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Posted (edited)
17 minutes ago, mul21 said:

Ideally, that's a fantastic solution to the problem, but he'll be 32 in August and may want a longer term deal than the Cubs are willing to offer.  If they can get him for 2 more years, that would be perfect but I'd be surprised if he takes that deal/someone doesn't offer him 3-4 years.

I don't mind to keep Seiya for 3 more seasons, after this year, but I'm not sure about 4 years.  Seems like he's still improving.  I would take 2 years for Happ, too.  But, not both of them.

The thing is that they seem to be the best OFs available in the next FA.  Aside from Skubal, Shota is also one of the best SPs.  I like to keep Shota for 2 more years, too.  If we lose him, we would have Cabrera, Rea, Assad, Brown, Steele + whoever we get before the TDL or in the winter.  We don't even know how good Steele will be.  If we can get a non-rental TOR guy, that would be the best.

Edited by mk49
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Posted
33 minutes ago, mul21 said:

If you think this, you clearly haven't been paying attention to the skills the Cubs FO seems to prefer in players, the most obvious being the ability to minimize swing and miss.  I'm not saying Shaw is ticketed for the starting job in RF/LF next season, but to think that Alcantara has the upper hand when one guy is already playing in MLB regularly and the other guy hasn't been up for more than a cup of coffee while on the 40 man roster the last 3 years seems silly.

My thoughts, exactly. 

Posted
9 minutes ago, Bertz said:

And has a 127 wRC+ in a shade under 300 PAs going back to last ASB

Is the following biased? Yes, of course it is, I would enjoy watching the team more if he wasn't on it, and what else should I be worried about besides my enjoyment.

I don't know where you picked your starting point but I used August 1 as a best guess, and got 253 PAs. In that stretch, he has a .333 wOBA and a .307 xwOBA. The average RF in baseball this year has a .334 wOBA. So, generously, he's a league average bat for the position. Defensively he's grading out a little above average in the outfield (slash overall). For his career he's got a 97 wRC and is outperforming his xwOBA by 5 points. 

Do I think he's an overpay for 2-4 months of Freddy Peralta? Sure, probably, throw in Brooks Raley or Luke Weaver or whatever. I'd probably still lean towards overpackaging the glut of blocked prospects we have. 

The point about Shaw having no position but still being on pace for 500 PAs is valid, and I've become convinced there's plenty of PAs available for that 10th man if he can be versatile. Shaw is plenty valuable at that role. I don't think he's nearly as valuable as Starting Corner Outfielder. 

Posted (edited)
44 minutes ago, mul21 said:

If you think this, you clearly haven't been paying attention to the skills the Cubs FO seems to prefer in players, the most obvious being the ability to minimize swing and miss.  I'm not saying Shaw is ticketed for the starting job in RF/LF next season, but to think that Alcantara has the upper hand when one guy is already playing in MLB regularly and the other guy hasn't been up for more than a cup of coffee while on the 40 man roster the last 3 years seems silly.

All im saying is, I dont think Shaw is inked to be an OD outfielder as of now.

And yes, if it between Shaw and Alcantara, I feel Hoyer would prefer Alcantara be that guy right now, obviously his K rate would need to improve, but his power has increased, and he has a good glove.

I think Hoyer would like to keep Shaw as that super sub guy if hes not traded for a SP.

Edited by chibears55
Posted
12 minutes ago, ILMindState said:

Ok Bruce, what is it?

 

 

 

Lol, Hoyer called him and told him to shut up and take it back 🤣 

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Posted

Levine's profile pic cracks me up. When I see how he actually looks, he looks sickly. Reminds me of this local law firm, run by 2 white brothers. Their billboards must have headshots from when they were fresh out of college. I saw one of their commercials and they looked at least 30 years older.

Old-Timey Member
Posted
12 minutes ago, We Got The Whole 9 said:

Levine's profile pic cracks me up. When I see how he actually looks, he looks sickly. Reminds me of this local law firm, run by 2 white brothers. Their billboards must have headshots from when they were fresh out of college. I saw one of their commercials and they looked at least 30 years older.

It’s usually a shock when people at work see me because my HR profile pic is from like 20 years ago.  I kind of enjoy the WTF face now.  It’s like….the profile pic right?  Yeah.

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Old-Timey Member
Posted
1 hour ago, squally1313 said:

Is the following biased? Yes, of course it is, I would enjoy watching the team more if he wasn't on it, and what else should I be worried about besides my enjoyment.

I don't know where you picked your starting point but I used August 1 as a best guess, and got 253 PAs. In that stretch, he has a .333 wOBA and a .307 xwOBA. The average RF in baseball this year has a .334 wOBA. So, generously, he's a league average bat for the position. Defensively he's grading out a little above average in the outfield (slash overall). For his career he's got a 97 wRC and is outperforming his xwOBA by 5 points. 

