Winter Doldrums Thread

[thawv]

9 hours ago, mk49 said:

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.

If they prioritize winner of spending, which they are not, I'm signing Bregman to play 3B and Shaw to be the utility infielder, while taking over 2B in 2027.  Team is so much better in this situation. 

[Bertz]

10 hours 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 .

That seems a little surprising after Austin.  But if the Cubs are higher on his 3B defense than the public facing scouts then of course it's a good fit.

[Neuby]

Quote

“Teams continue to ask the Minnesota Twins about right-hander Joe Ryan, who is under club control for two more seasons,” Rosenthal and Sammon wrote. “The Twins, though, continue to say they are not shopping Ryan, and one person briefed on their talks said they haven’t even discussed him with other clubs since before the GM meetings in early November.”

 

https://nesn.com/2025/12/new-joe-ryan-trade-update-aligns-with-red-soxs-offseason-plan/

Article mentions the Red Sox are focusing on another big bat 

Edited December 23, 2025 by Neuby

[Rcal10]

1 hour ago, thawv said:

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.  

Thawv, come on man. Give it a rest. Every damn post is so negative. You sound like a white Sox fan. Cubs are a good team. Sure, I would like to see better. I would like if the FO spent more. But this continual assault is getting old. We get it. You hate Jed, you hate the owners, the FO is stupid, all they care about is making money. Ownership, FO, manager, scouts, and coaches all have no idea what they are doing.  Did I cover it all? My question is why are you even a fan if you have this much constant distain for everything they do? 

[Hortonhearsawho]

I wasn't expecting the White Sox to outspend the Cubs in the off-season but here we are. 

[ToolDRT]

 

[WhyCantWeWin]

11 minutes ago, ToolDRT said:

 

The big pen signing Cerami mentioned a few weeks ago. Guess the roster is set now 

[Neuby]

Webb is getting is getting 1.5M. Leaves them plenty of funds to snag one last arm..Surprised he was't able to get a little bit more.

(Fairbanks, Dominguez, Pierce Johnson,Kopech, Leclerc, Stanek, Robertson,Martinez)

 

 

 

[NorthsideAvenger]

The Cubs signed Milner, Maton and Webb? So the Cubs trying to recreate the 2025 Texas Rangers bullpen?

[Hortonhearsawho]

Add the Pirates to the list of teams that have outspent us this winter. 

Edited December 24, 2025 by Hortonhearsawho

[Post Count Padder]

Webb is a decent middle reliever, it's a cheap deal and we basically needed to rebuild the pen so I don't dislike it in a vacuum but you pair it with the lack of notable signings and it's disappointing/frustrating.

Edited December 23, 2025 by Post Count Padder

[chibears55]

2 hours ago, ToolDRT said:

 

At least he's good...

[chibears55]

7 minutes ago, Post Count Padder said:

Webb is a decent middle reliever, it's a cheap deal and we basically needed to rebuild the pen so I don't dislike it in a vacuum but you pair it with the lack of notable signings and it's disappointing/frustrating.

Hoyer likes to puzzle piece his bullpen every year with guys under the radar on 1 year cheap cost deals , but yea it would be nice if by doing that hed spend on an impact player or two on a starting pitcher and or everyday player.

[thawv]

4 hours ago, Rcal10 said:

Thawv, come on man. Give it a rest. Every damn post is so negative. You sound like a white Sox fan. Cubs are a good team. Sure, I would like to see better. I would like if the FO spent more. But this continual assault is getting old. We get it. You hate Jed, you hate the owners, the FO is stupid, all they care about is making money. Ownership, FO, manager, scouts, and coaches all have no idea what they are doing.  Did I cover it all? My question is why are you even a fan if you have this much constant distain for everything they do? 

I'm just stating facts, bud.  They don't even try to hide it anymore. 

I don't hate Jed.  He's just terribe at his job.  The money he has to spend, and he can't dominate this small market division is pathetic . He's getting crushed!

