Cubswin11

Yup. Whether he turns out right or wrong, Cubswin11 made that prediction when we were both, I think, 2-7 and 3-8. To likely be 9-9 is enough to give him a big hat tip.

It was and you all are cowards who didn’t believe.

Pretty sure that was Cubswin11 being all baller. It was and you all are cowards who didn’t believe.

Yeah basically a starting OF, the future starting C, Lester’s future replacement, a potential TOR starter, and a potential Jimmy Rollins type for an aging OF getting more expensive albeit still under control That said, I think they get 3 of those guys, maybe one is Almora or Schwarber, and the rest are more Cory Abbott, Keegan Thompson, Michael Ruckery, Trent Giambrone, Roederer, Velazquez etc-ish I’m fine giving up anyone of those names, I’d like to keep Schwarber and he doesn’t seem like he’d fit with them either given age/team control. Basically Nico, Roederer and Davis are off the table for me and I’d try like crazy to keep Amaya.

CW11 may be right; he could be concussed.Yeah he took a FB right to the face in the 2nd inning. I think he’s messed up.

Yeah, gotta hope Theo values that flexibility enough to give up players He is developing. It seems unlikely but it would be cool Gj Rizzo Yeah I mean it probably takes some combination of Happ, Amaya, Marquez, Adbert, and Ademan to get him. I’m fine with giving up some combination there. But it’s gonna be costly.

This ump has a concussion I think

That 1-1 call on KB was horrible

Willy was like 97, Heyward was 101.

That’s really dumb base running, Willy

Cubs are hitting .288 with RISP this year which is 7th best in MLB, 4th best OBP and the 10th best OPS

Stop with the [expletive] bunting

Mr. Clutch!

Good play in LF for a DH

Yeah I’m very much for getting Haniger. He can play CF as well.

He was hurt then

You're going to need to get a lot more specific in terms of timing if you're going to keep tooting your own horn on this. When exactly did you want these trades to be made? If you trade Schwarber and Russell, you're giving Zobrist a full time job at either second base or left field. A full time set job for a guy in his late 30s who draws a lot of value from his positional versatility. This also means that it becomes much harder to hide Heyward the last couple years as he struggled to be a replacement level player. You can't sit Heyward for Zobrist against lefties if you need Zobrist to play second or left. Of those remaining players you named, who of Happ, LaStella, and Bote did you want to give full time ABs to going into 2017? Ian Happ had just got done throwing up a .318 OBP in AA. David Bote had a good year in high A, and got a cup of coffee in AAA as a reward. He spent all of 2017 in AA. Tommy LaStella? Lol ok. I know this is where you point random free agent X that turned out to be a great deal as a way to retroactively solve all our problems. But let's not pretend like this grand solution was sitting there, obvious to you but not Theo, at the time. How about 2017 when Schwarber has a hero and Russell was still considered a top draft pick. Hell, Schwarber still could have been valuable (Braves, Indians, etc.) this past offseason until Theo announced he was unavailable. As I said before, it was obvious from day one that Schwarber was born to be a DH and Russell was going to be replaced by Baez. The players that I named were internal possibilities, but there were plenty of external trade possibilities or FAs in the last two years that could have filled those two spots. The tweet/article on the last page I posted literally said there were concerns they could even trade Schwarbs this last offseason because of his back issue last year. Which yeah backs up they should’ve sold high on him (which was post 2015 and pre 2016 I suppose and why the horsefeathers are you trading him then?). But they seemingly couldn’t really trade him this last offseason.

We are back to having the best odds to win the division and make playoffs on fangraphs

Even if the defensive numbers were off last year, Schwarber isn’t a “DH only” anymore in LF. He’s completely fine if not a little above average out there. With DH in the NL, he probably wouldn't be playing the field. As trade bait to the AL, I would think most teams would consider him a DH unless they already had a DH that couldn't play the field. I’d hope when the NL DH comes we’d use it more like we use it when we’re in AL parks now. Use it to shuffle guys in and out and no true DH. Sure get a lefty or righty masher that really can’t play the field but it’s not like there’s 30 JD Martinez’s, Khris Davis’s, etc out there. Use it to have a more flexible roster and keep guys fresh.

Maybe? This upcoming FA class is Gerrit Cole at the top then a bunch of Hamels type dudes like Arrieta (if he opts out), Pineda, Wacha, Wheeler (suppose he could get a decent deal but he’s 30 and never healthy), Chacin, etc types. I wouldn’t be interested in more than 1 guaranteed year with some performance options that could vest and trigger a 2nd year.

This offense is putting on a clinic

He’s giving up horsefeathering bombs and a ton of hard contact, he might just suck as a starter and doesn’t have the pitch mix for it and should move back to being a 2 pitch relief pitcher.

Q’s change up usage is now at its highest rate (9.5%) since 2015 (10%). He was under 7% last year, just over 9% in 2017 and under 9% in 2016.

Even if the defensive numbers were off last year, Schwarber isn’t a “DH only” anymore in LF. He’s completely fine if not a little above average out there.