Cubs Pre-Offseason Mega Thread

[Hunter]

Any plan that includes getting a fair amount of innings out of Steele as a starter is probably doomed to fail. He is also a free agent after this next season. Horton will probably not be back for any significant amount of innings as a starter either. Wiggins could be used like Ben Brown was in 2025, but there is still some questions about his health and drop in velocity. We blew through a lot of our prospect value acquiring pitching this past season, which sucks because we're right where we were before needing starting pitching and a better bullpen.

[mul21]

In the pen you for sure have Maton, Miller, Palencia, and Rolison back.  Ethan Roberts is also available for the Iowa shuttle along with Assad.  Definitely need another impact arm there but I suspect Morejon will be high on many team's lists.

For the rotation, you're looking at Cabrera as the only highly likely candidate to give you 25-30 starts who's currently on the roster.  I think I'd probably make an effort to bring back Peterson in concert with a dogged pursuit of Skubal.  They just don't have anyone who can be a top of the rotation guy anywhere near MLB ready and maybe not even in the system at all. I kind of hope the clunky end to the season for Holmes leads to him exercising his option and you add him to the mix with Steele, Garrett, and Brown filling out the rest of the staff.  I'd also look at Civale in the Rea role for 2027 if not a straight pen role since he's obviously figured something out since coming to the Cubs.

I probably try to bring Kelly back and have him work at 1B in the offseason as a platoon partner with Busch so you can break in Ayers without having to worry about a 3rd catcher really screwing up the roster.  I'm making a QO to Seiya for sure and probably Happ depending on how that discussion goes.  Assume Happ is back, Alcantara is his platoon partner, and I'm not sure what you do at the other OF position. Maybe a buy low Jarren Duran trade or something like that? That leaves you a bench of Pedro, Shaw, Ayers, and Amaya with one of the first 3 hanging out in Iowa to start the season so the roster fits the Happ/Alcantara platoon.

[Derwood]

I am going on the extremely negative notion that none of the current starters are going to be of any use whatsoever next year. Steele, Horton, Cabrera, Brown, Boyd.....all dead to me. Start from scratch

[squally1313]

13 minutes ago, mul21 said:

In the pen you for sure have Maton, Miller, Palencia, and Rolison back.  Ethan Roberts is also available for the Iowa shuttle along with Assad.  Definitely need another impact arm there but I suspect Morejon will be high on many team's lists.

not calling him an 'impact arm', but Zeferjahn is also under control for a while 

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

Zeferjahn is def an impact pen arm unless they want to stretch him out 

[mul21]

16 minutes ago, squally1313 said:

not calling him an 'impact arm', but Zeferjahn is also under control for a while 

Bah, Spotrac didn't have him listed.  Good call.

[squally1313]

13 minutes ago, Tangled Up in Plaid said:

Zeferjahn is def an impact pen arm unless they want to stretch him out 

Relative to the 2025 Cubs bullpen? Sure. But we should set our sights higher than a 3.88 ERA/3.82 FIP. That's basically mop up duty numbers for the Padres and Brewers. 

[Funky-daddy]

Yankees have a glut of starting pitching. Would like to move Ramirez or Shaw + for someone 

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

2 minutes ago, squally1313 said:

Relative to the 2025 Cubs bullpen? Sure. But we should set our sights higher than a 3.88 ERA/3.82 FIP. That's basically mop up duty numbers for the Padres and Brewers. 

You're right, I guess I should have said potential impact arm, because stuff wise he's #1

[gflore34]

4 minutes ago, Tangled Up in Plaid said:

You're right, I guess I should have said potential impact arm, because stuff wise he's #1

Him and Cabrera both, the stuff is there, very few guys with better stuff then them.  Now, the execution, well, that's an entirely different matter.

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

4 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

Him and Cabrera both, the stuff is there, very few guys with better stuff then them.  Now, the execution, well, that's an entirely different matter.

Zef's start with the team was rocky but he def pitched well down the stretch and even yesterday. I can't lump him in with Cabrera.

[gflore34]

29 minutes ago, Tangled Up in Plaid said:

Zef's start with the team was rocky but he def pitched well down the stretch and even yesterday. I can't lump him in with Cabrera.

Stuff wise Cabrera' there, execution, etc. not so much. 

Think it was against the Brewers, game, thanks to him, was out of hand, he got pissed, focused and struck out Contreras.  Not only struck him out but, threw absolutely filthy un-hittable pitches.  Jason mentioned another occasion, facing the Braves, same circumstances, game out of hand, got pissed and decided to execute.  Might have been Acuna Jr. who was the victim that time.  It's in there somewhere have to find a way to bring it out.

Edited Thursday at 09:43 PM by gflore34

[javy knows my name]

3 hours ago, Andy said:

I didn't know where else to put this, but this is an interesting Cubs-heavy piece in The Athletic about custom bats being potentially the next market inefficiency.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7627124/2026/09/26/mlb-bat-technology-cubs-vullo-bats/?unlocked_article_code=1.FVE.1Ank.CsRlXvMwsw52&source=athletic_user_shared_gift_article_copylink&smid=url-share-ta

 

Do they help you not swing at balls 4 and 5 a foot off the plate in an elimination game?

[Phead10]

Our offense was only 1st in the league because we had a lot of 15 + run games were everyone hit. But we had a lot of games like the playoffs where no one hit, especially with runners on base. No.1 offender of offense (very little) when it doesn't matter Ian Happ. He's a gold Glover at the least valuable defense position. His range is worse and his .210 batting average isn't cutting it. 

