Named After Maddux

Here's another mock offseason to chew on. I'll caveat this as it wouldn't necessarily be what I'd do. Sign Alex Cobb 4 years/$56 million Sign Wade Miley 1 year/$8 million Trade Ian Happ and Victor Caratini for Roberto Osuna and Thomas Pannone Sign Rene Rivera 1 year/$4 million Sign Alain Tamayo 5 years/$30 Million with $10 million club option Sign Jarrod Dyson 2 years/$15 million Sign Addison Reed 3 years/$30 million Trade Erling Moreno for Brad Ziegler (Marlins will cover $4 million) Willson Contreras signs extension for 5 years/$28 million with one $16 million club option (2018-2022, 2023 option) C: Willson Contreres 1B: Anthony Rizzo 2B: Javy Baez SS: Addison Russell 3B: Kris Bryant LF: Kyle Schwarber CF: Albert Almora RF: Jason Heyward Bench: La Stella, Zobrist, Dyson, Rivera SP: Hendricks, Quintana, Lester, Cobb, Miley RP: Osuna, Reed, Edwards, Strop, Montgomery, Wilson, Ziegler, Maples/Carasiti (8th spot with options to be Iowa Shuttle) Approximate 2018 Payroll: ~$182 million after factoring in rest of 40 man SP depth is expanded, bullpen addressed, and our position player depth stays strong. We have plenty of room to make additional moves. When I was making this mock at the beginning of the offseason, I originally had Happ to OAK for Manaea. That's still how I would go about utilizing Happ's value if it would work out. But we have two seasons' experience with how this FO values elite RP. With Chapman, Davis, and even Wilson, resources that could otherwise have gone towards controllable SP went to late inning arms. Whether they have data that justifies the need to obtain an elite RP or if it's just a must from Maddon, they have prioritized these types of acquisitions. And I didn't include Ohtani. If it works out, amazing. Ditch Miley/Chatwood/Chacin, etc for 5th starter, but just can't even think it's much of a possibility until it hopefully happens.

Since Cobb has a decent chance of being brought in and Chatwood, Miley, Chacin all available as BOR fliers, I’d be interested in seeing Happ used to bring in late inning pen arms. If possible, JA Happ would be excellent as well, but Osuna is interesting from Toronto. Does Ian Happ for Roberto Osuna make sense? Blue Jays do need help at 2B and they keep their SP intact. Cubs get a RP with excellent peripherals and a low walk rate. Not sure if the value equals out, but seems to make sense. And off topic, but thank goodness we go Quintana. Imagine if we had to fill three SP slots this offseason.

I think that’s in the ballpark, if they really are that poor/desperate to lower payroll. I like that framework. Ramos was traded to the Mets so we'd probably have to take Ziegler (interesting bounceback candidate on a one year deal) instead. We'd still be looking to add two starters since Chen's elbow is unreliable so most likely a trade of Schwarber or Happ follows right away.

There has been a lot of talk that they were replacing Bosio because of the Thames suspension or just to bring in Hickey, but this is the first thing I thought of when I heard the news. https://www.google.com/amp/www.nbcsports.com/chicago/chicago-cubs/jon-lester-and-chris-bosio-have-confrontation-cubs-dugout%3famp Im not saying it’s just because of that isolated incident, but I’d be shocked if that type of attitude didn’t rub the pitchers the wrong way. I do find it interesting and not surprising that in the year of the juiced ball that we see a ton of quality pitching coaches fired. I don’t think that’s the reason that Bosio is gone, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there were other teams overreacting.

Had the good fortune to sit about right behind home plate last night in the 2nd row. Much like the final line shows, Little was incredibly inconsistent. His mechanics were all out of whack. He did manage to drift back into his proper form with men on base. He flashed some pretty impressive pitches, but also spent much of the first two innings (including warm-up pitches) spiking balls 10 feet in front of the plate. Obviously a work in progress. Can't wait to hear reports out of instructs. Assad was a completely different story. The stadium gun was out of commission so I can't give you velocity readings, but there was no other pitcher in the game that had the glove pop that he did. His stuff was as impressive as the line showed. Looking forward to seeing him in full season ball. Filiere and Jered Young swung the bat well. Amaya was incredibly spry behind the plate. He received the ball a lot better than I thought he would. He's another standout that will take time to develop, but he's exciting. He looked sluggish at the plate, however. Also as a complete aside, my wife and I competed in the Carl's Jr burger making contest on the field. We had to wear the bun and run back and forth with "toppings" before belly flopping. Walked out of there with a free burger so we had that going for us, which is nice. Classic minor league fun.

Sigh... Justin Steele set for TJS tomorrow. He was really putting together a nice year. [tweet] [/tweet]

FWIW, both are marked in red at CCDT. Certainly not an official team designation with no announcements as of yet. 14th round prep SS Luis Vazquez would be the most likely recipient of any left over cash, but who knows... Here's the official list of signings: [tweet] [/tweet]Unfortunately no major surprises. We did get Vazquez. Hopefully we can bring Rasmussen and/or Conlon

I hope it doesn't kill off Velázquez and Estrada as well. That's a big chunk of draft talent. Velazquez has already signed so they made that work without Lange. Can't see Estrada coming without Lange's money, but I agree with KingCubsFan on taking the comp pick. With pitchers' health already so iffy, I'd rather start from scratch with a first rounder next year than take damaged goods this year just to try to sign Estrada. Pending what Velazquez received, that's not a bad offer: [tweet]https://twitter.com/Savermetrics/status/883400384512835585[/tweet]

Starlin Castro in 2012, I believe.

