Cubs offseason chit chat...

[KCCub]

Anyone have a clue what was said?

[Ding Dong Johnson]

1 hour ago, KCCub said:

Anyone have a clue what was said?

Was he plugging a radio spot? If so, when? Is someone coming to Chicago? What a poorly worded tweet. 

[Transmogrified Tiger]

9 minutes ago, Ding Dong Johnson said:

Was he plugging a radio spot? If so, when? Is someone coming to Chicago? What a poorly worded tweet. 

Yes, he hosts a Saturday AM show and Boras was one of the segments.  I didn't listen but in checking around the only noteworthy thing I saw is Bruce said in his opinion he wouldn't be surprised if they ended up with 2 of Hoskins, Bellinger, and Chapman.

[Rcal10]

1 hour ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

Yes, he hosts a Saturday AM show and Boras was one of the segments.  I didn't listen but in checking around the only noteworthy thing I saw is Bruce said in his opinion he wouldn't be surprised if they ended up with 2 of Hoskins, Bellinger, and Chapman.

If they did get 2 of the 3 I would hope it was Bellinger and Hoskins. They need a left handed bat. 

Edited December 9, 2023 by Rcal10

[WhyCantWeWin]

Saw that roki Sasaki asked to be posted but was likely to be denied. Interesting to follow since he's probably better than Yamamoto and younger. Might happen next year

[Rcal10]

Time to start the off season for the Cubs. Honestly can’t fault them for not getting Ohtani. That is a crazy deal. They would have never added to him had he signed that here.

[Crusader]

With Ohtani finally signing it's time to focus on Yamamoto and Sasaki (if he gets posted). Apparently Sasaki just recently requested to be posted and is believed to have a posting opt out in his contract, and since he's younger than 25 (23) any team that signs him would be paying him the MLB minimum. That would be an enormous low blow if he gets posted the Dodgers get him too on a minimum deal...

Glad to see the Dodgers had to shell out crazy to afford Ohtani at least. Hope it puts some serious constraints on them going forward with FA signings.

Edited December 9, 2023 by Crusader

[ToolDRT]

I’d imagine Glasnow and Hoskins get announced anytime now (should probably make a twitter account stating that so I can get meaningless followers) 

But still feel like we need something big here. I don’t want Chapman at all. But I’m getting really nervous we get desperate and sign him. Still holding out hope for Imanaga. 

[Tryptamine]

There just are no particularly great options at 3B. Yeah you could go Polanco as a passable option, you could severely overpay for a guy in Chapman who was the offensive equivalent of Madrigal over his last 450ish PAs, or you could put together what is likely an enormous package for Paredes who was fantastic last year, but only has last year as a sample of being an upper tier player. 

[We Got The Whole 9]

I'd rather play Madrigal there than give Chapman 5/100 

[Bertz]

32 minutes ago, ToolDRT said:

I’d imagine Glasnow and Hoskins get announced anytime now (should probably make a twitter account stating that so I can get meaningless followers) 

But still feel like we need something big here. I don’t want Chapman at all. But I’m getting really nervous we get desperate and sign him. Still holding out hope for Imanaga. 

I don't think anything really big is coming at this point.  I'd guess they'll be in on Yamamoto to an extent, but not an outbidding Steve Cohen extent.  And I'm sure there are scenarios where they'll bring Bellinger back,  But otherwise I think it's going to be a deal where they add 10-12 WAR over 5-6 players.  It'll probably be more skewed towards run prevention than we were looking for coming into the winter.

In my mind's eye that looks something like this:

Glasnow ~3.5 WAR / $25M

Bieber ~3.0 WAR / $12M

Hoskins  ~2.5 WAR / $20M

Polanco ~2.5 WAR / $10.5M

Clase ~1.5 WAR / $4.5M

The thing about a spread the money around offseason though is there are a lot of ways to skin that cat.

[gflore34]

11 minutes ago, Bertz said:

I don't think anything really big is coming at this point.  I'd guess they'll be in on Yamamoto to an extent, but not an outbidding Steve Cohen extent.  And I'm sure there are scenarios where they'll bring Bellinger back,  But otherwise I think it's going to be a deal where they add 10-12 WAR over 5-6 players.  It'll probably be more skewed towards run prevention than we were looking for coming into the winter.

In my mind's eye that looks something like this:

Glasnow ~3.5 WAR / $25M

Bieber ~3.0 WAR / $12M

Hoskins  ~2.5 WAR / $20M

Polanco ~2.5 WAR / $10.5M

Clase ~1.5 WAR / $4.5M

The thing about a spread the money around offseason though is there are a lot of ways to skin that cat.

The old GB pitching staff plus great defense MO again?  It may help you have winning record which may result in a playoff appearance but, more than likely we're looking at 83-87 wins not, terrible but, also not a serious WS contending type team.  This run prevention approach is as tired as a good running game plus a strong defense is in the NFL.  Of course, not surprised, never thought the Cubs were serious contenders for Ohtani, Yamamoto or Soto, knew, somehow, they'd end up this way.

