Midseason Assessment (aka - what do we need at the deadline?)

[Backtobanks]

I want another top-end reliever. We've seen the last few playoffs that you just can never have enough relievers, whether it's because of injury, ineffectiveness, tiredness, whatever.

 

Treinen, Ottavino, Hand, Barraclaugh, whatever. I know a few of these guys are probably too expensive for the Cubs farm system, but still. Really wish they had jumped in on the Herrera trade because Washington's package looked light.

 

 

Probably all of those guys are too expensive for the Cubs' farm system.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

I want another top-end reliever. We've seen the last few playoffs that you just can never have enough relievers, whether it's because of injury, ineffectiveness, tiredness, whatever.

 

Treinen, Ottavino, Hand, Barraclaugh, whatever. I know a few of these guys are probably too expensive for the Cubs farm system, but still. Really wish they had jumped in on the Herrera trade because Washington's package looked light.

 

 

Probably all of those guys are too expensive for the Cubs' farm system.

 

I doubt Ottavino is.

[d_money]

Probably not gonna happen but Cubs need a # 1 or 2 starter. Lester is the ace followed by 4 4/5’s.

 

Bullpen can’t keep getting 12 outs the rest of the season.

[Backtobanks]

Probably not gonna happen but Cubs need a # 1 or 2 starter. Lester is the ace followed by 4 4/5’s.

 

Bullpen can’t keep getting 12 outs the rest of the season.

 

 

I don't think any of us would disagree with getting a #1 or #2 starter, but there aren't many available unless you're talking about giving up more than Bote and Caratini.

[davell]

We need a good reliever, a vet backup C that can frame, and a spot starter.

 

We'll find a reliever in this market. The C isn't the end of the world, if we don't. Spot starter will be easy too.

 

We don't need to go panic and trade for an elite starter. We've got them and they'll begin to pitch like it at some point. If we DO need one in the offseason, we've got the ammo to find one via trade.

[Tim]

I wouldn't complain if the Cubs jumped on one of DeGrom/Syndergaard. There's nothing in the system I'd complain about losing in return for one of those guys. If the Mets are blowing it up, I don't think they'd want someone coming back with only 3-4 years of control remaining, so I doubt Javy/Russell/Willy would be part of the package at this point.

[Regular Show]

I wouldn't complain if the Cubs jumped on one of DeGrom/Syndergaard. There's nothing in the system I'd complain about losing in return for one of those guys. If the Mets are blowing it up, I don't think they'd want someone coming back with only 3-4 years of control remaining, so I doubt Javy/Russell/Willy would be part of the package at this point.

 

I don't think we have the pieces to make a blockbuster trade for DeGrom/Syndergaard. If we still had Eloy...

 

Maybe if Happ were playing better and Ademan was tearing it up in the minors and if Alzolay were still healthy. I'm a little concerned with how frequently Syndergaard goes on the DL.

[Tim]

I wouldn't complain if the Cubs jumped on one of DeGrom/Syndergaard. There's nothing in the system I'd complain about losing in return for one of those guys. If the Mets are blowing it up, I don't think they'd want someone coming back with only 3-4 years of control remaining, so I doubt Javy/Russell/Willy would be part of the package at this point.

 

I don't think we have the pieces to make a blockbuster trade for DeGrom/Syndergaard. If we still had Eloy...

 

Maybe if Happ were playing better and Ademan was tearing it up in the minors and if Alzolay were still healthy. I'm a little concerned with how frequently Syndergaard goes on the DL.

That bolded part is a big reason I wouldn't complain! If Theo somehow magicked it to happen, it would be amazing.

[Backtobanks]

We need a good reliever, a vet backup C that can frame, and a spot starter.

 

We'll find a reliever in this market. The C isn't the end of the world, if we don't. Spot starter will be easy too.

 

We don't need to go panic and trade for an elite starter. We've got them and they'll begin to pitch like it at some point. If we DO need one in the offseason, we've got the ammo to find one via trade.

 

Cahill and Lucroy should be available and pretty cheap.

[Derwood]

While I was absolutely on board with letting Hector Rondon go last off season.....man, he's kicking a lot of ass in Houston this year

[sweetpeteman]

While I was absolutely on board with letting Hector Rondon go last off season.....man, he's kicking a lot of ass in Houston this year

 

 

We'll see how he does in the second half. He's been really good in the past and then got injured/fatigued towards the end of the season. I was ok with letting him go but thought he could end up being a good pick up for another team.

[Tim]

He's been essentially the same guy with varying "luck" on HR/FB for each of the past few years. Some of that "luck" is truly luck and some of it was poor command within the strike zone. Given the depth of Houston's pen this year, maybe they've been able to do a better job preventing him from getting fatigued?

[sweetpeteman]

He's been essentially the same guy with varying "luck" on HR/FB for each of the past few years. Some of that "luck" is truly luck and some of it was poor command within the strike zone. Given the depth of Houston's pen this year, maybe they've been able to do a better job preventing him from getting fatigued?

