Hypothetical thread to discuss trading prospect(s) for starting pitchers

[Stratos]

We do have a surplus of prospects to deal from.   The MLB infield is locked up for several years.   We need 2 corner OF next year and one of them could be Shaw.  I suspect Shaw might remain a supersub.  .Rojas/Ramirez could move to the OF or 1 of them to the bench, but we also have Kepley, Conrad, Hartshorn for OF longterm, plus Alcantara.

Ramirez, Shaw, Alcantara, and maybe Kepley could compete for the OF spots next spring.  They could also sign a vet like Conforto on a short term for depth.

We also a bunch of have other prospects below any of those guys we can deal, like the Cole Mathis variety.

I think they keep Mo because he could catch next year.

[chibears55]

5 hours ago, CubinNY said:

anything is possible in a short series.

True, but so much will need to go right for them with such little life in that pitching staff

[Rcal10]

54 minutes ago, chibears55 said:

True, but so much will need to go right for them with such little life in that pitching staff

As it stands now, I agree. But a guy like Cabrera has a lot of upside. He did seem to be throwing harder after his first stint in the IL. He got lit up against the Giants, but that was one of those winding Wrigley days with the wind blowing out. I do believe he could be good come September. He has a lot of talent. Then there is Brown, if he is healthy. Boyd should also be doing well in September. His injuries limited his innings this year and in the end that could be a plus. This doesn’t even count Imanaga. Add a solid starting pitcher via trade and a solid pen arm and you have a decent staff for the playoffs. They don’t have to be good all year. Just the last 2 months of the regular season and the playoffs. For me, it is all about how guys come back and when guys come back from injuries, plus a couple of pitchers.

1 starter via trade then 2 of Cabrera, Shota, Brown or Boyd pitch well and you have a good chance. Pen might have 1 guy you trade for, Rolison, Theilbar, Pomarez, Webb, Palencia, Rea and/or Assad and Steele. Doesn’t even include if Shelby Miller can make it back. 
Chibear, it is very easy to say they don’t have enough and be right. Most likely you are going to be right. 29 teams can make that statement and be right every year. So I am not arguing with you that they will win. I am just providing a path to winning. In the end I am sure when they are eliminated you will tell us all you knew they didn’t have enough. Truth is they probably don’t. But they are good enough to do what they can to at least try winning. 

Edited Monday at 11:18 PM by Rcal10

[Stratos]

5 hours ago, Rcal10 said:

As it stands now, I agree. But a guy like Cabrera has a lot of upside.

Cabrera's fastball sucks, but one tweak there could really help him, like it did Brown.

Brown, Boyd, Cabrera, Imanaga, Peterson.  That rotation has potential to be at least be average to solid.  With this offense that might be enough.  Teams have won a WS that way.  They add another SP and it could be above-average if mostly healthy.

The key is to keep guys like Taillon and Rea from starting as much as possible, which comes from guys being healthy.

They could use another arm or 2 in the pen.  They could use another guy with shutdown stuff like Palencia.  We saw how huge the pen is in the 1st 2 rounds last year.  If we had a good pen the rotation wouldn't even be as much an issue.

[Geographyhater8888]

2023 Rangers is the teams ceiling if everything goes right. Two similar teams in terms of construction. 

Edited yesterday at 04:53 PM by Geographyhater8888

[Geographyhater8888]

13 hours ago, Dfan25 said:

 

Busch has done a nice job getting on base againts lefties , but he can’t slug againts them . He can’t slug againts anybody actually this year . 
 

He’s not pulling the ball. 11% lower than 2025 and over 6% lower than 24. I wonder if facing lefties has effected his righty mashing swing path besides the absence of miles Mikolas in the division.

Edited yesterday at 09:52 AM by Geographyhater8888

[Dfan25]

6 hours ago, Geographyhater8888 said:

He’s not pulling the ball. 11% lower than 2025 and over 6% lower than 24. I wonder if facing lefties has effected his righty mashing swing path besides the absence of miles Mikolas in the division.

Because he has walked he has been okay but would like more power. Reality is that there are very few left handed bats that hit for power againts lefties .  And he usually hits close to Happ and Happ is worthless againts lefties . 

