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Cubs Offseason Rumors

UMFan83

By UMFan83,
in Chicago Cubs Talk

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Banedon GOAT

Banedon

Community Moderator
Posted
Posted
Lord, even the dumb jerk Bears are moving faster than the Cubs this offseason.

 

Might be evidence that moving faster isn't always better.

Cubswin11 All-Star

Cubswin11

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted

[dropshadow=blue][/dropshadow]

I realize all of the "lets trade Montgomery cause he wants to start" talk is a real thing that happens in sports but I hope it doesnt get to the table in Theo's office. I mean, I get trading him if it makes us better, but I dont get trading him just because he wants to start. I am sure La Stella would like to start too, but it just isnt happening right now. We want to put together the best roster possible, and having Montgomery in the role he is in now helps us achieve that. If he can't come around to that idea, too horsefeathering bad.

I agree he shouldn't be traded for the sake of being traded, he is valuable in his current role. But if he is unhappy and they feel that will hurt things and he can be traded for go value by himself (before Britton blew out his Achilles a Monty as the main big league piece for Britton swap made some sense) or with someone else (part of a Cole, Yelich, or Archer trade also makes sense) I'd be fine with it.

davell Chicago Cubs

davell

Old-Timey Member
Posted
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Dierkes just put out an article stating what I mentioned earlier. No negotiating arb between filing and hearings. This definitely shows why we're cautious right now. The good news is we may have agreements with all our guys by the 12th. Which conceivably could lead to a very lively next few days. It'd be funny if the Cubs Convention actually WAS going on for something big going down, like people always seem to expect
toonsterwu ACL Cubs

toonsterwu

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted
Lord, even the dumb jerk Bears are moving faster than the Cubs this offseason.

 

Might be evidence that moving faster isn't always better.

 

I like the Nagy hire for the Bears. I'm not huge on Ryan Pace's moves so far, but I think Nagy is a nice, young offensive mind who should bring in an aggressive, but somewhat "QB friendly" (at least for a young QB) system in for Trubisky. Couple that with the run game in place, and the defense, and ... I like the Nagy move. Better than the Fox move, which I never liked but understood. It's a good gamble for the organization.

David GOAT

David

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted

[tweet]

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He Tweeted this recently...not sure if related or not.

 

[tweet]

[/tweet]

 

 

god, if this is a thing, i really hope it's a darvish surprise and not a jake surprise.

David GOAT

David

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted
Wouldn't the CLTV appearance be the exciting info? Especially since the excited info tweet was threaded about his plans for Cubs Convention?

 

I guess. But his appearance on some CLTV show that is a notch above 90's public access tv doesn't seem like something he'd have to keep on the down-low.

 

 

I figured he was alluding to something with the "Hmm" line

  • 2 weeks later...
Transmogrified Tiger All-Star

Transmogrified Tiger

Community Moderator
Posted
Posted

I normally don't care for Jon Greenberg's work too much, but I really enjoyed this: https://theathletic.com/221674/2018/01/25/theo-epsteins-almanac-a-fallow-winter-could-still-lead-to-a-prosperous-spring-and-summer-for-the-cubs/

 

Theo Epstein is a lot like you. Well, he’s smarter, wealthier, more successful and he spends a lot more time with Eddie Vedder than you do, but you and Epstein do have something in common.

 

After talking a bit (with quotes from Theo) about the slow offseason and how they're experiencing it, they started talking about the moves that were made and I thought this was interesting. Morrow is definitely the closer, in part because the rigidity of the role makes it easier to keep him healthy, and they were similarly intentional about Davis.

 

And yes, the Cubs are done looking for a closer. Cishek and Carl Edwards Jr. are the backups at that spot, if necessary.

 

“When we signed [Morrow], we told him, in our minds, he was our closer unless somehow, we were able to bring back Wade Davis,” Epstein said. “It’s the best role for him.”

 

Like Davis last year, the Cubs plan on using Morrow exclusively in the ninth inning or later. (Davis entered with two outs in the eighth one time in the regular season, on Sept. 15.) If you're the kind of person who argues about old-school baseball vs. new-school analytics, Epstein explains how tradition wins out in how the Cubs still relate to closers.

 

“With Wade going exclusively in the ninth, that structure allowed him to stay healthy and thrive,” Epstein said. “That should serve Morrow well also. This is one of the areas where optimal analytical usage butts against reality. The best way to play someone like Morrow is matching up against different parts of the order in different innings. That’s where you can get the greatest impact from a shutdown guy. But in reality, using him the way we used Davis should allow him to thrive over what we expect is a seven-month season. I’ll take suboptimal usage on a nightly basis for a better chance to stay healthy over the course of seven months.”

champaignchris Draft Eligible

champaignchris

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted
Makes me curious how active the Cubs will be on Andrew Miller next year. Seems like the best way to do the designated Eck-style closer is to also have the floating fireman the way the Indians and Yankees have recently. While Edwards, Cisheck, fixed Justin Wilson, and Strop are all nice pitchers, no one has done the floating fireman thing better than Miller over the last few years.
Post Count Padder Chicago Cubs

Post Count Padder

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted

So who wanted a Mike Freeman return?

 

The Cubs announced 19 non-roster invitations to Major League Spring Training today (Twitter link), with infielder/outfielder Mike Freeman and left-hander Kyle Ryan standing out as new additions on minor league contracts. Freeman is repped by BASH Baseball, and Ryan is a client of Frontline.

 

As for Ryan, the 26-year-old southpaw has appeared in the big leagues in each of the past four seasons with the Tigers, totaling 128 innings of 3.87 ERA ball. Ryan, though, has averaged just 4.9 K/9 against 3.1 BB/9 in that time, and his average fastball checks in just south of 89 mph. To his credit, he’s logged a 54 percent ground-ball rate in the Majors and averaged just 0.77 HR/9 in the Majors. Ryan doesn’t come with a discernible platoon split, as lefties have hit him at a .272/.322/.406 clip while righties have batted .256/.335/.390. He’s worked as both a starter and reliever in the past, so he could provide some depth in either category for the Cubs.

 

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