General Offseason Priorities

[Rcal10]

22 minutes ago, Stratos said:

If I were either of them I'd probably go to another team.  On the small chance that maybe they have better or different systems at preventing injuries and it makes some kind of difference.  I agree Davis is probably gone for good for the reason you stated too.

I still like Davis a lot when he's healthy, I hope he does well.

Yep, I feel bad for Davis. Never could stay healthy. I would have liked to see what he could have done in the majors. At one point he was as high as 14 on the top prospect list. Too bad for him, and the Cubs. 

[BKHoo]

What are the expectations for Brown next year? Did he ever heal? 

[Jason Ross]

2 minutes ago, BKHoo said:

What are the expectations for Brown next year? Did he ever heal? 

I think the general understanding is that he' likely to be in the BP but could pull starts if/when injuries happen potentially. But I think he's more likely ticketed for the pen.

[LBiittner]

1 hour ago, BKHoo said:

What are the expectations for Brown next year? Did he ever heal? 

He is/was to be examined sometime in November by a specialist to find out if he has any restrictions going forward. I'm not taking for granted he'll be ready until I hear jed say he's throwing. 

[thawv]

12 hours ago, LBiittner said:

Cowles added at the expense of b. Davis.

ONKC at adbert byebye

Not shocking that Cowles was added.  But I am a bit surprised that they thought that they would lose him out of AA. 

 

Personally I think it's mostly because it would be a horrible look if they traded for him and someone took him in the Rule 5 draft.  So they added him to save the embarrassment and grief if he was selected.

Edited November 20, 2024 by thawv

[thawv]

11 hours ago, Stratos said:

We have no idea what is a Ricketts directive or not, or what Jed believes in or not.  All of these discussions are done behind close doors.  The only thing we really know is that Tom very likely sets the maximum payroll since its his money and not Jed's.  If Jed could have a 280m payroll every year he would.  We have no idea about Jed's true feelings on big star contracts, for example.

If Jed disagrees with something Tom wants it doesn't matter, Tom is the boss.  Is Jed going to quit because of it?  I wouldn't, there's only 30 of his job in the world.  Jed and most other people are going to publicly go along with it, he certainly isn't going to air his disagreements with his boss in public.

I think Tom likely sets certain parameters (e.g. max payroll) and Jed does everything he can to win within those parameters.  We don't know what those parameters are.

Jed going into 2025 with an expiring contract isn't good though, I think it would mean that Ricketts is at least not 100% happy with Jed's work within those parameters the last few years, which is understandable given the results.

If we believe what they say, we have a very good idea where they both stand.  Tom has said that he likes to operate under the first level of the CBT.  Code for, "that's our budget."  Tom has said that he does not like like term contracts.  Jed also said he doesn't like long term contracts.  Jed also said that he's a risk averse person.  Jed embraces the small market mentality.

  

If we take them for their word, they are a perfect match, and that's the reason Tom made Jed the president.  I personally doubt that Jed is an aggressive guy being held back by Tom's wishes/demands. 

 

From a business standpoint, Tom is likely very happy with Jed's work.  Maybe going over the CBT for some odd reason changes his feeling on that?  From a baseball standpoint, he can't be happy at all.  If Tom decides to go in a different direction with the team president, it's very likely it will not be an aggressive guy that tries to win every year.  It will likely be a close to the vest, conservative guy that will manage his budget, and put a decent team on the field.  Tom is a profit driven owner, like most of them.  Winning is important, but it needs to be done under budget.  He is not going to wake up one morning and decide to try to compete with the other major market teams budget wise.    

[Jason Ross]

1 hour ago, thawv said:

Not shocking that Cowles was added.  But I am a bit surprised that they thought that they would lose him out of AA. 

 

Personally I think it's mostly because it would be a horrible look if they traded for him and someone took him in the Rule 5 draft.  So they added him to save the embarrassment and grief if he was selected.

Jed Hoyer's career and future with the Chicago Cubs is literally on the line. He didn't care how he looked when he didn't trade Contreras at the deadline. Doesn't seem to care how he looks about balking at Soto and Burnes. I doubt he's drawn the line at "I wonder what I look like to some some real internet dorks care if I expose Ben Cowles to the Rule V draft" (I use "internet dorks" as self-referential because frankly, the average fan doesn't care about the Rule V draft. I do. I'm an internet dork). 

