Spring Training Game Thread

[We Got The Whole 9]

If Tucker plays like he did in 2024 I'm pretty confident we will win the division. 

[imb]

36 minutes ago, TomtheBombadil said:

I guess my defense is built around not needing to drag him down with a decade old before times comp as if either Jimenez or Torres has anything to do with the situation. Its basically impossible - regardless of outcome - for the Cubs to lose this trade btw Tucker being so good, the sea of cheap talent inside the org both marketed and not, and the sea of cheap talent in the “amateur” (worth billions but none to players) world coming in like every 6 months for pennies. Cubslandia wrings their hands because that’s the new default for fandom, which somehow is both obsessed with data (all hail) and has no idea what any of it means without being told by a Disney or whatever else has power 

Total aside but noticing how underrated Tucker is along with the nigh non-existent earning potential of a Smith…Did I nail 2.0 or what, gang? No one has the time to tell their head from their butthole anymore, fascinating. Like Tucker is legitimately a top of the league talent with all the bells and whistles and Cubs fans are still like Idk gang did we get enough value lol. Edit: 20+ years of Moneyballz propaganda, new stats every other wk, and somehow everyone’s more in the dark than ever…almost as if Data (all hail) was never here to help us understand but rather so our overlords could tighten their grip 

[chibears55]

4 hours ago, Backtobanks said:

Hoyer should have had a discussion with Ricketts about the likelihood of signing Tucker before making the trade.  Paredes and Smith for 1 year of Tucker was an overpay then and still is now.

This...

Trading Smith for Tucker isn't a big deal, what becomes a big deal is Trading good young assets for 1 year of a player and you keep going in a merry go round with your roster and playing in the mediocre end of the pool because you can't tie up the top level players long term and Trading away good young assets to get them.

No matter what Cam Smith career becomes if Tucker walks at the end of the year because Hoyer can't compete with the big boys with his offer, then this becomes a ****** trade more so not just because you lost Smith but now if they're going to look to replace Tucker bat with another big bat via trade, now they'll have to trade more top assets to get him.

 

[UMFan83]

Don't know if its worth discussing in its own thread but Jed did a Q&A with The Athletic and one of this quotes was that this Cubs team "doesn't have a lot of margin for error", which seems concerning because a) we're in year 5 of his 'retool not rebuild' and b) Our payroll dropped $20m from last year so Jed apparently wasn't able to reduce the Cubs margin of error except for the failed Bregman exception.  Feel like Jed is just over this as his comments are getting more passive aggressive, but maybe I'm reading it wrong.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6226834/2025/03/26/chicago-cubs-president-jed-hoyer-interview/

Quote

I feel like for us, we don’t have a lot of margin for error. We need guys to improve, we need to stay healthy, we need to play clean baseball. I think that the way this team is built — we have a really good defensive team, we should run the bases well — we need to do all those things really well. We don’t have the ability to sort of muddle through and just show up and make the postseason. We have to have a really good season to do that.

 

[imb]

1 minute ago, UMFan83 said:

Don't know if its worth discussing in its own thread but Jed did a Q&A with The Athletic and one of this quotes was that this Cubs team "doesn't have a lot of margin for error", which seems concerning because a) we're in year 5 of his 'retool not rebuild' and b) Our payroll dropped $20m from last year so Jed apparently wasn't able to reduce the Cubs margin of error except for the failed Bregman exception.  Feel like Jed is just over this as his comments are getting more passive aggressive, but maybe I'm reading it wrong.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6226834/2025/03/26/chicago-cubs-president-jed-hoyer-interview/

 

"I think the way this team is built" BUDDY YOU BUILT IT

[chibears55]

49 minutes ago, We Got The Whole 9 said:

If Tucker plays like he did in 2024 I'm pretty confident we will win the division. 

Cubs can win their division if they can just avoid playing bad baseball for most of the season. 

Pirates are shitt, Reds are blah, and the Brewers and Cardinals are taking a Sabbatical for the time being. 

