Cubs offseason chit chat...

[JHBulls]

6 minutes ago, chopsx9 said:

Hey it was 108 years last time.   I can do 11 standing on my head.

The amount of years it’s been since the last time the Chicago Cubs won the World Series outweighs the amount of years it took me to wait for that World Series victory as a Chicago Cubs fan. 11 more years would be excruciating. 😛 

[chopsx9]

3 minutes ago, JHBulls said:

 11 more years would be excruciating. 😛 

I'm a Cubs fan excruciating is the base line.

[Jason Ross]

Garver to Mariners. 2/$24m 

 

[Backtobanks]

6 hours ago, Rcal10 said:

Are you saying PCA AND Morel and than something else? Or PCA or Morel? If it is the former IMO you are overvaluing Cease by a wide margin. I wouldn’t trade PCA for Cease. The guy is a 5 or 6 inning pitcher who throws 100 pitches in those innings. Maybe instead of Triantos or Wesneski I would give Wicks. So Alcantara, Wicks and either Triantos or Wesneski. If that isn’t good enough I don’t want Cease. 

I was saying PCA or Morel.  Meanwhile from MLBTR: 

The Reds were known to be one of the clubs interested in Cease, though 670 The Score’s Bruce Levine reported that the Sox had asked for a four-player trade package — pitching prospects Rhett Lowder and Chase Petty, as well as two position-player prospects.

Jason Williams of the Cincinnati Enquirer sheds some more light on Chicago’s demands, writing that the White Sox wanted Lowder, Edwin Arroyo, Connor Phillips, “and at least one more prospect.”  This could mean that the Sox wanted a five-player return, with Petty and an unknown position player comprising the other two names involved. MLB Pipeline ranks Lowder, Arroyo, and Phillips within the top 68 prospects in all of baseball, while Lowder (45th) and Phillips (86th) also ranked within Baseball America’s last top 100 ranking from September.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

The number of reasonable Hoskins suitors is starting to get pretty thin, I really hope Boras isn’t holding him up given the market overlap with Bellinger.

[Jfoley89]

Garver seems like he was in the sweet spot for a Cubs contract. Good for him and the Mariners

[Stratos]

5 hours ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

The number of reasonable Hoskins suitors is starting to get pretty thin, I really hope Boras isn’t holding him up given the market overlap with Bellinger.

I tried my best to figure out the teams needing an 1B, or could really use an upgrade based on the 1B's they had last year.  I have no idea about whether any of these teams have an 1B prospect they're planning to play next year. The most obvious team that's a potential contender that's needing an 1B is the Brewers.  Most of the others that could really use an 1B are just bad teams:

MIL, WAS, KCR, COL, DET, CHW, LAA, MIN (maybe?), SDP (maybe?)

This doesn't include teams that may look for a DH, but if I were Hoskins and healthy I'd want to play 1B to prove i'm healthy and boost my value for next FA period.

[Layoutman]

6 hours ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

The number of reasonable Hoskins suitors is starting to get pretty thin, I really hope Boras isn’t holding him up given the market overlap with Bellinger.

Wonder what kind of contract shenanigans it would require signing both. 

[thawv]

On 12/23/2023 at 3:57 PM, LBiittner said:

Thanks for the recommendation, I've often seen this in stores I frequent. Price is right for a daily sipper. I'm gonna get this. Thanks again for the suggestion

Of course!  Merry Christmas!

[Bertz]

On 12/25/2023 at 1:20 AM, Stratos said:

I tried my best to figure out the teams needing an 1B, or could really use an upgrade based on the 1B's they had last year.  I have no idea about whether any of these teams have an 1B prospect they're planning to play next year. The most obvious team that's a potential contender that's needing an 1B is the Brewers.  Most of the others that could really use an 1B are just bad teams:

MIL, WAS, KCR, COL, DET, CHW, LAA, MIN (maybe?), SDP (maybe?)

This doesn't include teams that may look for a DH, but if I were Hoskins and healthy I'd want to play 1B to prove i'm healthy and boost my value for next FA period.

This is a good list, we can narrow it down a bit further though.

