Transmogrified Tiger

Wait is Bob really the only person reporting this? So Contreras is getting extended then?

It's been a while since I thought very deeply about the Cubs so someone correct me if I have gaps needing filled in, but here's some scattered thoughts. - Darvish is a 34 year old pitcher with multiple arm injuries who prior to this year hadn't hit 4 fWAR since 2013. I can forgive anyone who believes him to be on the Verlander trajectory, but the odds were severely stacked against him hitting 10 WAR in the last 3 years of the deal, maybe even stacked against 8 WAR. Combine that with him making 20 million(22 million LT) per year and layer on pandemic finances, I am not upset about the value the trade represents. - That goes doubly so if the choice is between Darvish and the alternatives for cutting salary(read: Bryant). If you have an edict from ownership that payroll has to come down, trading Yu and rolling the dice on pitching roulette is a better short term plan than trying to get potential star-level production without Bryant or some other less palatable position player trades. - Getting Vincent Adultman back to eat some rotation innings is fine, the Cubs have a very good track record getting the most out of low velocity at least. - Speaking of Contreras, like someone pointed out, this points pretty strongly at him being the short term catcher. Or maybe said another way, if Contreras isn't the short term catcher then things are going to get 2012 levels of dire, which would be a huge unforced error. - As far as the return goes, I'm okay with going with width over depth, especially in the current low information environment for prospects. I'd rather have 4 players of this caliber than one of the Morejon/pick your preferred name here. - Having said that, getting 4 different prospects and having none of them being (optimistically!) less than 2 years away is unacceptable. I saw the argument on Twitter that they may have gravitated towards players they had been able to scout more recently with the draft and IFA, and while I'm sensitive to that you absolutely cannot punt all the value from the return for 3 years. Especially when you're going wide on the return, the player development revolution means that the previously lower ceiling AA guy represents a potential for above average or even great production that isn't so different from the rookie ball lottery ticket. I get that player development opportunities are easier to spot when you can see a player play, but I don't care, Davies being the only person who can help the MLB team before 2023 or later is a catastrophe. - This is quite possibly the optimist in me, but I think the optics of this trade are going to lead to conclusions about the short term that are more dire than they'll turn out to be. Darvish had an incredible 2020 but had been more frustrating than brilliant for many years prior, and the team's 2021 success being hinged on him repeating that success isn't a great bet. If unloading his salary means they can get creative about reshaping the depth chart without having to spend energy trimming payroll, then that may be the best way forward(RIGBY caveats about ownership implied). Going exclusively long term with the return feels like a big miss in the process, and certainly lends credence to the idea of them stripping the team to the studs until it does or doesn't happen.

FWIW, that 2018 line is the Dominican Summer League, and 2019 is Rookie ball proper in the AZL.

Finally, something decisive.

Increasingly, the difference between MLS and Liga MX at the top end is the power of the two Monterrey teams. [tweet] [/tweet]

Jeffress Wow. Had no idea he was still controlled and that I forgot he was the closer for a lot of the season. He was a FA. The other potential answer is Tepera, who was under control and was non-tendered, but I'm giving the benefit of the doubt on b2b's accuracy considering Tepera pitched in the 9th inning exactly 1 time as a Cub.

I don't know how you can be bored with all of the Cubs' activity. We traded Theo for Hoyer, Venable for Harris, Kasper for an announcer to be named later, we dumped our starting LF and closer for nothing, etc. while those other silly teams are working on their rosters. I know I just know this, but who was our closer we lost? Jeffress

Dallas would be challenging for trophies all the time if their scouting was half as good as their academy and youth development. Can't get an actually good DP to save their lives. I agree that Ferreira is probably a tweener and feels more like a guy with a successful MLS career. Pomykal though, reading between the lines he might be in Germany already if not for his injuries. Those remain a concern but I think his quality is there.

Coulda been Bayern Munich, aint nobody stoppin Cash Mueller

They're the notre dame of soccer - always over-rated. They should have lost this game by 3 or 4. ManUs first goal was about the weakest penalty I have ever seen. At halftime the ref must have seen Ronaldo's penalty and challenged himself to out-do it.

