Cubswin11

Yeah I’m very in on Ray for a 1 year deal. Maybe a 1+ option year deal. Only real worry is we don’t have a great track record of getting walk rates down, even guys with historically good walk rates seem to come in and spike here. Maybe it’s noise, but is a concern.

Based on the MLBTR contract estimates I’d be interested in some combo of; -Q 2/18 -Wong 2/16 -Profar 1/7 -Ray 1/6 -C. Hernandez 1/6 -Minor 1/6 -Desclafani 1/4 They have Stroman at 4/68 so yeah no thanks at that or anything more.

I have to admit to being irrationally excited about Nwogu. Yeah I think he could be Hunter Renfroeish but a better fielder/base runner. I also am a bit irrationally high on Strumpf, I think there’s a second division starter/really good utility guy in there.

Max Schrock isn’t a terrible pickup. He seems like decent contacty depth and could be TLS like.

I definitely can see it. Keuchel, Grandal and Abreu are all a year older, still a ton of young and unproven/unknown pitching (which can go a lot of ways but has kinda busted so far). Then a guy like Anderson probably regresses since it’s hard to run BABIPS at the levels he has in 19 and 20 repeatedly (high .300 BABIPS are tough with his swing and miss profile and good but not like Ichiro/Juan Pierre speed, even like a .320 BABIP and his numbers aren’t special). So will be interesting how much LaRussa gets blamed for that vs it being just some natural correction. Let's not forget that if it's a full season, they will have to play all of the A.L. teams instead of the bottom feeders in the Central division. Still get the Orioles, Red Sox, Ranges, Mariners, etc. But yeah.

I definitely can see it. Keuchel, Grandal and Abreu are all a year older, still a ton of young and unproven/unknown pitching (which can go a lot of ways but has kinda busted so far). Then a guy like Anderson probably regresses since it’s hard to run BABIPS at the levels he has in 19 and 20 repeatedly (high .300 BABIPS are tough with his swing and miss profile and good but not like Ichiro/Juan Pierre speed, even like a .320 BABIP and his numbers aren’t special). So will be interesting how much LaRussa gets blamed for that vs it being just some natural correction.

Rizzo’s option not being picked up yet is a little concerning (options deadline is Sunday). Hopefully they’re just hammering out an extension.

I actually have to disagree, and think their primary route to improvement needs to be trades. Of the Wong/Hernandez/Hernandez/Profar/La Stella FA group only Wong and Cesar Hernandez can actually play 2B defensively on a hypothetically full time basis, only Wong might do it really really well, both struggle against LHP, and the only one in the whole bunch who is a great bet to hit if healthy is La Stella. Profar's a LF, Keke is really a better defensive OF than infielder, and Frazier has to be NT'd to become available in a non-trade Some suggested trade targets among LHH or switch hitting 2B/IF that might shake loose: Joey Wendle - Might be buried on a depth chart that now has Brandon Lowe established at 2B, though he's so cheap they might just have him work in with Diaz at 3B next year, good defensive player Nick Lopez - Basically Cesar Hernandez offensively in the minors (.296/.378/.403 in 1579 PAs), team might be ready to move him since they want OBP and he's got a sub-.300 one in nearly 600 ML PAs entering his age 26 season next year, speed, contact, and defense player who can handle SS in a pinch Ryan McMahon - Might get pushed out if the Rockies give top prospect Brendan Rodgers a starting job, arb eligible this offseason, reverse splits (.792 vs LHP, .720 v RHP) Niko Goodrum - Switch hitter has been a nifty player for the Tigers in recent years, started every position but catcher, mashes LHP (.323/.383/.480 in 282 PAs) Shed Long - Some swing and miss and not a good defender, but maybe the most power in this bunch Taylor Walls - Switch hitting Rays SS that may take Wendle's job or be traded so Wendle can keep his job? Whoever is available between the two works Tzu-Wei Lin - Probably the cheapest guy here to trade for, also the one most likely to get his value from defense as he can play SS well, has struck out in scattered ML PAs but contact hitter throughout the minors, I hate all these names other than Goodrum. The FA options are all better. That’s a sucky list of sucks otherwise. Nico will be around for late inning defense if needed at 2B. We just ran Kipnis out there a decent amount. Other than TLS I’m not worried about defense at 2B of the FA options mentioned. The offense and profile of the FAs are all so much better and safer than the trade options.

