Cubs Acquire Nate Pearson

[Tryptamine]

Formerly a high level prospect,  his MLB career has been a dud. High strikeouts, fairly high BB%, Very high HR/FB%. Stuff is there if they can Merryweather him.

[LBiittner]

I like this move at first blush

[Eeyore]

I'm guessing that they just traded for the replacement of a better reliever that is about to be traded.

[Tryptamine]

Yohendrick Pinango is the guy going back.

[KCCub]

Let Jed cook. In all seriousness, I like this move. Has good stuff, just need to fix him. 2.5 years of control and the cost was minimal. 

[Bertz]

Rivera too doesn't change whether I like this deal but he's an actual prospect at least

 

[Tryptamine]

Rivera was severely disappointing 

[Post Count Padder]

It took Pinango three years of repeating A+ to post good numbers and hasn't looked good since going to AA. Maybe there's something but I didn't ever think of him as more than organizational depth. Rivera going is a little surprising but he just hasn't hit at all.

The potential for Pearson is quite intriguing and I know there was talk on this board for years about messing up taking Little over him (and Little is now in the Jays pen funny enough). I do wonder if they try starting him again or just see what else they can unlock out of the pen.

[Tryptamine]

9 minutes ago, TomtheBombadil said:

How is Rivera a prospect and Pinango not? Guy’s older and hitting worse at the same level. Maybe closer is neither qualifies as a “good” prospect, if prospect at all, when viewed through an imaginary binary lens

They're both fodder in my eyes. Rivera has been massively disappointing. 

[Derwood]

High K rate, just need to fix the HR problem.

Pitch lab project

[WhyCantWeWin]

I like them selling high on Pinango and Rivera was just another draft miss. I like the upside on Pearson

[chibears55]

This guy is exactly the type Hoyer searches for for the bullpen,  cheap and hope to fix type.

[Eeyore]

Opened a spot in the minors for a draft pick 

[Longhorn20]

Boring.

The solution to the Cubs problems is quite simple:

Trade Happ for Aaron Judge.

Trade Suzuki for Ohtani.

Trade Busch for Freeman or Olson.

Trade Swanson for Witt Jr.

Trade Amaya and the other one for Rutschman or Contreras.

Trade Hendricks for some balls.

 

[Bertz]

Among the 442 pitchers with at least 20 IP this year, Pearson is 21st in Stuff+.  He's ahead of guys like Josh Hader, Edwin Diaz, and Brayan Abreu.

This is exactly the type of guy you want to give 20-25 innings over the next two months and see if he can work something out.

The over/under on relievers heading out the door before Wednesday is probably 3.5?  Leiter, Neris, and Smyly being near locks, with Miller and Merryweather each unlikely but possible?  I'd love for an August/September bullpen like this:

Alzolay

Merryweather

Hodge

Pearson

Tinoco

Bigge

Roberts

TBD young starter in long relief

If Alzolay comes back right it's just premium stuff up and down.  There's going to be a lot of walks but just lean into it see who floats to the top and we can finally break the cycle on this bullpen.

[mfcubs22]

4 minutes ago, Bertz said:

Among the 442 pitchers with at least 20 IP this year, Pearson is 21st in Stuff+.  He's ahead of guys like Josh Hader, Edwin Diaz, and Brayan Abreu.

This is exactly the type of guy you want to give 20-25 innings over the next two months and see if he can work something out.

The over/under on relievers heading out the door before Wednesday is probably 3.5?  Leiter, Neris, and Smyly being near locks, with Miller and Merryweather each unlikely but possible?  I'd love for an August/September bullpen like this:

Alzolay

Merryweather

Hodge

Pearson

Tinoco

Bigge

Roberts

TBD young starter in long relief

If Alzolay comes back right it's just premium stuff up and down.  There's going to be a lot of walks but just lean into it see who floats to the top and we can finally break the cycle on this bullpen.

How much control do we have with Miller?

[Post Count Padder]

2 minutes ago, mfcubs22 said:

How much control do we have with Miller?

From B-R: Service Time (01/2024): 0.085  •  Arb Eligible: 2027  •  Free Agent: 2030

[Bertz]

1 minute ago, mfcubs22 said:

How much control do we have with Miller?

I had to do a double take but 6 years it looks like?  I guess he never spent more than a few weeks in MLB in a season before this year.  I had thought he'd gotten a much longer run with Texas for some reason.

[Post Count Padder]

8 minutes ago, Bertz said:

Among the 442 pitchers with at least 20 IP this year, Pearson is 21st in Stuff+.  He's ahead of guys like Josh Hader, Edwin Diaz, and Brayan Abreu.

This is exactly the type of guy you want to give 20-25 innings over the next two months and see if he can work something out.

The over/under on relievers heading out the door before Wednesday is probably 3.5?  Leiter, Neris, and Smyly being near locks, with Miller and Merryweather each unlikely but possible?  I'd love for an August/September bullpen like this:

Alzolay

Merryweather

Hodge

Pearson

Tinoco

Bigge

Roberts

TBD young starter in long relief

If Alzolay comes back right it's just premium stuff up and down.  There's going to be a lot of walks but just lean into it see who floats to the top and we can finally break the cycle on this bullpen.

There are other guys I'd rather give chances to than Tinoco, but I like gist of all that. I love Adbert and hope he comes back firing on all cylinders. Something was just off with him early.

[CubinNY]

WS here we come! This is like buffing out a scratch on a 2003 civic. 

[Bertz]

31 minutes ago, Post Count Padder said:

There are other guys I'd rather give chances to than Tinoco, but I like gist of all that. I love Adbert and hope he comes back firing on all cylinders. Something was just off with him early.

Guess the Cubs agreed lol

 

 

[Tryptamine]

22 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

WS here we come! This is like buffing out a scratch on a 2003 civic. 

It's nothing major for sure, but this is the exact kind of guy who could become a Merryweather for us in 2025. The pen was already looking very exciting for 2025, if they can get Pearson ironed out, we could be talking one of the better pens around.

[Rob]

32 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

WS here we come! This is like buffing out a scratch on a 2003 civic. 

It's not like that at all. 

There isn't enough talent on the trade block to make us prime competitors. So the buys we make aren't really geared at this season.

Pearson is a fine reclamation project for 2025/2026. If we get anything out of him this season, great. But nobody with a room temperature IQ thinks this was about making us competitive for the world series this year.

[NorthsideAvenger]

I want to believe this is Jake Arrieta 2. Come over to the Cubs from an AL East team, broken. Cubs fixed him and Pearson then goes God-Mode and destroy baseball. 

The reality is, if he can be Merryweather 2, I'm satisfied. 

[Irrelevant Dude]

10 minutes ago, TomtheBombadil said:

Reminder to the board that last year’s Nl WS rep won like 18 games and took the 400th WC spot 

I'm not sure what this means.  If the point is that all you have to do is be the last Wild Card team to have a shot at the World Series - sure, that is absolutely true.  But it is the Wild Card part of that equation that is the problem, being 6.5 games back and needing to pass 6 teams.  Regardless of who the Cubs trade for, that isn't happening.