Don't believe this has been mentioned yet, but the Cubs are the favorites to sign one of the MLB.com's top 30 international prospects, SS Luis Verdugo. Not a huge surprise to see he's from Mexico and rankings for 16 year olds always need to be taken with a grain of salt, but nice to see the Cubs the favorites to snag a top 30 in a year in which they are held to $300k to a player ($1.2 total deal if a Mexican player). He is considered the top position player from Mexico. Here's his scouting report: There was a huge interest in Mendoza during spring training. Any word on if he'd been signed by any club? Didn't see anything when searching.

Cubs must have been really down on Dewees. Mills wasn't a top 15 guy in their system, a bottom tier system, but has decent stuff. Consensus is that he's bound for the pen, where he's more a depth guy than a set up guy. I honestly don't see where we have room for him on the 25 man. Chris Crawford seems to really like Mills. From his AL Central prospect guide: The Royals aren't a great system, but I like adding him to the depth we're building in AAA

Rockies are an interesting trade partner. There's been a lot of discussion about them adding more bullpen arms and they're obviously trying to compete now. Plus, based on their recent decision-making, it's an good opportunity to have our FO run circles around theirs. Kyle Freeland and maybe Jeff Hoffman could be available. Both are fairly well regarded, however both have lost a bit of luster. Freeland is more likely and its split on whether he's in the pen or rotation long-term. That being said, he has a deceptive arm angle and a four pitches so there's something to work with.

With the solid relationship between this front office and Billy Beane, I have been thinking a lot about the potential for a deal centered around Candelario for Doolittle. It just feels like the type of deal this FO is looking into as it provides affordable stability from the left-hand side, while also adding to the list of former closers to serve in set-up roles which they have been shown to accumulate. I really believe had Doolittle not gotten hurt last year we would have acquired him. Also, he's hilarious and I want his antics on this team. I keep coming back to the Diamondbacks and Royals as interesting trade partners. I'd love Bradley and Pollock on this team. Ray and Corbin would be interesting as well. Perhaps there is an opportunity to pull in the Royals as a third team with the Diamondbacks or Phillies.

Just gut wrenching news this morning, Jose Fernandez dies in boating accident.http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2016/09/jose-fernandez-dies-in-boating-accident.html

Any chance there's a move to made for a deal structured along the lines of Soler, Haap for Blackmon, Jon Gray? LHH OF who can back up all three positions and is under control for a couple seasons and a cost controlled SP that would benefit from the move from Coors (not to mention I'd love for him to be Bosio'd) It'd hurt to lose Jorge, but helps to solve a long standing problem. Based on the trade market, it seems like the value of not-yet-established young starting pitching is the prime opportunity to acquire talent.

Another HS we appear to have a chance on is 33rd rounder Nate Sweeney, who was offered flat $100k to sign. Per his interview, he's not terribly interested in the school aspect of college and is considering signing since the Cubs have an excellent development staff. High 80s to Low 90s FB, projectable http://coloradosportsnetwork.com/when-the-show-comes-callin-six-colorado-seniors-picked-in-2016-mlb-draft/

Encouraging projection for Mekkes from Fangraphs Two RS SO in the top 10 will be interesting. Like TT and Cal were saying, it'll be interesting how they structure the offers. Miller in the 4th sounds like he's already accepted an offer. Perhaps an underslot for 5th round money?

Round 13: Wyatt Short LHP (who is indeed short) at 5-8 175" Closer for University of Mississippi, not listed on BA or MLB.com

Draft Tracker isn't loading new picks for me, but based on conference call: Round 11: Michael Rucker 6-1 195" BA #251, MLB.com not listed BYU RHP Per Baseball Draft Report:

In case anyone is interesting in signings, Yags (of PSD fame) has put together his webpage of signing info again this year. He's going to be putting in a ton of extra information tonight per his last post. Just a heads up, last year he had so much traffic to the website that it crashed consistently. http://ccdt.webs.com/ Hopefully with more information coming out and SS starting soon we'll find out more about the signings. Again, quality work by Yags. It's incredible the amount of work he puts into the page.

Probably wouldn't been too keen to be their 3rd base coach. Awfully close to that signage.

On the brightside, he's playing in the right location as there (unfortunately) should be plenty of rainouts in Daytona.

Absolutely

I know I haven't posted in awhile. A residency can suck up so much time. Has anyone thought about the possibility of the Pirates making a play for Samardzija? It's been discussed here before, but the Pirates are now 26-30 and just 3 games behind the Cardinals for 2nd (and who knows if Milwaukee will continue on their current run). They could definitely entice the Cubs with pitching. Even with Taillon out with TJS, Pittsburgh has Glasnow and Kingham as available options. I'd be shocked if Polanco is available unless they get desperate. Also, Pittsburgh now has two competitive balance picks to move if they so choose (#39 from Miami and their original #73). Samardzija would add a ton of value to a mediocre pitching staff outside of Cole and maybe Morton.

I can only imagine how much furniture they'll have to replace in Theo's office this time.