Spring Training Chit Chats

[Transmogrified Tiger]

A lot of this comes down to what the org thinks of Wisdom.  On one hand, they've held on to him when they didn't really have to on a couple different occasions, he played 60 games at 3B last year, and he's as good an option as any to add RHH thump off the bench.  On the other hand, there isn't a whole lot of difference between him and a Cooper(or a JD Davis for that matter), and Counsell saying he's gonna work at 1B feels like maybe they feel his meaningful 3B days are in the past.  

Regardless though this is not going to be a *tidy* bench, and we know from the Luis Torrens era that Jed is not above going off the board at the end of the roster at the start of a season.  So there's very few permutations that would outright surprise me.

[Rob]

3 minutes ago, squally1313 said:

My progression is really boring, just mostly centered on not rocking the boat and keeping flexibility for injuries (and then eventually prospects).

Opening Day:

• Amaya
• Tauchman
• Wisdom
• Mastro
• Cooper
• Madrigal on DL

Madrigal comes off the DL, use an option on Mastro. Can keep that until you need another infielder (any sort of minor injury to Dansby, Nico, Morel, Madrigal, Wisdom), and then you DFA Cooper for Mastro to come back up if you need the spot. Hopefully PCA forces a different decision not long after that. 

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

Personally, I'd be more inclined to grab a left-handed batter with some thump instead of Cooper (or Wisdom). If Tauchman is in LF until Happ gets healthy, having Mastrobuoni as the only lefty on the bench is a rough spot. Peralta/Smith/Mervis might make sense in that respect, and they could also slot in as DH for bad matchups.

[Rcal10]

1 hour ago, squally1313 said:

My progression is really boring, just mostly centered on not rocking the boat and keeping flexibility for injuries (and then eventually prospects).

Opening Day:

• Amaya
• Tauchman
• Wisdom
• Mastro
• Cooper
• Madrigal on DL

Madrigal comes off the DL, use an option on Mastro. Can keep that until you need another infielder (any sort of minor injury to Dansby, Nico, Morel, Madrigal, Wisdom), and then you DFA Cooper for Mastro to come back up if you need the spot. Hopefully PCA forces a different decision not long after that. 

This does make sense and very well could be what they do. But I do think if Wisdom is in the team Cooper won’t be. I think it is closer to one of Wisdom , Bote or Cooper, one of Peralta, Mervis or Smith and one of Madrigal or Mastro. 
If both Madrigal and Madrigal have options left I would go Wisdom, Smith, Mastro. The Mastro/Madrigal spot would depend on if either has options left. If only 1 did, that would be the guy I would send down. Because I don’t want Mastro and Madrigal on the bench I would keep Wisdom over Cooper. They have to have more than one guy who can play 3rd besides Morel. 

[squally1313]

25 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

This does make sense and very well could be what they do. But I do think if Wisdom is in the team Cooper won’t be. I think it is closer to one of Wisdom , Bote or Cooper, one of Peralta, Mervis or Smith and one of Madrigal or Mastro. 
If both Madrigal and Madrigal have options left I would go Wisdom, Smith, Mastro. The Mastro/Madrigal spot would depend on if either has options left. If only 1 did, that would be the guy I would send down. Because I don’t want Mastro and Madrigal on the bench I would keep Wisdom over Cooper. They have to have more than one guy who can play 3rd besides Morel. 

I guess I don't really know what Peralta, Mervis, or Smith do on this roster. You've got Bellinger, Busch, and Wisdom who can play first. Peralta as a fifth outfielder? I guess, sure. The other two are basically just....poor options as pinch hitters for a lineup that was designed to not need one? Mervis is the only one who where you could put together a future on this team, but it certainly doesn't include taking one AB every 4 games. 

You don't really need to build redundancies in terms of offense. There just aren't going to be a lot of spots where the guy at bat is a significantly worse option than a guy on the bench. You want power, you go to Wisdom, you want contact you go to Madrigal, you want patience you go to Tauchman, things get real weird defensively you have Mastro to dump wherever. Like is there a scenario where Dom Smith is a better option offensively than who we would have at the plate?

[LBiittner]

I find it wonderful to debate 26th men on the roster. 

Last year grampa never used his bench completely

[PJCubfan]

On 3/14/2024 at 3:19 PM, Bertz said:

Yeah they're done.  Decent chance they send someone out in order to add one of the non-roster invitees to the roster.  For example trading Wisdom and adding Cooper.  But they're not adding anyone of substance to the roster who isn't already in camp IMO.