[Rex Buckingham]

30 minutes ago, We Got The Whole 9 said:

I'd rather play Madrigal there than give Chapman 5/100 

I hate how much I agree with that statement. It just seems wrong, but they weren't all that dissimilar over the whole season as far as hitting. And the difference in cost (assuming the $$ gets spent to improve other positions in this scenario) isn't worth the difference in defense and power

[Backtobanks]

1 hour ago, ToolDRT said:

I’d imagine Glasnow and Hoskins get announced anytime now (should probably make a twitter account stating that so I can get meaningless followers) 

But still feel like we need something big here. I don’t want Chapman at all. But I’m getting really nervous we get desperate and sign him. Still holding out hope for Imanaga. 

There seems to be a lot of new rumors about other teams interest in Glasnow and Hoskins.  Jed had better start moving.

 

[Backtobanks]

3 hours ago, Rcal10 said:

If they did get 2 of the 3 I would hope it was Bellinger and Hoskins. They need a left handed bat. 

Bellinger and Hoskins gives you enough offense to play Madrigal (or whoever) at 3B.  After that Jed can concentrate on pitching.

[Rcal10]

38 minutes ago, Backtobanks said:

Bellinger and Hoskins gives you enough offense to play Madrigal (or whoever) at 3B.  After that Jed can concentrate on pitching.

Or they can make a smallish trade for Polanco to play 3rd. Also, and j hate bringing this up, but, Morel is playing third in the DR. He can be an option. And finally they can do a bigger deal and try getting Glasnow and Lowe. And he can play 3rd. I don’t feel it has to be Chapman or Madrigal. 
 

if they can get Lowe or even Polanco and still have Morel they would actually have a decent line up. 

Edited December 9, 2023 by Rcal10

[CubinNY]

3 hours ago, Rex Buckingham said:

I hate how much I agree with that statement. It just seems wrong, but they weren't all that dissimilar over the whole season as far as hitting. And the difference in cost (assuming the $$ gets spent to improve other positions in this scenario) isn't worth the difference in defense and power

Madrigal cannot stay on the field. I’d rather someone other than the Cubs pay him to do anything. 

Edited December 10, 2023 by CubinNY

[Cubs420psd]

So with Ohtani out of the way this is what I was kinda thinking.

 

Re-sign Belly

Sign Hoskins

Trade some of the prospect depth for pitching (another starter and back end bullpen guy would be great)

[chibears55]

Soto gonna be looking for close to a billion next offseason and he'll just be 25. 😅

 

[Irrelevant Dude]

3 minutes ago, chibears55 said:

Soto gonna be looking for close to a billion next offseason and he'll just be 25. 😅

 

The thing Soto just can't match is the marketing potential. Even putting aside that Ohtani is a two-way player, he has so much value beyond what he provides on the field.  Soto won't even be in the same league contract-wise.

[SOFNR]

4 minutes ago, chibears55 said:

Soto gonna be looking for close to a billion next offseason and he'll just be 25. 😅

 

Naw. He's not the same level of star as Ohtani and he doesn't bring in as much revenue. Ohtani was a rare case of best player in the league/international star. 

[Derwood]

Has Hoskins even been linked to any other teams? does it seem like a foregone conclusion?

[Transmogrified Tiger]

3 minutes ago, Derwood said:

Has Hoskins even been linked to any other teams? does it seem like a foregone conclusion?

Nothing as substantial as we've seen with the Cubs.  There aren't very many teams with real playoff aspirations with the need and desire to hand Hoskins the AAV he wants. Maybe the Mariners? But their ability to spend is in question and they might prefer to bet on France's bounce back and upgrade corner OF instead. The only other connections I have seen are to teams with zero competitive chances(Pittsburgh, Washington).

[Stratos]

4 hours ago, Rcal10 said:

Or they can make a smallish trade for Polanco to play 3rd. Also, and j hate bringing this up, but, Morel is playing third in the DR. He can be an option. And finally they can do a bigger deal and try getting Glasnow and Lowe. And he can play 3rd. I don’t feel it has to be Chapman or Madrigal. 
 

if they can get Lowe or even Polanco and still have Morel they would actually have a decent line up. 

I don't really see Polanco as an upgrade to Morel at 3b overall.  Unless Morel just plays DH or 1B.

I'm interested to see what they do at DH.  Belt seems a bit old for Jed.  Maybe Mitch Garver?  He might get a multi-year deal though.

[Rcal10]

18 minutes ago, Stratos said:

I don't really see Polanco as an upgrade to Morel at 3b overall.  Unless Morel just plays DH or 1B.

I'm interested to see what they do at DH.  Belt seems a bit old for Jed.  Maybe Mitch Garver?  He might get a multi-year deal though.

I don’t want Polanco instead of Morel. I would be ok with him with Morel. He is an upgrade if Madrigal or Wisdom.