2021 Offseason Thread

[Bertz]

 

I'm not a type to stomp my feet that the Cubs aren't doing anything, but between this and Scherzer we're maybe a few hours from the pitching market being Stroman, Ray, Gray, and a bunch of guys you don't actually want on amulti-year deal.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I can’t believe how aggressive teams have been, would not have guessed this level of high profile activity by a long shot. There’s even multiple Boras guys signing or seemingly about to.

[Tim]

I can't decide if it's the players guessing they are going to lose this negotiation badly, the teams thinking they are going to lose badly, or both sides hedging their bets.

[Bertz]

 

Cooooooool

[Bertz]

I can't decide if it's the players guessing they are going to lose this negotiation badly, the teams thinking they are going to lose badly, or both sides hedging their bets.

 

I think, thankfully, neither side has leverage. Everyone knows that this horsefeathers work stoppage is going until the 11th hour, so people are acting now to make sure they don't lose the frantic game of musical chairs in early February.

[UMFan83]

Would be so Cubs to remain steadfast on not doing anything until the lockout is over and watch everyone sign beforehand. I'm trying not to be the impatient fan who asks when they are going to sign someone and I know they won't run back an $80m payroll. But give me something to be excited about dammit!

[Bertz]

 

Annnnnd he's gone

[Transmogrified Tiger]

 

come onnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

[Cubswin11]

horsefeathers you Jed for not matching or beating that Gray deal. Unreal. horsefeathers this team.

[17 Seconds]

Would be so Cubs to remain steadfast on not doing anything until the lockout is over and watch everyone sign beforehand. I'm trying not to be the impatient fan who asks when they are going to sign someone and I know they won't run back an $80m payroll. But give me something to be excited about dammit!

 

i totally expect them to shock everybody with a pathetic payroll this year and blame it on the weirdness of the offseason

[CubinNY]

Would be so Cubs to remain steadfast on not doing anything until the lockout is over and watch everyone sign beforehand. I'm trying not to be the impatient fan who asks when they are going to sign someone and I know they won't run back an $80m payroll. But give me something to be excited about dammit!

 

i totally expect them to shock everybody with a pathetic payroll this year and blame it on the weirdness of the offseason

And they’re going to trade Willy for a trio of 19 year olds at the end February because they couldn’t go the extra year or couple of million. And people will be like it was the right call because the market was crazy!

[Derwood]

horsefeathers you Jed for not matching or beating that Gray deal. Unreal. horsefeathers this team.

 

Eh, players don’t want to join up with this horsefeathers show

[Post Count Padder]

I really wanted Gray. He was a good fit.

 

Scherzer might be going to the Mets.

[Post Count Padder]

Lorenzen to the Angels, of course.

[Bertz]

horsefeathers you Jed for not matching or beating that Gray deal. Unreal. horsefeathers this team.

 

Eh, players don’t want to join up with this horsefeathers show

 

As opposed to the Rangers?

[Derwood]

horsefeathers you Jed for not matching or beating that Gray deal. Unreal. horsefeathers this team.

 

Eh, players don’t want to join up with this horsefeathers show

 

As opposed to the Rangers?

 

Tells you a lot, doesn't it

[Transmogrified Tiger]

horsefeathers you Jed for not matching or beating that Gray deal. Unreal. horsefeathers this team.

 

Eh, players don’t want to join up with this horsefeathers show

 

As opposed to the Rangers?

 

Yes, the silver lining is that it is largely the messiest and aimless franchises dropping the most money right now. Doesn’t make the pool of players to spend the hopefully abundant available payroll any less narrow, but it is not models of success leading the way right now.

[NonProfitCow]

Lorenzen to the Angels

 

Boooooooo Cubs, 1/7

Umm, he kind of actually sucks.

[Tryptamine]

Well at this point, they might as well go all in on the #1 pick because anything short of a miracle isn't putting a competitive team on the field

[Tryptamine]

Yes, the silver lining is that it is largely the messiest and aimless franchises dropping the most money right now. Doesn’t make the pool of players to spend the hopefully abundant available payroll any less narrow, but it is not models of success leading the way right now.