Royals are getting Pasquantino back, so between him/Pratto/Melendez/Velazquez they look pretty full at 1B/DH

Minnesota reportedly needs to cut payroll (which is why Polanco and Kepler are on the block)

Padres seem to have enough payroll room for another move or two, but it seems really likely that anything else major they have will be pitching oriented

Rockies have said they're moving Bryant to 1st this season, and Charlie Blackmon at this point requires a lot of DH time

Spencer Torkelson finally broke out in the second half last year for the Tigers.  That said DH looks wide open if Hoskins is willing to primarily do that (like you say seems unlikely though)

Similarly the Angels can't offer 1B (Schanuel) but they can offer DH (unless Rendon moves there full time?)

So that leaves just Milwaukee, the Nats, and the White Sox?  Even if we open it up to DH-only it only adds in a couple more teams (Angels, Tigers, Dbacks, maybe Mets).  But then that also widens the player pool with guys like JD Martinez, Jorge Soler, Michael Brantley, etc.

Between this exercise and the surprisingly team friendly Garver deal, feels pretty clear Jed has opportunity to clean up at 1B/DH this winter on the cheap.  Even though I like his combo contact/power bat I think I'm moving away from wanting Josh Naylor.

 

[Rcal10]

33 minutes ago, Bertz said:

This is a good list, we can narrow it down a bit further though.

Royals are getting Pasquantino back, so between him/Pratto/Melendez/Velazquez they look pretty full at 1B/DH

Minnesota reportedly needs to cut payroll (which is why Polanco and Kepler are on the block)

Padres seem to have enough payroll room for another move or two, but it seems really likely that anything else major they have will be pitching oriented

Rockies have said they're moving Bryant to 1st this season, and Charlie Blackmon at this point requires a lot of DH time

Spencer Torkelson finally broke out in the second half last year for the Tigers.  That said DH looks wide open if Hoskins is willing to primarily do that (like you say seems unlikely though)

Similarly the Angels can't offer 1B (Schanuel) but they can offer DH (unless Rendon moves there full time?)

So that leaves just Milwaukee, the Nats, and the White Sox?  Even if we open it up to DH-only it only adds in a couple more teams (Angels, Tigers, Dbacks, maybe Mets).  But then that also widens the player pool with guys like JD Martinez, Jorge Soler, Michael Brantley, etc.

Between this exercise and the surprisingly team friendly Garver deal, feels pretty clear Jed has opportunity to clean up at 1B/DH this winter on the cheap.  Even though I like his combo contact/power bat I think I'm moving away from wanting Josh Naylor.

 

I do like Naylor though. They can use a lefty bat. If they don’t trade for one, who do they get? Bellinger? And that being along a whole new list of things they may need to do. I think they can still sign Hoskins and wait a bit on Naylor. Might end up a March deal. They might want to see for themselves if Morel can play 3rd. If he can they can trade for Naylor and let him and Hoskins fill 1b and DH. If they already know he can’t maybe he goes in a trade that gets Naylor and they either sign Chapman, stay within what they have or make another trade for a 3rd baseman.. If the decision on him has already been made that he can’t do it, they can move quicker. There is a lot of ways they can go and suddenly time is getting shorter. There is time still, but they have a lot of avenues to explore. 

 

[Bertz]

8 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

I do like Naylor though. They can use a lefty bat. If they don’t trade for one, who do they get? Bellinger? And that being along a whole new list of things they may need to do. I think they can still sign Hoskins and wait a bit on Naylor. Might end up a March deal. They might want to see for themselves if Morel can play 3rd. If he can they can trade for Naylor and let him and Hoskins fill 1b and DH. If they already know he can’t maybe he goes in a trade that gets Naylor and they either sign Chapman, stay within what they have or make another trade for a 3rd baseman.. If the decision on him has already been made that he can’t do it, they can move quicker. There is a lot of ways they can go and suddenly time is getting shorter. There is time still, but they have a lot of avenues to explore. 

 

For 1B/DH I want a lefty and a righty, and ideally one of them would be an above average contact bat.  Something like Hoskins and Michael Brantley or Brandon Belt and Justin Turner.  Bellinger and JD Martinez might be the most primo version?  And I think having that one contact bat becomes especially paramount if Morel or Chapman and their 30%+ K rate are our everyday 3B.

