Cubs Offseason Mega Thread

[Jason Ross]

2 hours ago, chibears55 said:

If Hoyer does use 2027 as a bridge year and doesn't go out and bring someone in long term, they could go with a probable Horton Brown and Wiggins as likely 3 starters that could be in rotation, along with possibly Townsend for 2028

They're not using this as a bridge year. I'm not overly enthused by what we have heard so far, but they're not just getting a bunch of 1 year deals here. Especially to bridge to:

- Guy on 2nd TJS in under half a decade

- Guy who had neck surgery and hasn't been healthy enough to finish a year in the rotation

- Guy who was objectively not good last year and hasn't pitched in MLB. Also who has injury history galore. 

- Guy who hasn't thrown professional pitch.

They are all interesting prospects and dart throws. But all four are massive, massive risks. Anything you get out of them (as of today) in the rotation-of-the-future is great but absolutely can not and will not be counted on in 2028 (yet - maybe that changes in the summer).  And an off-season plan this year that centers around them building out the next rotation is suicidal. 

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

28 minutes ago, chibears55 said:

pitching lab Frankenstein version of Horton and Wiggins

You might have something there

[BKHoo]

Spine surgery is no joke.  Best of luck to Ben. 

[Nolo]

Frankenstein Wiggins and Horton had me lmao 🤣 

But here’s what seems to be a recent update (today) from Carter Hawkins on the off season and Ben Brown. Haven’t been through the entire video yet but wanted to share as he gives some more “detail” on Brown early on in the video.

Edit: after watching the video, some takeaways:

• Brown got a screw in his neck.
• They have not met with Scott Boras (yet) but says he is sure that meeting will happen. Not sure who else he is representing besides Skubal.
• He talks about good deals in trades and free agents like he’s talking about black Friday shopping. Said the words “good deals” a lot. Quantity (depth) over quality vibes.
• Likes the Japanese market
• They need “several” starters. There are definitely players on the FA market that will help them win games. 
• Clay Holmes is a good fit 
• He called Shaw “Matty” — based on that alone I feel he is def not being traded. Matty and Pedro will likely see OF time, he was especially confident in Matty.
• Javier Assad will be coming into the year as a starter and will be counted on for valuable innings. Not sure if that’s rotation or depth, sure sounded like rotation.
• Expectation is Garrett comes into the year competing for a rotation spot. And if not the rotation then the bullpen. Has to earn his spot on the roster though.

Edited Wednesday at 01:41 AM by Nolo

[Illiterate Scholar]

Baseball ops/medical staff not being allowed to talk to rehabbing players during the lockout is such a dumb, unnecessary fake rule, and is something to keep in mind when projecting timeline for guys like Brown and Horton. 

[Gjfificifjdej]

53 minutes ago, Illiterate Scholar said:

Baseball ops/medical staff not being allowed to talk to rehabbing players during the lockout is such a dumb, unnecessary fake rule, and is something to keep in mind when projecting timeline for guys like Brown and Horton. 

All rules are fake, we made this all up. 

[Bertz]

3 hours ago, Nolo said:

Frankenstein Wiggins and Horton had me lmao 🤣 

But here’s what seems to be a recent update (today) from Carter Hawkins on the off season and Ben Brown. Haven’t been through the entire video yet but wanted to share as he gives some more “detail” on Brown early on in the video.

Edit: after watching the video, some takeaways:

 

• Brown got a screw in his neck.
• They have not met with Scott Boras (yet) but says he is sure that meeting will happen. Not sure who else he is representing besides Skubal.
• He talks about good deals in trades and free agents like he’s talking about black Friday shopping. Said the words “good deals” a lot. Quantity (depth) over quality vibes.
• Likes the Japanese market
• They need “several” starters. There are definitely players on the FA market that will help them win games. 
• Clay Holmes is a good fit 
• He called Shaw “Matty” — based on that alone I feel he is def not being traded. Matty and Pedro will likely see OF time, he was especially confident in Matty.
• Javier Assad will be coming into the year as a starter and will be counted on for valuable innings. Not sure if that’s rotation or depth, sure sounded like rotation.
• Expectation is Garrett comes into the year competing for a rotation spot. And if not the rotation then the bullpen. Has to earn his spot on the roster though.

