Tryptamine

It will be interesting to see if any teams actually trade good pieces for James McCann and his completely unsustainable .359babip last year. I can't imagine they'd use him as a backup.

I don't know why. I'm really not sure there's any production drop off from Contreras to Caratini/Chirinos.

4/73 for a 31 year old catcher seems like quite a lot even if Grandal is very good. That's going to be a disaster in a year or two.

I don't think I've seen him mentioned, but shouldn't we be in on Robinson Chirinos if Contreras is dealt? He's 35, probably available on a 1 year deal and coming off a 113wRC+ 2.3fWAR season.

Who could the Brewers possibly trade for Lindor? I can't imagine they're going to move Hiura or Woodruff, Burne's value is in the tank and, while a nice prospect, Turang certainly isn't the lead piece in a Lindor deal. I just can't see how they could get it done unless the Indians want a quantity package of guys like Burnes,Grisham,Peralta and Turang.

Correct me if I"m wrong but Tsusugo is supposedly barely even passable at 1B right? Unless they're moving Rizzo I just don't see how it could work.

What am I missing. Hedges is strong defensively but can't hit. Margot is strong defensively but can't hit. Munoz is enticing, but I think there's a very high chance Lamet,who only really throws 2 pitches, winds up a reliever as well.

Sadly, I never really figured we were a realistic option since I'm sure he wants to close. That Atlanta bullpen has gone from a real weakness to very solid since the trade deadline.

Pre-2019 status aside, I agree with TT that you can get more quality or fit than these guys. Urias' lack of power really hurts him as a prospect, probably why he's said to be available, and Mejia's got the same flaws as Contreras Urias added quite a bit of pop this year in exchange for some of his elite contact skills; granted it's hard to know if any power added in 2019 was real or a mirage. With that said, I think Urias is available more because they also have Ty France who put up one of the best seasons in minor league history. .399/.477/.770 w/ 27HR and a 196wRC+ in 348 AAA PAs.

To split this into pieces, I think you can do better(if not in value then in fit, but probably in value) for Contreras than Mejia/Urias/prospect reliever, and I definitely would not trade Alzolay, Chatwood, and Descalso for Myers. I don't think we'd net anywhere near Mejia/Urias/Munoz for Contreras solo. You're talking 2 guys who were top 50 prospects, top 25 in the case of Urias, to start 2019 and perhaps the single best relief prospect in the minors with Munoz. I kind of saw it as Urias+Mejia=Contreras and Munoz+Myers=Descalso,Chatwood,Alzolay.

I'm game, there's nothing but upside on a minor league deal. When he's healthy he's absolutely filthy.

Just for fun, because trades with this many MLB players almost never happen, but I'd like to see something like this Cubs Trade Willson Contreras,Adbert Alzolay,Tyler Chatwood and Daniel Descalso (~18.5M in salaries for 2020 not counting league minimum players) Cubs receive Francisco Mejia,Luis Urias,Andre Munoz/Matt Strahm and Wil Myers (~20M in 2020 and Myers is 20M in each of 2021 and 2022 with an option in 2023) SD gets a massive upgrade at C and Hedges is a very strong back up. Ty France will capably replace Urias at 2B, Alzolay can take a reliever slot in 2020 and Chatwood can fight for a rotation slot with Paddack,Lucchessi,Lauer,Lamet and Quantrill. Cubs get a cheap C with lots of control and considerable offensive upside, a 2B with good upside, an elite upside reliever in Munoz or a reliever that could be converted back to a starter in Strahm. They also get an OK bat that should fair much better defensively in RF with Myers. They only add 1.5M in salary for 2020 so this would allow them roughly 30M to go after a starter(Wheeler?),a bench bat(Calhoun?) and another pen arm(Martin?). 2020 Roster C-Caratini 1B-Rizzo 2B-Urias SS-Baez 3B-Bryant LF-Schwarber CF-Heyward RF-Myers Bench- Mejia,Bote,Happ,Nico,FA SP- Darvish,Hendricks,Lester,Quintana,FA RP- Kimbrel,Ryan,Wick,Wieck,Munoz/Strahm,Mills,FA

Tear it down, get all the picks you can because I think there's about zero chance this is fixed next year.

With the power disappearing in the 2nd half and the ball likely going back to normal I'm not sure I want him 2 more years unless it's something like 4/60.

Cohen? Really?

Yourself right they aren't the answer, but they're one hell of a lot better than Trubisky No. They're not. If you're holding out any hope, you should change that quickly. I'm quite sure they could have put up more than the 5ish yards the Bears had in the 1st half. Just because they're not good doesn't mean we should continue to roll with the worst option.

Yourself right they aren't the answer, but they're one hell of a lot better than Trubisky

Negative total yards going into half. I'm not sure a Bear team has ever done that.

13 total yards with less than 5 to go in the half. What does this team have to do to get this QB benched and the coach fired?

Fire Nagy please

I’m not going to defend Mitch but you act like there’s hidden QB talent on the sidelines or something and you know darn well there isn’t. I'm willing to give anyone other than Trubisky a chance.

Yup, good thing he wasn't benched.

With Nagy’s play calling? How is a different QB going to help So because the playcalling is bad we should stick with the completely inept QB?

There is just no way you can let Trubisky come out for the 2nd half. This game should be a blow out.

Just for fun, what I'd like to see Theo do Release/Non-tender: Russell Descalso Almora Phelps Options: Pick up Graveman's option(+3M) FA: Jason Kipnis 1/5, he made a swing change back in mid June and after that point put up a .262/.325/.477 103wRC+ in 314PAs Gerrit Cole 7/230 Will Harris 1/6 Akiyama 3/21 Trades: Quintana to LAA for Brandon Marsh (-11.5M) Brandon Marsh+Alzolay+Underwood for Starling Marte(+11.5M and 12.5M option in 2021) C:Contreras 1B:Rizzo 2B:Kipnis SS:Baez 3B:Bryant LF:Schwarber CF:Marte RF:Heyward Bench: Bote,Happ,Hoerner,Caratini,Akiyama SP:Cole,Darvish,Hendricks,Lester,Graveman/Mills RP:Kimbrel,Ryan,Wieck,Wick,Chatwood,Harris,Hultzen I wanted Will Smith, but I don't think he goes somewhere he's not going to close.