Winter Meetings thread

[JD94]

 

[Donzo]

2 hours ago, thawv said:

MLB Trade Rumors suggests that it might be Amaya that gets DFA, and not Thaiss due to he being a LHH.  This is something that never crossed my mind.  

Was it posted mid season? If it's new info, then no. Amaya hits like an extreme LHH, so Thais being LLH is irrelevant.

[Bertz]

 

I don't think it says anything about the magnitude of the moves, moreso the timing, but the way these guys are talking is night and day from last year's meetings

[Rex Buckingham]

Carter Hawkins looks like the frat bro nobody liked but they put up with because his parents had a lake house they got to use and then grew up to be like a junior partner at a law firm that has no plans of ever moving him up. 

[CubinNY]

Levine always looks like a beach bum drunk to me. I don’t know why

[NorthsideAvenger]

1 minute ago, Rex Buckingham said:

Carter Hawkins looks like the frat bro nobody liked but they put up with because his parents had a lake house they got to use and then grew up to be like a junior partner at a law firm that has no plans of ever moving him up. 

So.....Stifler?

[CubinNY]

2 minutes ago, Rex Buckingham said:

Carter Hawkins looks like the frat bro nobody liked but they put up with because his parents had a lake house they got to use and then grew up to be like a junior partner at a law firm that has no plans of ever moving him up. 

God, I knew half a dozen like that between high school and college. 

 

[CubinNY]

I absolutely love that Jed and company thinks their ****** offense that will become a truck stop toilet after Taco Bell buy one get one free when they trade Bellinger and or Nico is enough to win if they can only find more journeymen relievers looking for short contracts. 

[Jason Ross]

When asked in a tweet if the Cubs were in on Crochet, Jesse Rogers said, "Yes, but not sure they're the fav or anything"

[Bertz]

Curious if this refers primarily to guys going out or also to potentially those coming in.

[Irrelevant Dude]

Ok, so it's not that the Cubs can't be involved with players at the top of the market.  But instead they simply decided, "Nah, we don't want this guy who would be the best Cubs player in, perhaps, ever."

[Crusader]

17 minutes ago, Irrelevant Dude said:

Ok, so it's not that the Cubs can't be involved with players at the top of the market.  But instead they simply decided, "Nah, we don't want this guy who would be the best Cubs player in, perhaps, ever."

The best DH in the Cubs' history? He'd make Suzuki look like a gold glover out there.

[Tryptamine]

Just now, Crusader said:

The best DH in the Cubs' history? He'd make Suzuki look like a gold glover out there.

Who cares? He's a historically great hitter, who at age 26 is extremely likely to be a first ballot HoF player as long as he doesn't start to fall apart physically.

[Rex Buckingham]

13 minutes ago, Crusader said:

The best DH in the Cubs' history? He'd make Suzuki look like a gold glover out there.

that statement is as dumb as Jed's. Who cares if he's a DH, he'd be the best in the league by a mile

[Tryptamine]

24 minutes ago, Irrelevant Dude said:

Ok, so it's not that the Cubs can't be involved with players at the top of the market.  But instead they simply decided, "Nah, we don't want this guy who would be the best Cubs player in, perhaps, ever."

So here's what I don't get. Why would Jed even make this comment? Now fans hate you more because you didn't even try to get a generational hitter. If you weren't interested in a generational hitter you probably shouldn't be a GM. All I can think is that he's covering for PTR and if he's going to that extent to cover for him, his job is in absolutely no jeopardy.

[Crusader]

32 minutes ago, Rex Buckingham said:

that statement is as dumb as Jed's. Who cares if he's a DH, he'd be the best in the league by a mile

No, I'd actually say this statement is dumber than Jed's. That's an insane amount of money to pay for a DH... You could literally pay for 2 historically great players that mash LHP and RPH respectively, and then platoon them and still pay them less than what the Mets are paying Soto. All these people butthurt over missing out on a DH for the biggest contract in MLB history is just amusing.

 

Now, imagine Soto getting hurt, or just aging where he loses some timing or reaction speed. Do you think the Ricketts family would invest more money into the team to make up the difference? I certainly don't think they would. They'd just cry poor. Like they did with Heyward but 3x worse.

Edited December 10, 2024 by Crusader

[WhyCantWeWin]

4 minutes ago, Crusader said:

That's a bold amount of money to pay for a DH lol. You could literally play for 2 historically great players that mash both LHP and RPH and still pay them less than Soto. All these people butthurt over missing out on a DH at the biggest contract is MLB history is just amusing.

https://stathead.com/tiny/tz3pB

[Irrelevant Dude]

7 minutes ago, Crusader said:

You could literally pay for 2 historically great players that mash both LHP and RPH platoon them and still pay them less than Soto.

