Cubs Meeting With Japanese Ace Roki Sasaki

[CubinNY]

number of times Jed's teams have been in the playoffs (covid doesn't count): 0

[CubinNY]

It wasn't a criticism of Ian Happ or Dansby Swanson. That's the woosh, so you don't have to ask. 

You are the best apologist for this mediocre organization on this site. Congratulations. You can feel good the record has been set straight. 

Edited January 14, 2025 by CubinNY

[CubinNY]

Unless you think Happ and Swanson are star players. Then we have a difference of opinion. 

[Rcal10]

Getting back to what happens next, BN wrote a piece where it sounds like they are saying they don’t expect the Cubs to add a rotation piece. If that is the case, what are they doing with this $35M. Pocketing it? They can’t get to that number adding a pen arm and a bench bat or two. If they are not going to add a starting pitcher there has better be some big news at the convention about a Tucker extension. Come on now. This could get ridiculous very quickly if this ownership cuts payroll $25M to $20M from last year. 

[CubinNY]

2 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

Getting back to what happens next, BN wrote a piece where it sounds like they are saying they don’t expect the Cubs to add a rotation piece. If that is the case, what are they doing with this $35M. Pocketing it? They can’t get to that number adding a pen arm and a bench bat or two. If they are not going to add a starting pitcher there has better be some big news at the convention about a Tucker extension. Come on now. This could get ridiculous very quickly if this ownership cuts payroll $25M to $20M from last year. 

I expect Jed is working on a trade or two, but I don't think think they will spend all the money, but maybe most of it. 

[squally1313]

2 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

lol, woosh. 

You felt the need to repost your own Jed rant from another thread just so people could...read it again? Even though this is a Roki Sasaki thread and you were complaining about drafting Ian Happ (the second best player that could have reasonably drafted) and signing Dansby Swanson (the best and also cheapest of the four targets everyone wanted that offseason). 

The team isn't middling because they signed above average players to above average contracts. Dansby Swanson and his 'messy' contract makes as much as 37 year old Nathan Eovaldi (2.4 and 2.7 fWAR the last two years) the next three years. The team is middling and missing out on elite talent because A. the Ricketts family refuses to spend more money than the first luxury cap even though every reasonable analysis of their revenue has them with a lot more ability to spend, and B. our farm system in the last 10 years has basically given us Ian Happ, Nico Hoerner, Justin Steele and essentially nothing else and we've had to pay free agent market values to fill out far too many spots on the roster when most of the good teams at our (dumb and too low) budget are churning out league minimum talent at a much higher clip. That is absolutely a criticism of Jed and Theo and whoever is running the minor league system and making the draft decisions, and it's more than anything else a criticism of Tom Ricketts and his clear desire to point to the 2016 flag in center field and then rest on his growing mountain of passive income from turning Wrigleyville into his own Potterville. He sucks, I wish he would go away, I hate him. 

2 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

Unless you think Happ and Swanson are star players. Then we have a difference of opinion. 

No one is ever going to agree on the definition of a word like 'star'. Ian Happ is almost certainly not one, but he's making essentially the same amount of money as Christian Walker and Joc Pederson this year, and I think he's better than those guys. Swanson is 18th in offensive fWAR the last two years, so he's plenty good. But 'star'? Who knows/cares. Plus, get the feeling you discount the defensive contribution to that overall analytic, which is fine, that's a difference of opinion. 

[CubinNY]

24 minutes ago, squally1313 said:

You felt the need to repost your own Jed rant from another thread just so people could...read it again? Even though this is a Roki Sasaki thread and you were complaining about drafting Ian Happ (the second best player that could have reasonably drafted) and signing Dansby Swanson (the best and also cheapest of the four targets everyone wanted that offseason). 

The team isn't middling because they signed above average players to above average contracts. Dansby Swanson and his 'messy' contract makes as much as 37 year old Nathan Eovaldi (2.4 and 2.7 fWAR the last two years) the next three years. The team is middling and missing out on elite talent because A. the Ricketts family refuses to spend more money than the first luxury cap even though every reasonable analysis of their revenue has them with a lot more ability to spend, and B. our farm system in the last 10 years has basically given us Ian Happ, Nico Hoerner, Justin Steele and essentially nothing else and we've had to pay free agent market values to fill out far too many spots on the roster when most of the good teams at our (dumb and too low) budget are churning out league minimum talent at a much higher clip. That is absolutely a criticism of Jed and Theo and whoever is running the minor league system and making the draft decisions, and it's more than anything else a criticism of Tom Ricketts and his clear desire to point to the 2016 flag in center field and then rest on his growing mountain of passive income from turning Wrigleyville into his own Potterville. He sucks, I wish he would go away, I hate him. 

