Cubs offseason thread

[Ding Dong Johnson]

free agents:

Fowler, Chapman, Wood, Cahill, Coghlan, miscellaneous riff raff

 

needs:

arms, depth

 

I like DONGS. give me Cespedes and hope people catch stuff hit to the outfield since I am assuming SEXY DEXY will not be back

 

I want Jansen and Chapman in the bullpen

 

the rest of the free agent market sucks. there may be some exciting trades going down this winter

[Cubswin11]

No to Cespedes. Just re-sign Fowler if that's a contract they'd be willing to give out. Rangers declined Derek Hollands option, I'm intrigued by him in the Travis Wood bullpen role

[ScrubMD]

An outfield of Schwarber-Heyward-Cespedes would be pretty awesome.

 

Zobrist

Schwarber

Bryant

Rizzo

Cespedes

Russell

Contreras

Heyward

 

Or if Heyward gets his talent back from the Monstars:

 

Heyward

Schwarber

Bryant

Rizzo

Cepedes

Zobrist

Russell

Contreras

 

Or just wait another year or so for Jimenez, our own, better version of Cespedes.

[Rob]

I can just picture Theo and Jed getting drunk and coming up with increasingly harder challenges for themselves for next season.

 

Theo: "I bet I can win without any lefties in my bullpen."

 

Jed: "Child's play, I bet we can win without a bullpen entirely. Let's make tandem starts a thing again."

 

Theo: "Oh, fun! But let's not add any SP to make that happen. Maybe make Baez and Soler learn how to pitch?"

 

Jed: "Let's go win another World Series."

[Cubswin11]

Is it weird at all Fowler hasn't been extended the QO and Hammel's option hasn't been picked up? I know the last few days have been nuts but the deadlines on those have to be real close.

[Rob]

Is it weird at all Fowler hasn't been extended the QO and Hammel's option hasn't been picked up? I know the last few days have been nuts but the deadlines on those have to be real close.

 

I believe that deadline is tomorrow.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

From an old MLB.com article:

 

The deadline for a club to make a qualifying offer to any of its qualifying free agents is 5 p.m. ET on the fifth day following the conclusion of the World Series.

 

So they have until Monday to offer Fowler a QO. I'm not sure how the option stuff works with deadlines, but I imagine it's similar.

[Cubswin11]

From an old MLB.com article:

 

The deadline for a club to make a qualifying offer to any of its qualifying free agents is 5 p.m. ET on the fifth day following the conclusion of the World Series.

 

So they have until Monday to offer Fowler a QO. I'm not sure how the option stuff works with deadlines, but I imagine it's similar.

Thanks. I just figured it had to be close because I've seen so many other teams make decisions on QOs and teams/players on options already.

[champaignchris]

Random musings...

 

I figured that Detroit would decline Cameron Maybin's option and that he'd be a possible depth candidate. He seems like a Theo-y kind of player. But the Tigers traded him to the Angels and the Angels excercised the option.

 

I think the problem with re-signing Dex will be the years, not the dollars. Someone will give him a four year contract.

 

The Cubs will pick up Hammel's option. He's a bargain for the price, even if he is the Cubs fifth or even sixth starter. But I could see them trade him. The free agent pool of starting pitchers is so thin right now, a team that thinks it's a number three starter away from competing might be interested in a cheap, short term option. The Rangers seem like an obvious candidate. Who on the Rangers would be a possible trade target? Dyson too far-fetched? If the Royals think they have one more go around in them, they'd be another possible trade partner.

 

Soler is going to be traded, right?

[Aaron_Kennelly]

We are going to have a huge influx of cash thanks to all of this, assuming Theo doesn't spend it all on booze.

[CubInOK]

Just about every lineup I see doesn't have Soler in it. Who does he get traded for?

 

Can we make a trade for Mike Trout that makes us incredibly hateable because we win 115 games a year with a video game lineup?

[Thrilho]

We are going to have a huge influx of cash thanks to all of this, assuming Theo doesn't spend it all on booze.

Yeah you think of 5 million people at the parade, the 40 million on TV, the countless newspapers worldwide carrying the story, the tons of kids just being introduced to the game, how epic a payoff the game was, and how easy to like a lot of these young guys are. Then take a look at the what a trip to Dick's costs. And then you laugh and laugh about the articles that said maybe the Cubs were better off financially with the loveable loser narrative.

[Cubswin11]

Lorenzo Cain is a FA after the year, if the Royals try a mini-reset I wonder what it would take to get him for CF?

