Rob

We also have no reliable information that he hasn't come to Wrigley, or doesn't plan to.

Cubs lose no players during the major league phase. I'm not gonna keep track of the minor league phase.

And with their pick in the major league portion of the draft, the Cubs pass.

Rule 5 Draft starting now.

If he was doing it for the attention, he'd be doing it how LeBron did. And he'd be getting paid extra for his troubles. At worst, this seems to be an arguable case of the Streisand effect, where his intent to keep something secret has backfired. But honestly? I think there was zero chance a phenom like him wasn't going to get hounded about this decision during the offseason.

Cleveland got the first pick, and Cincinnati second. So some teams got lucky, it just wasn't us...

I've never understood the whole in/out dynamic on the way these deals are reported. Like, I get it if Ohtani just decides that under no circumstances does he want to play in Chicago. It's just too cold for him or whatever. If that's the case, I could understand how we'd be "out." But if it's just a question of money, the Cubs could decide to buy their way back "in" on these discussions up until the moment he signs elsewhere. Jed could have a stiff drink at dinner tonight and bump our offer 10% and suddenly things would look very different, in all likelihood.

Draft lottery is tonight. Cubs could theoretically get a lottery pick in the top 6, though the odds are extremely low. https://www.mlb.com/news/2024-mlb-draft-lottery-odds

One thing that's been pretty true of the Hoyer era is that he operates pretty stealthily. There are, of course, times when the fit is just so obvious that everybody assumes it'll come together (Bellinger last year). But I wouldn't necessarily expect to get much lead time before finding out something has actually happened.

This roster needs to add roughly 8-10 WAR for me to be "happy" with the offseason. I don't really care where it comes from. Ohtani and scrubs. Fine. Bichette, Alonso, and another? Fine. Once we get into that 12+ win range, I move from "happy" to legitimately excited.

I mean, you don't really need to extrapolate. Madrigal came up as a 2b. The defensive metrics have him about average there.

I liked the part where he said all the disappointments were 40 years ago. I still remember Hideo Nomo being the first big Japanese import to MLB back in 1995. Since he called me a racist, can I call him an ageist?

I like Gibson. There's nothing sexy about his production, but he's stayed healthy and productive for a long time. He's no better than a quality #4 on a good pitching staff, but that's got real value. He's always given me Jeff Suppan vibes. I guess now I know why.

Are you attempting to imply that anybody who thinks that Yamamoto should receive less than $300M is a racist? I think giving any player $300M before they've played a single MLB game is incredibly risky. That would be true whether it's an NPB player or a once-in-a-generation AAA phenom. That doesn't make me racist -- it makes me sane.

Nico, Dansby, and Happ all won for their respective positions.

I can certainly squint and see the resemblance. But since this is the internet, I feel compelled to argue. First, "while a six year deal worked out for Lester" is at least an arguable point. I recently read something that suggested his production was worth about $30M less than the salary he received. While that's certainly within the margin of error for these WAR estimates (and particularly so when there's a world series title involved), I think whether he was really worth the contract or not is at least up for debate. I'd lean towards "yes" but that's hardly settled. But more importantly, Lester's contract fulfilled a very specific role that Nola's cannot. Lester's signing was a statement. Signing Lester signaled we were going all-in, and that (plus the development of our young core) made us an interesting destination in 2016 for free agents. Heyward probably would have signed anyway based on the money. But guys like Zobrist, Lackey, and Fowler could have all received millions more elsewhere and opted for here because they thought we represented their best shot at a title. There's no replicating that aspect of that signing. We had held the purse strings tight under the Theo regime prior to Lester's signing. But there's been examples since then. We have signed Swanson, Suzuki, and Taillon. Our payroll is already on the higher end of the league. So there's no statement to be made. And any statement that might be implied is muddied by the treatment of Darvish -- signed to a massive deal and traded shortly thereafter. Unless we're going full Mets with it, and that ain't happening.

Pete Ricketts spent $12 million to become governor for four years. Jameson Taillon cost us $68 million over four years -- so $17 million for this year alone. Politics is a lot cheaper to influence than baseball, sadly enough.

Why would they need to swing the narrative in time for an election year? People don't go thinking "I love seeing the Cubs win, so I'm going to vote for Republican candidates." The Ricketts will be using the extra cash on hand to fund sleazy GOP candidates who get them a great ROI. They get more out of those investments than they do from having a winning team -- especially in this 3 wild card era.

And at this point, he's got a good shot to be. The argument for a guy like Mastrobuoni over PCA was always that the overall value was similar, but PCA had some contractual issues if we brought him up in September. But that damage is done now. If PCA shows he can play and Ross likes him at least as a pinch-runner and defensive replacement, I could very easily see him on the postseason roster.

Also, as I expected, Phils just broke through against Wacha. Harper with a 2 run double into the gap. 3-0 Phils.

I was briefly concerned when I looked at the playoff odds graphs for the wild card slots and saw the Brewers odds going up. Then my dumb self realized why...

Solid burn. But his best stuff involves some semblance of control over where it's going. He might as well be throwing knucklers today.

Watching the Phillies - Padres game right now and Wacha clearly doesn't have his best stuff today. He's been lucky so far, but it's only a matter of time before the Phillies break through against him.

After tomorrow, the Brewers have just one more off day during the season. The Cubs have three. Some of those Brewers players may be feeling pretty gassed heading into our final series.

Well, CB Bucknor gifted us that Pirates win.