The more logical reason is that Ben Cowles has made it to Triple-A (with the Yankees, SSS extreme) and the Cubs sent him to the AFL. They traded for him for a reason. And there's a good chance that sometime in 2025 he's going to be called up to the MLB team as a backup infielder. So better to just add him to the 40-man now, not hand wring yourself through the Rule V draft in case someone likes him enough to carry him on the bench, and the expense to do that was a 29 year old reliever who just had TJS and a super-oft injured OF who hasn't put together a full, productive season since 2021.

[Rcal10]

1 hour ago, thawv said:

Not shocking that Cowles was added.  But I am a bit surprised that they thought that they would lose him out of AA. 

 

Personally I think it's mostly because it would be a horrible look if they traded for him and someone took him in the Rule 5 draft.  So they added him to save the embarrassment and grief if he was selected.

I doubt this very much. For one thing, the also got Neely in that trade. The Cubs are not putting Cowles on the 40 man to make sure they save face. I agree about being surprised they would worry about someone grabbing Cowles. Just not because they worry about a horrible look. They may actually like him and know he could be a utility man next year for some teams. Also they traded Mark Lieter Jr. it isn’t like they traded Chapman of 2016. Lieter wasn’t even on the playoff roster until someone got hurt. Losing 1 guy you got in a Leiter trade in the rule 5 draft wouldn’t exactly be this huge embarrassment. Especially since they still have Neely.

[CubinNY]

12 hours ago, 1908_Cubs said:

I think the general understanding is that he' likely to be in the BP but could pull starts if/when injuries happen potentially. But I think he's more likely ticketed for the pen.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say if he's healthy he will be a late inning guy and maybe the defacto closer by May.

[We Got The Whole 9]

Jed likely targeted Cowles in the deal because he figured he could contribute to the MLB team in 2025 and he knew that he would have to be added to the 40 all the way. Jed knew when Adbert's arm blew out he had probably thrown his last pitch as a Cub and he knew he wasn't gonna keep Brennen around unless he had stayed healthy, highly productive, and contributed to the MLB club. The reality is these decisions were made many months ago.

Edited November 20, 2024 by We Got The Whole 9

[Jason Ross]

15 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

I'm going to go out on a limb and say if he's healthy he will be a late inning guy and maybe the defacto closer by May.

I think he'll be an important part of the pen. With that said, he'd have to unseat Hodge, and likely, another addition to become a closer, and I'm not sure he's going to make that entire climb. Porter was really good last year. To put it this way: Hodge threw 43 innings last year and no other reliever who threw 43 innings had anywhere near as much fWAR as he did. 

But I think that's semantics more than anything. Who the closer is and who's the 8th inning guy or the 7th inning guy? Bah. More importantly, stacking good arms is the name of the game.

[Rcal10]

3 minutes ago, 1908_Cubs said:

I think he'll be an important part of the pen. With that said, he'd have to unseat Hodge, and likely, another addition to become a closer, and I'm not sure he's going to make that entire climb. Porter was really good last year. To put it this way: Hodge threw 43 innings last year and no other reliever who threw 43 innings had anywhere near as much fWAR as he did. 

But I think that's semantics more than anything. Who the closer is and who's the 8th inning guy or the 7th inning guy? Bah. More importantly, stacking good arms is the name of the game.

Agreed. Actually if Brown didn’t unseat Hodges or anyone they may bring in to close, that is probably a better outcome for the Cubs. Because if Brown did become the closer, most likely, that would mean the closer to start the year was failing. I do think Brown can be very good. Love if he didn’t have to close, however. 

[LBiittner]

With all due respect to the posters and their hand wringing and hyperbole over jed's current lame duck relationship with TR. 

Perhaps, and only perhaps, jed wishes to merely finish his current contract and bow out gracefully into the mist and join Theo and the huge conglomerate of the multi-billion $ Fenway Sports Group? FSG consists of the Red Sox, Pittsburgh Penguins, RFK Racing,  Boston Common Golf and  multiple other sports entities. 

Jed has so much boston/ CT. ties. He just might want to test Thomas Wolfe and go home.

Although this may sound sacrilegious to cub fanatics, his life goals may consist of a whole lot more than trying to negotiate with a scotty boras or making Wrigley ADA compliant and appearing at Cubbie Con?

[CubinNY]

13 minutes ago, LBiittner said:

With all due respect to the posters and their hand wringing and hyperbole over jed's current lame duck relationship with TR. 

