2018-19 Offseason Rumors

[Bertz]

Dave Dombrowski brought up the idea of an offseason deadline. I love that. It would probably just have to be for trades, because a FA deadline would be brutal for the players. But even just a trade deadline would still move FA along as well. You'd see most prominent FAs sign in the week or three after the trade deadline, and then most of the 1 year deal guys would still wait 'til February just like they do currently.

[Bluescale]

Dave Dombrowski brought up the idea of an offseason deadline. I love that. It would probably just have to be for trades, because a FA deadline would be brutal for the players. But even just a trade deadline would still move FA along as well. You'd see most prominent FAs sign in the week or three after the trade deadline, and then most of the 1 year deal guys would still wait 'til February just like they do currently.

 

What happens with this if someone gets hurt in spring training? You can no longer trade to fill that gap? Or let's say you finally sign your target, you can no longer trade away the extra pieces on your roster.

[Bertz]

Dave Dombrowski brought up the idea of an offseason deadline. I love that. It would probably just have to be for trades, because a FA deadline would be brutal for the players. But even just a trade deadline would still move FA along as well. You'd see most prominent FAs sign in the week or three after the trade deadline, and then most of the 1 year deal guys would still wait 'til February just like they do currently.

 

What happens with this if someone gets hurt in spring training? You can no longer trade to fill that gap? Or let's say you finally sign your target, you can no longer trade away the extra pieces on your roster.

 

The first part is tough. It's what makes doing anything like this unlikely. I like the idea of "too bad, grab your checkbook and sign a replacement" but that makes this harder to pass with ownership. Maybe carve out an "if you put a guy on the 60 Day DL" type of exemption, but anytime you start introducing exceptions you open it up for abuse.

 

The second part is an issue by design. The idea being that if you hadn't waited until after the deadline to sign your dude you wouldn't be in this predicament.

[Cubswin11]

[Cubswin11]

Seems about right on AAV but light on years/total money.

 

[Cubswin11]

Congrats to Machado on his 67 year contract with the White Sox

 

[Banedon]

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[imb]

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[Cubswin11]

Heyman would be jealous of this level of hedging

 

[Banedon]

If the Phillies miss out on Machado, they're going to offer Harper ridiculous amounts of money, aren't they?

[Cubswin11]

 

[Sammy Sofa]

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This [expletive] gif keeps mesmerizing me.

[Cubswin11]

[Cubswin11]

I’m not advocating it or like it, but I could see us in on Madson. His FIP/xFIP were better than his surface numbers, he doesn’t really walk guys (something the FO has said they are looking for in the bullpe) and his velo was at a career high last year.

 

[Bertz]

I’m not advocating it or like it, but I could see us in on Madson. His FIP/xFIP were better than his surface numbers, he doesn’t really walk guys (something the FO has said they are looking for in the bullpe) and his velo was at a career high last year.

 

 

I like Madson a lot. I worry about his big FIP-ERA gap with the Dodgers because it came with wholesale changes to his pitch usage, but he's probably a very solid setup guy in the Strop/Cishek tier.

 

I also like Ollie Perez on a one year deal. He was a horsefeathering monster last year, but even in a more down year he is always good for LOOGY duty.

[Post Count Padder]

If we could sign Oliver Perez to a cheap one year deal and jettison Duensing into the sun, I'd be very happy.

[Cubswin11]

Perez is my #1 realistic FA target left, short of Kimbrel taking a 1+1 deal. I wouldn’t mind Madson though.

[Sammy Sofa]

I'm tempted to bet good money that they WON'T spend good money on anyone who costs them much more than a ST invite.

 

3rd place is too good for them; I'm really pulling for a surprise humiliation at the hands of the Reds.

[Proven Veteran]

I'm tempted to bet good money that they WON'T spend good money on anyone who costs them much more than a ST invite.

 

3rd place is too good for them; I'm really pulling for a surprise humiliation at the hands of the Reds.

Finished up by a deadline trade of Rizzo to a contender.

[Brian]

I'm personally pulling for everyone to be healthy and play to their abilities, and the Cubs win over 100 games.

[Cubswin11]

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[Backtobanks]

I'm personally pulling for everyone to be healthy and play to their abilities, and the Cubs win over 100 games.

 

 

The Cubs are fine as long as everybody is healthy and playing up to their abilities, but unfortunately that isn't likely over a 162 game schedule. Since it doesn't look like there will be any major changes to the roster, let's hope for minimal problems with health and regession in production.

[Proven Veteran]

I'm personally pulling for everyone to be healthy and play to their abilities, and the Cubs win over 100 games.

 

 

The Cubs are fine as long as everybody is healthy and playing up to their abilities, but unfortunately that isn't likely over a 162 game schedule. Since it doesn't look like there will be any major changes to the roster, let's hope for minimal problems with health and regession in production.

The Dodgers were already better than the Cubs and they are adding players.

[Backtobanks]

I'm personally pulling for everyone to be healthy and play to their abilities, and the Cubs win over 100 games.

 

 

The Cubs are fine as long as everybody is healthy and playing up to their abilities, but unfortunately that isn't likely over a 162 game schedule. Since it doesn't look like there will be any major changes to the roster, let's hope for minimal problems with health and regession in production.

The Dodgers were already better than the Cubs and they are adding players.

 

Adding a healthy and productive Darvish and Morrow and Bryant returning to an MVP-status player makes us better than we were, but can we count on all of that to last for the whole season in addition to worrying about age catching up to Lester, Morrow, Hamels, and Zobrist is another question.

[Cubswin11]

The biggest difference between us and the Dodgers isn’t talent, I think we are pretty close. The difference is the division, they can more easily stack wins and have a higher margin to tolerate injuries/regression and still win it vs what we have.