Cubs Pre-Offseason Mega Thread

[Rcal10]

13 minutes ago, Bertz said:

Ranger Suarez money?  He's not as accomplished but the stuff is better and he's the only FA SP who checks all three of these modest boxes:

- Was good and healthy in 2026

- Does not have an injury history a mile long

- Is under 30

So 5/$140M? $28M a year? At that price I would assume the Cubs could only add one more pitcher, and that pitcher would be more like Peterson than Peralta. I mean, how much money are people expecting the Cubs to put into the rotation. I can’t imagine it goes to $50M and think it will be close to $40M. 

[Jason Ross]

Trevor Rogers feels like a decent option. If there's a hesitation I'd have it's that he's another guy who has fine stuff, and fine whiff% but isn't generating a lot of strikeouts and isn't overpowering. The Orioles aren't the best team on the planet when it comes to pitching, so maybe you think "yeah there's juice to squeeze there" but it isn't like the Cubs have proven that's a specific talent they have had year-over-year.

The positives are seemingly that the velocity ticked up and stayed up (was down in April and was his highest at the end of the year), he's younger and the injury history is solid. He limited home runs really well but gave up a good amount of flyballs last year, so that's a little iffy.

Flip side he's been really good for 260 IP, so maybe that just straight up doesn't matter.

Not shitting on him by any means, but I'm not entirely sure he's my favorite-favorite guy out there. But I very well could be underselling him on a first glance.

[Gjfificifjdej]

May be more prudent to fix the pitching from a coaching standpoint before investing major money (please Ricketts). Yes there was a lack of high end talent this year but it wasn’t just injury replacements that were bad. Guys that came into the team at the deadline were generally pretty terrible. Guys who were in the plan from February had some really bad stretches, starter or reliever. At some point it might be something the Cubs are doing if essentially every arm they touch becomes terrible. 

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

1 hour ago, Gjfificifjdej said:

May be more prudent to fix the pitching from a coaching standpoint before investing major money (please Ricketts). Yes there was a lack of high end talent this year but it wasn’t just injury replacements that were bad. Guys that came into the team at the deadline were generally pretty terrible. Guys who were in the plan from February had some really bad stretches, starter or reliever. At some point it might be something the Cubs are doing if essentially every arm they touch becomes terrible. 

I definitely expect Hottovy to be fired.

[mk49]

1 hour ago, Gjfificifjdej said:

May be more prudent to fix the pitching from a coaching standpoint before investing major money (please Ricketts). Yes there was a lack of high end talent this year but it wasn’t just injury replacements that were bad. Guys that came into the team at the deadline were generally pretty terrible. Guys who were in the plan from February had some really bad stretches, starter or reliever. At some point it might be something the Cubs are doing if essentially every arm they touch becomes terrible. 

They won't have much time, so do both fixing coaching staff and singing pitchers.  I'm sure they're working on them now.

Edited 3 hours ago by mk49

[Jason Ross]

1 hour ago, Gjfificifjdej said:

May be more prudent to fix the pitching from a coaching standpoint before investing major money (please Ricketts). Yes there was a lack of high end talent this year but it wasn’t just injury replacements that were bad. Guys that came into the team at the deadline were generally pretty terrible. Guys who were in the plan from February had some really bad stretches, starter or reliever. At some point it might be something the Cubs are doing if essentially every arm they touch becomes terrible. 

I think some of this is on coaching, sure. Whether it's a disconnect between Hottovy and Zombro, or what, I'm unsure. I do think some changes will be made on that front (not Zombro, too new). I think we can be skeptical of whether or not Zombro is the truth, but it's also too quick to pull that plug. He's only just had his first influential draft...needs time to sort that one out. 

As well, some of the bad last year probably wasn't coaching. Cabrera was a bummer all year, but Holmes came over post-IL stint and how much of that was "Cubs changes not working" and "Clay Holmes just wasn't right" is questionable, as an example. Ryan Zeferjahn struggled when he came over but stabilized much more by the end: why? We could blame coaching, could blame the changes, but he was always a live arm who had control issues, too. 

But it isn't like it's been all bad, either. Ben Brown made big jumps this year. Cade Horton made big jumps last year. Jaxon Wiggins made big jumps last year. They squeezed another year out of Taillon. There are some good things...it's just not been nearly enough (spending, development or picking the right guys). 

So I don't disagree; they should probably fix something on the coaching end. But they also need to put real improvement into the players. The Cubs have no rotation to speak of right now; and no real way to fill it internally. So it'll have to be a combination.

[Bertz]

I don't expect that this team is short sighted enough to dump Hottovy over some HR rate silliness 

[Stratos]

1 hour ago, Tangled Up in Plaid said:

I definitely expect Hottovy to be fired.

Does he deserve it though?

I wouldn't really care if he got canned or not,

[Stratos]

1 hour ago, mk49 said:

They won't have much time, so do both fixing coaching staff and singing pitchers.  I'm sure they're working on them now.

Won't they have the lockout to find any new coaches, if it takes that long?

[mk49]

52 minutes ago, Bertz said:

I don't expect that this team is short sighted enough to dump Hottovy over some HR rate silliness 

(Not arguing with Bertz here)  Dumping Hottovy or not, more than a few things need to be changed.  It's not just the HR issue.  I'm hoping they can figure things out with or without Hottovy.  That'll take time, though.  Personally, I like Hottovy.  Hottovy has nothing to do with not having good enough pitchers in Iowa.  The pitching problem is bigger than just the pitching coach.  Scouting, drafting, free agent signing, developing, unable to keep them healthy (or picking too many injury prone), not spending big money for real TOR guy or good RP.......  

Edited 1 hour ago by mk49

[mk49]

4 minutes ago, Stratos said:

Won't they have the lockout to find any new coaches, if it takes that long?

They do for coaches (or whatever the changes that need to be done), but he was saying finding them, before signing pitchers.  They can't wait that long.  I would think many good pitchers would be gone by Dec 2nd.

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

22 minutes ago, Stratos said:

Does he deserve it though?

I wouldn't really care if he got canned or not,

Probably not, but I think it's gonna happen regardless. He's an easy scapegoat.

[Gjfificifjdej]

Two wild stats I found looking on Fangraphs to emphasize how insane the Cubs position players were… In the ten full seasons before this year, the 28th ranked team by pitching Fwar (which the Cubs had) averaged 95.1 losses. The worst of those teams, the 47-115 2018 Orioles, had 7.1. The Cubs had 6.0 this year. Lol.