Cubs offseason thread

[Post Count Padder]

Yeah I'm kinda surprised they gave up on Dewees already, though he is at least a year away and I thought I read he doesn't have much of an arm. Mills seems like ideal AAA-Majors rotation depth. He still has two options as well.

 

So now the Iowa rotation is, what, Butler, Mills, Ryan Williams, Brooks, Kelly, Williams Perez, Pierce Johnson, etc? Not bad considering where it was a month ago.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

This is a bit bittersweet because Dewees is one of my favorite types of draftees to follow, but I like this.

 

Dewees needs to hit a fair bit more than he has to be an MLB starter, and Longenhangen's review of his swing didn't fill me with confidence that he'll be able to do that. He could still be useful as a deluxe 5th OF even then, but you also don't weep for deluxe 5th OFs either.

 

Mills is an optionable arm that appears to be free of major injury problems, throws strikes, gets K's, and has decent reviews of his stuff. He had some problems with HR in AAA but that appears to be a short lived problem whatever the cause(6 HR his first 29 IP, 2 HR his last 29). He doesn't have much of a platoon split, whether you consider that a positive or negative. Really, once they let him start he's been on a pretty consistent trajectory until he hit that AAA rough patch, so letting this org's player development work on him while he gets some extended Iowa time could have some nice results.

[squally1313]

The roster move for this was waiving David Rollins, who just got his 6th DFA of the offseason. This is the second time the Cubs have waived him.

[Post Count Padder]

Also, David Rollins, again, has been DFAd.

[d_money]

Yeah I'm kinda surprised they gave up on Dewees already, though he is at least a year away and I thought I read he doesn't have much of an arm. Mills seems like ideal AAA-Majors rotation depth. He still has two options as well.

 

So now the Iowa rotation is, what, Butler, Mills, Ryan Williams, Brooks, Kelly, Williams Perez, Pierce Johnson, etc? Not bad considering where it was a month ago.

One of the Iowa rotation will periodically replace Montgomery (he'll be on an inning count)...right?

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Yeah I'm kinda surprised they gave up on Dewees already, though he is at least a year away and I thought I read he doesn't have much of an arm. Mills seems like ideal AAA-Majors rotation depth. He still has two options as well.

 

So now the Iowa rotation is, what, Butler, Mills, Ryan Williams, Brooks, Kelly, Williams Perez, Pierce Johnson, etc? Not bad considering where it was a month ago.

One of the Iowa rotation will periodically replace Montgomery (he'll be on an inning count)...right?

 

I bet you'll see a 6 man rotation and a 7 man pen as long as all 6 of Lester/Arrieta/Hendricks/Lackey/Montgomery/Anderson are healthy. But if someone is hurt or there's poor performance, then Butler/Mills/Kelly/Williams are definitely options.

[WrigleyField 22]

Man I kind of feel bad for David Rollins. I bet you he's also always the Bridesmaid, and never the Bride. Or something

[davell]

To me, its dealing a 4th OF for a 5th SP. Still, its what we NEED. And I feel pretty confident that between Butler, Kelly, Perez, Mills, Williams, and Zastryzny.....That one of this group winds up in our 2018 rotation. That's not even accounting for Monty.

 

I like DeWees and am a BIT surprised that Mills took HIM, as a return. But, odds are he's not more than a 4th OF and he's blocked pretty well.

 

Our FO.....The approach to build what we have has been so damn precise. And it horsefeathering amazes me that in this day and age of copycat the leader, that no one else has gone about things in the way our group has.

[Cubswin11]

Basically traded a left-handed Szczur for a version of Cahill the past few years who has options, if both hit around their ceilings. Not bad

[Bull]

This just in: David Rollins has been DFA'd again. Edited February 9, 2017 by Bull

[Little Slide Rooter]

Man I kind of feel bad for David Rollins. I bet you he's also always the Bridesmaid, and never the Bride. Or something

 

Pretty sure there's a few dozen of these guys every offseason. It's just that nobody really notices it unless they make a stop or 2 with their team.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Basically traded a left-handed Szczur for a version of Cahill the past few years who has options, if both hit around their ceilings. Not bad

 

But what if he comes up and hits .400/.600/a billion in his first month and it's the worst mistake ever made by anybody ever until it turns out that it really wasn't?

