Spring Training Chit Chats

[chibears55]

I'm excited this season with the pitching overall, just not sure about the bats. I'm hoping they grab another good bat for DH.

 

 

[CubinNY]

Keith Law has two Cubs in his top 20 prospects likely to make an impact in the MLB this year

The first is easy, Busch, who barely qualifies. 

The 2nd is not Horton, but Shaw. Law thinks the Morel "experiment" will not work and Shaw will be taking ABs in MLB this year. 

Law is not going out on a limb with those predictions, but I think Horton (if all goes as expected) will have a much bigger impact. 

https://theathletic.com/5335070/2024/03/13/mlb-rookie-impact-projections-2024-season/

Edited March 13, 2024 by CubinNY

[CubinNY]

Not that ST records matter, b/c they don't. But still, the Dodgers are 13-4. 

[Bertz]

I'd like to see the Yankees wriggle out of paying Blake Snell now

*fast forward a week*

Ah.  Well.  Nevertheless.

 

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Start the countdown to AJ Preller typing "reverse mortgage MLB how to" into Google

[CubinNY]

Wow

[Post Count Padder]

Drew Thorpe (acquired from Yankees in Soto deal) and Jairo Iriarte are two of the players going to Chicago. Pretty wild. You wonder if holding onto those assets and signing Montgomery or bringing back Snell was ever in the cards.

And now you have to wonder, with the Gerrit Cole news, if the Yankees buckle on one of those two.

[CubinNY]

25 minutes ago, Post Count Padder said:

Drew Thorpe (acquired from Yankees in Soto deal) and Jairo Iriarte are two of the players going to Chicago. Pretty wild. You wonder if holding onto those assets and signing Montgomery or bringing back Snell was ever in the cards.

And now you have to wonder, with the Gerrit Cole news, if the Yankees buckle on one of those two.

That doesn’t seem like an overwhelming prospect haul for the Sox. 

[Post Count Padder]

8 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

That doesn’t seem like an overwhelming prospect haul for the Sox. 

The full trade is Cease for Thorpe, Iriarte, OF prospect Sam Zavala and MLB reliever Steven Wilson.

[Bobson Dugnutt]

9 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

That doesn’t seem like an overwhelming prospect haul for the Sox. 

They also got Samuel Zavala. But agreed. Seems like a fair deal but they didn’t exactly plunder SD’s system.

[Rcal10]

20 minutes ago, Bobson Dugnutt said:

They also got Samuel Zavala. But agreed. Seems like a fair deal but they didn’t exactly plunder SD’s system.

Much less than what they were said to be looking for earlier. Which I always felt was ridiculous anyway.

[Jason Ross]

30 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

That doesn’t seem like an overwhelming prospect haul for the Sox. 

It's not overwhelming, but it's a nice return for the White Sox, all things considered. A quick comparison to the Cubs system is something like: Drew Thorpe is probably an improved version of Jordan Wicks, Jairo Iriate is a Ben Brown type of big stuff, but struggles to throw a ton of strikes (might be a mid-rotation guy, might be a monster out of the pen), and Zavala is a high end lottery ticket bat. Also, Steven Wilson is there, I guess. 

Overall, probably a fair trade. Cease had some red flags from last year, but has been really good in the past. White Sox got a safer SP in Thorpe, a bigger wild card in Iriate, and a lottery ticket in Zavala. And maybe they flip Wilson at the deadline for something.

[NorthsideAvenger]

1 minute ago, TomtheBombadil said:

White Sox did good. Cease is on a one year deal

I thought I read that Cease had two years left. I could be wrong.

[ILMindState]

White Sox gonna have 100+ losses and pick outside of the top 10 😂

[KCCub]

 

[ILMindState]

 

[chibears55]

With the season 2 weeks away, is it fair to say that the Cubs are done adding any significant players to the main roster ?

So, Bellinger(return) and  Imanaga were the only  significant signing and a trade for Busch.

Seems like a pretty dull offseason for them, I like the pitching,  hopefully it holds up.

[Bertz]

3 minutes ago, chibears55 said:

With the season 2 weeks away, is it fair to say that the Cubs are done adding any significant players to the main roster ?

So, Bellinger(return) and  Imanaga were the only  significant signing and a trade for Busch.

Seems like a pretty dull offseason for them, I like the pitching,  hopefully it holds up.

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.

[chopsx9]

10 minutes ago, chibears55 said:

With the season 2 weeks away, is it fair to say that the Cubs are done adding any significant players to the main roster ?

So, Bellinger(return) and  Imanaga were the only  significant signing and a trade for Busch.

Seems like a pretty dull offseason for them, I like the pitching,  hopefully it holds up.

So likely 1/3 of the starting 9.

[squally1313]

12 minutes ago, chibears55 said:

With the season 2 weeks away, is it fair to say that the Cubs are done adding any significant players to the main roster ?

So, Bellinger(return) and  Imanaga were the only  significant signing and a trade for Busch.

Seems like a pretty dull offseason for them, I like the pitching,  hopefully it holds up.

It feels dull because Belli was here last year and it was reported as a foregone conclusion for months, but they still come in as contractually spending the 4th most money in the offseason (obviously option heavy contracts, but still). FG also has us as adding (again, including Belli) the 7th most fWAR. Seems dull, but really wasn't at all compared to the non-Dodgers rest of MLB in terms of overall impact. 

[UMFan83]

17 minutes ago, chibears55 said:

With the season 2 weeks away, is it fair to say that the Cubs are done adding any significant players to the main roster ?

So, Bellinger(return) and  Imanaga were the only  significant signing and a trade for Busch.

Seems like a pretty dull offseason for them, I like the pitching,  hopefully it holds up.

I'd argue Neris is a somewhat notable signing too.  But yeah surprisingly quiet offseason for a team that missed the playoffs by 1 game with some notable holes and lost one of their top 2 starters.  Obviously they hope the change in manager plus all the young talent making contributions will provide significant benefit too,

[thawv]

17 hours ago, chibears55 said:

With the season 2 weeks away, is it fair to say that the Cubs are done adding any significant players to the main roster ?

So, Bellinger(return) and  Imanaga were the only  significant signing and a trade for Busch.

Seems like a pretty dull offseason for them, I like the pitching,  hopefully it holds up.

I don't view Belli as any kind of addition.  Imanaga replaces Stroman.  Busch replaces that horsefeathers show at 1B last year.  Neris, Little, and Almonte added to pen.  

[Rcal10]

With 2 weeks to go before opening day, who gets the last 3 spots in the bench? You have your 8 starters, Tauchman and a back up catcher for the first 10. Cubs have to pick 3 of Madrigal, Mastrobouni, Wisdom, Canario, Mervis, Smith, Peralta, Cooper and even Bote. Some would have to be out on the 30 man, but there is one open spot. Some they may lose if they don’t make the OD team. Tough call. 

[Rcal10]

Same question with the pen. If Wicks is the 5th starter who is in the pen? Obviously they have one more spot if Taillon starts on the IL. But once he is back they have 8 guys. I would think Alzolay, Merryweather, Smyly, Neris, Lieter and Almonte are on the team. But now they need two from: Wesneski, Assad, Little, Escobar, Palencia, Edwards, Sanders, and maybe Thompson. A NRI they probably lose if they don’t make OD. That is 8 guys for 2 spots. And that doesn’t even include guys like Lovelady and Paccone. 

[We Got The Whole 9]

I would think Little and Assad are gonna be the pitchers. Wesneski is gonna be a shuttle guy. Lovelady is intriguing.