Winter Doldrums Thread

[thawv]

27 minutes ago, Outshined_One said:

That's four catchers vying for spots on the ML roster between Kelly, Amaya, Ballesteros, and Bethancourt.

I mean, sure, depth is nice, especially if Bethancourt is willing to hold down the fort in Iowa, but that's a bit of an odd move.

They really only have 2 catchers on the roster, and Bethancourt will be in Iowa waiting for an injury.  Moises is not going to be counted on as a catcher. 

[Post Count Padder]

Clearing roster/salary space for someone or just general Mets-ness? He's a big fan favorite.

[Tryptamine]

18 minutes ago, Post Count Padder said:

Clearing roster/salary space for someone or just general Mets-ness? He's a big fan favorite.

He had no place to play after the Mets traded for Semien

[KCCub]

1 minute ago, Tryptamine said:

He had no place to play after the Mets traded for Semien

He played 50 games in the OF last season at all 3 positions. Fangraphs currently has Benge as their LF starter and Tyrone Taylor as their CF. I like Benge a lot as a prospect but they probably need to make a move there to where they aren't starting both Benge and Taylor.

Does it put them in the Imai market and then they flip some of their young pitching for Duran? 

[Tryptamine]

5 minutes ago, KCCub said:

He played 50 games in the OF last season at all 3 positions. Fangraphs currently has Benge as their LF starter and Tyrone Taylor as their CF. I like Benge a lot as a prospect but they probably need to make a move there to where they aren't starting both Benge and Taylor.

Does it put them in the Imai market and then they flip some of their young pitching for Duran? 

I mean I'd be kind of shocked if they don't walk away with one of Tucker/Bellinger. They've also had rumored interest in Luis Robert

[KCCub]

3 minutes ago, Tryptamine said:

I mean I'd be kind of shocked if they don't walk away with one of Tucker/Bellinger. They've also had rumored interest in Luis Robert

Yea, this gives them room to go that direction. 

I don't understand this angle if true -

 

Just signed Polanco and traded for Semien. Baty finally came around last season, so unless they don't believe in him, I don't understand why you add three 2b, forcing one to play 3b in place of your young third basemen. 

[Tryptamine]

4 minutes ago, KCCub said:

Yea, this gives them room to go that direction. 

I don't understand this angle if true -

 

Just signed Polanco and traded for Semien. Baty finally came around last season, so unless they don't believe in him, I don't understand why you add three 2b, forcing one to play 3b in place of your young third basemen. 

They're pretty much said Polanco is 1B

[Post Count Padder]

Welp, sorry all the posters who wanted him

 

[Tryptamine]

Refsnyder off the board but he wasn't a real option after they picked up the guy coming back from Japan

[chibears55]

9 minutes ago, Post Count Padder said:

Welp, sorry all the posters who wanted him

 

Would of been better then snagging the guy from Japan but you know Cubs weren't spending more than 2 mil even on a much better bench bat, let alone 6.

[Bertz]

Yeah the Cubs at this point need some coverage at 3B, YMMV on whether he slots ahead or behind Shaw.  And depending on how comfortable you are burying the kids you can add a RHH CFer or full time-ish OF/DH.

But a pure platoon corner outfielder no longer makes much sense.

[chibears55]

Padres still adding on...

 

https://x.com/i/status/2003163846769541497

[Dfan25]

I thought the Padres had no money . They will probably still spend more than Tom 😁

Edited December 23, 2025 by Dfan25

[WhyCantWeWin]

55 minutes ago, Dfan25 said:

I thought the Padres had no money . They will probably still spend more than Tom 😁

Its like Cuzi mentioned, Cubs seem to be the only team afraid of the impending lockout 

[chibears55]

1 hour ago, Dfan25 said:

I thought the Padres had no money . They will probably still spend more than Tom 😁

Current payroll minus the Arbs, theyre outspending them already.

 

[chibears55]

Crazy looking at the Cubs payroll for 2027 2028 and 2029, their current guarenteed contracts is just 39 30 and 26 mil total for those seasons, with Swanson being the bulk of it 28 27 and all of it 26 mil in 2029.

How is that even possible in today's MLB for what supposed to be a big market team, to only have one guarenteed major contract for the next 3 seasons and he not even a big star player...

There is absolutely zero excuse for this 

[Stratos]

7 hours ago, Outshined_One said:

That's four catchers vying for spots on the ML roster between Kelly, Amaya, Ballesteros, and Bethancourt.

I mean, sure, depth is nice, especially if Bethancourt is willing to hold down the fort in Iowa, but that's a bit of an odd move.

He's an Iowa injury backup, similar to what Reese McGuire was last year like Jason said,  Good veteran guy for Iowa arms to pitch to also, even in ST.

