Winter Meetings catch all

[Tryptamine]

I feel like we're at the point where there's like a sub 5% chance the Cubs enter 2024 where I'm super excited by what they've done in the offseason, a 70% chance I'm like ok it's not exciting but it's ok and a 25% chance I'm wondering if they've improved at all over their 2023 roster.

[Rob]

Rule 5 Draft starting now.

[Rob]

And with their pick in the major league portion of the draft, the Cubs pass.

[Rob]

Cubs lose no players during the major league phase.

I'm not gonna keep track of the minor league phase.

[Jason Ross]

Eduardo Rodriguez is expected to sign soon. Has met with teams and is down to two possible destinations.

[chibears55]

Orioles and Kimbrel agree to a deal

[Rcal10]

1 hour ago, Rob said:

Cubs lose no players during the major league phase.

I'm not gonna keep track of the minor league phase.

Does he make sense for the Cubs? No real talk about him with anyone.

[chibears55]

It wouldn't be a bad thing IF Hoyer plan is to add a couple players this offseason at a reasonable cost and years that keeps him under the Threshold or just over it, and spend the season bringing up his top players and then be extra aggressive next offseason via FA (Soto), whomever the hot Japanese player that comes out, and trades because the payroll will be wide open then.

[Tryptamine]

8 minutes ago, chibears55 said:

It wouldn't be a bad thing IF Hoyer plan is to add a couple players this offseason at a reasonable cost and years that keeps him under the Threshold or just over it, and spend the season bringing up his top players and then be extra aggressive next offseason via FA (Soto), whomever the hot Japanese player that comes out, and trades because the payroll will be wide open then.

Don't bother getting hopeful on Soto, it's not happening. It's just going to be Lucy pulling the football from Charlie Brown again.

[chibears55]

Just now, Tryptamine said:

Don't bother getting hopeful on Soto, it's not happening. It's just going to be Lucy pulling the football from Charlie Brown again.

I learned a long time ago not to get hopeful with any big time players that available for any of my chicago sports teams.

Why I don't get too involved with talking about adding this guy or that guy and feel it more likely they take the mid to low end players then the big stars.

My thought for this offseason was they would bring back Bellinger,  add a TOR SP, and then guys that would bridge them til certain prospects were ready.

I never felt they would spend on Ohtani or trade any of their top prospects for 1 year of Soto or Alonso 

[Rob]

Bellinger has never made sense this offseason. He's going to get paid like a premium defensive CF. But PCA is going to get every opportunity to be the CF of the future.  Going forward with us, Bellinger would likely be slotted in primarily as 1B. That's a huge waste of resources.

[CubinNY]

In the minor league phase. the cubs drafted a 25 year old 2b/utilty guy who is still in AA. They lost 4 guys, none of any consequence

[Tryptamine]

20 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

In the minor league phase. the cubs drafted a 25 year old 2b/utilty guy who is still in AA. They lost 4 guys, none of any consequence

Hayden Cantrelle looks somewhat interesting. The BB% is crazy high(18.5%), the K% around average(21.0%). The power is just about nonexistent(,091 ISO), but he does have 60 grade speed and stole 14 bases only being caught once. I wonder if the lack of power is more swing related or due to being extremely passive hence the nearly 20BB% in 2023.

 

The lost players, none of whom were in FG's top 50,  were Andrew Weber, 28 year old Levi Jordan who I had not even heard of until today, 25 year old reliever Adam Laskey and 26 year old reliever Sheldon Reed.

Edited December 6, 2023 by Tryptamine

[Ding Dong Johnson]

2 minutes ago, Tryptamine said:

Hayden Cantrelle looks somewhat interesting. The BB% is crazy high(18.5%), the K% around average(21.0%). The power is just about nonexistent(,091 ISO), but he does have 60 grade speed and stole 14 bases only being caught once. I wonder if the lack of power is more swing related or due to being extremely passive hence the nearly 20BB% in 2023.

I saw his numbers and for some reason remembered Zach McKinstry.

[CubbyBlue2008]

36 minutes ago, chibears55 said:

It wouldn't be a bad thing IF Hoyer plan is to add a couple players this offseason at a reasonable cost and years that keeps him under the Threshold or just over it, and spend the season bringing up his top players and then be extra aggressive next offseason via FA (Soto), whomever the hot Japanese player that comes out, and trades because the payroll will be wide open then.

It wouldn’t be a bad idea if we haven’t kicked the can down the road on shelling out for star players each of the last handful of years. Recent history shows we are gonna keep on kicking. It's sad.

[Rcal10]

24 minutes ago, Rob said:

Bellinger has never made sense this offseason. He's going to get paid like a premium defensive CF. But PCA is going to get every opportunity to be the CF of the future.  Going forward with us, Bellinger would likely be slotted in primarily as 1B. That's a huge waste of resources.

I think the only way they consider Bellinger is if they keep him in center and trade PCA. They can probably fill 2 other positions by trading PCA. 

[CubinNY]

Just now, Rcal10 said:

I think the only way they consider Bellinger is if they keep him in center and trade PCA. They can probably fill 2 other positions by trading PCA. 

I would not mind if they did that, but it would have to be for a true difference-maker and not a rental. But both Tommy Boy and Jed, like their cheap labor, so that isn't happening. 

[Tryptamine]

8 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

I think the only way they consider Bellinger is if they keep him in center and trade PCA. They can probably fill 2 other positions by trading PCA. 

That quote from Carter Hawkins a day or two ago makes me think they're more in prospect hording mode than trading mode. Maybe, I'm reading it wrong, but that was my take. They'll deal from depth, but I don't think they're moving the top guys.

[Rcal10]

3 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

I would not mind if they did that, but it would have to be for a true difference-maker and not a rental. But both Tommy Boy and Jed, like their cheap labor, so that isn't happening. 

The example I used was Diaz. Lowe and Glasnow for PCA, Morel and Wesneski. Both Lowe and Diaz have 3 years left. 

[Irrelevant Dude]

14 minutes ago, Tryptamine said:

That quote from Carter Hawkins a day or two ago makes me think they're more in prospect hording mode than trading mode.

If you horde all your prospects, most of them are going to turn into pumpkins.  Some teams are really good at identifying the most likely future pumpkins and dealing them before they ripen, but the Cubs don't seem to have figured that part out yet.

[PeanutPunch33]

Hoskins is so mid, but if they can come away with Yamamoto I almost don’t care what they do after that 

Edited December 6, 2023 by PeanutPunch33

[UMFan83]

Not sure if this was mentioned.  Morosi was on the score this afternoon and this is what he said:

 

It's just speculation and possible Morosi isn't plugged in so take with a grain of salt.  There's also trade possibilities out there that wouldn't be FAs.  If Hoskins is the biggest add is our payroll going to go down next year? lol

[SOFNR]

Yah, Hoskins as the biggest addition would be a huge dissapointment. I think they'll do better and atleast bring somebody in via trade. But they really havn't earned my trust back yet so it's hard being optimistic.

[ToolDRT]

15 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

Not sure if this was mentioned.  Morosi was on the score this afternoon and this is what he said:

 

It's just speculation and possible Morosi isn't plugged in so take with a grain of salt.  There's also trade possibilities out there that wouldn't be FAs.  If Hoskins is the biggest add is our payroll going to go down next year? lol

This organization is really unbelievable sometimes. Just gross. 

[We Got The Whole 9]

Not even in on Imanaga?