Outshined_One

Part of the difficulty with valuing Ayers is that he's a unicorn. He was a 19th round pick who was largely unheralded until late last year, and even coming into this season the attitude was relatively restrained. The Cubs historically have done a very good job of developing catchers (Amaya. Caratini, Contreras, Castillo, Soto), so it's not like his breakout comes as a complete shock, but catchers who are way too old for A-ball tend to be more likely take the coaching career track than make it to the majors, much less hit the holy horsefeathers out of the ball and jump to AAA in a single season. You can make the case for Ayers as a borderline Top 100 guy and teams will definitely have interest in him in deadline deals. The problem is, he's on a road that's rarely (if ever) traveled, so his ceiling could be anywhere from "backup catcher who doesn't get a second contract" to "if he's traded, you will get irrationally angry every time you see his name come up over the next decade."

He's one of those, "Eh, whatever, sure." trade targets that moves the needle on the regular season win total, but won't help much come playoff time (unless catastrophic injuries hit). Alcantara straight up for Wacha seems like a mild underpay, so something like Alcantara + Lottery Ticket makes sense to me.

Where are you seeing that? Last update was about a week ago when Craig said Steele wouldn't be back in the rotation, but would likely help the pen in some capacity in September.

There are trade possibilities where the Jays could be stocking up for a run in 2027 while selling redundant assets. They could covet Ballesteros/Shaw/Ramirez/Alcantara or even guys like Rojas, Ayers, Wiggins, or Kepley if they think those players would keep the competitive window open longer from 2027 and beyond.

The Cubs also have done a really good job of developing catchers internally, and have a really promising guy in Owen Ayers who should be ready next season. It's not even like there are long-term concerns at the position. They're fine.

Knowing our luck, the Cubs are going to get swept in the next three games and Detroit will magically turn into buyers at the deadline as a result.

Wacha is a fine enough player as an upgrade over Rea who can push him to the pen. I don't hate targeting him, but obviously wouldn't pay that price.

I'm legitimately curious how many draftees we see in-game this season, even with the ACL squad. Of the position players, we're almost certainly going to see Sorrell, Nunez, and Hudson; maybe Hernandez in the ACL, unless they really want to drill down on some things. Otherwise, Bailey is recovering from surgery and won't be seen until next year. On the pitching side, Morton's out post-TJS and I can see them taking it easy on Townsend. Guys like Jasa, Blomker, and Marionneaux will probably be off to the pitch lab. We'll probably see the senior guys like Alwood and Arvidson, but after that? Kinda hard to tell at this point.

I'm beginning to wonder if the Tigers hang on to Mize and Skubal, knowing the AL Central's propensity for suckage and the fact that both *should* net them draft compensation in what should be a fairly good draft in 2027.

Because if Detmers was available at a remotely reasonable price, roughly a dozen teams would be in on it. He's not exactly a well-kept secret only the Cubs know about, plus Angels ownership is likely dumb enough to think they'll be competitive in a year or two. It might happen, but let's not pretend he's an easy get.

They going to go 21/21?

Again, I find it abjectly hilarious that these arguments boil down to some of the commiest commieing that ever commied. "OH NO! The team with the most money and a massive revenue stream is WINNING! The system is broken because the team I don't like made substantial investments into media, coaching, scouting, and infrastructure, and it's paying off for them!!! They're also consistently putting out a quality product for consumers that regularly beats out their competitors, who refuse or are unable to make similar investments! And they're not sharing enough of that revenue with other teams! No fair!!!!!!!" Seriously, if the Dodgers were a publicly traded company, Jim Cramer would have their annual Form 10-K nailed to the wall in his masturbatorium.