Thanks for posting this.  Really good stuff.  Some other things that stood out to me

- Probably the most confident I've ever heard Carter.  He was very impressive here

- Probably some copium but about as positive of a Ben Brown update as I could have hoped for

- Very much did not sound like they're gonna roll with Amaya and Ayers at catcher.  I don't think Kelly's back but they're going to bring an adult in

- He didn't shut the door on anything but sounded like he views Wiggins as a reliever

- The line about Tyler Zombro texting Edward Cabrera every day...I'm going to try not to read too much into that but raised an eyebrow

- Bruce Levine asks a lot of meandering questions and you can tell Carter's thinking "WTF are you talking about" until he finally lands on a point

- They clearl have a Japanese pitcher circled as a priority add.  Presumably Taira but they're 100% adding a Japanese SP this winter

[Nolo]

11 hours ago, Bertz said:

Very much did not sound like they're gonna roll with Amaya and Ayers at catcher.  I don't think Kelly's back but they're going to bring an adult in

I was watching a Padres YT channel about the GM meetings and the Padres FO had meeting on trades for their catchers. They have three catchers heading into 2027 including Ethan Salas heading into his official rookie season. They likely aren't going to enter the season with three big league catchers so offloading one of them for pitching makes sense.

I doubt Salas is on the trade block, but Padres have a solid hitting catcher in Luis Campusano and a defense-first catcher in Freddie Fermin, both who I can see being fits for Cubs since I doubt Ayers is going to be ready opening day.

If I had to guess, they would trade Campusano, and leave Fermin as the defensive mentor for Salas. Campusano's bat is also good enough to DH. Truly bat-first type of catcher.

I believe the Padres YouTube commentator guy said he heard speculation the Cubs may have been one of the interested parties. I know teams are always making calls to each other, so could be a nothingburger. The issue is Padres are looking for rotation help (pretty sure they have one returning SP) and the Cubs are as well. So its like who would the Cubs even have to offer? Someone like Jordan Wicks?

Edited Wednesday at 02:43 PM by Nolo

[Rcal10]

4 minutes ago, Nolo said:

I was watching a Padres YT channel about the GM meetings and the Padres FO had meeting on trades for their catchers. They have three catchers heading into 2027 including Ethan Salas heading into his official rookie season. They likely aren't going to enter the season with three big league catchers so offloading one of them for pitching makes sense.

I doubt Salas is on the trade block, but Padres have a solid hitting catcher in Luis Campusano and a defense-first catcher in Freddie Fermin, both who I can see being fits for Cubs since I doubt Ayers is going to be ready opening day.

If I had to guess, they would trade Campusano, and leave Fermin as the defensive mentor for Salas. Campusano's bat is also good enough to DH. Truly bat-first type of catcher.

I believe the Padres YouTube commentator guy said he heard speculation the Cubs may have been one of the interested parties. I know teams are always making calls to each other, so could be a nothingburger. The issue is Padres are looking for rotation help (pretty sure they have one returning SP) and the Cubs are as well. So its like who would the Cubs even have to offer? Someone like Jordan Wicks?

Why would anyone want Jordon Wicks? They aren’t getting Campusano for Wicks. Honestly, I don’t see a match there if that is what the Padre are looking for. 

[Nolo]

6 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

Why would anyone want Jordon Wicks? They aren’t getting Campusano for Wicks. Honestly, I don’t see a match there if that is what the Padre are looking for. 

OK Braxton Garrett? Padres are in just as bad, if not worse, of a pitching problem this offseason than the Cubs. Losing 4 SP and Morejon. Preller said they need multiple/depth. They aren't looking for a Horton/Wiggins/Townsend IMO for their third catcher. But yeah I agree as they are looking for pitching help Cubs may not be the best fit lol.

Padres signed Ryan Weiss to a major league deal yesterday, if thats any indication to how desperate they may be.

