Cubs offseason chit chat...

[Jason Ross]

3 minutes ago, Stratos said:

Are you at the Cubs con?  Or watching on Marquee?

Catching quotes from Hoyers "meet the press" on Twitter. Much less cool; I'm on my couch in Kentucky haha

[We Got The Whole 9]

Pretty funny he said that; a few weeks ago amid the panic here I compared it to the 3rd or 4th inning of an IGT.

[Bertz]

He *really* hit the doing damage against right handed pitching point.  I'm not sure who that'd be.  Brad on Twitter mentioned Belt, and that's probably a good call, but all the other usual suspects we've been talking about are fairly split neutral or do most of their damage against lefties.

 

[UMFan83]

4th or 5th inning?  So far we’ve acquired 2.5 major league players so we should expect maybe 3 more?

[Jason Ross]

13 minutes ago, Bertz said:

He *really* hit the doing damage against right handed pitching point.  I'm not sure who that'd be.  Brad on Twitter mentioned Belt, and that's probably a good call, but all the other usual suspects we've been talking about are fairly split neutral or do most of their damage against lefties.

 

"Sometimes that comes in the form of a right hander as well". 

Interesting addition. Entirely unneeded, really. Yet...

So who's a RH who hits RH really well?

[Tryptamine]

If they're looking for a guy who mashes righties, that sure sounds like Belt. His 146 wRC+ against righties was 11th in baseball amongst qualified hitters. Josh Naylor was at 129 as well.

[UMFan83]

30 minutes ago, 1908_Cubs said:

"Sometimes that comes in the form of a right hander as well". 

Interesting addition. Entirely unneeded, really. Yet...

So who's a RH who hits RH really well?

Pete Alonso has virtually identical platoon splits for his career (.870 vs RHP, .869 vs LHP)

[Bertz]

30 minutes ago, 1908_Cubs said:

"Sometimes that comes in the form of a right hander as well". 

Interesting addition. Entirely unneeded, really. Yet...

So who's a RH who hits RH really well?

JDM?

Very much a pure DH, so you would HAVE to let at least one of Morel/Wisdom/Busch play plenty of 3rd

[Tryptamine]

26 minutes ago, 1908_Cubs said:

"Sometimes that comes in the form of a right hander as well". 

Interesting addition. Entirely unneeded, really. Yet...

So who's a RH who hits RH really well?

I'm looking through the the list and I don't see anyone either available or that has been attached to the Cubs besides Alonso(118). There's this Zack Gelof in Oakland,  whom I know almost nothing about, but he's 24 and put up the 3rd highest wRC+ against righties as a righty(167).

[Bertz]

2 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

Pete Alonso has virtually identical platoon splits for his career (.870 vs RHP, .869 vs LHP)

That's a good call.  I didn't watch the interview that led to it but I saw on Twitter earlier this week there was some Stearns interview and Mets fans were like "Oh yeah Pete's gone"

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Hoskins has a career 118 wRC+ against RHP

[We Got The Whole 9]

Jorge isn't much of a slouch but I really really want JD. Get a FB monster. His HR% was absurd last year.

[Stratos]

 

[ToolDRT]

So Imanaga is awesome. Really rooting for that guy. Seems cool as hell. I feel like that’s a common attribute of the Japanese players who come over, they seem less stuffy than most major leaguers and more willing to show their personality. And he’s got a great one to show, that’s for sure. 

[Stratos]

From Jordan Bastian, Cubs.com:  https://www.mlb.com/cubs/news/cubs-roster-needs-remain-as-cubs-convention-begins

---------------------

Hoyer believes the Cubs have their new first baseman in Busch, who will be given a shot at earning that job this season.

Imanaga is likely the Cubs’ biggest move for the rotation this offseason. Hoyer leaned on the old baseball adage that a team “can never have enough” pitching, but said he did not envision another major rotation addition.

“That's an area we probably don't make another transaction,” Hoyer said. “I think if we do, it may be smaller. Something could fall in our lap. We could end up with something, but that's not my expectation right now.”