[Tryptamine]

Has anyone confirmed Jed Hoyer is indeed still alive?

[Derwood]

Do a lot deals normally get announced in the days before/after Christmas? I’m not surprised it’s quiet. 

[gocubs218]

 

[Bertz]

34 minutes ago, Derwood said:

Do a lot deals normally get announced in the days before/after Christmas? I’m not surprised it’s quiet. 

I saw a couple days ago a list from last year.  It was Nate Eovaldi and a bunch of little stuff.  That said last year was weird in that FA was like 90% sewn up by Christmas.

Edited December 26, 2023 by Bertz

[CubbyBlue2008]

3 minutes ago, gocubs218 said:

 

Don’t wanna say that completely takes them out of the Bellinger sweepstakes, but…

[Bertz]

Just now, CubbyBlue2008 said:

Don’t wanna say that completely takes them out of the Bellinger sweepstakes, but…

Yeah it's like the Giants after signing Lee.  It doesn't 100% shut the door but it's certainly not a super clean fit anymore.  This might be a sign they're looking to do a reunion with Chapman though?

Bellinger's fits at this point are the Cubs, a bunch of bad and/or small market teams that probably aren't looking to drop 9 figures, and Mariners/Padres who  may or may not have any more cash to spend?

Never count Boras out but he and a lot of his clients look to be in a bad spot this winter.  That's good news for Jed though.

[Layoutman]

9 minutes ago, Bertz said:

 This might be a sign they're looking to do a reunion with Chapman though?

 

We can all hope. Wonder if he is regretting turning down 4 years and 100 million (reportedly) from the Jays during the season. 

 

[Illiterate Scholar]

Yeah I think that Kiermaier news hurts our chances on Chapman (who I was kinda into) and has to increase the Bellinger odds (who I hadn't been treating as a real option until now and does concern me a bit).

If there is a Bellinger reunion, I think I'd be in favor of using PCA as a trade piece. I'm guessing here but if Morel is on the block, I could see the Cubs valuing him more than other teams and struggling to find a match (Cubs looking at his power and team control, other teams looking at all of his flaws). PCA on the other hand, is pretty much a lock to bring back something kinda awesome like Lazardo or maybe PCA plus a non-Horton pitcher for Clase, Bieber, and Naylor.

[UMFan83]

17 minutes ago, Bertz said:

Yeah it's like the Giants after signing Lee.  It doesn't 100% shut the door but it's certainly not a super clean fit anymore.  This might be a sign they're looking to do a reunion with Chapman though?

Bellinger's fits at this point are the Cubs, a bunch of bad and/or small market teams that probably aren't looking to drop 9 figures, and Mariners/Padres who  may or may not have any more cash to spend?

Never count Boras out but he and a lot of his clients look to be in a bad spot this winter.  That's good news for Jed though.

I doubt fan frustration affects Jed all that much but I do think he is going to do everything possible to hold Bellinger from signing until he can extract the best possible offer.  If the Cubs are nowhere close, he won't be afraid to take it well into Spring Training in order to get closer to what he wants

[Jason Ross]

 

[CubbyBlue2008]

51 minutes ago, Bertz said:

Yeah it's like the Giants after signing Lee.  It doesn't 100% shut the door but it's certainly not a super clean fit anymore.  This might be a sign they're looking to do a reunion with Chapman though?

Bellinger's fits at this point are the Cubs, a bunch of bad and/or small market teams that probably aren't looking to drop 9 figures, and Mariners/Padres who  may or may not have any more cash to spend?

Never count Boras out but he and a lot of his clients look to be in a bad spot this winter.  That's good news for Jed though.

Yeah let’s hope Bellinger falls into the Cubs price range. It definitely seems like a Hoskins/Bellinger combo has the cleanest fit in Chicago.

[CubbyBlue2008]

 

[Tryptamine]

1 hour ago, Derwood said:

Do a lot deals normally get announced in the days before/after Christmas? I’m not surprised it’s quiet. 

No, but then again the vast majority of GMs don't wait to make their first moves until January.