Winter Meetings thread

[Backtobanks]

I think all these teams know that they have Hoyer desperate to make a deal Bellinger makes any team automatically better despite his salary and the same with Hoerner.  Most of these trade proposals sound like the other teams are doing us a favor by taking Bellinger, Hoerner, Suzuki, Paredes, and our top prospects. 

[Rcal10]

11 minutes ago, Backtobanks said:

I think all these teams know that they have Hoyer desperate to make a deal Bellinger makes any team automatically better despite his salary and the same with Hoerner.  Most of these trade proposals sound like the other teams are doing us a favor by taking Bellinger, Hoerner, Suzuki, Paredes, and our top prospects. 

I don’t agree with this. With Bellinger, his contract is an issue. So the Cubs aren’t going to get fair value for him as a player.  He would be the inky one I feel teams might feel they can lowball Hoyer in. But I doubt the Cubs get lowballed on any Hierner or Suzuki trade. 

[gflore34]

From what I've read here Cassie, Shaw and Smith have the best chance of becoming viable major league players.  It would be great if Hoyer could complete a trade for Tucker without including any of those three.  Given, right now, Tucker is a one year rental, I don't see how the Astros could command such an outrageous price tag and expect to get anything done.

[LBiittner]

This Tucker deal is freaking everywhere and I'm developing irritable bowel syndrome over this hahaha. No lie, I just saw my direct tv has CHSN one channel up from marquee. I clicked on and had mully & haugh on discussing this potential deal for almost 1/2 an hour. I'm loving this trade so much, I'm hoping it's gonna happen!! 

[gocubs218]

 

[Jason Ross]

1 minute ago, gocubs218 said:

 

This has felt the way it would go. The way that is sounding is that it's getting closer and closer to getting done.

[CubinNY]

1 minute ago, gocubs218 said:

 

This seems ripe for a B2B three way.

Yankees get Belli

Cubs get Tucker

Astros get Parades + Yankee pitcher + NOT Shaw or Smith, maybe Wicks or OWNKC

[gflore34]

2 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

This seems ripe for a B2B three way.

Yankees get Belli

Cubs get Tucker

Astros get Parades + Yankee pitcher + NOT Shaw or Smith or Cassie, maybe Wicks or OWNKC

 

[Jason Ross]

1 minute ago, gflore34 said:

 

That'd be great, but I just don't think the Astros go for that. There's a reason we want to keep those three - same reason they want them. It'll probably have to be someone that doesn't feel good.

[squally1313]

8 minutes ago, gocubs218 said:

 

[Bertz]

Levine has not had the best track record recently and acquiring multiple 3B is still just weird.  I'm hoping he's right on vibes/momentum but the specifics still feel off.

[Brian707]

7 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

This seems ripe for a B2B three way.

 

[Jason Ross]

2 minutes ago, Bertz said:

Levine has not had the best track record recently and acquiring multiple 3B is still just weird.  I'm hoping he's right on vibes/momentum but the specifics still feel off.

The Astros have a hole at 1b currently. I could see this as play where they use Parades at 3b for the time being and then slide him over eventually (with his bat and the Crawford boxes, I think he could be a fine 1b and he's logged time there in the past). Or a situation where the Astros would rather just acquire the best prospects they can (kind of like when the Cubs did the Addison Russell trade) and then figured they'd just worry about having too many good players later. 

I agree it feels a little funky, but there's been a pretty consistent stream of Parades+Smith talk that it's hard to ignore, unlike Heyman being the only one on the Suzuki/Parades train.

[mul21]

4 minutes ago, Bertz said:

Levine has not had the best track record recently and acquiring multiple 3B is still just weird.  I'm hoping he's right on vibes/momentum but the specifics still feel off.

Yeah, getting Paredes and Smith seems redundant unless the Astros already have a plan to move one of them elsewhere.  I mean, speculation pre-draft was Smith may be destined for RF and maybe that's where the Astros see him long term anyway.

[Rex Buckingham]

5 minutes ago, Bertz said:

Levine has not had the best track record recently and acquiring multiple 3B is still just weird.  I'm hoping he's right on vibes/momentum but the specifics still feel off.

I wonder if they feel like Smith (or Paredes) has the versatility to play elsewhere (1B for Paredes? OF for Smith?) that it would be worth it

[squally1313]

Best case scenario for Smith is what....mid-2026? I think when the prospect is that far away you don't really worry about redundancy. 

[thawv]

31 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

From what I've read here Cassie, Shaw and Smith have the best chance of becoming viable major league players.  It would be great if Hoyer could complete a trade for Tucker without including any of those three.  Given, right now, Tucker is a one year rental, I don't see how the Astros could command such an outrageous price tag and expect to get anything done.

I agree with this.  The cost shouldn't be as much as all the speculation that's been going on.  Vlad should be even cheaper if Toronto moved him. 

[Cubs420psd]

Losing Smith would sting,but the Cubs need a star bat, gotta pull the trigger if that's the deal.

[LBiittner]

5 minutes ago, squally1313 said:

Best case scenario for Smith is what....mid-2026? I think when the prospect is that far away you don't really worry about redundancy. 

Agreed, you gotta pay to play! 

[Cuzi]

If the Astros were hot on the heels for Paredes at the deadline, I think it's pretty obvious they look at him as a potential option at 1B. They had no 1B last season, but they had Bregman at 3B.

[Bertz]

4 minutes ago, squally1313 said:

Best case scenario for Smith is what....mid-2026? I think when the prospect is that far away you don't really worry about redundancy. 

Yeah it's probably just this, but their starting outfield is about to be:

Chas Mccormick - Jake Meyers - Taylor Trammell

And they're talking to a team with major league or major league adjacent outfielders coming out the ears.  It's weird.  It's this meme

 

[LBiittner]

5 minutes ago, thawv said:

I agree with this.  The cost shouldn't be as much as all the speculation that's been going on.  Vlad should be even cheaper if Toronto moved him. 

If the situation were reversed, and you owned vlad, would you settle for less than paredes and smith?

[LBiittner]

2 minutes ago, Bertz said:

Yeah it's probably just this, but their starting outfield is about to be:

Chas Mccormick - Jake Meyers - Taylor Trammell

And they're talking to a team with major league or major league adjacent outfielders coming out the ears.  It's weird.  It's this meme

 

That's a very great example. Perhaps there has to be another player involved? Paredes, smith, ONKC/THE JAGUAR?

[Cuzi]

2 minutes ago, LBiittner said:

That's a very great example. Perhaps there has to be another player involved? Paredes, smith, ONKC/THE JAGUAR?

I would do that, if someone like Bryan Abreu was coming with Tucker.

What are you guys valuing Paredes at when you throw out these prospect names when you look at what it took to get Juan Soto? The Yankees gave up 2 years of King and Drew Thrope plus fodder.

Edited December 13, 2024 by Cuzi

[thawv]

12 minutes ago, LBiittner said:

If the situation were reversed, and you owned vlad, would you settle for less than paredes and smith?

Well looking at Toronto having just about zero chance of making the playoffs, and a crazy high payroll for a team with no chance, I'd be looking to dump his salary, along with 3 other expiring contracts.  The reason I think Vlad would be a little less return is because his salary is so much more than Tucker.  

Personally, I'm not a fan of giving up much for a rental that's not going to win the WS for us.  Also, there's no chance of an extension for Tucker.  I'm missing something here that most are seeing.  How it Tucker going to help the team after 2025?  Is he going to put us in the WS? 

Edited December 13, 2024 by thawv