While Hoyer is generally opposed to longer deals for relief pitchers, he acknowledged that the Cubs have made some multi-year offers to available bullpen arms this offseason. Adding more depth and quality to the relief corps “is an area of priority” for the team.

“We'll end up making more deals this winter,” Hoyer said. “I don't know if they're going to happen next week or if they're going to happen in February. Things could be really slow this year. And that's just the nature of it. Last year, it was the opposite.”

[Bertz]

5 hours ago, Stratos said:

While Hoyer is generally opposed to longer deals for relief pitchers, he acknowledged that the Cubs have made some multi-year offers to available bullpen arms this offseason. Adding more depth and quality to the relief corps “is an area of priority” for the team.

That really points to the next reliever being closer-caliber (even if they have a shorter track record like Stephenson).  Great to hear.

[Rcal10]

11 minutes ago, Bertz said:

That really points to the next reliever being closer-caliber (even if they have a shorter track record like Stephenson).  Great to hear.

That is great to hear. That said, isn’t the pen very crowded? Alzolay, Wesneski, Smyly, Assad, Merryweather, Cuas, Almonte, Little, Palancia, Leiter are 10 names. That doesn’t even include guys like Brown, Horn, Rucker, the lefty they signed from Japan, or any others in the minors that are close to making the majors. Some don’t have options left. Points to a trade for me. Either for a guy not on the 40 man roster or a bigger deal for a major league bat. I would say a starting pitcher, but Jed seemed to indicate they aren’t looking for that. Add a solid guy as Jed is suggesting and guys like Assad and/or Wesneski can definitely be in some sort of a deal. 

[Jason Ross]

38 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

That is great to hear. That said, isn’t the pen very crowded? Alzolay, Wesneski, Smyly, Assad, Merryweather, Cuas, Almonte, Little, Palancia, Leiter are 10 names. That doesn’t even include guys like Brown, Horn, Rucker, the lefty they signed from Japan, or any others in the minors that are close to making the majors. Some don’t have options left. Points to a trade for me. Either for a guy not on the 40 man roster or a bigger deal for a major league bat. I would say a starting pitcher, but Jed seemed to indicate they aren’t looking for that. Add a solid guy as Jed is suggesting and guys like Assad and/or Wesneski can definitely be in some sort of a deal. 

I think the Cubs will be making some trades. There's a handful of guys the Cubs have that can likely go in some trades. Matt Mervis, Hayden Wesneski, Javier Asad, are a few guys I still think have someupside, but are either blocked or superfluous currently. There's probably teams out there that would like those guys. Could see some smaller deal in the vein of Busch/Ferris where the Cubs move young players for younger prospects (not 40 man). 

[Bertz]

6 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

That is great to hear. That said, isn’t the pen very crowded? Alzolay, Wesneski, Smyly, Assad, Merryweather, Cuas, Almonte, Little, Palancia, Leiter are 10 names. That doesn’t even include guys like Brown, Horn, Rucker, the lefty they signed from Japan, or any others in the minors that are close to making the majors. Some don’t have options left. Points to a trade for me. Either for a guy not on the 40 man roster or a bigger deal for a major league bat. I would say a starting pitcher, but Jed seemed to indicate they aren’t looking for that. Add a solid guy as Jed is suggesting and guys like Assad and/or Wesneski can definitely be in some sort of a deal. 

The team is going to want some quality options stashed at Iowa.  Part of the problem last year was that attrition hit Iowa pretty hard and then there was no one besides Palencia/Little to come up when the MLB pen was struggling.

I'd expect the pen to look like this

CL - Alzolay

SU - Merryweather, TBD acquisition 

MR - Leiter*, Almonte, Cuas*

LR - Smyly, Assad*

The guys with asterisks are not set in stone

Leiter - Needs to show out in spring training.  If he doesn't he's likely to be cut a la Wicks last year

Cuas - He has minor league options, so he needs to look better than Palenci/Little/etc.