[WrigleyField 22]

Man I kind of feel bad for David Rollins. I bet you he's also always the Bridesmaid, and never the Bride. Or something

 

Pretty sure there's a few dozen of these guys every offseason. It's just that nobody really notices it unless they make a stop or 2 with their team.

Its the two stops/DFAs with two different teams thats pretty funny.

[davell]

Basically traded a left-handed Szczur for a version of Cahill the past few years who has options, if both hit around their ceilings. Not bad

 

But what if he comes up and hits .400/.600/a billion in his first month and it's the worst mistake ever made by anybody ever until it turns out that it really wasn't?

 

If he OPS's a billion for even a month, it may take quite a while to show that dealing him wasn't a mistake. His HR's must count like 100 runs every time he hits one.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Basically traded a left-handed Szczur for a version of Cahill the past few years who has options, if both hit around their ceilings. Not bad

 

But what if he comes up and hits .400/.600/a billion in his first month and it's the worst mistake ever made by anybody ever until it turns out that it really wasn't?

OH MY GOD YOU'RE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT

[Tim]

Nice article by Levine covering the farm system with McLeod.

 

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2017/02/06/levine-jason-mcleod-hopes-cubs-pitching-depth-is-close/

[Regular Show]

Nice article by Levine covering the farm system with McLeod.

 

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2017/02/06/levine-jason-mcleod-hopes-cubs-pitching-depth-is-close/

 

Wow. That article is first time I've heard a Cubs Front Office executive (J. McLeod) talk about S. Otani before. I know they've discussed him, scouted him and probably plan on targeting him when he becomes available. It's uplifting that what we believe to be the case is now confirmed. Just have to pray he decides to come over in a couple years, and not this upcoming offseason when we can only offer $300K...

[Transmogrified Tiger]

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he was the last 1 right?

[Aaron_Kennelly]

I like the Dewees-Mills trade. I'm not terribly high on Dewees. He just doesn't hit enough for me. No power. And he's already 23. And his arm is really, really bad. He's not a guy that I'm ever going to be even slightly upset about losing. The upside isn't there. I don't know much about Mills, but I've read some nice things on him since the trade. Regardless, it isn't so much about adding him as it is about adding anyone. I think we did a nice job this off-season of adding some decent options at Iowa. Our pitching depth at the higher levels was completely barren. Iowa had nothing. And now we have a little something. It's not much, but it's something.

[Tim]

Personally, I'm loving the moves of the past month or so to add depth. Adding Anderson, Butler and Mills as options 5, 7 & 8 in the rotation at the cost of a cheap contract, Farris and Dewees is pretty damn solid.

[davell]

 

Speaking of depth. Still trying to bring Travis Wood back as a swingman.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Not that it particularly matters, but aren't they able to cut Duensing without paying his salary before a certain pre-opening day date? They certainly don't *need* Wood, but throwing him on the pile of Duensing/Smith/Zastryzny/Leathersich/NRI isn't a bad idea.

[davell]

Not that it particularly matters, but aren't they able to cut Duensing without paying his salary before a certain pre-opening day date? They certainly don't *need* Wood, but throwing him on the pile of Duensing/Smith/Zastryzny/Leathersich/NRI isn't a bad idea.

 

I thought that was just for arbitration guys or guys on split deals. Not 100% though.

[CubsWin]

Reports have the Rays signing Eovaldi for $2 million with a club option for 2018.

 

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/18672935/nathan-eovaldi-tampa-bay-rays-agree-one-year-2-million-contract

 

If this goes through, the medicals must've really not been to the Cubs liking because I can't see them not being able to beat that contract. Not a big deal, but thought he'd have been a decent lightning in a bottle chance for a rotation spot in 2018.