The Cubs should have just got those guys then!

[Bertz]

39 minutes ago, Bertz said:

Curious if this refers primarily to guys going out or also to potentially those coming in.

Thinking about this more.  Wonder if we see something like this:

- Hoerner AND Bellinger out.  Bellinger being gone is practically canon at this point, and the Mariners Hoerner smoke is pretty damn thick

- Bunch of pitching comes back for Hoerner and Belli, some directly some via saved $$$

- Trade for Brandon Lowe

- Sign FAs to build a fairly stellar bench, something like Carson Kelly (check), JDM, and Randall Grichuk

Plan A becomes Shaw replacing Hoerner directly, with Lowe replacing Bellinger offensively (Seiya slides back out to RF to replace him defensively).  If Shaw's not up to the task from day 1, Lowe starts at 2B and DH becomes a rotational/rest position until one of the kids is ready.

[Tryptamine]

26 minutes ago, Crusader said:

No, I'd actually say this statement is dumber than Jed's. That's an insane amount of money to pay for a DH... You could literally pay for 2 historically great players that mash LHP and RPH respectively, and then platoon them and still pay them less than what the Mets are paying Soto. All these people butthurt over missing out on a DH for the biggest contract in MLB history is just amusing.

 

Now, imagine Soto getting hurt, or just aging where he loses some timing or reaction speed. Do you think the Ricketts family would invest more money into the team to make up the difference? I certainly don't think they would. They'd just cry poor. Like they did with Heyward but 3x worse.

Who are these two players who are going to give you a cumulative 180 wRC+, please do share.

[Jason Ross]

59 minutes ago, Tryptamine said:

So here's what I don't get. Why would Jed even make this comment? Now fans hate you more because you didn't even try to get a generational hitter. If you weren't interested in a generational hitter you probably shouldn't be a GM. All I can think is that he's covering for PTR and if he's going to that extent to cover for him, his job is in absolutely no jeopardy.

There was probably no good answer to the question. He cant throw Ricketts under the bus and say they don't have the budget- he's in his last year of his deal, he won't rock the boat. He cant say he's not worth the contract and create bad blood with Boras or the rest of the league. He cant say anything about the player - we almost know how great Soto is.

So the only comment is something dumb like this. That together the Cubs decided this wasn't a good plan. I kind of don't really blame him for the comment - he had to say a thing and like I said, feels like there's no good answer.

I will give him *one* out...and that's if the Cubs are serious about trading for Kyle Tucker and then working on extending him earnestly. In that case scenario, you could argue that his comments were true and the Cubs thought it more prudent to spend $300-$400m on Tucker over $765m on Soto. We could debate that but it'd fit within the comments. 

All in all, pretty unlikely. But just saying...thats the one case scenario his comments might not be that stupid. But they were always going to be kind of dumb given the options in front of him.

[Stratos]

1 hour ago, Irrelevant Dude said:

Ok, so it's not that the Cubs can't be involved with players at the top of the market.  But instead they simply decided, "Nah, we don't want this guy who would be the best Cubs player in, perhaps, ever."

The only thing I could think of is the positional fit based on what we have in MLB and minors for DH and OF.  They'd have to deal one of our mlb OFs and at some point a bunch of our blocked prospects.

Not the most ideal positional fit but if they really wanted Soto they could make it work.

[jersey cubs fan]

1 hour ago, Crusader said:

No, I'd actually say this statement is dumber than Jed's. That's an insane amount of money to pay for a DH... You could literally pay for 2 historically great players that mash LHP and RPH respectively, and then platoon them and still pay them less than what the Mets are paying Soto. All these people butthurt over missing out on a DH for the biggest contract in MLB history is just amusing.

 

Now, imagine Soto getting hurt, or just aging where he loses some timing or reaction speed. Do you think the Ricketts family would invest more money into the team to make up the difference? I certainly don't think they would. They'd just cry poor. Like they did with Heyward but 3x worse.

You sound like an abuse victim unaware of reality

[Stratos]

Dan O'Dowd at the meetings on TV suggested Bellinger and Arenado to the Yanks, move Jazz Chisholm back to 2b.  Sign Christian Walker due 1b, and some relievers. Not terrible ideas

[Stratos]

Tauchman signs with White Sox.