 

Maybe. It just seemed like every year he'd start out really strong (especially 2016), and then fall off a good bit by the end. Maybe it is just luck catching up.

[Aaron_Kennelly]

His replacement has a 1.85 ERA with us. Find a new slant.

[Sammy Sofa]

Weird to act like it is somehow an either/or scenario.

[KingCubsFan]

Get Hand and Trienan. I want a super bullpen for the playoffs. Have the starters get us through 4 innings and hand it over to Cishek, Edwards, Hand, Trienan and Morrow.

[Tim]

Get Hand and Trienan. I want a super bullpen for the playoffs. Have the starters get us through 4 innings and hand it over to Cishek, Edwards, Hand, Trienan and Morrow.

What...are you one of those weird people that has something against Strop?

[JudasIscariotTheBird]

Saw this over at Bleecubbieblue. I lol'd.

 

Hand will be one of the most sought-after players at the deadline this year, and while it isn’t a guarantee the Padres will move him, he’ll probably cost the Cubs one of Albert Almora Jr., Ian Happ, or Kyle Schwarber if he makes the move to the North Side.

[KingCubsFan]

Get Hand and Trienan. I want a super bullpen for the playoffs. Have the starters get us through 4 innings and hand it over to Cishek, Edwards, Hand, Trienan and Morrow.

What...are you one of those weird people that has something against Strop?

I love Strop’s consistency and what he brings to the team. But I’m somewhat concerned about the declining velocity and K rate. He’s pretty similar to Cishek though.

[Tim]

Get Hand and Trienan. I want a super bullpen for the playoffs. Have the starters get us through 4 innings and hand it over to Cishek, Edwards, Hand, Trienan and Morrow.

What...are you one of those weird people that has something against Strop?

I love Strop’s consistency and what he brings to the team. But I’m somewhat concerned about the declining velocity and K rate. He’s pretty similar to Cishek though.

He had a weird bump in velocity last year, but he's basically right where he was at in 2016. That average also tends to increase as the season goes on, particularly for cold-weather clubs.

 

He's also made a huge adjustment by adding the cutter as another really good pitch for him.

[Tim]

As a lower-cost acquisition, I'm a fan of Keone Kela. Averages 97.5 on his FB and also throws a hard curve. He fits the Hickey mold of pitchers really well.

 

----- eta

 

Well, horsefeathers. Just noticed they made him closer this year and he's 20/20 in saves. He's going to be more expensive than I thought. He also only has 2.1 service years coming into this season, so we'd have him for three more years after this one. They will demand a ransom for him.

[Tim]

For a more off-road idea, Adam Conley's stuff (he's on Miami, for those wondering) has ticked WAY up in the pen. Like, 5 full ticks up. It is a really limited sample of 19 innings, so there's not a lot of track record to go on. It would be nearly like buying into Bass at this point.

 

However, since Jeter clearly doesn't know what the hell he's doing, we might be able to get him for spare parts from the system. I'd look at him as more of a Duensing replacement than late game reliever, but he'd have some upside to him.

[Tim]

Okay, I'm bored on an off day. Let's do this. I'm going to assume that all the teams I want to fall out of the race actually fall out. I'm also going to assume the Cubs give up on staying under the salary cap given the opportunities.

 

1) Oakland looks at the standings and punts. They're way down behind the Mariners and NYY for the wildcard (7 games). Billy is never afraid to pull the trigger and works well with Theo/Jed. He also values certain types of players that we can actually spare.

 

Treinen/Lucroy for Caratini/Bote/ODLC/Swarmer

 

 

2) Cubs scouts buy into the huge bump in Conley's stuff out of the pen. We get him for cheap because Jeter.

 

Conley for Robinson/Rosario

 

 

3) The Mets are ready to deal an ace. The Cubs unload the farm for Syndergaard. Once away from the Mets training staff, he stays much healthier.

 

Syndergaard for Happ/Lange/Marquez/Maples

 

 

4) Washington falls further behind while playing 21 of 24 games against losing teams. They face the inevitable and trade Harper to his future team. In return, they get a mixture of arms. For two months of Harper, it's a decent return.

 

Harper for Alzolay/Little/Swarmer

 

---------------------

 

So, we now look like this:

 

RF - Harper (that's right - leadoff!)

3B - Bryant

1B - Rizzo

C - Contreras (spelled by Lucroy batting down in the order)

LF - Schwarber

2B - Baez

CF - Heyward/Almora

SS - Russell

 

With Zobrist giving rest days to everyone based on matchups and Lucroy, Tommy and Heyward/Almora on the bench.

 

 

Syndergaard

Lester

Darvish

Quintana

Hendricks

Chatwood

Monty

 

Those seven guys play Dodger games with the DL & partial six man rotation through the regular season. Basically six of them active at any given time.

 

Morrow

Treinen

Cishek

Strop

Edwards

Wilson

Conley

Bass (gets sent down when Smyly is ready)

 

Super pen formed.

[Cubswin11]

Let’s do it Tim

[d_money]

Why Noah and not deGrom?