Outshined_One

Welp.

...huh.

*heavy sigh*

This article contains a pretty good rundown of alternatives to Xitter and the positives/negatives of each. To me, Bluesky feels like the early-ish days of Twitter. It's a perfectly cromulent social media platform (for better and worse), but there is unfortunate potential for it to drop off a cliff in a hurry.

The Cubs have had an odd recent history of developing SPs who have middling profiles while coming up through the farm, and then seeing them break through those perceived ceilings. Assad and Steele are both recent examples, but you can also point to guys like Alec Mills, Kyle Hendricks, and even Jake Arrieta among that group. It's not a constant stream of guys, but it's enough to make you think that it will happen again. It's why Birdsell is intriguing to me. He's not exactly a stuff monster, but he offers a really different look from other pitchers and there's enough there to make you think he could develop enough of an arsenal to handle lefties regularly and go deep into games. He should get a look next season once the usual injury attrition starts to hit the rotation, and I'm curious to see how he adjusts once the book gets out on him. To be clear, I'm not expecting an ace out of him, but it would be nice to find a mid-rotation anchor for the next few years.

It's not a dealbreaker, but it tends to be symptomatic of other issues. With the media, Trestman was a complete weirdo, Fox was aloof and uninterested, and Nagy tried his damndest to be the smartest person in the room despite all evidence to the contrary. Even Lovie was defensive and a bit aloof. That all bore out in their handling of the teams. Granted, I'd gladly take a successful and effective head coach who was a drooling idiot in front of a microphone, but that appears to be a rarity in professional sports.

My takeaway from the article is we're pretty much Roki Sasaki or bust when it comes to a high level acquisition in the FA market, considering he'll come with a nominal cost.

I'm kinda hoping this turns into a Julius Caesar-style mutiny this week. The team could dump Eberflus' body in Lake Michigan, let Tyson Bagent be the head coach, and no one would say anything, ala Ken McElroy

We're of one mind on this.

It speaks volumes that Eberflus and Poles talk extensively about accountability, but when it comes to Waldron getting canned, it involves leaks from anonymous sources instead of a press conference.

Stop talking about complimentary football. Your offense sucks. Say it.

Listening to the presser, Eberflus comes across like a coward and a dunce. His vague discussions of processes and decisions is maddening. Just make the announcement that Waldron has been launched and take questions already.

Not too far off from my own list, but their placement of Ballesteros is definitely an eyebrow raiser. I mean, I get it if you think he can be a passable catcher in the majors next season, but it sounds like he's got a ways to go on that front.

If memory serves, the Yankees made a few moves for international signing bonus money in anticipation of Sasaki being posted.

Even with a better coaching staff, I think this still would have been a loss. Granted, the loss wouldn't have been nearly as embarrassing, but it still would have sucked.

Bernstein & Holmes hasn't been a thing since Laurence took over for Danny Parkins. Where did that clip come from?

Even if that's the case, it's a bad look when the QB is scrambling and might need all hands on deck to block.

I found out a few weeks ago that Fall Out Boy did an updated cover. It featured such gems like this: horsefeathers I'm old.

This reads like a scouting report for 90% of the Big Ten QBs who've come out over the last 20 years.

When was the last time this team had a HC who wasn't a complete dope in front of the media? Nagy in his early days? John Fox when he gave a crap? Lovie?

Gray would probably be an 8-12 range type of guy in an average farm system, so I don't think he's getting knocked with his placement at 16. It's just that the Cubs have a lot of quality depth in their system and there are better pitching prospects ahead of him.

Wat.

I don't believe there was any confirmation on those items, but the two main guys who should be available this offseason are SPs Roki Sasaki (more on him in a second) and Tomoyuki Sugano, both pitchers. There was some speculation that 3B Munetaka Murakami might be posted this offseason, but he's more likely to come over in 2026 and will probably be one of the white whales in free agency after next season. As previously discussed, Sugano comes without any meaningful restrictions in FA, but is in his mid-30s and will probably end up as a back-end RHP rotation guy. Sasaki is fascinating, but is a potential victim of MLB's greed and the MLBPA's willingness to throw non-members under the bus. The linked FanGraphs article provides more info, but basically, because Sasaki (23) is under the age of 25, the International Bonus Cap Rules apply, which completely muddles his situation. If he's posted in the coming weeks, then the 2023-24 caps apply, but if he's posted on or after January 15, 2025, then the 2024-25 caps apply. Making things more annoying, the caps also can apply to any posting fee, meaning his team (Chiba Lotte Marines) might want to sit on him another two seasons if they want to get a multimillion dollar payout from an MLB team. Further complicating his situation is the fact that Sasaki has been battling injuries this season and his production was below expectations as a result. Normally, these circumstances would dictate that the Marines would hang onto Sasaki until they could maximize his posting fee in two years, but there are whispers that Sasaki has a posting clause in his contract that could force the Marines to post him this offseason. Whether the Cubs would be in on Sasaki is an open question, but, if Sasaki is posted after January 15, the Cubs would be better positioned to pursue him than they are now, and it is possible for teams to trade for signing bonus space in the event a bidding war breaks out,. He ticks a lot of the Cubs' need boxes (RHP starter, ++++ stuff, young, controllable, etc.) and would be an excellent addition to the team, but, again, there is no guarantee he'll even be posted this offseason.

We're in accord on this point! My initial post was more, "This seems like something the Cubs would do," than "This is something I want the Cubs to do," followed by me trying to talk myself into thinking it wasn't a bad idea because I'm trying to avoid the seemingly inevitable disappointment I'll be feeling when we're approaching Spring Training and debating if the Cubs should roll the dice on Luis Severino to fill out the rotation.

One thing that I've been meaning to do some deeper digging on is the short term success rate of Japanese pitchers who get posted to MLB. There seems to be a scouting imbalance with those guys, since almost every hitter will have never seen them before and certain teams don't seem to bother scouting Japan at all. My (admittedly anecdotal) memory is that most Japanese pitchers tend to do fairly well in their first 1-2 seasons in MLB before teams are able to adjust. I agree that velocity is a problem for this team, but if there's a competitive advantage in getting Sugano during that window and he's willing to take a 2-3 year deal, it might be worthwhile.