Edited Wednesday at 02:53 PM by Nolo

[Rcal10]

8 minutes ago, Nolo said:

OK Braxton Garrett? Padres are in just as bad, if not worse, of a pitching problem this offseason than the Cubs. Losing 4 SP and Morejon. Preller said they need multiple/depth. They aren't looking for a Horton/Wiggins/Townsend IMO for their third catcher. But yeah I agree as they are looking for pitching help Cubs may not be the best fit lol.

Padres signed Ryan Weiss to a major league deal yesterday, if thats any indication to how desperate they may be.

I think Campusano gets a lot more back than either Wicks or Garrett. I think he gets a mid rotation starter with a few years left on his contract. Not a question mark pitcher. I agree the Padres need help. I don’t agree they would view either of the pitchers you named as help. At least, not at the cost of Campusano. 

[Bertz]

21 minutes ago, Nolo said:

I was watching a Padres YT channel about the GM meetings and the Padres FO had meeting on trades for their catchers. They have three catchers heading into 2027 including Ethan Salas heading into his official rookie season. They likely aren't going to enter the season with three big league catchers so offloading one of them for pitching makes sense.

I doubt Salas is on the trade block, but Padres have a solid hitting catcher in Luis Campusano and a defense-first catcher in Freddie Fermin, both who I can see being fits for Cubs since I doubt Ayers is going to be ready opening day.

If I had to guess, they would trade Campusano, and leave Fermin as the defensive mentor for Salas. Campusano's bat is also good enough to DH. Truly bat-first type of catcher.

I believe the Padres YouTube commentator guy said he heard speculation the Cubs may have been one of the interested parties. I know teams are always making calls to each other, so could be a nothingburger. The issue is Padres are looking for rotation help (pretty sure they have one returning SP) and the Cubs are as well. So its like who would the Cubs even have to offer? Someone like Jordan Wicks?

The Cubs way back in the day (during the 2021 tear down?) were connected to Campusano I believe.

That said I'd be surprised.  Fermin sucks worse than some generic guy you could go get in FA, though he does have a MiLB option at least.  And Campusano is fun but feels like he would (rightfully) cost more than the team should be spending for how small of a hole this is.

[Nolo]

39 minutes ago, Bertz said:

Fermin sucks worse than some generic guy you could go get in FA, though he does have a MiLB option at least.  

Hitting wise, yes. Fermin was a 2026 NL Gold Glove finalist though so defensively he's rock solid. But yeah, after more thought I think you and Rcal have the right take on this. I have no doubt the Cubs made the phone call, but it's probably not happening and we will just sign a FA for that spot.

I do like Campusano overall if it can happen, as he can catch, play 1B, and DH. Right now we really don't have a backup 1B for Busch. But yeah as far as his asking price Garrett/Wicks is probably too light and we don't have much more to offer on the pitching front unless we get into Edward Cabrera territory who right now is the Cubs ace.

Edited Wednesday at 03:46 PM by Nolo

[Nolo]

11 hours ago, Bertz said:

They clearl have a Japanese pitcher circled as a priority add.  Presumably Taira but they're 100% adding a Japanese SP this winter

I have this feeling too. There's no way the Cubs will enter the season without a Japanese player (Suzuki also wrote what seemed to be a goodbye letter to Cubs fan on IG today). I sure hope its Taira as he fits the bill and should come at a somewhat reasonable price, I've even seen 50M/5. He has legit bullpen potential if rotation doesn't work out or if someone like Horton ever comes back, has good stuff and gets ground balls at a high clip.

Edited Wednesday at 03:27 PM by Nolo

[Jason Ross]

 

[macarthur31]

51 minutes ago, Nolo said:

I have this feeling too. There's no way the Cubs will enter the season without a Japanese player (Suzuki also wrote what seemed to be a goodbye letter to Cubs fan on IG today). I sure hope its Taira as he fits the bill and should come at a somewhat reasonable price, I've even seen 50M/5. He has legit bullpen potential if rotation doesn't work out or if someone like Horton ever comes back, has good stuff and gets ground balls at a high clip.

My heart stopped a bit when I saw Seiya's IG post, as it really seemed like the earnest "Thanks, and I head out to Free Agency" akin to what Carson Kelly had shared a while ago.  Then the sicko hope side of me remembers that Seiya has a sneaky devious sense of humor, and is setting us all up for an, "I'm Baaaaack" post later today.  