Jon Greenberg has a suggestion: https://theathletic.com/2239770/2020/12/04/len-kasper-cubs-white-sox/

He'll be partnered with Darrin Jackson.

He was okay with doing it to Andy Masur, so there's clearly a line that can be crossed even if he may not have done it for Pat. this is a ridiculous comparison, andy masur is a nobody who started doing radio for the sox in 2018. i don't care for pat hughes but his status is on a completely different level. The point I'm making is that especially at the MLB level, broadcast jobs are in short supply and in order to get your dream gig you'll likely need to be cutthroat to some degree. I don't know that Len would have taken the Cubs radio job this year under these circumstances, but I find the 'Pat is a legend, he would NEVER' to be short of 100% convincing.

If by "subset", you mean "majority", sure. I find it hard to believe that they'd let a more popular broadcaster who wanted to do radio leave rather than just fire the less popular radio guy and replace him with Len. you think len would have watched them fire pat and then taken his job? He was okay with doing it to Andy Masur, so there's clearly a line that can be crossed even if he may not have done it for Pat.

My hottest in the moment take is that if Len wanted to do radio so badly then they should've put Pat(who has very much lost his fastball) out to pasture. i don't disagree, but they'd never do that (and len would probably want nothing to do with forcing him out) aren't you my anti-vin scully buddy too? Vin Scully was doing the Brennamen meme for years unironically and people thought it was folksy because he was lucid in the 50s.

My hottest in the moment take is that if Len wanted to do radio so badly then they should've put Pat(who has very much lost his fastball) out to pasture.

Getting closer to not bothering to redeem free MLB.tv from T-Mobile next year. Everything related to MLB and the Cubs is just openly spiteful at every turn.

Last year aside, he’s largely been a league-average regular. With the DH in the NL, that’s a bat worth keeping around. Given his extreme bumslayer status when he did hit well i don’t think you can assume last year is an aberration. But even if not, you’re basically describing Schwarber, which tells us the people bemoaning trading Torres have an inflated sense of his worth.

I see the Schwarber news has generated another round of Gleyber Torres discourse from people who still haven't realized that he isn't good.

Am I being too contrarian by not being overly excited about Alvarez? Like not in the way that I kinda recoiled in disgust at seeing Djordje on the roster, but in the sense that even if you limit yourself to say, attackers not old enough to drink, I don't know that he's more advanced or exciting than Pomykal, Bassett, Aaronson or even Amaya, to say nothing of the legion of Euros we just got at least a brief look at, more positionless guys like Busio or Ferreira, etc. Certainly not a bad thing he's involved though, need as many lotto tickets as you can get. On a different note, it's a little weird there isn't much of a 6 in this roster at all. Some of that might be fixed after the two western conference games(one of Busio/Dotson will be available, and one of Tessman/Roldan) but even in that group there's no obvious fit.

Boy that is an aimless mess of bad moves

Dallas sold Reggie Cannon a few months ago and they may just sell his replacement to Juventus, the market for young US players is moving fast.

Is there really that much they can do about competitive balance? The best players are worth so much more in basketball than in other sports so that if there’s a dominant team/player, that team is always going to be good. The Spurs and Lakers won the West all but one year from 1999-2010 and won 9 of the 12 titles. It was Jordan before them. And the Lakers/Celtics before that. I agree that there are desirable markets that players are always going to want to go to (i.e. LA). GS looks good now but they were largely a joke of the league for 40 years. Cleveland made two ECF in 36 years and no finals before 06-07. SA has always been good (39 playoff appearances in 45 seasons) but nobody would call them a destination. And even being a place people might want to play (New York) means nothing if your franchise is a disaster. I’m just not sure what can be done in basketball other than restricting player movement to get players to not bolt all the time. You don’t have to go to MLB style rules of player control to get to make an impact, it’s ultimately about incentives. For example, let’s say every team has one uncapped roster spot, you now can give Anthony Davis(and Durant before him, etc) before him) a real decision to make. In the current setup there’s precious little difference in options aside from markets and teammates which becomes a self-perpetuating cycle.