mul21

Shocking that old white dudes would favor Bagent over Caleb. You can win a lot of games with a competent QB but you aren't a perennial contender unless you have a guy who can bail you out at the end of games consistently because so many NFL games come down to the final possession. Bagent isn't and likely never will be that guy because of his physical limitations.

Maybe another question to ask, and I have no idea how or where this data might come from, is are pull heavy players/teams more prone to running hot and cold? Like, do the mechanics of being a pull heavy hitter cause there to be such little room for error that guys tend to go ice cold if they're not in perfect alignment with their swing? I have no idea, I'm just throwing ideas out there because I can't recall offenses being this streaky like the Cubs have been the last 2 seasons.

That's underselling what the kid did pretty significantly when you take into account his age and the comps to others who've put up similar numbers with similar underlying metrics at the same age.

https://fansided.com/mlb/wrigley-fields-wind-has-a-massive-effect-on-scoring-according-to-data That's not hard evidence but the fact is that Wrigley is volatile and being able to score runs in a variety of ways is probably more important to the Cubs than many other teams.

Sure, but I'd be surprised if the Cubs are willing to offer that with Hartshorn probably on target for 2028 and the other OF spot having a different long term solution that isn't him.

His attachment to the team probably means more than it would in most cases. He's made $87 million already and a smart guy like him has probably managed to hang onto most of that money and playing another season in Chicago is likely more important to him than a 2-3 year deal elsewhere.

Hopefully it means he's filing for unemployment soon.

Bah, Spotrac didn't have him listed. Good call.

In the pen you for sure have Maton, Miller, Palencia, and Rolison back. Ethan Roberts is also available for the Iowa shuttle along with Assad. Definitely need another impact arm there but I suspect Morejon will be high on many team's lists. For the rotation, you're looking at Cabrera as the only highly likely candidate to give you 25-30 starts who's currently on the roster. I think I'd probably make an effort to bring back Peterson in concert with a dogged pursuit of Skubal. They just don't have anyone who can be a top of the rotation guy anywhere near MLB ready and maybe not even in the system at all. I kind of hope the clunky end to the season for Holmes leads to him exercising his option and you add him to the mix with Steele, Garrett, and Brown filling out the rest of the staff. I'd also look at Civale in the Rea role for 2027 if not a straight pen role since he's obviously figured something out since coming to the Cubs. I probably try to bring Kelly back and have him work at 1B in the offseason as a platoon partner with Busch so you can break in Ayers without having to worry about a 3rd catcher really screwing up the roster. I'm making a QO to Seiya for sure and probably Happ depending on how that discussion goes. Assume Happ is back, Alcantara is his platoon partner, and I'm not sure what you do at the other OF position. Maybe a buy low Jarren Duran trade or something like that? That leaves you a bench of Pedro, Shaw, Ayers, and Amaya with one of the first 3 hanging out in Iowa to start the season so the roster fits the Happ/Alcantara platoon.

Cabrera as well

But when you combine that with Boyd's knee, Cabrera's blisters/hamstring/ineffectiveness, Shota's HR problems and the myriad problems the pen had, I'm not sure it's possible to build enough redundancy to withstand all that. Like, who predicts Maton's knee falls apart or Milner gets appendicitis? Also, Brown got through the 2025 season without the neck causing problems, so I'm not sure you can really look at that one and think it was likely to reoccur.

It's a percentage as far as I'm aware (so not full revenue), plus if you look at a team like the Cubs, they pull over $2 million just from ticket sales every game and I'd bet you can double that (at a minimum) for concession sales. They're more than covering payroll just from game days before we even get to any TV money, so I don't think we should pretend the owners are unconcerned about lost games because even if they'll be fine, we know these greedy turds love nothing more than money they can't possibly spend in their lifetimes.

I think that's an overblown fear. The owners don't make any money if games aren't played, so I can't see anything lasting too long if there are any games lost at all.

The 3-0 pitch was the only strike he saw in the at bat and I said it at the time that I hated it being an automatic take because he chases so much. He swung at ball 4 twice on 3-1 and 3-2.

A Hottovy replacement is available. I don't know if he's a well regarded as he used to be but he's definitely a name guy.

Is that supposed to be Seiya? The guys they have signed provide a decent baseline to work from, so there's no real worry they're going to be a disaster, but those 10 wins to get from 80 to 90 are a lot tougher to find than the ones to get from 70 to 80, and I'm just not sure Jed is capable of being that guy, especially when you consider what the roster is losing and what's available. Can he get creative and find a team desperate for infield help and turn Ramirez or Shaw into a corner OF with a higher offensive ceiling than they have? Or does he have to use those guys to rebuild the pitching staff? As you said, it'll be a tricky offseason to navigate successfully but there are certainly some paths to an equivalent roster to this year out there.

Unfortunately that series went about how I expected it to. At least I didn't have to stay up until midnight to watch the bullpen piss down their leg and give games away late to make things even more painful. I have no idea how you fix this roster in a single offseason with what's available in FA, the contracts they have locked in, and the subpar farm system. The only real hope is that they somehow stay healthier next year and that solves a number of the problems they had this year.

Seems like sending Shota out for an inning Sunday was kinda dumb knowing how precarious the pitching situation is. He would have likely been a much better option yesterday or today with hindsight being 20/20.

"We stinks!" -Carlos Zambrano

Considering Cabrera is the only one of the 3 without 2 elbow surgeries under his belt, it's not even a remotely controversial take. We have no idea how Horton will recover and we don't know if the Cubs will even tender Steele a contract after the season, so his line of thinking isn't unreasonable at all.

I don't know about that throw, but he was 11/11 against the blitz for 143 yards and 2 TDs for a whopping rating of...........55.7. If someone didn't already think they were garbage that should clinch it.

This is looking unfortunately prescient.

Interesting decision to pull Luzardo after 77 pitches and 5 innings when you don't trust your pen.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Counsell use him as a middle of the game fireman like he did last year and count on Zef, Webb and Civale to finish games.

I'd be shocked if Shota is used as anything but a starter in this series. Peterson is the 2nd lefty in the pen.