Cubs are the kings of we don't have to get alot better, we just wait til everyone else gets worse in our division. 😅

[CubinNY]

16 minutes ago, imb said:

"I think the way this team is built" BUDDY YOU BUILT IT

One foot out the door 

[chibears55]

24 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

Don't know if its worth discussing in its own thread but Jed did a Q&A with The Athletic and one of this quotes was that this Cubs team "doesn't have a lot of margin for error", which seems concerning because a) we're in year 5 of his 'retool not rebuild' and b) Our payroll dropped $20m from last year so Jed apparently wasn't able to reduce the Cubs margin of error except for the failed Bregman exception.  Feel like Jed is just over this as his comments are getting more passive aggressive, but maybe I'm reading it wrong.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6226834/2025/03/26/chicago-cubs-president-jed-hoyer-interview/

 

Jed setting himself up to leave after the season, and it ok because this team needs a new set of ideas on putting a roster together, especially if TR continues to put limitations on the payroll. 

 

[CubinNY]

This is the money line 

Quote

This is the last year of your deal here and I think I understand why some teams, like the White Sox, don’t like to announce front-office contracts, because it looks like, “Well, Jed’s in the last year of his deal, of course he’s going to make a win-now move like this.” What do you say to that kind of thought?

Everything is based on the organization and organizational decisions, and this is my 14th season with the Cubs. I’ve been here for a long time. Nothing’s about me. It’s about the organization. I think that whether it’s a big trade (or) a big contract, these are all organizational decisions. I try over and over to emphasize that because I do think that ultimately we’re employees, we’re stewards of the organization. That’s how you have to think about it. It’s not about me.

It’s the kids’ team. Jed is a company man through and through, but he’s going out with a message that he did they best he could given what he was allowed to have. 

Edited March 26, 2025 by CubinNY

[Rcal10]

7 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

This is the money line 

It’s the kids’ team. Jed is a company man through and through, but he’s going out with a message that he did they best he could given what he was allowed to have. 

Yep, 100% he is saying he did what he could within the guidelines ownership allowed. The fact they basically pocketed Bellinger’s money saved is ridiculous. If they weren’t going to spend it they should have traded him for someone of equal value with a similar contract. Or ate his entire contract to get a quality arm back. 

[We Got The Whole 9]

It's because he knows MIL will continue to be greater than the sum of their parts. They have similar philosophy, building teams with suffocating defense and athleticism, and they continue to churn out great pitching. The Craig Yoho guy has a changeup that drops more than Devin Williams', for example. If 2nd half Chourio is who they get moving forward, that's the type of player who basically wins your division for you every year. They have a better system than ours according to several publications, with multiple guys getting elite helium ATM. He knows the Brewers have reigned over the division more or less for the last 7 years. They are not going to be as easy to knock off as many expect. And if that have worse injury luck than the Brewers then they will probably find themselves fighting for a WC. 

 

Jed could have done way better this winter. Jumping the market to get Boyd still doesn't sit well with me. We could have taken his and Rea's money and gotten a real difference-maker.

[JBears79]

43 minutes ago, chibears55 said:

This...

Trading Smith for Tucker isn't a big deal, what becomes a big deal is Trading good young assets for 1 year of a player and you keep going in a merry go round with your roster and playing in the mediocre end of the pool because you can't tie up the top level players long term and Trading away good young assets to get them.

No matter what Cam Smith career becomes if Tucker walks at the end of the year because Hoyer can't compete with the big boys with his offer, then this becomes a ****** trade more so not just because you lost Smith but now if they're going to look to replace Tucker bat with another big bat via trade, now they'll have to trade more top assets to get him.

 

Personally, my conspiracy theory is that Jed's idiotic plan is to let Tucker walk at the end of the year and he's hoping one of Cassie or Alcantara claims RF with their performance this season. They will make some low ball offer to Tucker to say that they tried and then TR will cry poor.

