Cubs Pre-Offseason Mega Thread

[CubinNY]

1 hour ago, Nolo said:

My take on some guys:

Michael Busch: he’s still relatively young. I think he just had a down year. He’s our first basemen.

Conforto; I don’t think he will be super expensive. He’s getting older and the market will know him as a failed dodger and a cubs platoon guy. if we add legit arms for the rotation and pen we could be looking at PCA, Conforto, and Shaw/Ramirez OF. Conforto has also DH. See below.

Clay Holmes: we should re-sign him to have that veteran leadership and depth. He still has some good seasons left in him. 

Gausman: bet he retires, or signs a 1 year deal with Toronto. He gone either way.

Ben Brown: may have to put him in the bullpen because of his neck flare ups but we really need him in the rotation. I just don’t trust that neck over the course of a season. 

Edward Cabrera: he’s not going anywhere, he needs to figure his blister thing out but he’s going to be in the rotation to start the season.

Justin Steele; as far as I’m aware he had no setbacks in his rehab starts. I expect him to be ready to go opening day..

SP depth: Bring back either Peterson or Boyd. Turn them into long relief Rea type guys if the rotation is set opening day, but if the stuff hits the fan with injuries we have options because we need SP depth. We need to have at least 6 solid starters going into the season because you can count on 2 of them getting hurt. 

The big focus needs to be landing Morejón as a free agent. Give him whatever he wants. I’d be okay with losing Suzuki if we can secure Morejón. I wouldn’t be mad with a bullpen of Morejón, Zeferjahn, Palencia, Miller, maybe Brown. 

If Jeds serious get Skubal and Morejón, or King and Morejón. Maybe one of those Padres coming to the Cubs would sway the other idk. 

From Jed’s interview these are the vibes I got:

- Happ is more realistic to return than Suzuki. Although Suzuki is the guy we’d want. Honestly though he seems to be talking up Shaw and Ramirez and I bet one or both of them is in the OF.  If we add some elite arms to the rotation and bullpen I’ll take Shaw/Ramirez in a corner OF spot and Conforto in the other. Mix and match. But we would be losing a LOT of middle of lineup power in Happ/Suzuki in this case so that needs to be considered.  Shaw/Ramirez are 10-15 HR guys max. 

- it seem like any money that will be spent, will be spent on the bullpen and pitching. I sure hope that’s true. 

 

How many innings has Steele pitched in the last three years? Expecting anything from him, Brown, Horton or Wiggins is a fool's errand. 

[mk49]

32 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

How many innings has Steele pitched in the last three years? Expecting anything from him, Brown, Horton or Wiggins is a fool's errand. 

150 innings?  I'm not expecting much from Steele, Horton and Wiggins, but maybe and hopefully, Ben will pitch fine.  

OTOH, Shota pitched almost 500 innings in 3 years.  Losing him could be big.  

[Nolo]

18 minutes ago, mk49 said:

150 innings?  I'm not expecting much from Steele, Horton and Wiggins, but maybe and hopefully, Ben will pitch fine.  

OTOH, Shota pitched almost 500 innings in 3 years.  Losing him could be big.  

Shota will end up on the white sox and be a top 5 candidate for Cy Young with our luck. 

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

27 minutes ago, mk49 said:

150 innings?  I'm not expecting much from Steele, Horton and Wiggins, but maybe and hopefully, Ben will pitch fine.  

OTOH, Shota pitched almost 500 innings in 3 years.  Losing him could be big.  

If I'm a team that plays in a cavernous ballpark like the Mariners I'd be all over Shota

[gflore34]

Did some mention Morejon as a bullpen option?  After last night, looks like him and Cubs bullpen are match made in heaven😄

[Bertz]

15 minutes ago, Tangled Up in Plaid said:

If I'm a team that plays in a cavernous ballpark like the Mariners I'd be all over Shota

Yeah I've been thinking Shota to the Giants feels like an amazing fit for both sides

[Nolo]

30 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

Did some mention Morejon as a bullpen option?  After last night, looks like him and Cubs bullpen are match made in heaven😄

Morejon is an elite arm

[gflore34]

18 minutes ago, Nolo said:

Morejon is an elite arm

I know he is, it was a joke.  He'd be a very good option for the Cubs.

Edited 3 hours ago by gflore34

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

17 minutes ago, Nolo said:

Morejon is an elite arm

The homer was more a great swing by Contreras anyway. Morejon was great otherwise 

[gflore34]

I really hope the Cubs do not make an offer to Boyd, I firmly believe, if they do so, he'll take it.  Want no further part of his frequent implosions, let some other team deal with them.

[Stratos]

4 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

I really hope the Cubs do not make an offer to Boyd, I firmly believe, if they do so, he'll take it.  Want no further part of his frequent implosions, let some other team deal with them.

I'm fine moving on from both him and Shota.  

[mk49]

17 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

I really hope the Cubs do not make an offer to Boyd, I firmly believe, if they do so, he'll take it.  Want no further part of his frequent implosions, let some other team deal with them.

