Spring Training Chit Chats

[chibears55]

It's time to talk about some Spring Training stuff and games...

[CubinNY]

I can hardly wait for the ST games to start. I'm most looking forward to seeing Horton pitch to big leaguers. Aside from that seeing Shaw hit and play will also be interesting. 

 

Some guy: "The Set Up Man" has a youtube channel showing Cub ST ABs on the back fields. 

Edited February 19, 2024 by CubinNY

[Rcal10]

17 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

I can hardly wait for the ST games to start. I'm most looking forward to seeing Horton pitch to big leaguers. Aside from that seeing Shaw hit and play will also be interesting. 

 

Some guy: "The Set Up Man" has a youtube channel showing Cub ST ABs on the back fields. 

Is Horton in camp? I thought they were holding him back. 

[CubinNY]

3 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

Is Horton in camp? I thought they were holding him back. 

If so, that stinks. 

[ToolDRT]

 

[Tim]

18 minutes ago, The20thK said:

They are. 
 

here is a list of non-roster invites.

https://www.mlb.com/cubs/news/cubs-announce-2024-non-roster-spring-invitees

 

I'm sure he'll still make a few appearances, but they'll be limited in nature.

[Rcal10]

28 minutes ago, Tim said:

I'm sure he'll still make a few appearances, but they'll be limited in nature.

I have my first spring game Sunday. Hope I see someone interesting. 

[Jason Ross]

Not upset Horton is in camp. Not a big deal either way. If he wasn't there, I'd have assumed he was getting a bit of a late start. But maybe the Cubs don't have a specific innings limit in mind, or it's a bit further than I expected, or they'll just limit him more in April...lots of possibilities. 

[Rcal10]

27 minutes ago, 1908_Cubs said:

Not upset Horton is in camp. Not a big deal either way. If he wasn't there, I'd have assumed he was getting a bit of a late start. But maybe the Cubs don't have a specific innings limit in mind, or it's a bit further than I expected, or they'll just limit him more in April...lots of possibilities. 

I am not worried about it either. I just thought I saw it mentioned he was not in camp. 

[KCCub]

 

[Jason Ross]

13 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

I am not worried about it either. I just thought I saw it mentioned he was not in camp. 

He wasn't on the original non-roster invitee report. That is true. My response wasn't directed at you, however. Just a general observation.

[Bull]

24 minutes ago, KCCub said:

 

Boo. Well this should get the market moving at least /s

[LBiittner]

And Breslow signed Hendriks? 

[Tim]

Yeah, makes me wonder if players saw Breslow as the driving force behind the nice pitcher rehab/rework pipeline of the past few years.

[LBiittner]

At first blush, I'm liking the redsox new gm better than the whitesox new gm. Not that it matters here much. 

Whenever it happens, I'll be interested to see the young pitcher breslow trades for from jed.

Edited February 19, 2024 by LBiittner

[CubinNY]

Brett has a thing out

Bellinger and the Cubs are not close. No offer has been made according to Tommy Boy.

Edited February 19, 2024 by CubinNY

[17 Seconds]

19 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

Brett has a thing out

Bellinger and the Cubs are not close. No offer has been made according to Tommy Boy.

that's not really what either of them said

 

Edited February 19, 2024 by 17 Seconds

[chibears55]

Im expecting Bellinger to do a Dexter Fowler and walk out onto the field during practice..lol

 

 

[Bertz]

The one solitary good thing I'll say about Ricketts is that it does seem like he truly gives Jed a number and then stays the hell out of the way.  The number is too low, I don't like what he's spending the rest of his time on, etc.  But I'm glad he's not also an incompetent micromanager on top of it all like Arte Moreno.

[UMFan83]

Definitely see Tom’s comments as positive for Bellinger. First that he’s even willing to speak publicly about a free agent target. Second that he’s using the media to put some pressure on Boras to get serious. My read is that the Cubs want him to complete the offseason. Doesn’t mean they’ll get him but seems positive. 

[CubinNY]

9 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

Definitely see Tom’s comments as positive for Bellinger. First that he’s even willing to speak publicly about a free agent target. Second that he’s using the media to put some pressure on Boras to get serious. My read is that the Cubs want him to complete the offseason. Doesn’t mean they’ll get him but seems positive. 

I think he was merely responding to the question. It does some weird that Boras apparently has not engaged with the Cubs. Maybe Bellinger doesn't want to come back? But from the comments, it seems like the Cubs want a discussion. 

[Rob]

10 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

I think he was merely responding to the question. It does some weird that Boras apparently has not engaged with the Cubs. Maybe Bellinger doesn't want to come back? But from the comments, it seems like the Cubs want a discussion. 

Meh, it's the same as it ever was.

GM calls Boras about a player. Boras throws out a silly number. GM says "call me when you're serious."

Every couple weeks, Jed probably shoots Boras a text asking if anything's changed, and if the player could be interested in a deal in a certain range. Boras holds firm. Repeat until one side starts getting desperate.

[Derwood]

Liam Hendricks signs with Boston

Brandon Woodruff re-signs with Milwaukee

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I think we sometimes bog ourselves down in minutiae that doesn't make much difference when we talk about 'making offers' or 'formal offers' as you sometimes see in other situations.  It seems pretty clear that in their discussions, the Cubs said we'd do a deal around X(maybe it's an overall value number, maybe it has years attached or a small range), and Boras said we're looking for a deal around Y and that those numbers are far enough apart that everyone can agree that it doesn't make sense to continue to discuss it until one party is willing to bridge that gap significantly.  Based on the fact that Bellinger is still unsigned and there are no other suitors who have been discussed with much significance, it's likely going to have to be Boras coming back with a lower number.  

 

This might've happened already if Bellinger was willing to take a Correa-esque deal, but it wouldn't surprise me if he feels that's what he just did in 2023(his arb 3 salary was only 900k more than arb 2), and so while his deal might have an opt out, he's not prioritizing that and wants to max the total dollars on a longer deal.  And so we wait until Boras finds the owner that's going to break the deadlock, or Bellinger gets antsy enough to say 'enough, I need to start my season'.  Complicating this is that Boras appears to have 4 different situations where he's waiting on an injury or an increase in desperation to meet his number, and I just don't know if there's 4 of those out there, so which ones he "chooses"(if a team is interested in more than one) probably depends on player preference and some other Boras logic that we can similarly only speculate on.

[17 Seconds]

barf

Quote

 

Asked what it would take to increase payroll -- the Cubs are at around $200 million right now -- Ricketts quipped "more revenue."

The longtime owner isn't focused on what the team doesn't have -- just what they can do with the roster they do have.

"We're right there at CBT (Competitive Balance Tax) levels," he said. "It's kind of our natural place for us. That should be enough to win our division and be consistent every year."

 

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/39558743/cubs-waiting-cody-bellinger-serious-contract-talks