[Rcal10]

Regardless of how good Smith turns out, if the Cubs had no intention of signing Tucker long term and also knew they were going to be $20M lower in team salary than last year, they shouldn’t have traded for Tucker. But once they did they should have done more to win in ‘25 or been aggressive in trying to extend him. As an example, instead of Rea and or Boyd, had the Cubs signed a better starter or traded Bellinger for a better starter and took that starters salary, it would have made more sense trading for Tucker. But trading for him to then not spend money to be good this year or to use some of that savings to extend Tucker just is pointless IMO. I have a much bigger issue with what they did after the Tucker trade than I do worrying the Smith will be a star. TBH, regardless of any results of all players traded, if they had no intention of either going all in this year or extending Tucker, the deal makes no sense to me. That said, we do not know FOR SURE that this is Tucker’s only year here. We do know they didn’t go all in, however. So only one chance to make the trade make sense and that is to keep Tucker beyond 2025. Then(if Tucker is here long term) regardless of what anyone the Cubs traded ends up being, IMO, the trade makes sense. 

[Transmogrified Tiger]

38 minutes ago, We Got The Whole 9 said:

It's because he knows MIL will continue to be greater than the sum of their parts. They have similar philosophy, building teams with suffocating defense and athleticism, and they continue to churn out great pitching. The Craig Yoho guy has a changeup that drops more than Devin Williams', for example. If 2nd half Chourio is who they get moving forward, that's the type of player who basically wins your division for you every year. They have a better system than ours according to several publications, with multiple guys getting elite helium ATM. He knows the Brewers have reigned over the division more or less for the last 7 years. They are not going to be as easy to knock off as many expect. And if that have worse injury luck than the Brewers then they will probably find themselves fighting for a WC.

This is the type of thing that tends to be true right up until the point that it isn't.  The ebbs and flows from the Rays over the last ~15 years are a good example.  When your resources require you to be so much better/lucky with your decisions than everyone else it's very hard to maintain and even harder to do so when you have the turnover at the top of the roster, coaching staff, and front office the Brewers have had over the last 2 seasons.  I expect them to be the stiffest competition for the division, but they lack high upside pitching and their depth has been hammered by injury already.  The median expectation of their offense doesn't look good enough to bridge that likely gap.

[imb]

we've been saying that about milwaukee for a decade now almost and while it's assuredly true now (and was then) the fact that it hasn't actually happened yet pisses me off enough that i'll just believe it when it finally happens

[chibears55]

Here something else I've been thinking lately. 

The CBA expires after 2026, and a likelihood that there may be a shutdown on the owners side with the 2027 season as I've heard.

Outside of Swanson, the only other player they have under contract pass 2026 is Imanaga, which ends after 2027.

I can't help to wonder if TR have told Hoyer no more longterm big money deals now because he wants to wait to see the outcome of the new CBA and or other reasons related.

Not saying it will keep them from extending Tucker, but it could be a reason they don't extend him and or sign a big name FA this coming offseason. 

We could just see the same type of offseason as this past one with Tucker and Pressly as the only big named players possibly leaving via FA, and replace them within or with someone on another 1 or 2 year deal.

 

New POBO/GM comes in slow and doesn't offer anyone big contracts in his first offseason, they play out 2026 and has a clean roster going into 2026 offseason with a new CBA pending 

Edited March 26, 2025 by chibears55

[CubinNY]

8 minutes ago, chibears55 said:

Here something else I've been thinking lately. 

The CBA expires after 2026, and a likelihood that there may be a shutdown on the owners side with the 2027 season as I've heard.

Outside of Swanson, the only other player they have under contract pass 2026 is Imanaga, which ends after 2027.

I can't help to wonder if TR have told Hoyer no more longterm big money deals now because he wants to wait to see the outcome of the new CBA and or other reasons related.

Not saying it will keep them from extending Tucker, but it could be a reason they don't extend him and or sign a big name FA this coming offseason. 

We could just see the same type of offseason as this past one with Tucker and Pressly as the only big named players possibly leaving via FA, and replace them within or with someone on another 1 or 2 year deal.

