Backtobanks

Unfortunately, you're probably getting a soccer team instead.

They could be if its a short term deal. The Cubs still have a gigantic lack of left handed hitters and the ones they have are not power bats (Heyward, Ortega, Diechmann, Alcantara). Doesn't mean it has to be Rizzo but he would be an option at a position where we can improve. The problem more than his bat IMO is that his defense swan dived last year. I didn't watch a ton of post-deadline Cubs but when I did I continually saw issues defensively at 1B so we need to get better there. Also his recurring back issues make him unreliable so we'd need a backup option to pair with him. Also, I don't think his sentimental status as a former Cub moves Jed at all but his leadership qualities might (outside of the whole vaccination issues). Finally, its very possible he blew all his money on NFT's and will be desperate to take the first contract offered to him after the deadline. I don't remember where I saw it, but someone speculated he might end up with 2 years/$20 million. Signing him certainly makes more sense than giving up any players for Ahmed, Gregorious, etc. because they don't trust Hoerner to do the job.

From MLBTR: Kyle Seager Announces Retirement

I understand doing 2/90 or something crazy like that to lead off the deal changes the math substantially, but I can't imagine they get away with both less total dollars AND less AAV than Seager (or Lindor). That said if this is the opening offer, it feels like Jed will get to a number that *does* do it. Maybe 8/276? Gives him the highest AAV for a shortstop (and I believe non-Trout position player), and that structure probably is roughly equivalent to a more straight up 8/300? Guys this feels real He could take the 2/90 and opt out and still get a 7 or 8 year contract.

Good move for depth, but the Hoyer quotes about being finished with the rotation is worrisome. One more solid rotation piece would certainly go a long way toward respectability.

I still think a deal for Merrill Kelly makes a lot of sense. It would solidify the rotation for a couple of years at a low cost both in prospects and dollars.

Why this dead end every single time? Somehow all the money seemingly magically disappears anytime a player better than a reclamation pitcher or DH trying to play defense gets mentioned! What are the rules? Also I'd respectfully disagree with that last claim based off of nothing anyone's said anyway I'm going by what the Cubs have said about spending and what all of the sportswriters have reported - basically the Cubs aren't going to spend big or long term until they are closer to be seriously competitive. The money hasn't "magically disappeared", it's just that Ricketts has decided to tighten the purse strings and it's his money we're talking about. We could have filled all of the holes if Ricketts decided to go all in by spending top money for 2 or 3 starters, a top SS, and a power LH bat instead of looking for short-term fixes.

The thing with Bryant's FA contract is that it's been set up since Day 1 to be a steal even at 9 figures and 5+ years solely on him reaching FA at 30. It's been the topic with him for half a decade+ now, would be a topic whether he was coming off a 10 or no WAR season, and meanwhile all he did during his pre-FA years was: win basically every player award possible from NCAA-MLB, put up ~32 fWAR during his pre-FA years (basically half a HOF career, 3/4 of a Hall of Badass Players career), win the league MVP on a WS winning team that basically start to finished as the best all around team in baseball (won that MVP in a unique fashion too playing 5-6 different positions), missed the playoffs once, etc etc etc...The one real blemish on his baseball resume, the 60 game covid 2020, requires some real soullessness to take at face value The durability knocks are too flimsy for my tastes too. He's played 87% of the games during his 6 162 game seasons, and GP somewhat undersells the # of PAs he's taken in that span (he's 32nd in GP since coming up, 24th in PAs)...This is before the DH gets to the NL, which proooobably is coming during his career maybe even this next CBA, and opens up yet another position his offense plays Another thing that bugs me about how Kris Bryant remaining a Cub often gets portrayed: it's not an ultimatum between Kris Bryant and building a complete team. It really *should* work the other way around at this stage anyway: if Yusei Kikuchi or Kyle Schwarber at 8 figures stops you from signing a legitimately great player for 9 figures then skip on the 8 figure player. Bryant's versatility keeps a guy like Kyle Seager, a likely cheap due to age LHH with experience at all the non-1B infield positions coming off a 35 HR season with SafeCo as the home park, in play. There's no real reason (outside of understandable pessimism) to think Bryant really takes them out any other high impact FAs right now Unfortunately, you aren't the guy making financial decisions about the Cubs. We can all build the Cubs into winners next year if money doesn't get in the way.

The team’s biggest needs are still players who don’t suck, ideally superstars like Bryant. This team is most definitely not a couple niche-y signings off of being competitive, the big need is talent I totally agree that they need talent (and KB is talented), but they're still woefully weak in the positions mentioned.

As much as we would all love a reunion with KB, he doesn't seem to fit what the team needs (SP, SS, LH power, etc.). Also, he would probably want a long-term contract (6 years).