Don't forget about a new, and real, manager, Greg Counsell.  He's going to make a big difference.  Lots of outstanding talent in the pipeline too.  Things look better this time of the year than last year.  Now, we old Cub fans know that isn't a given, but hope's eternal!

[Rcal10]

40 minutes ago, squally1313 said:

I guess I don't really know what Peralta, Mervis, or Smith do on this roster. You've got Bellinger, Busch, and Wisdom who can play first. Peralta as a fifth outfielder? I guess, sure. The other two are basically just....poor options as pinch hitters for a lineup that was designed to not need one? Mervis is the only one who where you could put together a future on this team, but it certainly doesn't include taking one AB every 4 games. 

You don't really need to build redundancies in terms of offense. There just aren't going to be a lot of spots where the guy at bat is a significantly worse option than a guy on the bench. You want power, you go to Wisdom, you want contact you go to Madrigal, you want patience you go to Tauchman, things get real weird defensively you have Mastro to dump wherever. Like is there a scenario where Dom Smith is a better option offensively than who we would have at the plate?

The only argument for Smith is if the last 3 years were due to a injured hand then maybe he could be a lot better than anyone else they may keep. He could be the somewhat regular DH. It might be worth finding out. Not like he is replacing someone who is all that good anyway. He would basically be taking the spot of either Madrigal or Mastro. 

[squally1313]

1 hour ago, Rcal10 said:

The only argument for Smith is if the last 3 years were due to a injured hand then maybe he could be a lot better than anyone else they may keep. He could be the somewhat regular DH. It might be worth finding out. Not like he is replacing someone who is all that good anyway. He would basically be taking the spot of either Madrigal or Mastro. 

But we have a guy who could slot in as the somewhat regular DH. He has three straight years of being an above average hitter and he can also improve your defense by swapping positions with your theoretical worst defender/starting third baseman. 

If he wants to take a minor league deal and goes off in AAA, great, we can have this conversation again in two months. But the only way to actually 'find out' is to give the guy who hasn't slugged over .370 in three years regular DH PAs or take them away from your top 100 prospect first baseman, neither of which I'm willing to do. 

[Bull]

5 hours ago, LBiittner said:

How's my early offseason prediction about Smyly making the rotation currently looking?

I still don’t think it looks good for Smyly in the rotation.. That’s a lot of left handedness in the rotation and not much left in the bullpen.

Edited March 16, 2024 by Bull

[Bull]

If Happ and Madrigal get healthy before anyone else needs to be IL’d for a minor (or God forbid major) injury, either Mastro or Wisdom will suffer a pulled hangnail.

[Rcal10]

3 hours ago, squally1313 said:

But we have a guy who could slot in as the somewhat regular DH. He has three straight years of being an above average hitter and he can also improve your defense by swapping positions with your theoretical worst defender/starting third baseman. 

If he wants to take a minor league deal and goes off in AAA, great, we can have this conversation again in two months. But the only way to actually 'find out' is to give the guy who hasn't slugged over .370 in three years regular DH PAs or take them away from your top 100 prospect first baseman, neither of which I'm willing to do. 

I respect your opinion but don’t agree. We will see how it ends up. I wouldn’t play Smirh over Busch, however.

[thawv]

21 hours ago, champaignchris said:

From MLB Trade Rumors’ top 50 free agents, the Cubs signed numbers 2, 10 and 46. They also traded a couple teenagers for a MLB-ready consensus top-100 prospect. 
 

The Cubs’ offseason was un-sexy, slow and conservative as heck, but overall pretty effective. 

Yep.  It was a very good off season.  Adding Busch, Imanaga, Neris, Little will get to pitch for a change, and even Almonte are all upgrades.  Counsell runs rings around Ross as a manager.  I have them at 93-69

[thawv]

21 hours ago, Bertz said:

He can refuse I believe, but I think he's much less likely to than Cooper or Peralta.  Smith wasn't good enough for the Washington Nationals to keep around, I think he's going to have to go to AAA for someone and prove it was just the injury holding him back.

He has a minor league contract, and is not on the 40.  I think that he can be sent to AAA without any issues.  I'm not 100% sure, but I think that if he was on the 40, he would have to approve the assignment because he's out of options.  

[CubinNY]

18 hours ago, LBiittner said:

Counsell is on record saying Madrigal will only miss 5 games if he goes on the IL to start the season because of back dating the injury.