No one is ever going to agree on the definition of a word like 'star'. Ian Happ is almost certainly not one, but he's making essentially the same amount of money as Christian Walker and Joc Pederson this year, and I think he's better than those guys. Swanson is 18th in offensive fWAR the last two years, so he's plenty good. But 'star'? Who knows/cares. Plus, get the feeling you discount the defensive contribution to that overall analytic, which is fine, that's a difference of opinion. 

lol. I wasn't complaining about Ian Happ. I was noting their draft philosophy and how it has produced good not great players, like Ian Happ, which is not necessarily a bad thing. AS I SAID IN THE FLIPPING POST. Same with Dnasby. What they don't or won't do is supplement the good with buying the great. Now they've traded for a great player and all indications are he's one and done and they've paid the price of a potential hit on a great player they just drafted. If they extend Tucker, cudos and mea culupa. 

 

Edited January 14, 2025 by CubinNY

[CubinNY]

I mean, going to war over $2.5 million with Tucker is what the Pirates do. 

Edited January 14, 2025 by CubinNY

[squally1313]

1 minute ago, CubinNY said:

lol. I wasn't complaining about Ian Happ. I was noting their draft philosophy and how it has produced good not great players, like Ian Happ, which is not necessarily a bad thing. AS I SAID IN THE FLIPPING POST. Same with Dnasby. What they don't or won't do is supplement the good with buying the great. Now they've traded for a great player and all indications are he's one and done and they've paid the price of a potential hit on a great player they just drafted. If they extend Trucker, cudos and mayaculupa. 

 

We're getting closer to splitting hairs, but I'm on a terrible work call so why not. Ian Happ wasn't a bad draft pick, which I think we agree on, though I would have preferred if he hit the ground running a little quicker in his career than he did.

Alex Lange, Brendon Little, Ryan Jensen, and Ed Howard were bad first round draft picks. Having a 2016 draft class that has combined for -0.6 bWAR was a bad draft year. 4.4 bWAR total for 2017. Not a single major league contributor past Hoerner in 2018. Porter Hodge in 2019 and no one else. Those aren't safe picks that lacked creativity or didn't aim high enough. They were very bad drafts by pretty much any measure/strategy. And it led to Jameson Taillon and Hector Neris and the nightmare rotation of first basemen pre-Busch, etc etc. They had to spend way too much money just getting to 'good', and as a result every time a 'great' opportunity came up they were able to make excuses about how close to the luxury line they were. 

Just look how much easier it is going forward to plug PCA and Busch (and hopefully Shaw) into future lineups and essentially write a 'zero' next to their names for salary commitment. Hopefully this time next year we can say the same thing about Horton, but we're still fighting the lack of depth produced internally (see all 28 bad relievers signed in the last 6 weeks). It's how you end up with 'how do we spend all this leftover money' (I know, I know, not a guarantee) vs 'I guess we have to wait until February to sign whatever is left of the Boras 4'. The system is maybe, finally, hopefully producing. It took way too long for an organization with the resources we have. 

[Tryptamine]

45 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

I expect Jed is working on a trade or two, but I don't think think they will spend all the money, but maybe most of it. 

You expect more than me. Every time I have expectations for Jed he falls well below them. At this point I think we've more or less got the roster you're going to see at spring training. Maybe a couple more pieces of roster fodder, but I doubt there's anyone of any actual impact.

[Rcal10]

51 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

I expect Jed is working on a trade or two, but I don't think think they will spend all the money, but maybe most of it. 