Noooooo thanks, still a horrendous defensive player Frankly, there's a darkness inside of me OK with a Wong/Keke Hernandez platoon setup at 2B should the Cubs not do the coolest possible thing that everyone in this heckhole deserves to see (Lindor/Baez MIF). In a vacuum, they're really both quality FA fits for the roster. Hernandez can backup every spot but catcher, defends and hits LHP enough to help the OF too, counters Wong's weakness against LHP at 2B. My biggest issue with this setup beyond it's existence would be that Hernandez is not an ideal backup SS Yeah I’m not overly interested in TLS unless he comes a ton cheaper than these other guys who do similar offensive things and can actually play defense and multiple spots. I could live with Wong and K. Hernandez as adds. They fit well. Nico would still be around to backup SS in the scenario Javy goes down. Between Nico, Hernandez and even Wong or Bote faking it there here and there we’d be okay. Regardless, there’s a ton of really nice FA options to help with the contact and platoon issues we have. None should cost a ton. I’m going to be disappointed if we can’t add 2-3 of them between IF and OF options (really would prefer 3-5 of them if there’s some shuffling like Schwarbs and/or Bote going out).

Non tendering Schwarbs and swapping him out for Eaton is something I wouldn’t mind doing to help change the offense profile. That move plus adding Pillar and Maybin (NT Almora) and then trade Bote for a swing man type then add 2 of Wong/C. Hernandez/Profar/LaStella/Adam Frazier (rumored NT candidate) for 2B/utility would go a long ways to diversifying the offensive profile and wouldn’t cost much at all.

yeah...I wish the team had a whole bunch of disposable cash right now. Yup. Don’t even necessarily need a whole bunch. $20-30 mil is gonna go a long ways. You could conceivably bring in Wong/Hernandez/Profar as a 2B option, Pillar as the RHH/contact OF option and Maybin as the 5th OF. Then could still add Q and another SP.

LMAO

Another indication of payrolls going way down. Also this would tell me Kimbrel has little trade value.

This would be a decently big hit, don’t do it Angels.

Didn't they add to the payroll at the trade deadline? That's not the actions of a team feeling forced into a payroll situation. Am I forgetting a trade? They added a few mil at most (Maybin, Hamilton, Martinez, Chafin, the other lefty I think was it) nothing crazy and also nothing that obligated them this year+. Don’t know how those marginal adds in season means they can run $200+ mil back.

Sorry, the way I see it you're speculating as much as I am. They ran a nominal $200+ during the pandemic, fired a bunch of people already before the offseason, and this doesn't stop payroll coming down in the '22+ Agree to disagree I suppose. I just don’t see how you look at this climate and facts we have and think they will come close to a ~$200 mil payroll in 2021. The 2020 payroll was largely locked in before the pandemic, they didn’t plan it knowing it was going to happen and they basically were stuck with it. I think they (and most of MLB) are going to be cutting payroll at drastic levels for 2021. I don’t think it matters that you can spend in 2021 at 2020 levels +/- but leave 2022 clean.

TBF that's $200 in the way that 2020's was $201 and change Okay? Why does that matter? There’s clear indications costs/payroll cuts are going to be drastic in 2021 and possibly beyond. Thinking they will maintain 2020 costs/payroll is completely unrealistic. I think we are looking at $150-160 million payroll range at best in 2021 (using 162 games as the basis and no pro-rating). And that horsefeathering sucks but think it’s the reality, they probably would prefer it lower but I don’t think it’s overly possible to get lower with all the moves it would take and lack of buyers/spenders this offseason. If we could run a ~$200 mil payroll, somehow magically, I am a big fan of your overall plan outline above though.

We aren’t coming close to running a ~$200 mil payroll in 2021

This is gonna be bad, idk if there’s a season until they figure out a new CBA. The players won’t just keep going along with this.

They had to play under 100 games including the playoffs. It was and always will be a sham, asterisk season. everyone did. we all know they'd have made the playoffs no matter what. i don't see how the short season helped them in any way or made it easier It was a shorter and not regular season, therefore a sham and asterisk season. Had less time for injuries and fatigue to set in and other things on top of them not having to do the 162+ game grind that normal years revisited. Simple as that. They also let a COVID positive player play in this game. SHAM!

No, sham season. Still haven’t won a real World Series with the rough main core guys from 2015 on. it's legit. everyone played and was invested. covid actually kind of hurt them in the sense that they had to play an extra playoff round despite being the best team in baseball. They had to play under 100 games including the playoffs. It was and always will be a sham, asterisk season.