Yes, I'm very unhappy with the way the team is being run. 

Edited December 23, 2025 by thawv

[WhyCantWeWin]

It is pretty funny how they went from “we’re going to try and resign Tucker” to completely not even trying to resign him. 

[CubinNY]

1 hour ago, WhyCantWeWin said:

It is pretty funny how they went from “we’re going to try and resign Tucker” to completely not even trying to resign him. 

I think that was more wish casting by the fans than anything else. 

[chibears55]

3 hours ago, thawv said:

I'm just stating facts, bud.  They don't even try to hide it anymore. 

I don't hate Jed.  He's just terribe at his job.  The money he has to spend, and he can't dominate this small market division is pathetic . He's getting crushed!

Yes, I'm very unhappy with the way the team is being run. 

Imagine if Hoyer and Ricketts had Banks, Santo, Williams, and Jenkins now, they'd be allowing them to walk as FA after 5-7 years through ARB or trading them away over paying them and giving them a longterm extension.   

Since 2010, the Cubs longest tenure players are 7 ( Hendricks, Rizzo, Bryant, Contreras, Baez, Hoerner, Happ) guys that came up from minors and just played out contract with 3 ( Hendricks, Hoerner, Happ) getting a little extension.

All good players but no stars

Edited December 24, 2025 by chibears55

[Cuzi]

Kris Bryant was absolutely a star. It's just a shame hes built with senior citizen parts.

Edited December 24, 2025 by Cuzi

[Dfan25]

Was looking at possible 3B that could fit in the tight budget after they sign a SP and there isn’t much out there .

 

Dejong

Moncada

R. Urías 

Kinner Falefa 

Andujar 

 

Andujar is technically a 3B , but is atrocious on defense and he hit well last year , so he probably is out of their price range .

[ILMindState]

 

 

[tartan22]

the refusal to allocate *any* resources to *one* established reliever is definitely a top 3 most annoying thing about this front office.

can't be expected to spend like the marlins, though

[chibears55]

1 hour ago, Dfan25 said:

Was looking at possible 3B that could fit in the tight budget after they sign a SP and there isn’t much out there .

 

Dejong

Moncada

R. Urías 

Kinner Falefa 

Andujar 

 

Andujar is technically a 3B , but is atrocious on defense and he hit well last year , so he probably is out of their price range .

I wouldn't be looking into potential everyday guys anymore, they're settled with who they have already and likely felt this way going into the offseason.

The only question revolves around Caissie and when they plan on getting him up to play RF everyday.

OD will likely be...

Amaya Busch Hoerner Swanson Shaw Happ PCA Suzuki with Ballesteros DH

[Dfan25]

13 minutes ago, chibears55 said:

I wouldn't be looking into potential everyday guys anymore, they're settled with who they have already and likely felt this way going into the offseason.

The only question revolves around Caissie and when they plan on getting him up to play RF everyday.

OD will likely be...

Amaya Busch Hoerner Swanson Shaw Happ PCA Suzuki with Ballesteros DH

None of those players are everyday guys , that’s why I listed them . They will need to find a backup 3B . They don’t have anybody on the roster that can do it .

 

Edited December 24, 2025 by Dfan25

[chibears55]

1 minute ago, Dfan25 said:

None of those players are everyday guys , that’s why I listed them . They will need to find a backup 3B that . They don’t have anybody on the roster that can do it .

 

Gotcha...  maybe theyll actually give Long and or Murray a legit opportunity in ST to make the team over Kingery, they both play CI, Long can play OF, Murray a SH.

 

[Illiterate Scholar]

Say what you will about Cerami, but he is clearly very well connected. When he said the Cubs were still involved with high end relievers after Maton, I do wonder what changed. 

Maybe they originally felt confident they were gonna trade for a SP and now are only in on a FA? Maybe they view Bregman as more realistic now? Because if they trade for a SP like Gore or Cabrera and don't sign Bregman, they'd start the season at least $30M under the first threshold. The large expenditure has to be coming soon.