Same here, as I mentioned earlier.  I don't want Boyd.  I don't mind getting Shota back as #4 or #5 (meaning not very expensive).  Re-singing Peterson should be high priority, because he's very decent, he shouldn't cost a lot, and he's younger than Boyd and Shota.

I was just looking at the IP by guys like Shota, Boyd, Rea and Jamo in the last 2 years.  Those four guys pitched about 1,127 innings in 2 years (averaging 563 innings/season).  We're basically going to lose them all.  Maybe, the Cubs will pickup the club option for Rea, but that doesn't sound like a good idea.  Regardless, that's a lot of innings to fill.

Edited 3 hours ago by mk49

[Rcal10]

Who are the Cubs starters without injury issues? Would it be Cabrera (I am not counting a blister as an injury issue), Garrett and Assad? They need 3 starting pitchers. If they keep Holmes and Peterson do they have enough money to spend another $25M on a pitcher and sign him for 5+ years? And then, who would that even be? Peralta, King or maybe Rogers? It they want to go real big, Skubal? Then maybe they get lucky with Steele, Wiggins and/orBrown. 

[Backtobanks]

6 hours ago, CubinNY said:

Try reading that again. 

I've read it again and stand by what I said.  The Cubs need to replace at least 3 starters and two corner OFs (one of which was one of the best hitters in MLB) and people think they have a shot at 90 wins????

[Nolo]

23 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

Who are the Cubs starters without injury issues? Would it be Cabrera (I am not counting a blister as an injury issue), Garrett and Assad? They need 3 starting pitchers. If they keep Holmes and Peterson do they have enough money to spend another $25M on a pitcher and sign him for 5+ years? And then, who would that even be? Peralta, King or maybe Rogers? It they want to go real big, Skubal? Then maybe they get lucky with Steele, Wiggins and/orBrown. 

I feel like even IF we grab a Skubal or King we are still relying on those arms (Brown, Steele)

Skubal/King, Steele, Brown, Holmes/Peterson, Cabrera sounds good to me.

I do feel like Jed’s going to spend $$$ on bullpen and SP arms. I’m not expecting any “upgrades” in the lineup though. 

[Outshined_One]

The Cubs pretty much *have* to sign at least one of Happ and Seiya, right?  I feel like Happ would at least take a discount on a 2-3 year deal, but Seiya feels like he'll get 5 years elsewhere.

However, they're pretty catastrophically screwed if they have to fill both OF spots. I don't get the sense the Cubs will give Arozarena what he'd get elsewhere (which is justified), and their internal options range from not ready to guys better used on the infield to Kevin Alcantara.

[mk49]

37 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

Who are the Cubs starters without injury issues? Would it be Cabrera (I am not counting a blister as an injury issue), Garrett and Assad? They need 3 starting pitchers. If they keep Holmes and Peterson do they have enough money to spend another $25M on a pitcher and sign him for 5+ years? And then, who would that even be? Peralta, King or maybe Rogers? It they want to go real big, Skubal? Then maybe they get lucky with Steele, Wiggins and/orBrown. 

Why 5+ years?  I don't know all the free agents SP's, but off the top of my head, only Skubal is worth a 5+ yrs contract.  Maybe, Peralta, too.  We might need to trade for a good SP.

Edited 2 hours ago by mk49

[Illiterate Scholar]

Taylor Ward maybe played himself into a one year contract. Not sure what to make of his 2026 season, but he's theoretically an option.

[gflore34]

6 minutes ago, Outshined_One said:

The Cubs pretty much *have* to sign at least one of Happ and Seiya, right?  I feel like Happ would at least take a discount on a 2-3 year deal, but Seiya feels like he'll get 5 years elsewhere.

However, they're pretty catastrophically screwed if they have to fill both OF spots. I don't get the sense the Cubs will give Arozarena what he'd get elsewhere (which is justified), and their internal options range from not ready to guys better used on the infield to Kevin Alcantara.

I'm over him being a thing, don't believe there's anything there, I believe nor do the Cubs.  Don't think he has much trade value either.

[Rcal10]

1 hour ago, gflore34 said:

I'm over him being a thing, don't believe there's anything there, I believe nor do the Cubs.  Don't think he has much trade value either.

I think he suffers from some prospect fatigue around here. He probably doesn’t have great value, but he did hit 10 homers in just over 300AB, and slugged over .500. He is also a solid outfielder and only 24. No, he isn’t brining back a controlled staring pitcher on his own, but I think he has some value still. 

[Nolo]

Here’s what needs to be done this off season:

1. Sign Skubal or King

2. Sign Morejón or Iglesias 

3. Re-sign Happ or Suzuki (OR) sign Arozarena

4. Re-sign Peterson

5. Optimize health for Brown and Steele

These guys walk: Holmes, Gausman, Boyd, Taylor, Suzuki or Happ, Imanaga, Kelly, Civale

Any combination of the above puts Cubs in a good position. Easy enough right? 😆 

[Illiterate Scholar]

There's a zero percent chance we sign Morejon as a reliever. However, as a starter, I could see it. He'd still be expensive, but that's a potential top of rotation starter at way less than a top of rotation price.