Manny Trillos Brother

Thank goodness someone says this. We aren't going to care about Jefferson in 3 months and there will be another Jefferson to take his place. The farm system is there to supplement the big league team. Just let Jed cook.

Can they do something like 20-30 pitches, then a couple of rest days, then say 50 pitches then regular rest then 80 pitches? That puts his first start for the big league team around August 18th and doesn't waste too many "bullets".

Whatever we do, we need to DFA Theilbar next.

Here's what I'd like to see some version of: 1. Detmers & Adell from Angels for J. Rojas, Conrad and lower level upside guy (Southisene? Hartshorn?) Provides one starter and backup OF who is mashing lefties this season (plus Wrigley should be a slightly better park effect for him) 2. Foster Griffin & Abrams from Nats for Shaw, Ayers & Wiggins (or Townsend) & a Drew Gray type Griffin slots in as a long-relief/possible starter, Abrams is under control until 2028 & replaces Shaw as IF back up with a better bat to upgrade the DH spot. 3. Okert from Astros for whatever non-closer relief pitchers go for. Bargain shopping here, since we've depleted the farm for other needs.

I'm not sure the picture is as bleak as the article makes it seem. The Cubs were 20th in team bullpen ERA in 2021 and have progressed each year to be 11th in 2025. Amazing? No. Solid? Certainly. If Ricketts said "Go spend however much money you want", then fine, go sign a $15m closer or two - I don't think that's the budget Hoyer had and based on the volatility of bullpens, I think he's fine doing what he's doing.

Yeah, obviously that guy is the exception to the rule and that game was an outlier. Even though he's being called out (and rightfully so), they guy still had an 88% overall accuracy rate and 97% on called balls. It's crazy that he had incorrect calls on 28% of his strikes! I'll edit my statement to say "how often *almost all* the umps are right".

Boog touched on it, but I think a funny/interesting consequence of the ball/strike challenge system is that it's showing how often the umps are right and how infrequently players can correctly identify a missed call. It also renders all those incredibly dumb manager-in-the-umpire's-face arguments over balls and strikes that the manager can barely see obsolete, which is a huge added benefit.

Yikes, just saw this. There is an ALLEGED report - notedly not confirmed, but part of a larger list of complaints that were "checked out" to some degree. Wild stuff if true.

I think the Cubs really made most to all of the right moves this year, with the one big exception of not making something happen for a starting pitcher at the deadline. The Steele & Tucker injuries both really hurt, but not as much as losing Horton for the playoffs. I'm just not sure how you account for that kind of bad luck. We still ended up 1 game from the NLCS which I'm pretty certain would have happened with Horton and/or a healthy Tucker. We didn't win the WS, but I'm not sure how you don't call 2025 a successful season on the whole. Especially in light of how we did in 2024.

I think the pivot is empty the farm for Joe Ryan or McKenzie Gore, then second pivot is mostly empty the farm for one of the Marlins guys. I'm surprised a trade of some substance hasn't happened yet.

Interesting thread here and it's definitely a small picture of why athletes don't speak out on issues. I wouldn't want to deal with the hassle either. When Shaw decides to "pick a side" by aligning with a controversial (love TPUSA or hate them, there's no way the rational among us can't admit they are pushing a divisive agenda) organization, he chooses to take the love and the hate that comes along with that. That's his to own at this point, especially when you mix in the huge salaries these guys get and the especially divided political atmosphere. He doesn't get to complain when say San Francisco doesn't make him an offer because of his outspoken political view.

Totally agree, BUT 1. It fits our needs very well both financially and player-skill wise, 2. I think there is some value there in terms of player development that the Cubs can mine out & 3. As mentioned, many of our top prospects are knocking at the door - I think we need "to do something" with them before they start to (fairly or unfairly) lose value. With the Twins saying they aren't trading Ryan & the Marlins positional talent mainly unproven, the Nats seem like the only real fit for one-stop-shopping via trade. *I'm also not as concerned about the lockout, I think they figure out a way to keep making millions/billions of dollars. **If someone is more concerned about the lockout, I'd think you'd really want to gut the top levels of the farm to go all in, figuring you now have two years to develop the talent at the lower levels.

Love that this idea made the front page. I could see a big deal for Gore & Abrams. Would it gut the system? Maybe - but I think the Cubs are well-positioned for a several-for-one trade, especially if Shaw is on the table. 8 of the Cubs top 10 prospects are at AAA or have touched MLB, I think that timeline appeals to teams. None of the Cubs' farm is really "untouchable", but there are several guys you can dream on. Looking at comparable trade values, ChatGPT gives me Caissie, Wiggins, Shaw & Alcantara as comparable value for the pair. I, frankly, think I could live with that, though I would try to sell then on Ben Brown or Jon Long over one of the OFs because that's where we might need depth.

I actually don't hate this. He was good for a significant portion of the year and to me is better than the other mid-tier FA candidates that are sitting out there. Make a trade for a high-end guy and an early season rotation of: High-end trade, Horton, Boyd, Shota, Taillon looks pretty good to me with Steele, Birdsell/Wiggins, Deadline trade pick up to fill any holes. We could also act like a big market team, sign King/Cease and have Shota as the #5 pitcher in the league.

