Cody Opts In

[Transmogrified Tiger]

8 minutes ago, Cuzi said:

A good hitter is a good hitter. Splits matter when they are lopsided. They aren't for Tauchman. Yankees are over there carrying Trent Grisham at $5.5M as their bench OFer and we are acting like Tauchman doesnt fit. You guys have insane standards for bench players.

Splits matter because a player's usage can heavily impact how lopsided they are.  Do you think Tauchman would have even splits if he faced the same LHP that Wisdom did?  This is the same thing from people wringing their hands about Wisdom playing over Busch, there's a cause and effect, and setting aside the hitter side of it there's a structural disadvantage many LHP have against RHH.

And this is not a criticism of Tauchman, I like him a lot.  It's a reality of the roster around him.  Tauchman is a very good bench player and in some teams may even be more than that.  On a Cubs roster that has 3 very good LHH OF, 2 of which play CF at least as well as Tauchman, he just won't have as much opportunity as he did before PCA took the reins(and Bellinger was hurt).  That's why people think it's a fair thought that he will be traded, several teams might want him to start more games than not in the OF, and on 3 million that could bring something more useful to the 2025 Cubs than Tauchman's role from the 2nd half of 2024.

[Cuzi]

4 minutes ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

Splits matter because a player's usage can heavily impact how lopsided they are.  Do you think Tauchman would have even splits if he faced the same LHP that Wisdom did?  This is the same thing from people wringing their hands about Wisdom playing over Busch, there's a cause and effect, and setting aside the hitter side of it there's a structural disadvantage many LHP have against RHH.

And this is not a criticism of Tauchman, I like him a lot.  It's a reality of the roster around him.  Tauchman is a very good bench player and in some teams may even be more than that.  On a Cubs roster that has 3 very good LHH OF, 2 of which play CF at least as well as Tauchman, he just won't have as much opportunity as he did before PCA took the reins(and Bellinger was hurt).  That's why people think it's a fair thought that he will be traded, several teams might want him to start more games than not in the OF, and on 3 million that could bring something more useful to the 2025 Cubs than Tauchman's role from the 2nd half of 2024.

This sounds a lot like the belief that Jameson Taillon would get traded at the deadline because he was so valuable.  I like Tauchman in his role. He's a 34 year old 4th outfielder that has a plus approach at the plate. He's not bringing anything significantly roster changing back in trade. At best you could probably expect a project reliever in the Nate Pearson mold. Is that more valuable to the Cubs than Tauchman? I tend to think not.

Edited November 3, 2024 by Cuzi

[Transmogrified Tiger]

17 minutes ago, Cuzi said:

This sounds a lot like the belief that Jameson Taillon would get traded at the deadline because he was so valuable.  I like Tauchman in his role. He's a 34 year old 4th outfielder that has a plus approach at the plate. He's not bringing anything significantly roster changing back in trade. At best you could probably expect a project reliever in the Nate Pearson mold. Is that more valuable to the Cubs than Tauchman? I tend to think not.

Tauchman started 4 of the final 45 games of the year and played at a pace of less than 170 PA/season, another Pearson would absolutely be more useful than what Tauchman's 2025 role projects to be.

[Cuzi]

11 minutes ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

Tauchman started 4 of the final 45 games of the year and played at a pace of less than 170 PA/season, another Pearson would absolutely be more useful than what Tauchman's 2025 role projects to be.

You projecting 100% health for LF/CF/RF/DH/1B?

I'm pretty confident Tauchman will carve out 250-300 PA's if he remains on the Cubs and I'm pretty confident that equals more WAR than what Pearson was pacing for on his time with the Cubs.

Edited November 3, 2024 by Cuzi

[LBiittner]

Sounds like roster $ space availablity is a confusing subject. No wonder jed eeked slightly above the penalty danger zone by mere rubles in 2024. Probably using accountants from reddit 

[Rcal10]

1 minute ago, Cuzi said:

You projecting 100% health for LF/CF/RF/DH/1B?

I am fine with Tauchman, but I am also more than happy to trade him for a pen arm. I would rather have his spot taken by a right handed hitting outfielder. They have 2 lefties and a switch hitter ahead of him in the outfield. I think a right handed bat is a better option. 

[Bertz]

10 minutes ago, Cuzi said:

You projecting 100% health for LF/CF/RF/DH/1B?

I'm pretty confident Tauchman will carve out 250-300 PA's if he remains on the Cubs and I'm pretty confident that equals more WAR than what Pearson was pacing for on his time with the Cubs.

It's possible to acquire someone who can start during injury that isn't conversely useless when the roster is at full strength.

[Cuzi]

17 minutes ago, Bertz said:

It's possible to acquire someone who can start during injury that isn't conversely useless when the roster is at full strength.

Juan Soto is a FA and it's possible the Cubs sign him too. How likely is possible?

[Donzo]

23 minutes ago, Cuzi said:

You projecting 100% health for LF/CF/RF/DH/1B?

I'm pretty confident Tauchman will carve out 250-300 PA's.

That was pre PCA thinking.

When Tauchman was the 4th OF and esientailly back up 1B (Belli moves from CF to play 1st, Tachman played CF), he played a lot. When PCA took over CF, Tauchman became the 5th OF. A lot less at bats. More young OF's are on the way, too.

Still like Tauchman, though. He a plus role player.

 

[Cuzi]

6 minutes ago, Donzo said:

That was pre PCA thinking.

When Tauchman was the 4th OF and esientailly back up 1B (Belli moves from CF to play 1st, Tachman played CF), he played a lot. When PCA took over CF, Tauchman became the 5th OF. A lot less at bats. More young OF's are on the way, too.

Still like Tauchman, though. He a plus role player.