Sounds to me it's already been discussed with the management

Madrigal cannot stay healthy. They cannot count on him to stay healthy. Nothing else matters. 

[Bertz]

1 hour ago, thawv said:

He has a minor league contract, and is not on the 40.  I think that he can be sent to AAA without any issues.  I'm not 100% sure, but I think that if he was on the 40, he would have to approve the assignment because he's out of options.  

This is correct, but also these veteran NRI deals usually come with an opt out for the last day of spring training.  So basically if they don't make the team but they think they've got a better shot elsewhere they can head back into FA.  I think Smith is the most likely of him/Cooper/Peralta to actually opt in and head to Iowa though.

[Rcal10]

2 hours ago, thawv said:

Yep.  It was a very good off season.  Adding Busch, Imanaga, Neris, Little will get to pitch for a change, and even Almonte are all upgrades.  Counsell runs rings around Ross as a manager.  I have them at 93-69

Has to laugh a little at this because I was just thinking that the Cubs could go 90-72 this year. Then I stopped myself and realized I may be drinking too much cubbie kool aid. And then you suggest 93 wins. I will give you this, when you believe something you go all in. But I think 93 is a bit aggressive. I do believe they will win this division. But I am thinking more like 87-90 win range. 

[Rob]

35 minutes ago, Bertz said:

This is correct, but also these veteran NRI deals usually come with an opt out for the last day of spring training.  So basically if they don't make the team but they think they've got a better shot elsewhere they can head back into FA.  I think Smith is the most likely of him/Cooper/Peralta to actually opt in and head to Iowa though.

The opt-out isn't always last day of spring training. Sometimes there's another month or two on it.

[Rcal10]

I have seen various reports that have the Cubs over the LT line. I thought they were a few million under. If they are over a few million or plan on going over at the trade deadline why not use some money now to add a bat and eliminate the discussion of who is the last guy on the team. Add either Belt or JDM. Just stay under the next line and leave some room to add at the deadline and still be under the second tier. What could Belt cost? $10M. They would still be $10M under the second tier so they could still add at the deadline. Unless Jed really likes one of Peralta, Smith or Mervis, I don’t see why they don’t go after Belt. Might be tougher with JDM. 
 

[Rcal10]

5 minutes ago, Rob said:

The opt-out isn't always last day of spring training. Sometimes there's another month or two on it.

True, has to be in the major league roster by a certain date or he can opt out. With guys like Peralta and Smith that makes sense since each is coming back from an injury. Usually the date is still sometime in April, or at the latest mid May. 

[Bull]

5 hours ago, CubinNY said:

Madrigal cannot stay healthy. They cannot count on him to stay healthy. Nothing else matters. 

I disagree. If you have someone of fringy quality like Mastroboni, and that person has options, then using them when Madrigal is hurt is valuable. That may also be an opportunity to give Shaw a cup of coffee later in the year. You get what you can out of Madrigal while he's cheap and when he's not injured. It's not like you are counting on him to be a starter or paying him to be a starter. Once he hits free agency and someone has to pay him real money, his inconsistent health becomes a much bigger concern. 

[chibears55]

Be cool if Brown gets the nod to take Taillon spot in the rotation to start the season. 

 

[JunkyardWalrus]

1 hour ago, chibears55 said:

Be cool if Brown gets the nod to take Taillon spot in the rotation to start the season. 

 

He looked good. Striking out Trout looking has gotta be a rush, spring training or no.

Edited March 17, 2024 by JunkyardWalrus
spelling

[thawv]

10 hours ago, Rcal10 said:

Has to laugh a little at this because I was just thinking that the Cubs could go 90-72 this year. Then I stopped myself and realized I may be drinking too much cubbie kool aid. And then you suggest 93 wins. I will give you this, when you believe something you go all in. But I think 93 is a bit aggressive. I do believe they will win this division. But I am thinking more like 87-90 win range. 

I hope I'm right brother!!!

[Rcal10]

3 minutes ago, thawv said:

I hope I'm right brother!!!

Oh, absolutely, me too.

[Illiterate Scholar]

Sharma and Mooney put out an opening day roster article this morning. Of note, they have Cooper as the favorite among the NRIs to make it. The most interesting part to me was them writing Wesneski is not viewed as likely to make the rotation, even with Taillon on the IL; instead, it will likely be Smyly or Assad.