MLBTR reporting that the Nats are open to trading CJ Abrams. He's 25 years old and has put up ~2.5 WAR the last few years playing for the MLB team that is literally the worst in terms of player development. Has been Top 10 in steals and doesn't strike out much by 2025 standards. Under team control for 3 more years and makes just north of $5m. His most glaring offensive flaw is plate discipline with a 35% O-Swing% - the good thing is the Cubs were Top-10 in Baseball Savant's In-zone swing % and chase %. They should be able to reduce that deficiency a noticeable amount. He's a SS by trade, but has had some defensive issues (another thing the Cubs are good at improving). I'd slot him in as a Zobrist-type super-sub/10th man/Shaw insurance and just see what he can do. I also don't think it would take "top dollar" to pry him away from the Nats - maybe an Alcantara or Birdsell+ type package which I could 100% live with.

Surely they mean 4/$70m on Helsley, not $170m. Either way, I'd take the under on both years and total dollars after the darn near disastrous recent stints in NY. I could take or leave the $9m for Kittridge, it's fine either way. I don't think at any point will we be longing for the Kittridge days though.

I don't love Ricketts at all, but is it possible Jed isn't getting enough credit for being a "good shopper" and is actually pretty good at his job? All of the Cubs media-social media sphere is calling for a larger budget this year (again, I would totally advocate for that), but is it really necessary? To me it's either A. Superteam or B. Hover around the $230-$240 mark and work your development pipeline hard & be opportunistic. I'd love to go the superteam route, but our ownership simply isn't going to do that. Nor is it a guarantee of getting into the playoffs (see Mets). Let's say we go to $275m - 6 of our spots (8 fielders + DH) are "set". You have C & 3B (both of which are "kind of" set) & DH. We have what ~$165 in commitments for 2026? Add in arb raises and we are around $190m? That gives us $85m to spend. Say the DH Schwarber/Belli/Tucker spot gets $35m. That still gives us $50m to spend + prospects to trade with the only holes being a TOR SP and then some misc relievers & bench pieces. That should easily get the job done and still won't bump us too far up the cost/revenue chart. If we trade for a Joe Ryan or Edward Cabrera are people going to get upset that we have money left over even though we got a really good young pitcher?

But, also, you give up leverage if you say "we're definitely going to extend PCA". The first thing his agent will say is "Hey Jed, you told you fan base PCA was going to be here long term. Pay my client the extra $10m." It's dumb, but you are almost never going to get the CEO/President of a company commit to something that may or may not happen.

Seems to me like the Yankees would just sign Bellinger who they know can handle the NYC pressure vs. a player their fans openly hate who they'd have to give more money and years to. Of contenders, I think: Yankees, Brewers, Blue Jays, Indians, Tigers, Padres, Astros are out because of money or no real place to put him. Teams I think have resources/needs/interest: Rangers, Angels, Braves, Mets, Diamondbacks

I don't think it's a problem that the Cubs won't go "into the $300's" and I don't think they'll necessarily need to go that far to sign him. There have only been 14 position player contracts totaling more than $300m and only 4 $400m+. He's not getting Shohei money or Vlad's 14/$500m. I think a good comps are Seager's 10/$325m or Devers's 10/$313m. Once you factor in recent injuries and the fact that would be older than 7 of the 14 to sign those big deals and that he has a lower average WAR than every one of them except Tatis, how many teams are lining up to sign him. I think a 10/$300-320 gets Tucker signed.

I'm a little more optimistic than most of the Cubs media/podcast/X sphere. I think Counsell was good this year, it seems like most of Jed's moves worked out and I think we got some really bad luck injury wise/depending on young players wise that bit us in the postseason. Moves to Make: 1. One more #1 or #2 starting pitcher - one of the Padres guys ideally, but there are a few options here 2. Kyle Tucker role - whether this is Tucker himself, Kyle Schwarber, Suarez, Pete Alonso, etc. - we need that veteran power at DH that could fill in a field spot when needed. 3. Extend Busch, PCA & Brad Keller - not sure how much this will take or what their feelings are, but surely there is a way to get one/all of these done. 4. Pick up Shota's option - seems like a no-brainer at $20m 5. One of the "Sneaky" pick-ups to boost the lineup - there are a handful of mid-tier FA's that could provide significant surplus value and wouldn't break the bank - Luis Robert, Lourdes Gurriel, Luis Arraez, Ozzie Albies - I expect these guys will all be in the $15-18m/yr range based on their situations/percieved shortcomings and could really fit in well on the Cubs if they could hit their ceiling/get back to their best years. 6. Not sure what you trade them for or who might be available, but you gotta cash in some prospect value to help the MLB team this offseason. Not saying dump them all, but I just don't see Caissie/Alcantara/Triantos all having road to playing time, especially with Conrad/Kepley coming up right behind them.

Is there some reason NOT to give players the “take” sign in 2025. It was sooooo predictable Shaw wasn’t getting a strike there. Why not just take the decision off him?

I'm glad he got a hit, but I could have lined that hanging slider into left. That wasn't some kind of baseball genius. Also, that was dumb to even partially offer at that ball and allow the ump to make a judgement call.

This isn't looking like a long outing from Quintana.

I kind of what them to stay "in it". No need for them to just waive the white flag and sacrifice Quintana. Need them to keep using their leverage arms if possible.