Cubswin11

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Stanton’s body is breaking down, if someone wants to risk it that’s their problem. I think there’s more risk in picking a guy like him than believed, imo.

Or you know, since it’s 6 games, it’s just noise. But if that's the case, we have to consider possibility that the six games where he was crushing it was just noise. And add the two together and you have roughly the player he is

This season wasn't debilitating -- he had a bad (by his standards) August and then went back to crushing. He went back to crushing the ball for a week after he got the cortisone shot. Over his last 6 games he hit .100/.217/.100. I think the knee is a much bigger problem than we've been led to believe, but hopefully it's something that can be corrected over the winter. I agree that he's not getting traded unless it's a blockbuster deal, though. Or you know, since it’s 6 games, it’s just noise.

The idea of moving Schwarbs and then Willy to LF does make quite a bit of sense, cheap alternative to replacing Nick (Willy is probably more valuable than Nick in the OF over ~150 games). Then go sign a good defensive catcher. It also helps cover up Heyward vs LHP (KB/Willy in corners and Bote at 3B), just sign or trade for a RHH CF.

Should’ve known the season was screwed when Almora took the first AB of it

The wee man just isn't very good

Contreras and Schwarbs are most likely, I’d be shocked if at least 1 isn’t gone. I voted Willy. Don’t think there’s any way KB/Javy/Rizzo go. Willy makes most sense imo, with the emergence of Vic, Amaya within 2 years of potentially being up and solid backup C FAs or a high end starter in Grandal available his production won’t be missed/can be replaced easily and you will get a nice return for him.

That makes sense

I’d assume we are near the top of clustering our runs in the smallest amount of games. But I would like to see where the teams ahead of us in RD fall with how spread out their runs are, just for general knowledge and see if it’s a few % points off or if we’re talking 10s of percentage points.

I’d like to report a murder

I don't know if there is already a successor in place, but San Francisco makes sense too. Veteran that is past his usefulness is a very Giants of the last couple of years move. I think SF goes younger as they finally enter the rebuild. For Maddon I’d say San Diego, Angels, Phillies, Rockies, Mets, or White Sox (to own the Cubs or something) as landing spots. He’ll have a job if he wants one.

118 Ks (13 K/9) and 7 BB (.77 BB/9) in the second half. My god that’s video game stuff.

Zobrist and Happ having lost years certainly hurt in this regard. Although you can certainly point out that the way Happ has been handled has been ridiculous and that the Cubs shouldn’t have been counting so much on a 38 year old middle infielder in the first place. We can go to the off-season threads and see plenty of people posting about the need for a center fielder and some middle infield depth. Descalso was supposed to the be the latter, and the Cubs basically ignored the need for the former. Overall, it shows that while the top end of the Cubs roster is as good as anyone’s the bottom end has eroded and can’t provide eniugh value over a 162 game schedule. Yup and at least should be a fixable solution. We’re talking about finding some .5-1.5 players to round out the offense, the core/baseline value is fine. With 20-30 mil to spend and some trade off of the margins it’s not a insurmountable task at hand.

Why do we think Bryant is getting a 7-8 year contract as a 30 year old? Because I don’t think that’s a guarantee at this point and think 4-6 years is much more likely the range he falls in. If he’d want an 8+ year deal then doing an extension this offseason is how he gets that (I absolutely do an 8 year extension for him this offseason too, if he’s willing).

Just don’t see that being a thing with any sort of remote possibility. The changes they make will come down stream in the FO, which will hopefully still be a good thing (I’m intrigued with some of the additions/turnover coming there, especially on the development side). Really hoping the Boddy thing happens. I don't think they would hire an external guy, just bump up Scott Harris, but the McLeod promotion was an interesting move. If they miss the playoffs, Hoyer's a pretty easy fall guy within the FO. Overall, I like the FO alot moving forward, am pretty excited about moving McLeod from MiL to ML operations. Just don't think everyone can survive missing the playoffs/quote] Maddon is the public fall guy, publicly for missing the playoffs. They aren’t firing Jed, they know they need to rework the FO with some new people and it will be done but it won’t be some big show of it like firing Jed would make it.

Lol, what? They're obviously not going to replace the FO, but what's so crazy about firing Hoyer in a scenario they miss the playoffs? Just don’t see that being a thing with any sort of remote possibility. The changes they make will come down stream in the FO, which will hopefully still be a good thing (I’m intrigued with some of the additions/turnover coming there, especially on the development side). Really hoping the Boddy thing happens.

Lol, what?

Yeah, that doesn’t make much sense. Mookie also will make $7-10 mil more than KB in arbitration this year

19 seems pretty locked in for as far back as they can draft (4 game L column difference between there and 20) and 15 will be as high as they can go it looks like. Tied with Phillies Mets, and Red Sox in the L column and 1 behind the D’backs.