 

New POBO/GM comes in slow and doesn't offer anyone big contracts in his first offseason, they play out 2026 and has a clean roster going into 2026 offseason with a new CBA pending 

That has been my working theory for a while. Although I think the new President will be Hawkins. 

[Rcal10]

19 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

That has been my working theory for a while. Although I think the new President will be Hawkins. 

As much as I hate the theory and hate ownership of it is their working theory, I tend to side with this idea as well. I think it is stupid and really have issues with the Ricketts for this way of running the club, but I believe it to be the case. On a similar note, the Cubs were valued at $4.2B by Forbes. Ricketts bought the team for $845M. How does that factor in to his “break even”, put all baseball revenues back into the team, catastrophic losses due to Covid, messages they love to spread? 

[CubinNY]

34 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

As much as I hate the theory and hate ownership of it is their working theory, I tend to side with this idea as well. I think it is stupid and really have issues with the Ricketts for this way of running the club, but I believe it to be the case. On a similar note, the Cubs were valued at $4.2B by Forbes. Ricketts bought the team for $845M. How does that factor in to his “break even”, put all baseball revenues back into the team, catastrophic losses due to Covid, messages they love to spread? 

It's unrealized gain. My other working theory is that the kids have overextended themselves on their outside projects and are cash-poor. It's the only reason to sell shares of the team to PE and others (owner of the SB Cubs, for example). They just aren't good with money, which is ironic. 

Edited March 26, 2025 by CubinNY

[chibears55]

44 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

As much as I hate the theory and hate ownership of it is their working theory, I tend to side with this idea as well. I think it is stupid and really have issues with the Ricketts for this way of running the club, but I believe it to be the case. On a similar note, the Cubs were valued at $4.2B by Forbes. Ricketts bought the team for $845M. How does that factor in to his “break even”, put all baseball revenues back into the team, catastrophic losses due to Covid, messages they love to spread? 

Because he is also likely adding into it, all of the neighborhood he bought up and had redone. 

[Irrelevant Dude]

51 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

It's unrealized gain.

Right.  The increase in team value has very little impact on revenues or liquid cash available for spending.  When my house goes up in value, I certainly don't feel any more well off than I did before.  If anything, it's the other way around because of property taxes.  So, while it is great for the Ricketts family that the team value has skyrocketed since their purchase, that value doesn't become real until they actually sell.  This isn't defending their unwillingness to spend on payroll.  The absolutely can and should spend more.  But not because the team value has risen.

[Rcal10]

36 minutes ago, Irrelevant Dude said:

Right.  The increase in team value has very little impact on revenues or liquid cash available for spending.  When my house goes up in value, I certainly don't feel any more well off than I did before.  If anything, it's the other way around because of property taxes.  So, while it is great for the Ricketts family that the team value has skyrocketed since their purchase, that value doesn't become real until they actually sell.  This isn't defending their unwillingness to spend on payroll.  The absolutely can and should spend more.  But not because the team value has risen.

No, I get that. It is just frustrating when owners act like owning a team is a bad investment. I get they can’t spend the money and it is unrealized gains until they actually sell the team. But it is annoying for them to cry broke as their investment gains value at a very high rate. Fact is the Cubs are a major market team. They should spend like kn. Fine if they aren’t with the Dodgers and the 2 NY teams. But they should be top 5, yearly. 

[Stratos]

9 hours ago, Backtobanks said:

Hoyer should have had a discussion with Ricketts about the likelihood of signing Tucker before making the trade.  Paredes and Smith for 1 year of Tucker was an overpay then and still is now.

I'm 100% sure that convo happened. 

[Stratos]

The Astros aren't dumb enough to think Smith couldn't use at least another season in the upper minors a la Matt Shaw.

I don't know their entire OF situation but they must be slim on options if he's their best option in RF and Alruve is whiffing on flyballs in LF.

If Smith sucks he goes back down to the minors and the service clock stops.  No harm no foul for the Astros minus adding him to the 40-man.

[Stratos]

Delete

Edited March 26, 2025 by Stratos