Outshined_One

The league will help finance stadium deals with owners, but there's an upper limit on the amount of financing the league will provide, and there's also a cap on private financing owners can obtain. The NFL doesn't want to be in a situation where an owner leverages a good chunk of the team, only to default on the loan and suddenly the owner of the team is JPMorgan Chase Bank. Given that the McCaskeys' sole asset is the Bears, I genuinely don't think they have the financial capability to build this stadium, even with NFL and private financing, without significant state/municipal help. It's not Kevin Warren's call to put out these sorts of press releases; he's just a mouthpiece for ownership. They've clearly gone into this thinking that Arlington Heights and Illinois would roll out the green carpet for the move, and it's so badly bitten them in the ass.

Also, I'm beginning to wonder if the McCaskeys even have enough money to build a new stadium without state money.

Oh yeah, I'm sure the Colts will gladly let that happen. This is more horsefeathers posturing.

Considering the Winter Meetings ended awhile ago, I'm going to lock this thread and start a new one for discussions.

Yay, it's the fun part of the offseason where we all go crazy waiting for the Cubs to make a move.

He owned some properties on the south and west side of Chicago which he managed into the ground, and had a habit of showing up to court while seemingly intoxicated.

I had a few court cases with him a number of years back. Guy was a complete scumbag, so I'm happy to see him pushed further down these sorts of lists.

FFS, don't make me defend Derwood and explain why ripping on him when you've shared multiple forums with him for over 20 years is different from ripping on him after posting in a forum for a few days.

*shrug* Came as a surprise to me when I looked it up. Now Richie will forever be the guy who chowed down on chocolate starfish.

I'm 98% sure this post is serious, so you might want to look up the actor who played Desi.

It's all I thought of while watching The Bear.

The Winter Meetings are over, so I guess it's time for another one?

At least I feel better about the homegrown guys in the pen than I did this time last season.

I want to have controversial opinions which everyone agrees with.

Lest we forget, certain people on this forum weren't even old enough to drive when they started posting here.

This is actually the friendliest I've seen them in awhile. I blame the PSD refugees.

I feel like some of you in this thread have been drinking too much. And others haven't been drinking enough.

The list of available players was uninspiring. Birdsell was probably the biggest name on the list, but his recent elbow surgery rightfully spooked teams away.

Correct, although they wouldn't get the international bonus pool money back if they signed a QO guy, My point is that Imai gives them flexibility in the market. If they sign Imai and trade for a bat, they'd go into the next draft with their picks intact (along with an extra pick) and also would have the full international bonus pool at their disposal. Alternatively, they could sign Imai and Bregman (I know, I know, PTR) and only get hit with the QO penalty once. I'm also not particularly thrilled with the state of the farm below AAA or with the state of pitching on the farm in general, so I'm wondering if there might be a priority placed on building up the farm next year in advance of the upcoming lockout. Losing picks and bonus pool money would undercut those efforts.

Imai also makes a ton of sense as a guy who won't cost the Cubs QO compensation in the same way King would. If they want to pursue Bregman and King (I know, I know), they'd have to fork over their 2026 2nd and 3rd round picks and $1m from the international bonus pool, and I just get the sense that they're trying to shore up the lower levels of the farm since things don't look super great below AAA. Imai at least gives them some flexibility without having to strip mine the farm.

I think a fair question is what Shaw's trade value actually *is* this offseason. If you think "skipping town in the middle of a playoff race to attend GOP Woodstock" was a blip, there's something to be said for him being one of the most valuable young trade pieces currently on the market as a plus defender at 2B/3B with upside at the plate and six years of team control. I think a reasonable outcome for his 2026 season has him around 3 fWAR, which would make him a Top 10 3B in baseball. It's not unreasonable to predict him putting up a few 4+ fWAR seasons during that six years of control. However, if you think he's closer to the hitter we saw the first half of the season in 2025 and that he's exhibited poor judgment that calls into question his commitment to baseball and also sets him up as a potential PR nightmare if he ends up on the wrong podcasts, then that's another story. It's an interesting question. As far as Gore goes, the fact that I'd give serious thought to a one for one swap with the Nats for Shaw tells me (based on my personal biases) that a more likely package would probably be something in the neighborhood of Shaw + B-level prospect for Gore, which wouldn't exactly excite me.

Howard seemed to be on the verge of a breakout when he had a freak hip injury in 2022. High school SS prospects are basically lottery tickets as is, and he was drafted in a COVID year (2021) on top of everything else, so I wouldn't read too much into it beyond bad luck. To their credit, the Cubs have actually had a really good run of 1st round picks going back to 2012, with only Ryan Jensen (2019) and Ed Howard (2021) never making the majors, and even then, Howard could still make it some day. Additionally, once you get into the second round and beyond, the hit rate for draftees overall basically falls off a cliff. Just look at the draft positions for the Top 100 MLB prospects who were drafted; most of them were first rounders.

I strongly disagree with this statement. Shaw was a consensus top 15-30 prospect in baseball coming out of the 2024 season with a 144 wRC+ across AA and AAA in his age 22 season. Caissie featured a 139 wRC+ at AAA in his age 22 season and Ballesteros had a 121 wRC+ in AAA in his age 21 season. Shaw also had the added benefit of being a plus defender at an infield position, which neither has. This isn't to say that Caissie or Ballesteros won't be better hitters than Shaw in the majors over the course of all their careers, but it is a reminder that Shaw was a premium prospect at this time last year with a really good offensive and defensive profile. Caissie and Ballesteros could easily see similar struggles as Shaw did this past season, if not worse, in 2026. Whether penciling Caissie and/or Ballesteros into starting roles in 2026 is a good idea is a post all of its own, but I would not use their projected value as a basis for how Shaw should be used in 2026. That said, while I've been slightly in favor of trading Shaw, if the Cubs end up keeping him, he's a pretty good bet to end up around the 3 fWAR range, which would make him a Top 10 3B in baseball. You can upgrade from him, but the position is basically a wasteland across the league and the options to do so are pretty much limited to Bregman, Bichette, and Suarez (unless you believe in one of the Japanese imports). Shaw's easily a starter on most teams. However, even if Shaw is the everyday starter, he's going to need days off and injuries are always a possibility. BJ Murray is pretty much the only person on the farm who *could* man the bench role, but his ceiling is limited and he needs more development. There's currently no one on the roster who seems like they could be a competent backup, either. Someone like Paul DeJong seems to make sense as someone who can handle 3B with a bit of pop, but yeah, this is a really thin crop if you're hunting for bench candidates.

On the one hand, the market for relief pitching is a bit ludicrous at the moment. On the other hand, damnit Cubs, do something.