This would be fine. My issue is I am not sure he does this. But if he doesn’t that will be because of orders from ownership, not because he doesn’t want to spend the money. If they fall way below the LT and their payroll is $20M short of last year, my blame for it goes to TR. if Jed makes bad trades or signings but gets the payroll to within $7M to $10M of the LT line I blame him. IMO even with this stupid line of the LT, there is enough money to make the Cubs a comfortable favorite in the central. Add a pitcher to slot ahead of Tailon, add a back end reliever and at least one bench bat. It can, and should be done. Whether it is or not, will determine my view of Jed and ownership for this season. 

[Stratos]

52 minutes ago, squally1313 said:

The team isn't middling because they signed above average players to above average contracts. Dansby Swanson and his 'messy' contract makes as much as 37 year old Nathan Eovaldi (2.4 and 2.7 fWAR the last two years) the next three years. The team is middling and missing out on elite talent because A. the Ricketts family refuses to spend more money than the first luxury cap even though every reasonable analysis of their revenue has them with a lot more ability to spend, and B. our farm system in the last 10 years has basically given us Ian Happ, Nico Hoerner, Justin Steele and essentially nothing else and we've had to pay free agent market values to fill out far too many spots on the roster when most of the good teams at our (dumb and too low) budget are churning out league minimum talent at a much higher clip. That is absolutely a criticism of Jed and Theo and whoever is running the minor league system and making the draft decisions, and it's more than anything else a criticism of Tom Ricketts and his clear desire to point to the 2016 flag in center field and then rest on his growing mountain of passive income from turning Wrigleyville into his own Potterville. He sucks, I wish he would go away, I hate him. 

Agree with this.  It's a simple math problem.  Every team produces a certain amount of total WAR.  Ours is mediocre.  For the payroll we spend we get meh results.  We either need to spend more total payroll or spend more efficiently.

Bryant, Baez, Contreras etc putting up good WAR and not making much money was very efficient.

[Rex Buckingham]

1 hour ago, TomtheBombadil said:

Do Cubs fans who complain about payroll and org effort and desire to win ever actually stop to even consider their rhetoric? I get that no one is responsible for anything in ‘Merica except their individual outcomes, so smert and advanced we are, but how are you supposed to build a winner if the only imaginable way is with the perfectest pieces of non-fodder? Its such nonsense all around, detached and inhumane. No one’s worth a horsefeathers damn except decider guys, stuperstars (and foreigners better step it up up up never stop being historic), the youngest and cheapest until Aging, and their bosses 

[Transmogrified Tiger]

1 hour ago, TomtheBombadil said:

Do Cubs fans who complain about payroll and org effort and desire to win ever actually stop to even consider their rhetoric? I get that no one is responsible for anything in ‘Merica except their individual outcomes, so smert and advanced we are, but how are you supposed to build a winner if the only imaginable way is with the perfectest pieces of non-fodder? Its such nonsense all around, detached and inhumane. No one’s worth a horsefeathers damn except decider guys, stuperstars (and foreigners better step it up up up never stop being historic), the youngest and cheapest until Aging, and their bosses 

I'm not sure how long these posts take you to write, but you could probably save yourself some time and just say "I don't think scarcity is real" every time instead of translating that idea into increasingly unreadable street-corner ravings.

[Manny Trillos Brother]

I don't think Sasaki was EVER going to the Cubs and apparently these Japanese guys like to toy with the Blue Jays, but it's pretty clear he's going to SD or LA. 

If he goes to SD, does that work in the Cubs favor? The Padres are presumably still under a mandate to cut payroll. Would something like Cease + Cronenworth for Alcatara + Assad be more intriguing with Sasaki on board to "replace" Cease (allowing Assad to be some level of insurance if Sasaki doesn't immediately adjust to the US game). 

Upgrades the Cubs rotation with possible very minimal downgrade to Padres. Cubs get an experienced (although expensive) bench bat that can fill in at 1B. Padres save about $23 million in '25. 

[Bertz]

41 minutes ago, Manny Trillos Brother said:

I don't think Sasaki was EVER going to the Cubs and apparently these Japanese guys like to toy with the Blue Jays, but it's pretty clear he's going to SD or LA. 

If he goes to SD, does that work in the Cubs favor? The Padres are presumably still under a mandate to cut payroll. Would something like Cease + Cronenworth for Alcatara + Assad be more intriguing with Sasaki on board to "replace" Cease (allowing Assad to be some level of insurance if Sasaki doesn't immediately adjust to the US game). 

