Thusly Boned

Well, it was charitable to give the Nats a win in their last game at home this season.

I've had about enough of Zobrist.

THat's the only look Matheny ever has on his face. He's permanently dumbstruck.

This would be a sound strategy.

I tuned into the game just as that the ball was hit on that play. It was an incredible play that we'll be seeing for years, and I am thrilled that image of Yadi standing there like a dumbfounded goober trying to sort out what just happened will be immortalized.

There really needs to be an "all of the above" option here.

I'm jumping to conclusions because I want to, but these years and this money sort of indicate Dex really didn't want to play for them until they made it way too difficult not to play for them. That's my story, at least. Well, the reports were that they made an "over the top" offer, so I don't think it's biased at all to say Dex signed there because of the money. After getting punked in free agency on multiple occasions recently, the Cards went bigger than they probably had to in order to address a need.

And lol at Cards fans saying they "stole" Dexter from us. If the Cubs had made any attempt to re-sign him, he'd be a Cub.

Just saw they may go after Encarnacion now. So, slightly better than mediocre. A likely WC team even! Possibly eve projected within 10 games of us lol. I'll believe that when I see it. I'd be surprised if EE doesn't stay in AL.

Did anyone here think we'd re-sign Dex to a 4-5 year deal? I just don't think that was ever a real possibility, or would have been a good idea. I'd be pretty surprised if Dex is very productive at age 34 or 35. It sucks that it is the Cards, but he peaked with the Cubs and I'm glad he's getting paid.

Nope, not really at all. Kind of expected it. Plus Dex is going to be 31. I'd bet 2016 stands has his career best. I hope they sign him to a nice, long, expensive deal.

I am still gobsmacked by this. When I saw the headline earlier, I kept looking for other names the Nats were going to get. The Nats miss out on Sale, so they deal their best young arms for a bat (not a great one, either)? I understand that they wanted to move Turner back to his natural position, but holy hell. I am operating under the assumption they'll play Eaton in CF, which makes this worse. If I were a Nats fan, I'd be livid. And kudos to the Sox for kicking off their rebuild about as well as one could possibly imagine.

Is the plan now to move Turner back to SS and play Eaton in CF? Because Eaton is not good in CF. At all. And a huge part of his value last year was his defense in RF. This just seems like a shocking overpay to me.

No, but evaluating these things is an inexact science. That said, when I hear "elbow" when talking about a pitcher, I get a little too anxious.

I wouldn't be surprised if Soler has more value than many think. Yes, he has only produced 1.5 fWAR, but he has only accrued just over a season's worth of PA. He has a ton of potential,and he has performed well in the postseason. He has been inconsistent in the regular season, but has had poor luck with regard to the timing of his injuries. No, the injuries are not a selling point, but I think the case could be made that Jorge has been the victim of some bad luck. Plus he's still hugely talented. I don't know about bad luck, my friend. I just think he can't stay healthy. Even his relatively short minor league stint has some DL stays. June 18, 2013 Daytona Cubs placed RF Jorge Soler on the 7-day disabled list. April 4, 2014 Tennessee Smokies placed RF Jorge Soler on the 7-day disabled list. May 22, 2014 Tennessee Smokies placed RF Jorge Soler on the 7-day disabled list. strained right hamstring Since joining the Majors, he also has been on the DL with a left ankle sprain, an oblique strain and a left hamstring. I mean, Jorge has missed a ton of games. And he gets hurt every year. And he gets hurt even in part-time roles. I have no confidence that he can stay healthy, and I'd imagine it's tough to get great value for a guy when every team out there also can see the chunks of time the dude misses. No doubt he is injury prone, but that risk would be mitigated quite a bit by a trade to an AL team. The "bad luck" I was referring to is more the timing of the injuries than the injuries themselves. Again, I don't see Jorge flourishing with the Cubs. But I could see him experiencing some success in a place like Texas (who I think we could probably get a bit out of).

I wouldn't be surprised if Soler has more value than many think. Yes, he has only produced 1.5 fWAR, but he has only accrued just over a season's worth of PA. He has a ton of potential,and he has performed well in the postseason. He has been inconsistent in the regular season, but has had poor luck with regard to the timing of his injuries. No, the injuries are not a selling point, but I think the case could be made that Jorge has been the victim of some bad luck. Plus he's still hugely talented. I don't think that Jorge has a future with the Cubs, but I think he would be better used as an add-on piece in a larger deal. My gut feeling here is that Jorge is just as likely to break out a bit next year as Davis is to make through the season without his elbow exploding. I think the odds are that Soler is more over valued by this board then he is undervalued. On balance, I think the board probably values him right about where he should be. Some are too high, just as many are too low. I just think he'd have value to the right team. That said, the bulk of my trepidation over this potential deal is based on Davis' health.

This is just crazy. Giving up more than Soler for one year of a reliever with arm problems that restricted him to 40 innings last year would be horrendous. If Davis is considered truly healthy, he'll command more than Soler. Soler just doesn't have much value. If Davis is sold off as a risk, Soler is enough. I wouldn't be surprised if Soler has more value than many think. Yes, he has only produced 1.5 fWAR, but he has only accrued just over a season's worth of PA. He has a ton of potential,and he has performed well in the postseason. He has been inconsistent in the regular season, but has had poor luck with regard to the timing of his injuries. No, the injuries are not a selling point, but I think the case could be made that Jorge has been the victim of some bad luck. Plus he's still hugely talented. I don't think that Jorge has a future with the Cubs, but I think he would be better used as an add-on piece in a larger deal. My gut feeling here is that Jorge is just as likely to break out a bit next year as Davis is to make through the season without his elbow exploding.

For a year and a half worth of closers the Cubs have given up Gleyber and Soler. If only they'd have packaged them together at one point you'd think they could have landed a closer with a little bit of team control. I look forward to giving up Eloy for a season of whoever in 2018. Yeah, getting a World Series win absolutely sucked utter and complete ass. Chapman's character issues aside, I was and am fine with the move that was made. I would not be a fan of trading for one year of a closer as an annual strategy, though. I'd just as soon offer a bit more for assets with more control. That said, my primary concern here is Davis' health.

Many people are down on Soler, but it's a stiff price to pay for one year of a potentially broken closer, imo.

Yeah. If this trade comes to fruition and the Cubs give up anything of value, I will be less than thrilled.

No doubt. I would not be pleased.

I never thought it was anything but a very remote possibility anyway.

Although I'm sure that several Mets Refugees posters are convinced that the only reason the Cubs won the World Series is because the Mets lost the Wild Card game and/or the pitching injuries. Otherwise they were going to shut us down or something. And of course, come spring training, all of their injured pitchers will be back at 100% and give them full, uninterrupted seasons.

Didn't see that coming.

Meph was a wellspring of absurdity. I mean there are always at least one or two posters here who amusingly behave as if they are intellectually superior to everyone else here, but Meph had a certain...flair. And then there was nsbblol.