Cody Is Back

[Brian707]

Good news to wake up to. 

[squally1313]

Tough day for all the David Peralta fans of the world 

[Rcal10]

17 minutes ago, LBiittner said:

Dare I say Cubs could do a similar deal with Montgomery or Chapman? 

I'm greedy for short term deals right now for 2024

I don’t think they can and stay under the $257M second layer of the LT. And they FOR SURE are not going over that.

[Rcal10]

10 minutes ago, squally1313 said:

Tough day for all the David Peralta fans of the world 

Who had Peralta being the answer to Bellinger? Peralta or Smith, IMO, were always the last bat. Never the bat in lieu of Bellinger. And, when healthy they still may be that last bat, unless either is a problem due to the first layer of the LT. Then I agree, both should be gone. You don’t go $1M to $2M over the LT for either of those guys. Just keep Mervis, PCA, Canario or Mastrobuoni 

[mfcubs22]

horsefeathers yea. 
 

the Cubs win total on Draftkings didn’t budge. Everyone knew this was going to eventually happen. Just VERY happy at the contract. 

[s2obed]

Great contract. Now go get Montgomery on a similar deal and call it an offseason. 

Edited February 25, 2024 by s2obed

[Rob]

Bellinger's signing makes it so that only one of Busch/PCA needs to take a step forward, which is nice.

I'm wondering now if it doesn't make sense to start getting Busch a bunch of reps at 3B as well, in case the Morel experiment fails miserably.

[Bertz]

This is great, I've been stumping for a deal like this all winter.

- If Cody is repeats last year, by doubling down and proving it wasn't a fluke he easily gets his $250M+ next winter

- If he's more solid, let's say he hits to his projections or a little north of them, I think he gets his $150-200M.  He'll have thrown off the QO and proven that '21-'22 Cody isn't coming back through the door

- From the Cubs POV we likely get him for a year or two to provide coverage across 1B and the OFZ while the prospects matriculation up from the upper minors

The one quibble I have is that it's a three year deal if things go south.  The team already has A LOT of talent falling off between '26 and '27, including Happ and Suzuki.  Obviously if he hasn't opted out by then things aren't going great but still I'd want to have at least one warm body left in the outfield.

[LBiittner]

13 minutes ago, Rob said:

Bellinger's signing makes it so that only one of Busch/PCA needs to take a step forward, which is nice.

I'm wondering now if it doesn't make sense to start getting Busch a bunch of reps at 3B as well, in case the Morel experiment fails miserably.

I believe 1908 provided great examples for the need of PCA to start in AAA at the beginning of 24. Really some eye opening stats that reinforce and confirm. Numbers that tell Jed he needs more work in certain areas. 

[Michael Busch Light]

If Belli does opt out can we still get a comp pick next year if he leaves?

[Rex Buckingham]

6 minutes ago, The20thK said:

The absolute worst take on this contract!!!!

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0xLn93WqWDnKtG6g1E3GqHZucSbeJqMbCvGNvYV4iossmapNw5SRiprKwjES2n8UCl&id=100063883533514

Well, it's from Facebook, so that's a red flag itself. 

[Bertz]

8 minutes ago, Michael Busch Light said:

If Belli does opt out can we still get a comp pick next year if he leaves?

Nope, it's one per player per lifetime so when Bellinger leaves it'll be like Stroman.

[Illiterate Scholar]

Man this is a great deal for the Cubs. This fits perfectly for what is needed short term. The way Jed operates can be frustrating and lacks entertainment value but he certainly has a knack for signing good players on his terms. 

Side note, there was a lot of talk about how he was the cheapest of the 4 SS, and while obviously true, the fact that Jed and Co gave Dansby 7/177 shows how highly they must think of him given how reluctant they seem to be to hand those type of deals out.

[17 Seconds]

jed unfiltered

Spoiler

 

[Bertz]

 

So this was the payroll analysis I did at the beginning of the offseason.  At that point I found payroll for 2025 at the start of next offseason was $145-150M, pending anything Jed did this year and with a little wiggle room for arb raises and non tenders.

The only guaranteed money for next year Jed added this winter was Shota.  So let's call it $160-165M, at a minimum, plus potentially Bellinger's $27M and Neris' $9M.  So on the low end the Cubs have ~$40M to spend next winter and on the high end closer to $80M.

[17 Seconds]

is passan the new woj/shams? he has everything first now

[Outshined_One]

I wasn't a fan of the Cubs hot-shotting PCA last season when he clearly needed time in AAA to clean up his approach at the plate, and I wasn't very comfortable with him being the 2024 opening day CF as a result.

As such, this move greatly pleases me.

[ILMindState]

 

[Bertz]

16 minutes ago, 17 Seconds said:

is passan the new woj/shams? he has everything first now

I think he's been there for a few years personally.  But yeah it's him and Rosenthal and then a huge gap in reliability to like the Heyman's of the world.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

8 minutes ago, ILMindState said:

 

That number also goes up if certain player incentives are hit, or if a split contract(e.g. Smith) gets added, or even a marginal salary gets added at the deadline.  The LT line is not a hard limit for this team.

[SOFNR]

That's pretty ideal for the Cubs. Happy to have Belli back for atleast this year. Probably bumps them to division favorites. Still need a lot of things to go right but Hoyer did pretty well given the constraints he's working under.

[imb]

Jed cooked boras. Tears in my eyes 

[WhyCantWeWin]

From 300 mil to 80 mil, Hoyer is definitely going to keep this approach as long as he's POBO now, as boring as it is as a fan it worked twice this offseason. 

I'd say the team is now better talent wise than the team last year with Bellinger back, the prospects that will likely come up and the fact that you now have a manager that isn't a complete moron like Ross. Division favorites. 

[Radar3454]

Neris and Busch were very good moves as well - would like Stanek still but very happy with the offseason 

[Bertz]

1 hour ago, ILMindState said:

 

This sounded wrong to me, looks like it's half right 

So the team is still a smidge under the tax for 2024.