UMFan83

Yeah thats insane...only a half a season but he was on pace for 40+ HR and 9+ fWAR over 150 games. I think he played 77 games last year.

Kyle Tucker's ranks among position players since 2021: fWAR: 13th - 19.1 wOBA: 11th - .375 wRC+ - 9th - 145 He really only looks up to guys like Judge, Yordan, Ohtani, Soto, Trout, Harper, Freeman, Betts and Acuna.

That would tie the random reports of the Phillies suddenly being involved with the same names mentioned (Bohm and Castellanos). Would make sense if they were actually part of a 3 team trade.

There seems to be a perception amongst non-Cubs fans that the Cubs aren't trying to win right now. I posted something on the Yankees sub the other day just giving my thoughts, while not revealing I'm a Cubs fan, and got hammered about why the Cubs would even be trying for Tucker since they're not trying to win right now, and pointed out trying to trade Bellinger, Nico and Seiya as evidence. And I guess on the surface that makes sense if that is all you've seen from the Cubs this offseason. And also, Jed is clearly not trying to build a 95 win team, he wants to build a stupid 88 win team that sneaks into the playoffs so it can appear that the Cubs are miles away from contending. I just thought it was interesting that this is the perception other fanbases have of the Cubs.

49ers last 5 games: -17 points scored in loss to Seattle -10 points scored in loss to Green Bay -10 points scored in loss to Buffalo -38 points scored in win over Chicago -6 points scored in loss to Los Angeles Rams One of these things is not like the other. Did the Bears defense just completely give up last week or is Eberflus a defensive mastermind keeping everything together?

I thought Kyle would like this infographic since he's been tracking this

You're forgetting our playoff appearance in 2020. I get why though, it really doesn't feel like we made the playoffs that year and might be one of the worst playoff teams ever.

And just 1 winning season in the 12 years since we fired Lovie after a 10-6 season. I'd say the curse of Lovie but he ended up paying us back 10 fold with the Texans win in 2022.

Jed wanted to get a deal done during winter meetings. Will be interesting to see if this now cools down for a bit

y...you think 2 full days of being consumed by a trade rumor is bad? May I submit for your viewing pleasure:

I'm almost certain he broke something last offseason but for the life of me I can't remember what it was. He was getting heat at the time but was proven correct.

I can live with that

I agree but if you’re Tucker and you just saw Soto wait out his contact and get the largest deal in baseball history how eager are you to sign an extension early rather than test the open market? Maybe having security is something enticing to him but if it’s not it makes much more sense to wait it out. If that prevents him from getting traded then he gets to stay somewhere he’s comfortable and makes the playoffs every year. I highly doubt Jed makes a Tucker trade hoping to get an extension done this offseason and is willing to take the risk of him playing 1 season in Chicago and bolting. I certainly don’t see Jed offering a contract that blows Tucker away enough to sign early. That’s just not Jed Hoyer.

I mean I definitely think he's just assuming and its not actual reporting he's heard. But honestly, it wouldnt surprise me if Jed made a trade knowing that it was fairly likely they wouldn't be able to extend him. At the end of the day, Jed is fighting for his own extension here so next year means a lot more than 2026. I'm sure they'll attempt to extend him, and potentially offer more than they're comfortable going to try to keep him, but if he gets even half of what Soto just got after a big year, I don't know if the Cubs would go that high.

lol Jesse says that in his mind they are trading for Tucker for 1 season only and would be very unlikely to extend him. Deal makes sense because he's cheap next year and gives them flexibility when he leaves.

I believe he's connected to the baseball industry but I have no idea what his credentials as a reporter are. Seems to be throwing a lot of rumors out there this week

I don't really mind getting rid of Seiya or Paredes in a deal, but both of them plus either Shaw or Smith might be too much for even me who is desperate to get an elite bat and very open to trading prospects. If it came with an agreed upon extension I'd strongly consider it but for a 1 year player, thats too rich. You're talking about trading 7 fWAR from last year's roster plus a top 25 in baseball prospect. You're gonna have to go down a tier of prospects or drop Seiya or Paredes from the trade.

https://awfulannouncing.com/local-networks/chicago-sports-network-marquee-merger-possible-comcast-dispute.html Hilarious...that super special network the Cubs launched to increase revenues which clearly made a dramatic impact on the Cubs fortunes may be merging with CHSN because both networks are having trouble getting on/staying on Comcast. So basically we may be back to where we started. Those 7 documentaries that Marquee plays over and over again were well worth it though as well as replaying every Shota start last year as "classic Cubs games"

no. but with 1 year left on his deal and the pressure to get something done, maybe he steps outside his comfort zone. or he doesn't, the cubs win 83 again and we get a new GM

Would be funny after all these rumors that Jed was afraid to pull the trigger and we end up doing nothing of significance.

I don't know how many different ways I can express shock at how much of a dumpster fire the Bears organization is. It's kind of incredible how they keep one upping themselves.

Considering the Astros are shopping him because of their unwillingness to go beyond 6 years for contracts, what makes us think that Jed would? I know he went to 7 with Dansby but hes repeatedly come out against long term contracts.

Actually they absolutely can if they wanted to. They could come out and say the evaluation for the CFP ends after the regular season. The conference championship games are soley to determine auto-bids and byes. You can play yourself into the field like Clemson did but you cant play yourself out of the field. I put absolutely no thought into this idea before posting it so there's probably 1000 reasons why its the dumbest thing ever. But it just rubs me the wrong way that a team like SMU could play themselves out of the CFP due to an extra game they are forced to play while a team like Indiana could remain in the field due to not having to play that extra game that everyone knows they probably would have lost. I know it didn't even happen, but just the discussion of that happening bothered me. I realize that we have completely polar opposite takes on this one and aren't going to convince the other though. Also I guess my other thought on this is that maybe we shouldn't put much thought into it. The point of the expanded playoff was to ensure that all championship worthy teams (both by perceived ability and by resume) could make it (just kidding, the point was more $$$). There are no 2023 FSUs out there to be screwed this year when we're talking about whether a 2 loss team that didn't beat anyone or a 3 loss team that lost to multiple bad teams is the 12th best team in the country. It was inevitable that there would be fierce debates just like there is in the 68 team basketball tournament, but I feel comfort in knowing that a) all deserving teams are in there and b) every FBS team now theoretically has an opportunity to win the championship

Quite a roller coaster for Caleb per PFF grading this year. Looks like yesterday was his 3rd worst graded game of the season, worst since Week 2.