Upgrades the Cubs rotation with possible very minimal downgrade to Padres. Cubs get an experienced (although expensive) bench bat that can fill in at 1B. Padres save about $23 million in '25. 

It feels like it could go either way, and really depends on what conversations between Roki and the Padres are like.  If Roki's looped in and comfortable with the longer term view I do imagine Cease gets shown the door, but on the flip side he might view them trading their best pitcher right after he commits to be a slap in the face.

I do expect that Preller has about 34 moves lined up and is going to go on a full-on transaction bender very shortly after Roki makes his decision.  We're a good fit for several Padres so I wouldn't be surprised if we get caught up in that maelstrom.

[Rcal10]

28 minutes ago, Bertz said:

It feels like it could go either way, and really depends on what conversations between Roki and the Padres are like.  If Roki's looped in and comfortable with the longer term view I do imagine Cease gets shown the door, but on the flip side he might view them trading their best pitcher right after he commits to be a slap in the face.

I do expect that Preller has about 34 moves lined up and is going to go on a full-on transaction bender very shortly after Roki makes his decision.  We're a good fit for several Padres so I wouldn't be surprised if we get caught up in that maelstrom.

Perfect. Trade for Cease and Suarez, extend Tucker and call it an off season. Bench would be weak, but strong rotation, pen  and line up. 

[Randall Simon]

13 hours ago, TomtheBombadil said:

Dude this is such a cowardly, guileless org lol. Gross from top to bottom on the suit side

I hope there's an ESPN or Netflix documentary on the 2016 team rise and fall one day. I want to hear the players honest feelings about ownership and management and there role in the steady demise of the org. 

[TarzanJoeWallis]

6 hours ago, Randall Simon said:

I hope there's an ESPN or Netflix documentary on the 2016 team rise and fall one day. I want to hear the players honest feelings about ownership and management and there role in the steady demise of the org. 

That would only make sense if each of the players were still great for a bunch of teams around the league. But they have sucked. Do you wish they had signed Baez, Bryant, Russell, Arrieta, and Rizzo to long term contracts? Baez and Bryant are two of the worst contracts in baseball. The only guy who has done much is Schwarber and he’s not that good either. I don’t like our ownership at all and get frustrated with the management team, but the only worthwhile thing the players from the 2016 team could say of interest is that, in hindsight, they all should have been traded by 2018. 

[BigbadB]

18 hours ago, TomtheBombadil said:

Lol what? Didn’t they just spend a full decade rebuilding the infrastructure to develop them all? Isn’t their whole ideology that no one individual matters and everyone is a piece of fodder? 

Edit: Pieces of fodder lol theck do you think we all are in a world this can be said so casually…Alright alright I won’t maintain this one beyond this, forget getting to use smert bidness talk is how jollies are had 

Part of why you are likely in North Side Jail is because you seem to be purposely destroying the English language to get a rise out of people. You show a lot of knowledge of the minor league players and you do make some decent posts on this site on occasion, but the "smert bidness"  and "theck" and "2.0" nonsense drives everyone up the freaking wall. 

Just stop already. We've seen all of this nonsense ad nauseum. I've seen you make great contributions to this site at times. More of that please and stop making us waste our time trying to extrapolate what you are trying to say. It makes no sense for you to continue posting here if you have no audience because they all clicked the ignore button.

And if your intent really is to drive everyone away, there are much quicker ways to get that result.

[Rcal10]

2 hours ago, TarzanJoeWallis said:

That would only make sense if each of the players were still great for a bunch of teams around the league. But they have sucked. Do you wish they had signed Baez, Bryant, Russell, Arrieta, and Rizzo to long term contracts? Baez and Bryant are two of the worst contracts in baseball. The only guy who has done much is Schwarber and he’s not that good either. I don’t like our ownership at all and get frustrated with the management team, but the only worthwhile thing the players from the 2016 team could say of interest is that, in hindsight, they all should have been traded by 2018. 

I am not upset with management not extending those guys. Yes, that did work out well. I think the bigger issue is they has starts in their peak, and they were still good thru 19’, and did not add to them. The added fringe players or “value players” always looking to save a buck rather than give the team another quality player. That is what bothers me about management. They has young stars and decided to nickel and dime the rest of the team.