Edited yesterday at 03:48 PM by Dfan25

[Tryptamine]

6 hours ago, Geographyhater8888 said:

He’s not pulling the ball. 11% lower than 2025 and over 6% lower than 24. I wonder if facing lefties has effected his righty mashing swing path besides the absence of miles Mikolas in the division.

I mean, yeah he started super slow not hitting his first HR until April 22nd, but since that game he has posted a .254/.397/.455 SLG which is good for a 140 wRC+, a stretch that covers his last 305 PAs. I'm quite OK with that.

[Tryptamine]

Not necessarily for this year, but I'd love to grab Andrew Painter from the Phillies. He is hard struggling over there and I'd love to rehab him in the Cub pitch lab.

[chibears55]

21 hours ago, Rcal10 said:

 
Chibear, it is very easy to say they don’t have enough and be right. Most likely you are going to be right. 29 teams can make that statement and be right every year. So I am not arguing with you that they will win. I am just providing a path to winning. In the end I am sure when they are eliminated you will tell us all you knew they didn’t have enough. Truth is they probably don’t. But they are good enough to do what they can to at least try winning. 

I dont think im the only one on this site or in cubs fandom that feels they dont have enough to get deep into the postseason, it wouldn't be a see I was right moment,  cause its really not expected of them now.

The second half can be a different story for them of course, they may make the right additions at the deadline with guys that will help win a bunch of games, and players that had a blah first half may actually play up to their expectations.

They have 72 games left, right now im only confidence in them winning half, hopefully after the deadline and seeing how some of these guys play the rest of July into August,  that changes for the better.

[We Got The Whole 9]

19 minutes ago, chibears55 said:

I dont think im the only one on this site or in cubs fandom that feels they dont have enough to get deep into the postseason, it wouldn't be a see I was right moment,  cause its really not expected of them now.

The second half can be a different story for them of course, they may make the right additions at the deadline with guys that will help win a bunch of games, and players that had a blah first half may actually play up to their expectations.

They have 72 games left, right now im only confidence in them winning half, hopefully after the deadline and seeing how some of these guys play the rest of July into August,  that changes for the better.

You're only confident they'll be a 500 team over the remaining games?

[squally1313]

1 hour ago, chibears55 said:

I dont think im the only one on this site or in cubs fandom that feels they dont have enough to get deep into the postseason, it wouldn't be a see I was right moment,  cause its really not expected of them now.

The second half can be a different story for them of course, they may make the right additions at the deadline with guys that will help win a bunch of games, and players that had a blah first half may actually play up to their expectations.

They have 72 games left, right now im only confidence in them winning half, hopefully after the deadline and seeing how some of these guys play the rest of July into August,  that changes for the better.

You’ve never really elaborated on what this means though. We won a three game series in Milwaukee against their top three pitchers like 2 weeks ago with basically bullpen games and AAA guys. Is that not enough for a short playoff series? or is the bar just ‘The Dodgers’ and if so should 29 teams hold or try to sell off to try again next year. 

[chibears55]

59 minutes ago, We Got The Whole 9 said:

You're only confident they'll be a 500 team over the remaining games?

Yes, As of now, that how I see this team, pretty much playing even baseball. 

Obviously that can change with what they do at the deadline and if some of the current players that had a meh first half play better.

[chibears55]

3 minutes ago, squally1313 said:

You’ve never really elaborated on what this means though. We won a three game series in Milwaukee against their top three pitchers like 2 weeks ago with basically bullpen games and AAA guys. Is that not enough for a short playoff series? or is the bar just ‘The Dodgers’ and if so should 29 teams hold or try to sell off to try again next year. 

Will AAA pitchers and bullpen games be enough in a playoff series ? Unlikely,  especially the NLDS

Not saying they shouldn't try, just dont have that confidence in this roster, particularly the overall pitching to get it done. Can that change, of course,  but today, im not feeling it.

[squally1313]

20 minutes ago, chibears55 said:

Will AAA pitchers and bullpen games be enough in a playoff series ? Unlikely,  especially the NLDS

Not saying they shouldn't try, just dont have that confidence in this roster, particularly the overall pitching to get it done. Can that change, of course,  but today, im not feeling it.

It’s baseball. 9 innings in October, just like 9 innings in June. 
 

also, that’s bad logic, no? The current pitchers are not good enough to do anything in October, in your opinion, and so therefore we shouldn’t replace those guys with better pitchers? 

