in 186 innings this past season for the Dodgers

 

i despise this offensive environment