Off-season you got to go after skubal. Imanga, or Peterson back and then one starting rhp. In the bullpen in elite lhp, and a guy to compete with a healthy planciea with no wbc to compete for closer. A pen with zaferjahn, rollision, planciea, Webb, rea,Assad and a couple fa signings. Don't try for the projects like Harvey and cut maton. 

Offense give shaw some actual consistent playing time. If he doesn't cut it in two months use him as a super utility. He's got speed good defense all around and a lil pop, plus he's cheap. Try to sign Suzuki or one vet in a trade for the other outfield spot. Taylor back is given because counsel loves him. If Kepley keeps hitting in spring and triple a call him up early next year. I'd also bring some competition in for busch. He got to many give me at bats when he was slumping and needed a break. Make sure he is our long time 1b solution before giving him a big raise. Ramirez is our other super utility to keep guys fresh. Swanson is getting older needs more days off. Lastly id love Kelly back but doubt he comes back. Get a veteran maybe Stephenson from Cincinnati and little cheaper to platoon until Ayers is ready. Just my two cents, and council and hover should definitely be on the hot seat. Counsell is worse then maddon thinking he's a baseball genius. Murphy was his success in Milwaukee. I wish we had jim riggleman, or lou Pinella back 

Edited Thursday at 11:07 PM by Phead10

[Bobson Dugnutt]

you guys wanna take bets on who tweets this and when? my money is on Bruce Levine, December 2.

 

“According to industry sources, the Cubs are not inclined to wade in the deep end of the free agent pitching pool, which includes Tarik Skubal and Adrian Morejon. They believe the 2nd tier of pitchers contains a number of intriguing options and are likely to adopt a wait and see approach.”

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

4 minutes ago, Bobson Dugnutt said:

you guys wanna take bets on who tweets this and when? my money is on Bruce Levine, December 2.

 

“According to industry sources, the Cubs are not inclined to wade in the deep end of the free agent pitching pool, which includes Tarik Skubal and Adrian Morejon. They believe the 2nd tier of pitchers contains a number of intriguing options and are likely to adopt a wait and see approach.”

Don't put this out in the universe 

[Bobson Dugnutt]

2 minutes ago, Tangled Up in Plaid said:

Don't put this out in the universe 

[Rcal10]

2 hours ago, Phead10 said:

Just my two cents, and council and hover should definitely be on the hot seat. Counsell is worse then maddon thinking he's a baseball genius. Murphy was his success in Milwaukee. I wish we had jim riggleman, or lou Pinella back 

Cut out a lot of your post. Mainly because your opinion is probably not worth the 2 cents you mentioned. A lot of ridiculous ideas here. I especially am puzzled by wanting Riggleman and most of all, Pinella. Just glad you aren’t responsible for building the team. 

[Rcal10]

8 minutes ago, Bobson Dugnutt said:

you guys wanna take bets on who tweets this and when? my money is on Bruce Levine, December 2.

 

“According to industry sources, the Cubs are not inclined to wade in the deep end of the free agent pitching pool, which includes Tarik Skubal and Adrian Morejon. They believe the 2nd tier of pitchers contains a number of intriguing options and are likely to adopt a wait and see approach.”

I really don’t think Bruce is stepping far out on a limb on this one. I would be shocked if they went big on Skubal. 

[Outshined_One]

11 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

I really don’t think Bruce is stepping far out on a limb on this one. I would be shocked if they went big on Skubal. 

Don't worry, they'll say they made a competitive offer.

[Rcal10]

1 hour ago, Outshined_One said:

Don't worry, they'll say they made a competitive offer.

This is true. They might say that. But I don’t think anyone should get hopes up for Skubal. At least, I know I am not. 

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

until he signs with another team I will consume as much hopium as necessary.

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

mlb trade rumors had a piece on guys with club options and they brought up Rasmussen:

Quote

It’s ace-level production, so $20MM is still a bargain, but it’s possible a team other than the Rays picks it up. Tampa has traded away many players over the years as they have gotten expensive and/or approached free agency.

There are some clear parallels here to Tyler Glasnow. He signed an extension with the Rays while in his arbitration seasons. The deal paid Glasnow $5.35MM in 2023 and then had a massive jump to $25MM in 2024. Before that price increase arrived, he was traded to the Dodgers. Based on that precedent, it’s fair to expect Rasmussen trade rumors.

 

[JD94]

Thoughts on Goldschmidt as a platoon 1B? He’s old but had a .969 OPS against LHP this year. 

Im guessing Michael King opts for free agency. Would love adding him to the rotation

Any interest in Brandon Lowe? Would be nice adding a 30+ homer bat to the lineup but he doesn’t fit positionally. He’s primarily a 2B. 
 

Just throwing a few names out there. I’m obviously interested in Arozarena and Morejon and those guys as well. 

[Stratos]

39 minutes ago, JD94 said:

Thoughts on Goldschmidt as a platoon 1B? He’s old but had a .969 OPS against LHP this year. 

Im guessing Michael King opts for free agency. Would love adding him to the rotation

Any interest in Brandon Lowe? Would be nice adding a 30+ homer bat to the lineup but he doesn’t fit positionally. He’s primarily a 2B. 

Just throwing a few names out there. I’m obviously interested in Arozarena and Morejon and those guys as well. 

I'm not sure how the Cubs feel about Busch vs LHP.  He had a 117 wRC+ vs LHP, but did it affect him vs RHP? I'd like to give Busch another shot at fulltime duty, so I'm not sure id grab a pure 1b to platoon, but at least find someone on the bench who can play 1B., like a bench OF we sign?

I'm down for King and Morejon.  Arozerana is an option.  Lowe doesn't seem to fit.