Do I think he's an overpay for 2-4 months of Freddy Peralta? Sure, probably, throw in Brooks Raley or Luke Weaver or whatever. I'd probably still lean towards overpackaging the glut of blocked prospects we have. 

The point about Shaw having no position but still being on pace for 500 PAs is valid, and I've become convinced there's plenty of PAs available for that 10th man if he can be versatile. Shaw is plenty valuable at that role. I don't think he's nearly as valuable as Starting Corner Outfielder. 

I used the ASB, so 7/18.  Since then he's got a .266/.318/.506 line (127 wRC+) in 293 PAs.  It's probably not fully earned, there's some xwOBA shenanigans like you call out (though worth noting the ASB is when he started doing his Isaac Paredes pulled fly ball impression) and he's overindexed against LHP.  But he's also 24 and presumably still improving.  Let's call him, especially by April 1 of next year, a true talent 110 wRC+ and +5 COF defender?  Stylistically different but that's not too far off of Ian Happ.

I'm fine moving Shaw, I think just in the past few days I wrote something on the minor league forum about us being in a pick 2 situation with Shaw/Alcantara/Ramirez and me preferring the latter two.  But assuming he doesn't tank over the next five months I view Shaw as a viable backfill for one of those corner spots heading into next year.

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Old-Timey Member
Posted (edited)
3 hours ago, CubinNY said:

It has little to do with him as a person. He doesn't have a position on the Cubs. If Shaw is too much for Peralta, fine. He's surplus on this team. Find a match with a good "cost-controlled" starting pitcher somewhere. 

I don't see how someone who has watched Berti, Brujan, Wisdom, Workman, Lopez, Cooper, Mastrobouni, Bote, and Madrigal accrue 1000 PAs over the last two years can hold this opinion.

 

*** I left Morel's 90 OPS and Paredes' 82 OPS off this list and calculation because each was at some point a starter (i.e "Plan A").  What I listed was all bench and non-Catchers. And 90% of those AB's will be consumed by Shaw this year.  I stand by including Wisdom who got 31 DH AB's in 2024 because all of Busch PCA and Bellinger were in your top 9 PA guys that year. 

Edited by Bull
Posted

Shaw's the ultimate insurance plan as things currently stand, and I don't see the Cubs trading him unless it's for a big name piece.  I get that he's a bench guy and I'm still ticked off at him for ditching the team in the middle of a playoff race last year, but considering this team's injury luck and the fact that everyone seemingly ran out of gas in the playoffs last season, having a guy like him available to spell everyone else, allow for more flexibility with defensive subs and pinch hitting, and fill in if anyone goes on the IL is extremely valuable at the moment.  It also helps that he provides value both in the field and at the plate.

If you were valuing players in a potential trade, you'd be crazy not to value Shaw over Mo or anyone on the Cubs' farm.

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Posted
6 minutes ago, Outshined_One said:

Shaw's the ultimate insurance plan as things currently stand

Pretty much this. If any of our infielders gets hurt, he gets all or a majority of their ABs and there shouldn't be a catastrophic dropoff in production. LF/RF goes down, he gets all the ABs against lefties. I don't know what happens if Pete went down for a significant amount of time, I would guess Happ would play CF?

Posted
1 hour ago, chibears55 said:

All im saying is, I dont think Shaw is inked to be an OD outfielder as of now.

And yes, if it between Shaw and Alcantara, I feel Hoyer would prefer Alcantara be that guy right now, obviously his K rate would need to improve, but his power has increased, and he has a good glove.

I think Hoyer would like to keep Shaw as that super sub guy if hes not traded for a SP.

The "good guys" finish last it seems...they are often forgotten, marginalized, discounted, overlooked... The "solution" to one of the '27 OF issues is already in the organization. What does Jonny freaking Long have to do to get some recognition and hype from the fanbase?

Seriously, Jed put him on the 40-man roster already. All the kid does is hit. He has hit at every stop...has not struggled with level promotions. Deal with the '17 Schwarber level of defense in LF.  Call the kid up! Bet he becomes your best non-catcher RH bat off the bench.

Old-Timey Member
Posted

I wouldn't trade Shaw for a SP rental.  Would be really nice to have a Peralta type but pitchers get hurt frequently as we've seen.  I'm not trading key position player assets for a pitcher unless they're clearly expendable, which Shaw isnt.

I think Hoyer has been very wise to pin most of our money/resources on position players.

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Posted
1 hour ago, Layoutman said:

The "good guys" finish last it seems...they are often forgotten, marginalized, discounted, overlooked... The "solution" to one of the '27 OF issues is already in the organization. What does Jonny freaking Long have to do to get some recognition and hype from the fanbase?

Seriously, Jed put him on the 40-man roster already. All the kid does is hit. He has hit at every stop...has not struggled with level promotions. Deal with the '17 Schwarber level of defense in LF.  Call the kid up! Bet he becomes your best non-catcher RH bat off the bench.

I've been wanting Long to be up since last season, he could definitely be a guy next season or a trade piece.

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