Offensively I actually like Vogelbach's fit on the roster. I just don't think it's workable defensively. With the Gomes addition meaning Contreras probably DH's one or two days a week, plus the huge number of outfielders on the roster, I don't think a pure 1B fits on the roster. Rivas is nice because he has minor league options, so he can come up after someone gets hurt or gets sent down for sucking. Hoerner and Wisdom are the only guys on the roster who can play the left side of the infield. The team currently has two hitters to add, and I think one needs to be a surefire starter at 3B/SS and the other needs to be able to at least moonlight there. I hope I'm wrong, but I think Contreras will be traded. As mentioned earlier, Villar fits if you can live with his defense.

Rivas is a decent option to keep on the team, but offers no power.

An article on cubinsider.com brought up the idea of Vogelbach as a possibility. He would offer a power LH bat at DH/platoon 1B and is certainly affordable on a short term deal.

I thought about Villar as a cheap possibility for LH bat/platoon SS/3b, but the question is whether it's worth taking his offensive prowess as opposed to his defensive weaknesses.

I'm surprised he turned down the Cubs offer of 3 years, $21 million to return. :lol:

Contreras will be traded. If they wanted a backup catcher they could have resigned Chirinos for $1 million.

There's no way in hell Turner and Judge don't get extended after how quiet the Yankees and Dodgers were this past weekend. If DeGrom opts out do we really think Cohen won't move heaven and earth to retain him? Nearly everyone else fun is tied to a team option, meaning they only make it to FA if they suck this year. We're likely left with Bogaerts, re-signing Willson, and a solid crop of mid rotation starters. Which is why, I'm leaning towards that they don't have any plans to be competitive in 2023 either. We don't need FAs, we have a bunch of 17-18 year-olds coming down the pike in 3-4 years. Just be patient.

The lack of hearing about the Cubs in rumors (I know Stroman and a couple others we were mentioned amount 6-7 teams but for the most part its been quiet) means either they are likely not spending until after the lockout[highlight=yellow]or all the stuff Jed and PTR said about a retool is BS[/highlight]. If its the latter why lie about it..to keep ST renewals high? I'm probably overreacting. The Cubs were probably not going to get a top FA and they hinted at that multiple times. The 1-3 year contract guys are mostly still out there, so perhaps the plan is still in place. It's just so horsefeathering quiet. Some of us figured out that it was all BS a long time ago. They aren't spending any money until they are somewhere near a competitive team (2023 or 2024).

Austin Romine?

Exactly. Like I'm not asking for Correa, Freeman, and Scherzer. But on the flip side doing say Galvis, Moreland, and Kikuchi instead doesn't actually accomplish anything unless you hit HUGE on one of them a la the Jays with Robbie Ray last year. And like you pointed out a few weeks back there aren't actually many bad contracts to take on and buy prospects. There's like Pat Corbin, Madison Bumgarner, and Eric Hosmer? Like, Jed's gotta do something so that we're not just sitting in the same place next year plus Davis minus Contreras. My ideal is/was a Gray or better SP and one of the big SS's, but I'm open to alternatives as long as they actually move the ball forward. I never thought it was reasonable to be truly competitive in 2022, but I did think it was completely reasonable to start adding pieces so that they can be competitive as early as 2023. At this point, I don't think even that is going to happen. I'd guess it's going to be more like 2012-2014 where they add rehab projects on one or two year deals with the hope of dealing them at the deadline. The Cubs won't be competitive until 2024 and that's assuming their "kids" continue to progress. At this point, they need to start thinking about trades with their upper level prospects that don't really have a future here to finish building the roster.

We all like Stroman better than Gray, but it's a matter of money. Are we going to spend $110 million/5 years rather than $56 million/4 years? Also, the competition will be tougher for a TRS rather than a MRS.

The Cubs' favorite show during the off season is Last Man Standing.

It sounds like a good idea - Castellanos @ $23 million AAV, a couple of starters at $12 - $18 million AAV each, leaves enough to fill out the roster.

From MLBTR: Interestingly, Sawdaye suggested the D-Backs could try to pick up a controllable third base option via trade. Even if Arizona doesn’t wind up trading long-term assets, they could move someone like starter Merrill Kelly, who’ll make just $5.25MM in his final year of team control. Perhaps a Kelly deal could bring back a controllable infielder, and Sawdaye also floated the possibility of a “prospect-for-prospect-type deal” eventually coming together. The D-Backs themselves were part of perhaps the most notable trade of that kind in recent memory, when they picked up Gallen from the Marlins for Jazz Chisholm Jr. at the 2019 trade deadline. Maybe a deal involving Bote + might work in getting another cheap rotation filler leaving plenty of money to fill the other holes.

I'm one of the more optimistic folks about this winter, but this is 1000% going to happen. One of the good things about the current Cubs roster is the positional flexibility. Aside from Madrigal, pretty much everyone of consequence could shift around a bit. So while there's certain things you'd really like to see this winter, like someone to push Hoerner off of shortstop, Jed doesn't *have* to commit to any specific position aside from SP. He just needs to bring in as many Wins as possible. So even if this ends up a a good offseason, there's still going to be at least one fun name Jed loses out on last minute. That's just gonna happen when you're in on a large cross-section of guys. The motto of the Cubs could be "Jack of all trades, master of none."