2023 Bold Predictions Thread

[David]

I'll start.

Jameson Taillon is our 2nd best starter by fWAR (that's not the bold part).

Wesneski is first.

Wesneski gets over 9 K/9

Seiya hits 35 dongs

Seiya puts up 4+ fWAR

Bellinger manages some sort of bounce-back at the plate, plays excellent defense, and puts up a 3 fWAR season

 

Edited March 27, 2023 by David

[imb]

barnhart and gomes out-WAR contreras.

Hosmer hits well enough (and mervis struggles in AAA) enough to never give up a grasp on 1B

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I love the catcher one, although I think a lot of the evening up in that comparison happens outside WAR.

 

• Rios is part of the last All-Star roster spot voting.  
• Davis gets an extended MLB shot before Mervis (this is only really bold in the context of the roster)
• By the end of the year Kilian is higher in people's 2024 rotations than Steele
• By the stretch run, Alzolay is getting used a lot like Hader as a 3-5 out bridge to the closer(Fulmer)

[Tim]

Cubs win 90 games, finish second in the division, and make the playoffs as a wild-card team.

[muntjack]

On board with the Wesneski prediction. I'll add that he is the lone cub in the All-star game.  

Steele gets shelled and ends the year in Iowa. 

Mervis is up in May and wins RoY. 

Cubs ride a ton of above-average (but no star-level) production to 1st place and an NLDS exit. 

 

 

[Ding Dong Johnson]

19 minutes ago, Elon Musk said:

barnhart and gomes out-WAR contreras.

I have this one too, and I really hope it happens.  Not because I don't still love Willy, but because I know too many Cardinals fans. I miss the days of them complaining daily about Dexter.

[Hrubes20]

Happ gets dealt in July, and a healthy and mashing Brennen Davis gets brought up.  Shows extremely well in his couple months and signs one of those extensions that the Braves keep tricking their young players into.  

[Bertz]

The bullpen is monstrous.  Like vintage Rays/Brewers good

I was going to say Steele sucks as a starter and has to go to the pen (where he dominates) but Steele being bad has been mentioned enough by now that it's maybe not as bold as I thought an hour ago

Swanson has a miserable April and we get a ton of Heyward 2.0 discourse, but once the wind starts blowing out he goes HAM and ultimately ends up having his best offensive season

No hitter on the roster besides Swanson tops 3.5 WAR, but we still end the season with a top 10 position player group because of the depth guys and the youths

Jed does something extremely un-Jed and adds Bryan Reynolds at the trade deadline

[chopsx9]

Happ  essentially repeats last years offensive numbers but adds 10-12 Hrs and maintains last years defensive profile.

[chopsx9]

Seiya's injury is worse than expected and Cubs trade for Heyward in June!

🚪🏃‍♂️

[champaignchris]

Bellinger hits .250 with 25 hrs, plays top shelf D and is a 4.5+ WAR player. 
 

1B/DH continues to be a black hole, with nobody ever stepping up to fill either spot. 
 

Cubs pitching staff ends up top 6 in the League in ERA. 

[Post Count Padder]

Steele is a 5 win pitcher 

Rios and wisdom each hit 30 HR

Adbert is an all star and takes over the closer role. 

PCA makes his MLB debut this season. 

[Rex Buckingham]

Trey Mancini represents the Cubs in the ASG

[rocket]

I think he's still technically a rookie, so Wesneski is combined ROY and Cy Young.

We all really grow to hate Hosmer by June.

 

[Rob]

2 hours ago, TomtheBombadil said:

- I was going to do a Steele falls out of 2024 favor one too, but it’s not bold. The Kilian part of TT’s feels bold enough

- Seconding Suzuki’s breakout, darkhorse MVP candidate

- Brennen Davis comes in hot to replace Bellinger during the summer, both he and Wesneski get RoY votes (NL prediction: no OD rookie wins RoY)

- Swanson threatens .300 and a 30/30 season, also gets MVP votes, doesn’t make the AS game but gets super hot in the second half 

- Cubs make multiple trades using top prospects…Candidates include Jazz Chisholm, Jesus Luzardo, smaller deal for Adrian Morejon, smaller deal with the Royals, some kind of deal with the Guardians (McKenzie, Hentges, Morgan?)

- Cubs callup multiple off 40 prospects and they do well 

While they're all a bit too rosy for me, I don't hate these predictions. I just wanted to be the first to use the button to dislike one of your posts.

[fromthestretch]

24 minutes ago, rocket said:

I think he's still technically a rookie, so Wesneski is combined ROY and Cy Young.

We all really grow to hate Hosmer by June.

 

Is the bold part of this prediction the thinking that it will take us that long to hate Hosmer?

[rocket]

3 minutes ago, grassbass said:

Is the bold part of this prediction the thinking that it will take us that long to hate Hosmer?

With the new pace of play rules it might take longer than before to notice

[CubinNY]

My bold prediction is that the Cubs finish a few games over .500, Nico cements himself as the best hitter on the team.

Not bold, but this team is built to be mediocre while they wait and see what percolates on the farm. 

I suppose a bold prediction would be that they are a lot worse or better than mediocre. I don't think Happ is going to be as good as last year, but Bellinger will be better. Swanson is going to have a difficult start to the year, but at the end, he'll be right around his career norms, maybe +6 HRs. 

[Derwood]

Good, bad or mediocre, the Game Threads will be topping out at 2 1/2 pages by early June

[CubinNY]

47 minutes ago, grassbass said:

Is the bold part of this prediction the thinking that it will take us that long to hate Hosmer?

I'm ahead on that one. 

[Cubs Fan Dan]

Nico hits .327 finishing 3rd in  NL batting race. 

Wisdom struggles and Rios becomes full time 3B hitting 30 HR’s

Steele hits 175 innings and wins 14 games with a sub 3.3 ERA

[UMFan83]

-Hendricks returns at some point in the season and pitches surprisingly well, pushing someone out of the rotation

-Gomes surprises everyone with a 96 wRC+, which he hasn't hit since 2020

-Seiya starts out slow with no spring training but eventually is our best hitter by a decent amount the last couple months of the season (not sure if bold but whatever)

-Cubs play .500 ball and are a couple games out of a playoff spot at the deadline but Jed annoys everyone by not only not buying but trading a couple of relievers and possibly Happ. (ok that's not bold, now I'm just making normal predictions)

[stitchface]

setting a bunch of over/unders would be fun . . . someone else do it!