Backtobanks

Certainly in the discussion for GOAT. RIP.

I think many of us agree with you, but I think all of the posts are just boiling-over frustration about the Cubs this off season.

I'm still holding out for the hope that we play the same kind of schedule as last year. We might still look pretty good against the NL Central and AL Central teams with the exception of the Twins and WS. If we have to play against "real" ML teams, it's going to be pretty ugly.

I'm seeing a lot of pissed off Cubs fans on social media. I can't be the only one here that had no desire seeing Lester pitch in 2021 on the Cubs. 2015-2018 were awesome and he's one of the best free agent signings in Cubs history and Chicago sports history but it's pretty clear he was done in 2019 and completely done in 2020. I get that people are pissed with everything the Cubs are doing at this point but I can't get there with this move and there will be time to mend fences with Jon and welcome him back when he's done. Apparently he was pretty set on returning to the Cubs, asking for $5m a year at the start of the offseason and again going back to the Cubs and asking them to come close to what the Nationals were about to give him and the best they could come up with (according to Gordo) was somewhere around $2m a year. You wonder how much of that is the Cubs not being able to afford more and how much of it is the Cubs realizing he’s cooked and making the token effort to resign. I would have been ok with Jon returning for under $5m next season but since clearly we aren’t going to contend I’m at least somewhat excited so see if we can use the magical pitch lab to unearth 1-2 quality starters. May fail miserably but again the ship has sailed on 2021 contention and if we want this to be more of a 2 year retool than a true gut rebuild then we probably shouldn’t be bringing back 37 year old pitchers Chatwood signed too. Thank God we snapped up Miller before these teams realized that Lester and Chatwood aren't any good.

He fills all of the necessary requirements - he's cheap.

I was surprised that he got that much.

From MLBTR: Mets, Cubs Had “Recent Trade Talks” About Kris Bryant They hint that either Davis or Smith might be the return.

Bigger fish cost more money.

From Cubs Insider: https://www.cubsinsider.com/2021/01/02/not-talking-seriously-about-jake-cronenworth-may-give-clues-to-cubs-plans/ This is totally insane. The Cubs never considered someone with his skills who is controlled for 5 more years while making the league minimum. "They didn't want to lock in someone at 2B for the next 5 years"? If Hoerner develops into a solid ML, he could take over at SS, if they decide to not extend Baez, move to CF, or trade from a position of strength to acquire what they need.

Speaking of Trump, I think we'll be getting a lot of lies and claims of fake news from the Cubs starting with Hoyer's claim that the Darvish trade had nothing to do with money. Stay tuned.

Even Ben Zobrist has had enough: https://www.chicagotribune.com/real-estate/elite-street/ct-re-cubs-ben-zobrist-selling-house-near-wrigley-20201229-cpodxbzqxjd2lip4exl5twd7se-story.html?fbclid=IwAR2gTs5LFZ9q4A12s78rg6Dc6OGNsDiPz-NGU0d_TN6nETgRDH11i-ypP8g

I miss all of his wacky three team trade proposals. Most of them made more sense than the embarrassing Darvish trade.

Like the boss praising you before giving you the pink slip. Do we want to start a pool as to how soon he's traded?

I wonder if there’s a veteran catcher out there with a long, storied career who could mentor Amaya for a season. Perhaps even has a ton of experience in the NL central and could pass along that expertise as well. (At this point, might as well right? Burn it all down) We don't need a veteran catcher to mentor Amaya, we need somebody to teach him how to hit ML pitching. He's not a great hitter down in the low minors.

Part of Jed's quote - "Have to be more efficient with fewer employees" actually means fewer ML players.

Davies?

The Rays literally just got two MLB ready guys in the Snell trade. Yeah, but the Rays don't have PTR as an owner and Hoyer a president.

What do you have against teenagers? After the embarrassing trade of Darvish, I wouldn't get my hopes up too high.

Tbf, that's not crazy far from what the people have been demanding for years now (though 18-20 is likely a little young for the league's agenda, don't want to undermine the NCAA!). I think it's pretty cool the Cubs have a couple guys you can squint and see making a ML debut at 20 (Howard, Preciado) Nobody was demanding that in the last 5 years. You must be getting paid by Ricketts to post all of this positive spin about this trade. As for squinting, I think most of us will have our eyes completely shut for the next few years. As for Contreras being shopped, somebody ought to tell Jed that Campusano wasn't part of the Darvish deal.

Play all of the 18-20 year olds. We'll have to when every team below AA is dissolved No, we'll just lose them to some other team in the draft.

Play all of the 18-20 year olds.

Two words: Scott Feldman. :beg: Yeah, Hoyer will trade him plus another player for Arrieta and Strope at the deadline.

Looks that way now, lots of risk being taken on by the Cubs, historically that's never played out well. I'd say there's a better than average chance none of these guys are Cubs in two years than any one of the prospects panning out to be a productive MLB'er. Prospects which are all, what, 4+ years away at best? Zach Davies? Weren't the Cubs one of the few teams against which slow, slower and slowest was effective? Remember when Bryant was being shopped and we couldn't get what we wanted for him. If I was a GM on a team that needed a 3B, I would be calling Jed with offers of 2 16-year-olds for Bryant plus cash.

For those of you pushing for a fire sale, what kind of shrewd deals do you think Hoyer can make on Rizzo, Bryant, Baez, etc. when this is all he could get for Darvish & Caratini? I will say that GMs should be lined up at Hoyer's door after this deal.

End of the rotation? Right now he's our #2 in the rotation.