2021 Offseason Thread

[UMFan83]

Babe Ruth to the Yankees

 

it....doesn't work like that

[17 Seconds]

have the white sox done anything other than lose rodon? are they getting reinsdorf'd?

[UMFan83]

have the white sox done anything other than lose rodon? are they getting reinsdorf'd?

 

They signed Josh Harrison and Joe Kelly but I don't think they've done anything major. Based on what I'm seeing on twitter they're pretty pissed about it.

 

Edit: And I forgot Graveman before the lockout

[Bertz]

have the white sox done anything other than lose rodon? are they getting reinsdorf'd?

 

[squally1313]

have the white sox done anything other than lose rodon? are they getting reinsdorf'd?

 

They signed Josh Harrison and Joe Kelly but I don't think they've done anything major. Based on what I'm seeing on twitter they're pretty pissed about it.

 

Edit: And I forgot Graveman before the lockout

 

They also went to arbitration with Giolito over, supposedly, $50k.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Their CBT payroll is over 30 million higher than last year, it took me a minute but here's where it went

 

Graveman 8

Kelly 8.5

Lynn ext +8

Harrison 5.5

Velasquez 3

Giolito arb +3

Garcia ext +2

Hernandez FA -2

Rodon FA -3

 

Putting half of your net spend into relievers when you have Hendriks, Kimbrel, Bummer, etc, when you're going to give a zillion at bats to Harrison, Garcia, Gavin Sheets, etc is certainly a choice.

[cl smooth]

[Bertz]

 

I think this is the biggest open question about the opening day roster. I thought previously you could fit Heyward on the roster along with everyone else at least until it went back down to 26. But now it sounds like the Cubs are going to do 15 pitchers/13 hitters to start the year. So, barring an injury, one of Heyard, Ortega, Hermosillo, or Frazier won't make the roster. Frazier is optionable, and so maybe it's as simple as that? The team under Jed has always waited as long as possible to make permanent moves.

[Tim]

Cubs traded Harold Ramirez for Esteban Quiroz today.

 

https://www.fangraphs.com/players/jesus-quiroz/sa596560/stats?position=2B

[Tim]

Cubs traded Harold Ramirez for Esteban Quiroz today.

 

https://www.fangraphs.com/players/jesus-quiroz/sa596560/stats?position=2B

[Post Count Padder]

Starting to trim the roster. Tommy Nance also DFAd. Didn't seem like there'd be a spot for one of Ramirez or Hermosillo and there's the answer.

 

Quiroz is an infielder who has hit well in the minors but has never played in the majors and is already 30.

[ChiCubsFan]

Nance was quite good for the first month with the sticky stuff. Didn’t realize his overall numbers tanked so hard.

[chopsx9]

Starting to trim the roster. Tommy Nance also DFAd. Didn't seem like there'd be a spot for one of Ramirez or Hermosillo and there's the answer.

 

Quiroz is an infielder who has hit well in the minors but has never played in the majors and is already 30.

 

I think I see the Wisdom in this move. ;)

[Bertz]

Quiroz is a LH platoon bat who actually projects okay and has minor league options. That's not a lot but it's not nothing, particularly given the lack of LH bats the Cubs have hanging out at Iowa and Tenn.

 

Fangraphs wrote him up earlier this week in fact

 

Quiroz spent 2015 to ’17 crushing the Mexican League. He signed with Boston in November of 2017, and was hot early during his pro debut in ’18, but then missed three and a half months with an abdominal strain. He only played in 24 games at Double-A, then had 62 extra plate appearances in the Arizona Fall League, where he played well and was seen by the entire pro scouting community. San Diego traded a 40-man crunch relief arm to Boston for Quiroz, then later flipped him to Tampa Bay as part of the Tommy Pham deal. The Rays’ glut of quality upper-level infielders has kept him from making his big league debut even though “Pony” has a career .401 OBP in affiliated ball.

 

Quiroz can barely play second base, and his lack of defensive versatility has prevented him from playing a long-term role on somebody’s bench. But he has deft, all-fields contact ability and can punish mistakes enough to be an above-replacement player, someone’s low-end regular at the keystone. Now 30, the window for that type of brief career (which this guy probably deserved to have) is closing and instead of Quiroz getting the opportunity to be a cult hero, this has become a “what could have been?” story.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

So with that the roster questions start to narrow further:

 

- Hermosillo v. Heyward for the last bench OF spot

 

- Mills v. Steele in the rotation. Both probably make the team either way and could both start in a piggyback or 6 man so this is more symbolic than it is immediately consequential.