Does he have some kind of opt-out where he can leave if he doesn't make the team?

[Stratos]

4 hours ago, Bertz said:

Yeah the Cubs at this point need some coverage at 3B, YMMV on whether he slots ahead or behind Shaw.  And depending on how comfortable you are burying the kids you can add a RHH CFer or full time-ish OF/DH.

But a pure platoon corner outfielder no longer makes much sense.

Question is if Moises makes the team to play DH who is the 4th OF?  If Caissie makes the team over Mo it likely means Caissie sits vs LHP and Seiya plays RF, and any RHB on the bench would DH.  Maybe they acquire a bench IF who can also play OF, like Willi Castro did.

An injury to a corner OF means Caissie is almost certainly on the team for sure.  Injury to PCA puts Alcantara on the team.

I think they sign some dumpster dive corner OF to invite to ST but not to a guaranteed MLB contract.

[Dfan25]

1 hour ago, chibears55 said:

Current payroll minus the Arbs, theyre outspending them already.

 

I know they have a higher payroll , I meant they spend more than the Cubs this offseason even though there were rumblings they had money to spend . 
 

With that said Rosenthal reported today that the Padres will need to move money from this point on first , before any moves . 
 

Cubs will probably spend more this offseason than them .

[Stratos]

9 hours ago, Tryptamine said:

Holy hell this is the most boring offseason in a year in which they expect to contend. Still time left, but as of right now they probably aren't as good of a team as they were entering the season last year. 

A lot of the best FA including most good SP haven't signed.  Guess it's just a slow-moving offseason.  Only thing to move was relief market.

I wonder if the Contreras trade is telling us the Red Sox didn't like the prices on the big FA bats like Bregman/Bichette so they just decided to tap out and make a trade instead.  The prices for Schwarber and Alonso were nuts, so maybe prices on others are still high and teams are waiting for them to come down to earth a bit.

[Illiterate Scholar]

We'll hear about the Padres needing to clear money for a few weeks, then they'll give Tucker $475M to play LF

[Dfan25]

Read that Heyman said the Cubs are 1 of 6 teams in on Okamoto . Nice fit but the Blue Jays and Red Sox are involved . 
 

Other 3 are Dbacks / Angels / Pirates .

[mk49]

35 minutes ago, Dfan25 said:

Read that Heyman said the Cubs are 1 of 6 teams in on Okamoto . Nice fit but the Blue Jays and Red Sox are involved . 
 

Other 3 are Dbacks / Angels / Pirates .

If Okamoto is 3yr, $45M or less, it would be worth it for the Cubs.  Supposedly, he can do 3B, 1B and outfield.  I don't know how good he is as a defensive dude, but he could be our utility guy who can hit better than most utility guys, and he can do DH, if he can actually hit well.  He got three gold gloves in Japan, but Seiya got more (maybe, 5 times?).  So, I really don't know his defense.  Okamoto fits way better than Murakami for the Cubs.

Then, forget about Bregman, which doesn't make sense to me, unless they really want to trade Nico, or don't like Shaw.  Then, they should have enough money to sign Imai or whoever like Valdez or Suarez.

Edited December 23, 2025 by mk49

[Backtobanks]

10 hours ago, Stratos said:

Question is if Moises makes the team to play DH who is the 4th OF?  If Caissie makes the team over Mo it likely means Caissie sits vs LHP and Seiya plays RF, and any RHB on the bench would DH.  Maybe they acquire a bench IF who can also play OF, like Willi Castro did.

An injury to a corner OF means Caissie is almost certainly on the team for sure.  Injury to PCA puts Alcantara on the team.

I think they sign some dumpster dive corner OF to invite to ST but not to a guaranteed MLB contract.

The Cubs (so far) have painted themselves into a corner because of their reluctance to trade top prospects.  Ballesteros needs to be part of a package (Wicks, Birdsell, Triantos, Brown, etc.) to obtain a TOR.  Alcantara should be taught to play 1B (6' 6") so that he could back up PCA and Busch.  Andujar would be a great addition, but Jed will wait too long, and he will sign elsewhere.

[thawv]

12 hours ago, chibears55 said:

Crazy looking at the Cubs payroll for 2027 2028 and 2029, their current guarenteed contracts is just 39 30 and 26 mil total for those seasons, with Swanson being the bulk of it 28 27 and all of it 26 mil in 2029.

How is that even possible in today's MLB for what supposed to be a big market team, to only have one guarenteed major contract for the next 3 seasons and he not even a big star player...

There is absolutely zero excuse for this 

This is their goal.  This is why Jed got an extension for doing nothing as far as winning goes.  The Cubs don't try to win.