https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/page/168/?d=7enhttps://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/top-50-fits-for-the-cubs-in-mlb-free-agency-nos-50-41-r437/Firstly, I had better clarify what this list will be. I'm not endeavoring, as several national sites do, to rank every free agent by talent or projected production over the life of a given contract. I'm also not ranking the players the Cubs are most likely to sign. This list (entirely my own; do...437Sun, 12 Nov 2023 12:10:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/thank-you-david-ross-r435/It has been a few days, so I can safely say I have finally been able to pick my jaw up off of the floor. The Craig Counsell announcement has quickly turned into an “I remember where I was when…” Cubs memory. I am still carrying some momentum from the shock and excitement.  However, this is...435Sat, 11 Nov 2023 15:09:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/why-the-cubs-had-to-fire-david-ross-for-craig-counsell-r428/When I wrote my piece advocating for the Cubs to fire David Ross, I did it with the pretense that it was more suggestive than practical.  In that article, I mentioned my love for Ross, the person, and my appreciation for what he had done leading the team through that soul-crushing firesale in 20...428Fri, 10 Nov 2023 13:14:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/wow-managerial-shenanigans-r432/“What are things that will never happen in my lifetime, Alex.” To say the latter is not the news I expected to wake up to this fine November morning would be the most massive of understatements. The Cubs have a penchant for this kind of thing, having replaced Rick Renteria with Joe Maddon w...432Thu, 09 Nov 2023 15:14:00 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/how-much-craig-counsell-is-worth-might-depend-on-the-bullpen-hes-given-r431/In the wake of the news that the Chicago Cubs have fired David Ross and are bringing in Craig Counsell as their manager, I have a confession to make: I have always been skeptical of the overall value that a manager brings to a baseball team.  Don’t get me wrong, there are definitely times w...431Wed, 08 Nov 2023 17:49:53 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/craig-counsells-arrival-announces-the-chicago-cubs-own-r427/Normally, when I get a text from my father on a Monday afternoon, it’s related to our juggernaut fantasy football team (eight finals appearances in eleven years… don’t ask me about our record in said finals) or laughing at the weekly incompetence of the New York Jets and Giants. So when I got a...427Wed, 08 Nov 2023 12:45:02 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/podcast-this-is-not-a-rebuild-nov-6-2023-the-2023-chicago-cubs-offseason-begins-in-earnest-r426/We recorded this episode of This is Not a Rebuild on Sunday night, well before the world (including the four of us) knew that Craig Counsell would be the first big arrival of the winter. As such, our conversations centered mostly on the contract options exercised and declined, and on the multipl...426Tue, 07 Nov 2023 15:07:02 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/so-what-exactly-makes-craig-counsell-so-much-better-than-david-ross-r425/I don't think the Cubs viewed David Ross as a problem. Never take an organization's public remarks, especially about something like personnel status, at face value, but when both Jed Hoyer and Tom Ricketts voiced support for Ross at the end of the regular season, I think they were both being tru...425Tue, 07 Nov 2023 12:06:18 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/holy-horsefeathers-cubs-hire-craig-counsell-as-new-manager-r424/Jed Hoyer has, somehow, outdone and upstaged his longtime partner and mentor, Theo Epstein. When Craig Counsell became a managerial free agent last week, Hoyer quietly went to work, and he has now pulled off a managerial coup as big (in a vacuum) as the Cubs landing Joe Maddon nine years ago. In...424Mon, 06 Nov 2023 18:41:00 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/early-decisions-bring-cubs-plan-a-bit-more-into-focus-r423/After Marcus Stroman opted out of his deal Saturday, the Cubs had an easy call on Kyle Hendricks's $16-million club option Sunday. It's still possible for the team to sign him to an extension that would lower his annual average salary and make it easier for the team to stay below whichever thres...423Mon, 06 Nov 2023 16:26:00 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/news-marcus-stroman-opts-out-shaking-up-cubs-rotation-etch-a-sketch-r421/By the end of the 2023 regular season, several reports had suggested that Marcus Stroman would eschew the opt-out in his three-year deal with the Cubs and return to the team for 2024, at a $21-million salary. That made sense, given the brutal July and injury-stunted August and September that rui...421Sat, 04 Nov 2023 16:18:08 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/destination-the-show-episode-11-r416/The World Series concluded while we were recording. What better time to reflect on each organizations top prospects? As we get ready to enter the offseason, JD and Jeremy break down the Just Baseball Top 100 Prospects list in depth, digging into 2023 numbers for Matt Shaw, Kevin Alcantara, Owen...416Thu, 02 Nov 2023 15:15:00 +0000