 

- The pen shakeout. Barring injury, Givens/Wick/Robertson/Martin/Norris should be locks, Effross and Thompson probably have to pitch their way off the roster especially given the expanded April, which leaves 2 spots for the NRI crew(Chavez, Holder, St. John, Gsellman, Yardley) and the AAA group(Rodriguez, Rucker, Roberts, Leeper, Ueckert, Mekkes, Little).

[CubinNY]

I read a Twitter rumor that the Cubs might trade Wilson before the season if they get a good offer. Padres or Yankees likely partner.

[Rob]

I read a Twitter rumor that the Cubs might trade Wilson before the season if they get a good offer. Padres or Yankees likely partner.

 

That's been the rumor floating around for a long while now.

 

I think it's unlikely at this point. He's coming off a rough season, but he typically hits well in the first half. So if he hits well through the trade deadline, teams may be willing to pay just as much for a half season of him as they are willing to pay right now based off last year's production.

 

That said, there's no good reason the Cubs couldn't trade him right now. Sure, they want to sneak into the back of the playoff picture. But if we're being honest, the difference between Willson and Yan Gomes isn't that substantial. If the offer is sufficient, I see no reason they have to wait until the deadline to move him.

[Bertz]

So with that the roster questions start to narrow further:

 

- Hermosillo v. Heyward for the last bench OF spot

 

- Mills v. Steele in the rotation. Both probably make the team either way and could both start in a piggyback or 6 man so this is more symbolic than it is immediately consequential.

 

- The pen shakeout. Barring injury, Givens/Wick/Robertson/Martin/Norris should be locks, Effross and Thompson probably have to pitch their way off the roster especially given the expanded April, which leaves 2 spots for the NRI crew(Chavez, Holder, St. John, Gsellman, Yardley) and the AAA group(Rodriguez, Rucker, Roberts, Leeper, Ueckert, Mekkes, Little).

 

Brett brought up the good point yesterday that the rotation seems to be lining up:

 

...the Cubs now have gone Hendricks, Stroman, Steele (stand in for Miley? or does Miley go at the back as the “sixth” starter?), Mills, Smyly in order (in a NORMAL timeline, you would start setting up your rotation order right around now).

 

Like Brett gets at I would think either Steele's not long for the rotation, or they're going 6-man to open the year and Miley's gonna slot in after Smyly. 6-man seems more likely at the moment. I kind of wonder if being able to go to a 15 man pitching staff made them largely abandon the piggybacking plan? Just run a normal (albeit bloated) bullpen with one long man, probably Thompson?

 

But yeah I think that's the pen, probably one of Chavez/Gsellman, and one the Iowa guys. Probably Rucker, since he's generally been more of multi-inning guy?

[Transmogrified Tiger]

But yeah I think that's the pen, probably one of Chavez/Gsellman, and one the Iowa guys. Probably Rucker, since he's generally been more of multi-inning guy?

 

I think that's probably right, with the exception that I'm guessing they'll give St. John every opportunity to make it as a 2nd lefty, especially if Steele is being counted on every 5/6 days in April. Chavez and Gsellman can both go straight to Iowa so there's not an opportunity cost with them at the start, and then if St. John can't get outs or Steele comes back to the pen you can swap them/make him part of the end of April trim.

[Backtobanks]

I read a Twitter rumor that the Cubs might trade Wilson before the season if they get a good offer. Padres or Yankees likely partner.

 

That's been the rumor floating around for a long while now.

 

I think it's unlikely at this point. He's coming off a rough season, but he typically hits well in the first half. So if he hits well through the trade deadline, teams may be willing to pay just as much for a half season of him as they are willing to pay right now based off last year's production.

 

That said, there's no good reason the Cubs couldn't trade him right now. Sure, they want to sneak into the back of the playoff picture. But if we're being honest, the difference between Willson and Yan Gomes isn't that substantial. If the offer is sufficient, I see no reason they have to wait until the deadline to move him.

 

A trade to the Padres could include Caratini as a throw-in.

[We Got The Whole 9]

Hermosillo is exactly the type of player the Cubs should want right now. There's pretty good potential for him to ball out for a couple seasons and then we can trade him as he enters arb seasons as a 30 year old.

 

horsefeathering get rid of Heyward. Don't just give Hermosillo away. There's solid potential there.

[Post Count Padder]

Starting to trim the roster. Tommy Nance also DFAd. Didn't seem like there'd be a spot for one of Ramirez or Hermosillo and there's the answer.

 

Quiroz is an infielder who has hit well in the minors but has never played in the majors and is already 30.

Nance claimed by the Marlins, who in turn DFAd Yoan Lopez. Lopez has some interesting stuff but hasn't fully put it together.

[itisallpartoftheplan]

 

PTR raiding the Dbacks for cash.

[Cubswin11]

D’backs extend Marte. Thought he would’ve been a good trade target for us for CF going back to last year even.

[cl smooth]