[Bertz]

50 minutes ago, Jason Ross said:

 

Listening to Carter's presser last night it feels like the over/under on SPs is 3.5, and I'd probably take the over.  And with that the added context that they bailed on Colin Rea on a market rate deal.

[Nolo]

7 hours ago, Bertz said:

Listening to Carter's presser last night it feels like the over/under on SPs is 3.5, and I'd probably take the over.  And with that the added context that they bailed on Colin Rea on a market rate deal.

I have a feeling they will sign four SPs on what they see as “good deals” and it will fall something like this:

• They sign two of: Taira, Rogers, Imanaga, Soroka, May, Gray
• They sign two of: Holmes, Peterson, Griffin, Pivetta, Bieber

Something like Taira, Holmes, Peterson, and May/Soroka seems realistic. I simply just don’t see Skubal, Peralta, or King at all in Cubbie blue. 

A solid rotation could look like Holmes, Taira, Steele, May, Peterson (Cabrera/Assad/Garrett in the mix). Good mix of ground ball and power arms. 

Holmes, Peterson, May, and Taira could all be had for under $60M AAV tbh. Thats why they’re not targeting Skubal (they are going for quantity > quality)

. 

Edited Wednesday at 11:35 PM by Nolo

[Rcal10]

3 minutes ago, Nolo said:

I have a feeling they will sign four SPs on what they see as “good deals” and it will fall something like this:

They sign two of: Taira, Rogers, Imanaga, Soroka, May, Gray

They sign two of: Holmes, Peterson, Griffin, Pivetta, Bieber

Something like Taira, Holmes, Peterson, and May seems realistic.

I don’t see Skubal, Peralta, or King at all in Cubbie blue. 

I can see 3 from the list you posted but then the 4th be someone line Sandoval, Civale, Bubic or even Rea again. Wouldn’t mind Gray, Holmes and Taira, as an example. I like Rogers, but not sure the Cubs will sign a guy who has a QO. If they would, I would rather him over Gray. I also like Soroka. 

[BKHoo]

14 hours ago, Illiterate Scholar said:

Baseball ops/medical staff not being allowed to talk to rehabbing players during the lockout is such a dumb, unnecessary fake rule, and is something to keep in mind when projecting timeline for guys like Brown and Horton. 

The players should challenge it legally.  It’s a disgrace.  

[Stratos]

3 hours ago, BKHoo said:

The players should challenge it legally.  It’s a disgrace.  

It's not even in the team's interests, it's weird.

[Stratos]

They inserted a screw in Ben Browns fractured neck bone to prevent future problems.

[Bull]

20 hours ago, BKHoo said:

Spine surgery is no joke.  Best of luck to Ben. 

Someone early suggested a fusion. IMO there is almost no chance there was a fusion. The surgery I had was a Prodisc-C which was a new procedure when I had it done 10 years ago but is more routine now.

But that is for exploded disc. Brown's injury is a single vertebrae. ESPN is reporting a stabilizing screw was inserted.

 

in short: Brown is screwed.

 

[Nolo]

 

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

7 hours ago, Nolo said:

I have a feeling they will sign four SPs on what they see as “good deals” and it will fall something like this:

• They sign two of: Taira, Rogers, Imanaga, Soroka, May, Gray
• They sign two of: Holmes, Peterson, Griffin, Pivetta, Bieber

Something like Taira, Holmes, Peterson, and May/Soroka seems realistic. I simply just don’t see Skubal, Peralta, or King at all in Cubbie blue. 

A solid rotation could look like Holmes, Taira, Steele, May, Peterson (Cabrera/Assad/Garrett in the mix). Good mix of ground ball and power arms. 

Holmes, Peterson, May, and Taira could all be had for under $60M AAV tbh. Thats why they’re not targeting Skubal (they are going for quantity > quality)

. 

Four SP would be surprising. Assuming they're trying to stay under the CBT, it pretty much guarantees they would go with Ramirez and Shaw in LF/RF.