Perhaps, and only perhaps, jed wishes to merely finish his current contract and bow out gracefully into the mist and join Theo and the huge conglomerate of the multi-billion $ Fenway Sports Group? FSG consists of the Red Sox, Pittsburgh Penguins, RFK Racing,  Boston Common Golf and  multiple other sports entities. 

Jed has so much boston/ CT. ties. He just might want to test Thomas Wolfe and go home.

Although this may sound sacrilegious to cub fanatics, his life goals may consist of a whole lot more than trying to negotiate with a scotty boras or making Wrigley ADA compliant and appearing at Cubbie Con?

He should go now.

[Bertz]

Curious how many spots the team feels the need to open up this week.

The to-do list of team needs as far as we know is

- 1 SP

- A reserve infielder (ideally lefty)

- A couple relievers

- It has not been reported but I also feel pretty safe presuming that if Wisdom gets NT'd that a 1 for 1 backfill will be added

So that's 5 roster spots that are needed.  Maybe call it 6 or 7 in case there are priorities we don't know about or they want an open roster spot for waiver wire roulette.

However, we also know the plan for this winter involves some trades, so Jed does not necessarily need to open up 5 spots to accommodate 5 additions.

There's also dead weight on the roster that is going to make a league minimum salary, which I believe undercuts the need to make a move right now.  I'm not 100% confident in my understanding of all the administrative nonsense, but I believe the deadline this week is only relevant for guys eligible for arb.  So if e.g. Kilian is the next guy on the chopping block, there's no incentive to make a move before you need to.

I wonder if we see 2-3 arb cuts this week, Madrigal, Wisdom, and Wingenter for instance, and then the teams waits for additional cuts on an as-needed basis.  Or do we see one pretty extensive cut of like half a dozen guys.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

5 minutes ago, Bertz said:

I wonder if we see 2-3 arb cuts this week, Madrigal, Wisdom, and Wingenter for instance, and then the teams waits for additional cuts on an as-needed basis.  Or do we see one pretty extensive cut of like half a dozen guys.

Given how much of the flexible/uncertain portion is around pitching, I bet we see something like the ~3 cuts and then as moves happen you make room with the underbelly of the pitchers(Wingenter, Zastryzny, Keegan, Hollowell, Kilian, maybe Merryweather).

With the addition of Cowles and the seeming likelihood of another IF being added, I wonder if Mastrobuoni is in jeopardy to some degree too.

[Jason Ross]

I suspect the Cubs may try to DFA or slide a pitcher or two through in the next few days. One of Jed's favorite offseason games is "claim a guy, then when I think I can slide them through, slide them through to the MiLB". Someone like Zastryzny or Hollowell might be able to snuck in right after the Rule 5 deadline, as teams have made their moves might feel like they can't afford to claim a guy like that right now.

[Bertz]

Yeah I think that's where I'm leaning too.  Wisdom + Madrigal pretty much as locks, and then one maybe two pitchers.  Wingenter seems to be most cost-prohibitive with his $1.4M arb number, while Zastryzny seems to be most fungible, so they seem most likely.

[squally1313]

51 minutes ago, LBiittner said:

With all due respect to the posters and their hand wringing and hyperbole over jed's current lame duck relationship with TR. 

(five seconds later)

51 minutes ago, LBiittner said:

outlandish conspiracy theory about Jed retiring from his job of GM at age 51 and Ricketts being ok with him still being in charge this year with no care for the future of the organization

 

[WhyCantWeWin]

Im excited to see who the next big coaching addition will be for the cubs. Only team in baseball prioritizing coaching signings over players. Hoyer must be onto something!!1!

[CubinNY]

7 minutes ago, WhyCantWeWin said:

Im excited to see who the next big coaching addition will be for the cubs. Only team in baseball prioritizing coaching signings over players. Hoyer must be onto something!!1!

They already made their splash with some pitching guru.

[WhyCantWeWin]

 

 

thank you buddha 

Edited November 20, 2024 by WhyCantWeWin

[Transmogrified Tiger]

 

[LBiittner]

2 hours ago, squally1313 said:

(five seconds later)

 

You putting words in my mouth !!!! 

LOL. I say enough stupid horsefeathers already. Hahaha

[LBiittner]

Gosh, jed doing things before he hits the bricks !