 

^ Yep, all the more reason to not see Gray (or Lorenzen) as a huge miss. He’s signed with like the hope maybe expectation he’ll just get better because Coors, kinda young, pretty healthy, productive, and especially today those aren’t great reasons to sign a FA SP to a 4 year deal. Those are the same basic ingredients that got Edwin Jackson down to the weak but hard fastballs and lack of impact secondaries

 

I’ll get annoyed when Scherzer/Stroman, maybe Rodon, and Bryant are elsewhere

 

Start getting annoyed than because Scherzer to the Mets is looking highly likely.

[toonsterwu]

Is there really high expectations on Stroman? It's hard for me not to see a bunch of money get thrown around for someone like Stroman, and thus, I suspect that the Cubs would have to overbid to get him.

 

I really don't see KB coming back unless it's a no-brainer deal for him.

 

To be honest, my expectations weren't high this offseason. Was really just hoping on Correa this offseason, and build towards 2023. Too many teams with money and the Cubs viewed as being in a rebuild. There's always someone left standing, and I suspect the Cubs will be involved on that (could see Rodon being sort of that guy), or a really big ticket item (Correa) that waits on the market longer than expected.

[UMFan83]

Is there really high expectations on Stroman? It's hard for me not to see a bunch of money get thrown around for someone like Stroman, and thus, I suspect that the Cubs would have to overbid to get him.

 

I really don't see KB coming back unless it's a no-brainer deal for him.

 

To be honest, my expectations weren't high this offseason. Was really just hoping on Correa this offseason, and build towards 2023. Too many teams with money and the Cubs viewed as being in a rebuild. There's always someone left standing, and I suspect the Cubs will be involved on that (could see Rodon being sort of that guy), or a really big ticket item (Correa) that waits on the market longer than expected.

 

I didn’t expect the Cubs to build a contender but I didn’t think (and still don’t think) they are going to run out a sub $100 payroll. I figured they would pick up at least 2-3 pieces for the “next great Cubs team” though maybe not star pieces. They still have plenty of time to do so. My concern is that PTR is not going to let them spent money until the new CBA is approved and not giving the FO wiggle room in case the market is unexpectedly more active before the lockout.

 

But still plenty of names out there and time running short to sign deals before Dec 1 so maybe it will work out. Just concerning to see how few rumors the Cubs are being mentioned in.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2021/11/tigers-expected-to-non-tender-matthew-boyd.html

 

Boyd’s an interesting pitcher, shows some ability to manage contact and miss bats. He’s seen his velocity climb back up, would be low commit, solid age (31) with minimal injury history (though he did miss time in 2021 with an arm injury)...He’s in that 1-2 maybe the upside of 3 WAR bucket with guys like Gray and Matz IMO just not as fancy seeming...I’m not noticing the averageish EVs, big drop in pulled contact, reduced flyball rates, lots of pop ups, CSW% moved back to league averageish...

 

He’s one year from FA and had elbow surgery (specifically flexor tendon) in late September.

[Bertz]

Is there really high expectations on Stroman? It's hard for me not to see a bunch of money get thrown around for someone like Stroman, and thus, I suspect that the Cubs would have to overbid to get him.

 

I really don't see KB coming back unless it's a no-brainer deal for him.

 

To be honest, my expectations weren't high this offseason. Was really just hoping on Correa this offseason, and build towards 2023. Too many teams with money and the Cubs viewed as being in a rebuild. There's always someone left standing, and I suspect the Cubs will be involved on that (could see Rodon being sort of that guy), or a really big ticket item (Correa) that waits on the market longer than expected.

 

I didn’t expect the Cubs to build a contender but I didn’t think (and still don’t think) they are going to run out a sub $100 payroll. I figured they would pick up at least 2-3 pieces for the “next great Cubs team” though maybe not star pieces. They still have plenty of time to do so. My concern is that PTR is not going to let them spent money until the new CBA is approved and not giving the FO wiggle room in case the market is unexpectedly more active before the lockout.

 

But still plenty of names out there and time running short to sign deals before Dec 1 so maybe it will work out. Just concerning to see how few rumors the Cubs are being mentioned in.

 

I think for me the concern is that the top and middle tiers of SP are going to be largely picked clean by the end of the day. And during Jed's postseason presser, he most explicitly name checked SP as the area for improvement. I don't have a problem going cheap at SP if it means we're going big elsewhere, but given all that's been put out there if we go cheap at SP how likely should we really think it is that we're going big elsewhere? Jed doesn't tell us everything, but he's not some douchebag like Matt Nagy who tries to play 5D chess with every media discussion.

[Banedon]