[chibears55]

2 minutes ago, squally1313 said:

It’s baseball. 9 innings in October, just like 9 innings in June. 
 

also, that’s bad logic, no? The current pitchers are not good enough to do anything in October, in your opinion, and so therefore we shouldn’t replace those guys with better pitchers? 

AAA pitchers and a bullpen game going up against a team top 2 starters in a playoff series is highly unlikely to have a good outcome 9 out of 10 times.

How many guys are they going to replace ?

How many of their top prospects are you willing to trade away ?

[squally1313]

19 minutes ago, chibears55 said:

AAA pitchers and a bullpen game going up against a team top 2 starters in a playoff series is highly unlikely to have a good outcome 9 out of 10 times.

How many guys are they going to replace ?

How many of their top prospects are you willing to trade away ?

We just beat the second best team in a three game series against their best pitchers. What, they’ll try harder or something? Mis is going to throw 106?

[chibears55]

1 minute ago, squally1313 said:

We just beat the second best team in a three game series against their best pitchers. What, they’ll try harder or something? Mis is going to throw 106?

That was awesome,  but dont think if those same pitching match ups happened again in the NLDS, we'll get the same outcome. 

[squally1313]

1 minute ago, chibears55 said:

That was awesome,  but dont think if those same pitching match ups happened again in the NLDS, we'll get the same outcome. 

But what if we did something, like, say, a trade, to get more advantageous pitching matchups 

[squally1313]

29 minutes ago, chibears55 said:

How many of their top prospects are you willing to trade away ?

Do we have any proof that any of these top prospects play corner outfield well next year? Or the year after that?

[Bull]

This team was constructed for a deep run. With two aces (and approximately 700 other pitchers) on the IL, the calculus has changed. Significant starting rotation additions are necessary for a deep playoff run. It’s not that complicated or worth arguing over. You guys are saying the same thing.

[chibears55]

20 minutes ago, squally1313 said:

But what if we did something, like, say, a trade, to get more advantageous pitching matchups 

Well, then like I had said , my thoughts can change after the deadline and in August. 

[Rcal10]

4 hours ago, chibears55 said:

I dont think im the only one on this site or in cubs fandom that feels they dont have enough to get deep into the postseason, it wouldn't be a see I was right moment,  cause its really not expected of them now.

The second half can be a different story for them of course, they may make the right additions at the deadline with guys that will help win a bunch of games, and players that had a blah first half may actually play up to their expectations.

They have 72 games left, right now im only confidence in them winning half, hopefully after the deadline and seeing how some of these guys play the rest of July into August,  that changes for the better.

Obviously you aren’t the only one who thinks they don’t have enough. I think they need more too.
Most likely everyone thinks they need more. The diffence is when they don’t make it, no one else comes here to claim how they were right that they didn’t have enough. You do.                  
That said, maybe add a quality starter and a solid pen arm, at a minimum, and maybe they have a chance. They need to at least try. 

[Bertz]

Random thought I just had: the Cubs should buy low on Freddy Peralta and then turn around and buy high on Mason Miller

Freddy Peralta is probably fine, but even if he's not he's been good for one time through the batting order this year before the wheels come off.  Ditto Edward Cabrera.  David Peterson has historically been a guy who, even when things aren't going the best, is good the first time through.  Ditto Colin Rea.  Ben Brown can, at minimum, presumably make it back at a lower volume role this year.  Ditto Justin Steele.  Jaxon Wiggins would absolutely eat for 2-3 innings at a time.  Etc. Etc.

There is a good chance you end up in a good spot with the rotation.  It obviously won't be all sunshine and rainbows with the SPs going forward, but between Peralta / Boyd / Shota / Cabrera / Brown you probably end up with three guys throwing well as SPs heading into October. 

And if not?  Embrace chaos and just bullpen your way to the promised land.  Combine half a dozen multi inning relievers from the list above with half a dozen typical short relievers (Miller, Palencia, Webb for leverage; Rolison, Thielbar, Ferguson for matchup work) and just let Craig and Tommy cook.  It's 2026 you're probably not counting on more than 4-5 innings from any SP in the playoffs anyway.  Just lean into it.

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

I feel like Preller is gonna want way too much for Miller after giving up Leo de Vries