 

Tauchman is still 4th OFer with Suzuki moving to DH.

None of those young OFers are coming up to start the year and one of them is almost assuredly going to be traded this offseason. It's just as easy to hold onto Tauchman to start the year and trade him for a Nate Pearson at the deadline.

Edited November 3, 2024 by Cuzi

[Named After Maddux]

2 minutes ago, Cuzi said:

Juan Soto is a FA and it's possible the Cubs sign him too. How likely is possible?

Already a huge longshot, but now would be quite unlikely.

[Bertz]

7 minutes ago, Cuzi said:

Juan Soto is a FA and it's possible the Cubs sign him too. How likely is possible?

Yeah dude Juan Soto and like Mark Canha is a total tomayto tomahto situation 

[Donzo]

9 minutes ago, Cuzi said:

Tauchman is still 4th OFer with Suzuki moving to DH.

After PCA took over CF, who played more RF- Tauchman or Suzuki?

Edited November 3, 2024 by Donzo

[Cuzi]

1 minute ago, Bertz said:

Yeah dude Juan Soto and like Mark Canha is a total tomayto tomahto situation 

You think Mark Canha is worth 2.5x as much as Tauchman? You are spending like $5M more for a player just to switch the handedness of the batter when the Cubs still need to fill out the infield bench without spending additional money when they are already pretty limited. $50M isn't horsefeathers. People are talking about getting guys like Scott who would eat up 1/3 of that money.

[Cuzi]

5 minutes ago, Donzo said:

After PCA took over CF, who played more RF- Tachman or Suzuki?

Suzuki didn't become full time DH until August 16th. When the switch was made to put Bellinger in RF fulltime, Tauchman started more games in RF. Suzuki played 1 game in the outfield since the switch.

Edited November 3, 2024 by Cuzi

[Bertz]

2 minutes ago, Cuzi said:

You think Mark Canha is worth 2.5x as much as Tauchman? You are spending like $5M more for a player just to switch the handedness of the batter when the Cubs still need to fill out the infield bench without spending additional money when they are already pretty limited. $50M isn't horsefeathers. People are talking about getting guys like Scott who would eat up 1/3 of that money.

 

[Cuzi]

It's definitely sound for the budget to spend $8M over $3m for 1 WAR out of your 4th outfielder just to say he stands in the other batter box.

Sounds like a Jed move when I think about it. So it probably sticks.

Edited November 3, 2024 by Cuzi

[chibears55]

2 hours ago, Donzo said:

How so?

I have zero problems with the Cubs passing on a $600M contract.

 

Then you're ok with them being mediocre to bad most of time

[Donzo]

16 minutes ago, Cuzi said:

Suzuki didn't become full time DH until August 16th. When the switch was made to put Bellinger in RF fulltime, Tauchman started more games in RF. Suzuki played 1 game in the outfield since the switch.

Thanks, I couldn't look it up. I got now with BRs splits.

Strating from 8/16, I believe Tachman got 4 starts in the OF. He had around 60 ABs in August/September and 290 ABs from March through July. So, his ABs acutaully went down more after Suzuki became the full time DH.

It's still the PCA affect. Tachman's role is deminished with the arrival of PCA. It's only going to get worse as the other prospects work their way to Chicago.

 

 

 

[Tank]

There was a time not long ago when Bryce Harper was considered too s'pensive for the Cubs. Five years and a NL MVP and NLCS MVP award later and the deal doesn't look so bad. Juan Soto won't be the last $600 million player. Eventually a big market team has to act like a horsefeathers big market team. We're talking about a 26 year old superstar and a team that hasn't won over 90 games since 2018. There's zero reason not to pay that man to play his home games at Wrigley.

[Cuzi]

3 minutes ago, Donzo said:

It's still the PCA affect. Tachman's role is deminished with the arrival of PCA. It's only going to get worse as the other prospects work their way to Chicago.

You are assuming those prospects make their way to Chicago. I'm assuming that a good chunk of them dont.

I'm not for one second going to believe that Alcantara finds his footing in MLB in the Cubs organization. He doesn't have enough time in the minors left for the Cubs to wait for a spot. And again, it's just as easy to trade Tauchman at the deadline for a project reliever in the event Owen Caissie kills it in AAA next year and lowers his K%.

Edited November 3, 2024 by Cuzi

[Donzo]

7 minutes ago, chibears55 said:

Then you're ok with them being mediocre to bad most of time

Silly.

 

[Donzo]

5 minutes ago, Cuzi said:

You are assuming those prospects make their way to Chicago. I'm assuming that a good chunk of them dont.

 No I'm not.

I'm estimating one of them will likely push Tauchman down the depth chart some more by mid-season like PCA already did in 2024.

Even without a young OF stepping up, the Cubs look to improve the depth of the team.  Taking more PT and ABs from Tachman.

It's going to be difficult for him to get 200 PAs next year with the Cubs. 

[LBiittner]

On 11/2/2024 at 12:44 PM, Bertz said:

Yeah I wonder if this greatly increases the odds of a trade for O'Hoppe or Langeliers.  

That's probably where jed gains the power this roster needs.

Any trade for either realistically would require Amaya going in return. Probably plus Alcantara and...? A young infielder or young pitcher?

[Donzo]

14 minutes ago, Tank said:

There was a time not long ago when Bryce Harper was considered too s'pensive for the Cubs...Eventually a big market team has to act like a horsefeathers big market team.

We're talking about a 26 year old superstar and a team that hasn't won over 90 games since 2018. There's zero reason not to pay that man to play his home games at Wrigley.

How'd Washington do without Harper?

Comparing a $330 five year old contract to a $600M + contract tody isn't the same.

The Cubs have many paths to success without Soto.