[Gilby]

A smaller move that needs to happen is re-signing Coghlan. Teams won't be lining up for him, yet all he's done as a Cub is hit.

[soccer10k]

We are going to have a huge influx of cash thanks to all of this, assuming Theo doesn't spend it all on booze.

 

Any idea how all the merchandise sales get distributed? Does some or all of it get put into a pool and split evenly between all the teams or are the Cubs getting all of the revenue from the World Series stuff?

[Cubswin11]

Can we make a trade for Mike Trout that makes us incredibly hateable because we win 115 games a year with a video game lineup?

I mean we could if they truly wanted to move him. But we'd probably have to give Russell, Eloy, Soler/Almora, Jeimer, and more or like Schwarber, Baez, Eloy, Cease, Happ, at least.

[Tryptamine]

From an old MLB.com article:

 

The deadline for a club to make a qualifying offer to any of its qualifying free agents is 5 p.m. ET on the fifth day following the conclusion of the World Series.

 

So they have until Monday to offer Fowler a QO. I'm not sure how the option stuff works with deadlines, but I imagine it's similar.

 

Wasn't the rumor back when Dex signed that there was an under the table agreement that the Cubs wouldn't make him a QO in order to allow him to get a better contract? I know it breaks MLB rules, but there was more than one person who insinuated that was the case.

[raw]

I've been under the assumption that Fowler was gone after this year. But I don't see how they can NOT re-sign him. He's going to get a contract that's probably a little too much, but it's probably necessary for this team. Probably looking at a 4-year deal. Turns 31 before next season. He'll lose some of the speed that has made him a really good player, and I never trusted his defense as continuing to be as good as it has been.

 

But honestly, his speed wasn't some huge factor this season. His value is in that he can get on base. 6th in the league in OBP. And his eye isn't going anywhere as he ages. Consistently elite BB/PA and him in the leadoff spot really sets up this lineup to continue to score a ton of runs with Bryant, Rizzo, and Zobrist also being OBP monsters. Guys like Maybin, Dyson, Cain would be solid gets but all of them are a step backwards from Fowler, I believe even going forward. And while a turnaround for Heyward and a full season of Schwarber and Willson will help make up the difference, there's really no reason not to just keep your trade assets and spend the money on Fowler.

 

The only issue may be if you can get Fowler and an elite closer (though I don't know why money would be a huge issue at this point). But I think you can lose Hammel's salary and possibly do something about Montero and get cheaper options than Wood, Cahill, Soler (trade), and Coghlan.

[JeffH]

I don't think Fowler's departure is because of the 2017 payroll, although that's getting up there. We're over $140 without any of our pending free agents or suitable veteran replacements.

 

It's about 2018 and beyond. I don't see how you're going to be able to pay him $15+ when Bryant, Russell, and Hendricks start to get expensive.

[raw]

I don't think Fowler's departure is because of the 2017 payroll, although that's getting up there. We're over $140 without any of our pending free agents or suitable veteran replacements.

 

It's about 2018 and beyond. I don't see how you're going to be able to pay him $15+ when Bryant, Russell, and Hendricks start to get expensive.

 

Montero gone. Lackey gone. Arrieta gone. Zobrist just about gone. Those first 3 will clear up about 40M.

[JeffH]

It's going to cost some money to replace Arrieta and Lackey.

 

We'll see what they do, but I'm going to be very surprised - pleasantly so - if they bring back Fowler.

[Tracer Bullet]

We are going to have a huge influx of cash thanks to all of this, assuming Theo doesn't spend it all on booze.

 

Theo will never spend another dollar on booze in his life

[Tracer Bullet]

No Baez in any of these lineups?

[jehr]

Wasn't the rumor back when Dex signed that there was an under the table agreement that the Cubs wouldn't make him a QO in order to allow him to get a better contract? I know it breaks MLB rules, but there was more than one person who insinuated that was the case.

I always assumed they wouldn't. Don't know if there was any spoken understanding, but the way he came back at such a bargain after not getting interest because of the QO tag, I don't think they'd do that to him twice.

[jehr]

With the versatility of the roster and some of the guys having options (like Almora), I'm hoping we take a flyer on a guy like Greg Holland as an extra reliever to start the year if we don't bring back Chapman or get Jansen. Frankly, I'd love two shutdown closers next year on the roster, with the possibility of adding a third at the trade deadline for the post season.