Tim

Watching what pixie dust does to his career should be interesting/depressing. I'm already prepared for his defensive metrics to suddenly become fantastic with no discernible explanation. As pointed out elsewhere...it didn't help Dexter.

yes, well, presumably the guy we're offering ~$300m to play for us will be a better player. Presumably it would be better to sign better players to get him to sign and make the Cubs better. Bellinger made the Cubs better as a baseline and potentially significantly better. Taillon made them better, as well.

Assad would be in the minors. Sampson would probably be in the minors. Thompson would be the "swinger". Adbert would be a short inning guy as-is, but will probably be a multi-inning guy once they add veteran relievers.

yes, well, presumably the guy we're offering ~$300m to play for us will be a better player.

I guess I'm not sure why this would be in question at this point. They're linked both locally and nationally with all of those things, Mooney/Sharma specifically listed the holes they wanted to fill that included all of them, and there's significant noise about them spending more than recent years. Maybe the SS isn't Correa and maybe the SP isn't Senga or the catcher isn't Murphy, but it seems very certain they are going to keep adding at those spots. The main open question is if they can win the race for one of the SS, since that's the one spot where there's not really a plan B, but they're heavily linked to all 3 available which means they aren't putting everything in a single option. Key point here. A ton of teams want these dudes, and rightly so. If we lose out because of the money spent here, we're big picture screwed anyways. But we can also very easily miss out on these dudes for whatever other reason that has nothing to do with these signings, and I can't imagine how this and Taillon hurt anything. There's also the matter of recruiting those guys. Showing the team is going to be active adding on in other places is a good thing to get them to buy into the future. Bellinger's production has definitely sucked the past couple years, but he's still a name that gets respect in the game as evidenced by reports of a dozen teams pursuing him as a free agent.

If you’re never as bad as you are when your pitchers are injured you’ll never be bad. 80% is a bit extreme. Plus, they're building sufficient depth to actually handle that kind of loss at this point.

The Cubs weren't as bad as their final record last year. In the first half, literally 80% of their rotation was hurt. They didn't really stabilize it until the second half, when they played better than .500 baseball. We're also building on top of last year's moves and promotions, so they do not have as far to go as they did last offseason. As things stand this morning, the Cubs are not yet ready to compete. But the moves made yesterday make them closer. And they are not done yet.

Now get Senga, a shortstop and a catcher

Considering how little these guys have played together, I'm hoping that they continue to get better as the year goes.

One would hope the Cubs 1st move of an off-season (premised on loose purse strings) would not consist of a rebound year to justify a contract. Does it matter what sequence in which they occur?

If we look up in March and that's the best signing we've made, then I will agree with you. this team could easily sign an obviously better play than Bellinger and still struggle to secure 3rd place status.lol - so dramatic. Let's talk in a month or so.

They also had the 27th ranked offense last year.

And fine puts you in 3rd place If we look up in March and that's the best signing we've made, then I will agree with you.

As a baseline, it's a fine move that filled a need. Fix the swing one more year past injury and with a new voice and you've got an MVP candidate. Most likely outcome is that it's...fine.

I'm still hoping that a more elite receiver gets traded as a cap casualty or because those guys are always unhappy and demands a trade.

Hey guys, check out the cute delusional Packers troll who registered just to make this lame attempt at denying his worst fears.

I'm sticking with my earlier position. I think my favorite scenario is that Fields leads the Bears on a late (would be) game-winning drive, only to allow a TD return on the ensuing kickoff. Fields shuts people up by showing he "knows how to win", but we still solidify the draft status. What'll probably happen is Fields will play, he'll play well, Bears will score some points, but Rodgers will have a great game, Packers will win by 25+. Aferwards that horsefeathering [expletive] will laugh and belittle the Bears, kick them when their down, he'll do this because it's his last time he'll have the opportunity to do so. Honestly...that's fine with me, too. I can turn it off at halftime and miss the smugness.

I'm so torn. I would love nothing more than Fields to singlehandedly beat GB this week, and my fantasy team needs a win in 1 of my money leagues. But the defense couldn't stop this same bad GB offense earlier in the season, and they had Quinn, Roquan, and Jackson then. So, they're going to lose anyway and now I have to actually care if Fields plays. I'm sticking with my earlier position. I think my favorite scenario is that Fields leads the Bears on a late (would be) game-winning drive, only to allow a TD return on the ensuing kickoff. Fields shuts people up by showing he "knows how to win", but we still solidify the draft status.

I'd never wish injury on any player but in the end I'd rather the Bears simply hurt Rodgers and knocked him out of the game. or season. In my statements above I was referencing a Bears team without Fields at QB, with Fields at QB it wouldn't be so hilarious if the Bears win. They would have won because of something Fields did. My dream scenario - Justin Fields, with a shell of a defense, leads the Bears to a last minute one point win thereby, marking an end to the Packers and Rodgers dominance of the Bears. That is, in a few years we'll all point back to day Fields and Bears pulled off a miraculous win as the starting point of the Bears dominating the NFC North and the Packers. I think my favorite scenario is that Fields leads the Bears on a late game-winning drive, only to allow a TD return on the ensuing kickoff. Fields shuts people up by showing he "knows how to win", but we still solidify the draft status.

I also love the Madrigral for Kelenic proposal I've seen on Twitter recently.

Holy horsefeathers...maybe we could get Varsho or someone else good to play CF in return for Thompson if the premium for pitchers is that high.

I feel like I should post a picture of Ryan Pace with a "Challenge Accepted" tagline or something.

I feel like this either doesn't punish Davis enough for his injury status or punishes Canario too much. Or includes too much recency bias for Mervis or not enough for Canario. I guess what I'm suggesting is a lack of consistency when it comes to Canario's ranking.

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Woo! Go Steelers