Cubs Likely to Add Another Starting Pitcher

[Post Count Padder]

Given he's coming off injury, I wonder what you could do there, adding Nardi to it because lefty reliever.

The Marlins have a real lack of power, wonder if you could do Caissie and Mervis (someone has to want him right?).

Heck, their catching situation is Nick Fortes, one of the worst hitters in baseball, and a smattering of guys who haven't reached the majors. Throw in Thaiss!

Edited December 14, 2024 by Post Count Padder

[Bertz]

Big fan of adding Luzardo.  This is the sort of risk you can take when you've got the pitching depth the Cubs do.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Feel like 4 LHSP is where I start getting more legitimately antsy about negative network effects, but Luzardo is tempting.  Just have to add Roki as #6 to make sure there's balance I guess.

[UMFan83]

36 minutes ago, Dfan25 said:

Nightendale says they are showing interest in Jesús Luzardo 

Jesse Rogers was on ESPN 1000 and said he’d heard something similar when told about Boob’s report. 

[Jason Ross]

I'm so iffy on Luzardo. There's a guy there when he's healthy. He also offers a different skillset. 

With that said, he's an amazingly risky piece of business. He was flat not very good in 2024. He was hurt, sure, but he's had injuries in his history. He got hit pretty well and lost velocity on the fastball from 2023. He didn't have a single pitch over 100 on stuff+ last year. 

The price couldn't be particularly high as you're taking a decent amount of risk on. As well, you'd have to have a solution for his problems. 

[JBears79]

49 minutes ago, Dfan25 said:

Nightendale says they are showing interest in Jesús Luzardo 

Would be awesome. Big fan of his

[SOFNR]

14 minutes ago, Bertz said:

Big fan of adding Luzardo.  This is the sort of risk you can take when you've got the pitching depth the Cubs do.

Are you at all worried about his 2024? He hasn't pitched since June. He suffered an elbow injury. His K/9 dipped quite a bit. His velocity dipped. Then a back injury that kept him out from June 16th till the end of the year. I'd love 2022-2023 Luzardo but I'd be worried about giving up anything significant for him at this point. Plus pairing him with Boyd, who hasn't pitched more then 80 innings in 5 years, seems a good way to run through that depth fast. If you take the risk on Luzardo, who only costs 6 mil, you might want to grab another high ceiling bounce back guy to throw in there too.

[JBears79]

7 minutes ago, TomtheBombadil said:

They’re a Gilbert/Kirby and Sasaki away from being worth checking out in the early season 

We need another bullpen anchor too imo. Im a Porter Hodge believer but i want some competition for him

[Bertz]

13 minutes ago, SOFNR said:

Are you at all worried about his 2024? He hasn't pitched since June. He suffered an elbow injury. His K/9 dipped quite a bit. His velocity dipped. Then a back injury that kept him out from June 16th till the end of the year. I'd love 2022-2023 Luzardo but I'd be worried about giving up anything significant for him at this point. Plus pairing him with Boyd, who hasn't pitched more then 80 innings in 5 years, seems a good way to run through that depth fast. If you take the risk on Luzardo, who only costs 6 mil, you might want to grab another high ceiling bounce back guy to throw in there too.

Through May 11th his fastball was 96.5, right in line with the two years prior.  Things dipped from there and about a month later his season ended.

I feel pretty confident blaming his poor performance last year on injury.  He obviously doesn't have to bounce back, but a year ago at this time he was considered a bonafide star.  We are the exact type of team that should be buying low and making these sorts of gambles.  There's a good chance he's still a star.  And if he's still damaged goods?  Oh well I guess the path to innings for Ben Brown and Cade Horton got less complicated.

[Bertz]

I wonder if the Nats would make MacKenzie Gore available.  I feel like at the start of the offseason there was some talk about them pulling a Jayson Werth 2.0 type of move, but it's been all crickets and the current Fangraphs projections do not think the team is at all close to competing.  Currently projected as the 3rd worst team in the league.

You'd get three more years of Gore and this is his first year of arb at a projected $3.5M, so even if you sent them a little more prospect capital than you're comfortable with that's not exactly a sell out for '25 move.

[Illiterate Scholar]

Kaplan also mentioned the Cubs' interest in Luzardo on his podcast. Seems like there's smoke. 

[WhyCantWeWin]

I doubt Luzardo would cost any of the Cubs prospects on the top 100

[Cuzi]

Luzardo feels more like a deadline move to me. There's nothing for the Marlins to lose by waiting unless you give them something compelling.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

2 minutes ago, Cuzi said:

Luzardo feels more like a deadline move to me. There's nothing for the Marlins to lose by waiting unless you give them something compelling.

Maybe, but if they think he's cooked or the risk of further injury is high enough, it becomes a net negative to wait.

[Cuzi]

5 minutes ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

Maybe, but if they think he's cooked or the risk of further injury is high enough, it becomes a net negative to wait.

I mean, what exactly are you thinking the offers are going to be on a pitcher who had a throw away season because of arms issues and back issues? He's only got 2 years of control left, so it's just as likely he pitches 10 innings for you and never sees the field again in your teams colors.

Edited December 14, 2024 by Cuzi

[Transmogrified Tiger]

6 minutes ago, Cuzi said:

I mean, what exactly are you thinking the offers are going to be on a pitcher who had a throw away season because of arms issues and back issues? He's only got 2 years of control left, so it's just as likely he pitches 10 innings for you and never sees the field again in your teams colors.

Yes, that's why they might trade him now instead of the deadline?  We agree?

[Cuzi]

Just now, Transmogrified Tiger said:

Yes, that's why they might trade him now instead of the deadline?  We agree?

Not if the offer is fodder, like I said. It would only make sense if the offer is compelling and nothing has been reported beyond preliminary discussions. There's a dude out there on twitter suggesting they are looking for a top catcher or SS prospect. Pass.

[We Got The Whole 9]

I'd trade Aliendo. Ramirez, and Gray for him

Edited December 14, 2024 by We Got The Whole 9

[Bertz]

Cubs probably shouldn't be in on another low velo lefty, but curious to see what the damage is here prospect wise. 

[We Got The Whole 9]

Glad they're building around Rooker 

[Jason Ross]

 

[ToolDRT]

🤮 

[Bertz]

1 minute ago, 1908_Cubs said:

 

LFG!

Also this feels definitive enough I should probably write it up

[Wilson A2000]

2 minutes ago, 1908_Cubs said:

 

That would be a terrible trade

[Eeyore]

What is Chuy's contact situation?