Assad - He's got possibility of being promoted out of this role to the rotation, getting passed up by Wesneski, or doing enough to earn a job but having Counsell decide he doesn't want two long guys.  We know Ross would build the entire pen out of long relievers if he could but Counsell has historically leaned more on 1 IP types

[LBiittner]

7 hours ago, Stratos said:

From Jordan Bastian, Cubs.com:  https://www.mlb.com/cubs/news/cubs-roster-needs-remain-as-cubs-convention-begins

---------------------

Hoyer believes the Cubs have their new first baseman in Busch, who will be given a shot at earning that job this season.

Imanaga is likely the Cubs’ biggest move for the rotation this offseason. Hoyer leaned on the old baseball adage that a team “can never have enough” pitching, but said he did not envision another major rotation addition.

“That's an area we probably don't make another transaction,” Hoyer said. “I think if we do, it may be smaller. Something could fall in our lap. We could end up with something, but that's not my expectation right now.”

While Hoyer is generally opposed to longer deals for relief pitchers, he acknowledged that the Cubs have made some multi-year offers to available bullpen arms this offseason. Adding more depth and quality to the relief corps “is an area of priority” for the team.

“We'll end up making more deals this winter,” Hoyer said. “I don't know if they're going to happen next week or if they're going to happen in February. Things could be really slow this year. And that's just the nature of it. Last year, it was the opposite.”

No more addition to rotation. Welp, no Lazardo. No Cease. No Bieber. No Montgomery. No Snell. 

Also no firstbase additions after declaring Busch is going to get a solid opportunity there. No Hoskins. No Naylor. No Belt. No Turner. 

So it appears to be Belli or bust for this major market team?

We ❤️ Thrifty Nickle Jed. 

 

Edited January 13, 2024 by LBiittner

[PackLandVA]

So, clearly, what he tells the media is exactly what his intentions are.

[Illiterate Scholar]

It's interesting how quick Jed's been to point at 1B for Busch; I figured he was gonna talk a little more about versatility. It does make the fit of 2 more bats a little harder to picture. There's Chapman who obviously wouldn't be a 1B/DH but he's not necessarily a "crush right handed pitching" guy.

[LBiittner]

8 minutes ago, PackLandVA said:

So, clearly, what he tells the media is exactly what his intentions are.

I think looking back to the days of Theo/Jed, now Jed, cub management has been straightforward with their intentions. When they tell us green is green, it doesn't suddenly change to purple. 

[Jason Ross]

20 minutes ago, LBiittner said:

No more addition to rotation. Welp, no Lazardo. No Cease. No Bieber. No Montgomery. No Snell. 

Also no firstbase additions after declaring Busch is going to get a solid opportunity there. No Hoskins. No Naylor. No Belt. No Turner. 

So it appears to be Belli or bust for this major market team?

We ❤️ Thrifty Nickle Jed. 

 

Hoyer in another comment said that the Cubs were not precluded in adding another 1b just because they had acquired Busch. And based on the shopping list Hottovy laid out, it was "1 SP". 

I don't see much to complain about on his comments above. The small-market answer is a bit perturbing as is his belief that their goal is "good deals" not just "getting deals done" (sometimes you *have* to get the deal done and it's not peerect). With that said, they could be meant to be "we like to value players at certain levels and we won't sign a player just because" but with the understanding truly elite players require elite contracts, too.

[LBiittner]

4 minutes ago, 1908_Cubs said:

Hoyer in another comment said that the Cubs were not precluded in adding another 1b just because they had acquired Busch. And based on the shopping list Hottovy laid out, it was "1 SP". 

I don't see much to complain about on his comments above. The small-market answer is a bit perturbing as is his belief that their goal is "good deals" not just "getting deals done" (sometimes you *have* to get the deal done and it's not peerect). With that said, they could be meant to be "we like to value players at certain levels and we won't sign a player just because" but with the understanding truly elite players require elite contracts, too.

In my mind, The other firstbase could be Belli  part time, most time cf,  like 2023. Wisdom also factors there as well.

I appreciate Jed and his intelligent spending, which will keep fan cost down to affordable levels.

It's just difficult accepting the fact right now the biggest deal a chicago team affords itself is $13m per year deal (hello KC & Cinci)