97, 103, 92, 95 wins. I’d say that’s a pretty damn good run. EDIT: Most wins in the majors in that span. 1 of only 2 teams to win 90+ all four years (Dodgers) and only the Red Sox and Indians won 90+ in 3 of the 4 seasons. where did the cubs win total from 2012-2014 rank? those seasons count too. Lol. They helped get us our MVP and a World series hero, that’s how they count.

The pitching seems to finally be emerging, get Boddy in here you fools

For as fun as that would be, they just won't add Betts (with KB or Rendon on the roster) he'd soak up all the available money. Which yeah that sucks but we are dealing in reality, let's wait a year and hope we can grab him in FA. The trade KB for stuff and sign Rendon sequence makes sense on paper and in a video game but I think it's harder to pull off in reality. That leaves us with the fact we have 13-15 WAR banked between KB, Javy and Rizzo going in to next year. They are not the problem. The problems are the pieces around them and we need to make the roster deeper and more diverse to supplement their deficiencies. This was similar to the pre-2016 offseason, we saw our butts get shoved in the CS vs the Mets pitching because we had too much swing and miss and saw we needed a more well rounded roster and contact so we added Zobrist and Heyward. It's not all that dissimilar to this offseason coming up, you know what your core is with those three so go address it with the margin and supplemental moves (which involves trading at least one of Willy or Schwarbs). Build out a deeper roster on offense with some more contact and complimentary pieces and things should shake out better. The pitching also has a decent enough foundation with the guys returning that it's more back filling than doing a big overhaul. The offense should be the big focus. Yeah, that would be fine. Baez, Rizzo and Bryant are cool in the middle. I just really want -- about to sound meatbally here -- a spark at the top. Maybe even two. A couple guys who make contact, get on base and have speed. Guys who can create havoc while getting knocked in by those three. But that's way easier said then done. I suppose everybody wants those guys. If they can't find that guy, which idk if he's out there (Brett Gardner, Margot vs LHP, Nico if he really is a thing, idk) just throw Rizzo at the top and make him the leadoff. That solves a lot of problems with the vaunted lead off spot. Then find more contacty guys down stream in the lineup.

No we are not “screwed.” That sequence of moves is so unlikely, just not realistic. The problem isn’t the core, the core is still pretty damn good. The problem is the margins and complimentary pieces to supplement what the core lacks, which can be addressed in the offseason. You just don’t blow it up, you make a real effort with the likely $20-30 mil in available money and a lesser trade piece (Willy/Schwarbs) to go figure it out. I don't know, man. I just think we are going to be right back here next year trying to come up with why this core again didn't get it done. KB for Betts and Rendon are very unlikely, but at least shoot for somebody that resembles 2016 Dex. For as fun as that would be, they just won't add Betts (with KB or Rendon on the roster) he'd soak up all the available money. Which yeah that sucks but we are dealing in reality, let's wait a year and hope we can grab him in FA. The trade KB for stuff and sign Rendon sequence makes sense on paper and in a video game but I think it's harder to pull off in reality. That leaves us with the fact we have 13-15 WAR banked between KB, Javy and Rizzo going in to next year. They are not the problem. The problems are the pieces around them and we need to make the roster deeper and more diverse to supplement their deficiencies. This was similar to the pre-2016 offseason, we saw our butts get shoved in the CS vs the Mets pitching because we had too much swing and miss and saw we needed a more well rounded roster and contact so we added Zobrist and Heyward. It's not all that dissimilar to this offseason coming up, you know what your core is with those three so go address it with the margin and supplemental moves (which involves trading at least one of Willy or Schwarbs). Build out a deeper roster on offense with some more contact and complimentary pieces and things should shake out better. The pitching also has a decent enough foundation with the guys returning that it's more back filling than doing a big overhaul. The offense should be the big focus.

Crap. Then we are screwed. If the core of this team is basically the same next year, I expect to see the exact same type of performance next season. We might as well just start retooling rather than letting everybody play out their contracts. I'd rather trade KB for Betts, trade for Whit Merrifield and sign Rendon. Granted, none of this is probably possible, but that's the kind of shakeup I'd like to see. I love KB, but he's one more ailment away next season from officially breaking down. He has gone months each of the last two seasons with an injury that has zapped him. No we are not “screwed.” That sequence of moves is so unlikely, just not realistic. The problem isn’t the core, the core is still pretty damn good. The problem is the margins and complimentary pieces to supplement what the core lacks, which can be addressed in the offseason. You just don’t blow it up, you make a real effort with the likely $20-30 mil in available money and a lesser trade piece (Willy/Schwarbs) to go figure it out.