Backtobanks
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Everything posted by Backtobanks
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I'm still not sure what the payroll situation is because of all the mixed messages - trade Bryant, keep Bryant, trade Darvish, "in play" with Semien, looking for "diamonds in the rough" with Bourque and Holder, passing on DeSclafani and Wacha for low salaries, etc.
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From MLBTR: The Rays added a veteran source of innings to their rotation Friday morning, announcing a one-year deal with right-hander Michael Wacha. The CAA client will reportedly land a $3MM guarantee on the heels of a rough 2020 season with the Mets. Looks like a smart move at that price.
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Long overdue. Josh Gibson deserves the title of the greatest player of all-time. Certainly one of the greatest of all-time, but it's hard to compare different eras without knowing the level of competition, the size of the ballparks, the accuracy of the statistics, etc.
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I was never interested in Margot until I realized that he's one of the few CF that is young, inexpensive, and available. Apparently. the Cubs don't want Happ in CF anymore and their options seem to be really limited. I would love to find any option for CF that would fit our budget and was actually good.
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All of the speculation about Contreras to the Rays, how about Caratini to the Rays for Margot? Saves them a few bucks while improving their catching and gets the Cubs a young CF. Sign Grossman for depth in the OF and Happ can play LF, 3B, or 2B as needed depending on future transactions (i.e. Bryant). I like Margot for Caratini a lot if Willson doesn't get moved. Though I don't see it making sense to not move Willson, unless maybe you move Darvish or Hendricks. Which I guess brings us to: I see the merits of moving Darvish. Always better to move pitching sooner rather than later, and Darvish is incredibly valuable right now. That said, like Brett alludes to at the end there, if you're moving Darvish you ought to just mostly blow it all up. It might make sense to trade Darvish (for a huge haul) if you could be sure the offense would rebound, but that's far from a sure thing. You would need to get a good young SP to put in the rotation right away, a good young position player that steps into the lineup, and some very good prospects.
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I like Grossman a lot, I think he brings to the table a lot of what our offense lacks. He's also probably average in CF? My only worry with him is if his offensive efficiency would suffer some in an everyday role. I think if it's an either/or, you're basically debating between an elite defense/average offense and a good defense/good offense. Net production is likely about the same, so it's about cost and what shape you'd rather have it come in. All of the speculation about Contreras to the Rays, how about Caratini to the Rays for Margot? Saves them a few bucks while improving their catching and gets the Cubs a young CF. Sign Grossman for depth in the OF and Happ can play LF, 3B, or 2B as needed depending on future transactions (i.e. Bryant).
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Especially at 1/3 of the cost.
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Wow. Had no idea he was still controlled and that I forgot he was the closer for a lot of the season. He was a FA. The other potential answer is Tepera, who was under control and was non-tendered, but I'm giving the benefit of the doubt on b2b's accuracy considering Tepera pitched in the 9th inning exactly 1 time as a Cub. I guess it's a matter of semantics. While the Cubs had control of Jeffress, they didn't re-sign him, extend him, or trade him, so they let him go for nothing.
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As I've suggested before, they should sell the team for an obscene profit. They could keep the rooftops, neighborhood, and luxury hotel and probably make more money when the new owners actually spend enough to have a winning team.
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I don't know how you can be bored with all of the Cubs' activity. We traded Theo for Hoyer, Venable for Harris, Kasper for an announcer to be named later, we dumped our starting LF and closer for nothing, etc. while those other silly teams are working on their rosters.
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COVID has raised the price of quite a few things regardless of demand already. Businesses and corporations use any excuse to raise prices. If it was regardless of demand then demand would be unable to support arbitrarily higher prices If the higher prices are on necessities, then people don't have a choice as to whether they pay the higher prices or not.
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The rich get richer while the poor get poorer. After they possibly collect on the insurance claim, they will increase ticket prices to cover the increase in their insurance premiums. It's a never ending cycle. They will increase ticket prices if/when demand allows for it, not to cover the cost of something else. COVID has raised the price of quite a few things regardless of demand already. Businesses and corporations use any excuse to raise prices.
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As Long as the Pirates are willing to dump salary, how about Mills & Strumph for Musgrove and Frasier.
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Great move by the WS. They are in a win-now mode and picked by a really solid #3 starter for $9 million, plus they have enough good prospects to go beyond 2021.
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It's hard to judge Bryant's worth in this offseason, so it's hard to call trade proposals "terrible" until we get a sense of what teams are actually offering and how desperate the Cubs are to trim payroll.
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The rich get richer while the poor get poorer. After they possibly collect on the insurance claim, they will increase ticket prices to cover the increase in their insurance premiums. It's a never ending cycle.
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How about Caratini and Mills to the Rockies for Gray and Ryan Vilade?
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?????????????????? Haven't you heard that the Cubs (and everything having to do with them) are totally broke? Don't forget that Marquee Network has secured massive carriage deals with every carrier! And PTR has a massive amount of money too, but claims he's broke. Just because a billionaire or a big corporation has lots of money doesn't mean they're willing to spend it.
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?????????????????? Haven't you heard that the Cubs (and everything having to do with them) are totally broke?
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Not surprising considering the Central Divisions have mostly mid-size cities (and mid-size payrolls) with the exception of Chicago.
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Sounds like Abbott & Costello - who's in LF, who's at 3B, who's in CF, who's at the back of the rotation, who's in the bullpen.............
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This guy doesn't hit at all, so I'm not sure he could be a RHH bench player. Maybe a pinch runner or a defensive sub is all I see on a ML roster.
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Or point out these stats to other teams (along with his contract status) and tell them to offer a Contreras-type package for Vic.
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I've got nothing against Porter personally, the D'Backs' first 5 prospects on MLB.com are all possible beasts and they seem smart, but would still be disappointed for other reasons. Epstein talked about adding diversity to this FO, not just low hanging fruit like race but maybe just maybe moving away from these white guys from rich or wealthy families living in rich or wealthy parts of the country who attended highly exclusive schools that track their students for the most exclusive, high reward, low risk jobs *extremely* early in life. Porter would, in that sense, be more of the same.I just don't think it's a coincidence that, as FOs and baseball in general filled up jobs with these same-ish people, revenues exploded with more and more and more and more and more of it going to the top While diversity is certainly a goal, most executives are going to hire the "known" factor of success in the current crop of available candidates. This is especially true of teams that consider themselves contenders.
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I’m pretty sure Adbert has another option year. But yeah I get not wanting to go all of Urena/Adbert/Mills in the rotation. Like I said I’d view Urena more as a bullpen piece (kinda like Rea). Adbert needs to be given the chance to sink or swing as a SP (he’ll obviously be on an innings limit so having extra SP depth this year will be big). I think Mills fizzles out if he’s given a full rotation sport over 162, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s not on the roster/in the rotation by the ASB/trade deadline. He obviously deserves a spot to start the year but I think he blows up. But yeah Gray needs to be a legit target in some way. Either as a NT FA or a trade target. I agree about Mills. I think he would be a good secondary piece in a trade (assuming the Cubs pick up another starter). A cheap option as a swingman could be our old friend Trevor Cahill.