Transmogrified Tiger
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Everything posted by Transmogrified Tiger
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Lester money, with a chance at needing another year on the deal
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FYI I made the executive decision to remove the FA from the thread title, since I think the FA and trade options here are intertwined. Trade names that jump out to me: Brad Hand - terrific two years and likely available Colome - like you mention, had a down year. Velocity wasn't down but appeared to be scattershot from outing to outing. Not sure how Tampa stands on him, but seems a similar candidate to what Davis was post-2016 Herrera - Another guy who is very similar to Davis post-2016, right down to being the Royals closer. Almost certainly available Robertson - the Yankees have no less than 4 other terrific relievers, and they might view Robertson's 13 million as more of a luxury than they want to bear if they want to get under the luxury tax before the 2018 FA class. Trading Robertson doesn't look absolutely necessary to do that though. Britton/Brach/Givens - Who knows what the Orioles are thinking, at the moment they seem to be content to run it back and miss the playoffs before losing Machado. If they do blow it up we have yet another Davis-esque closer candidate in Britton, Brach is very good and wouldn't command a huge haul as he is 1 year from FA, and Givens is also quite good and has several years of control
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Shohei Ohtani Signs with the Angels
Transmogrified Tiger replied to CaliforniaRaisin's topic in Chicago Cubs Talk
He needs to be posted, which means everyone in the world will bid the max of 20 million, and then he'll basically have FA negotiations even though his contract will be subject to IFA rules. Otani will have 30 days after being posted to agree to terms with someone. We have two examples that have been under the CBA with the 20 million cap, Tanaka and Maeda. Tanaka was posted on 12/26 and signed 1/23, and Maeda was posted on 12/10 and signed on 1/7. Given that type of timeline, and that the team signing Otani isn't going to have to pay out a bunch of cash(20 million means little to the real suitors and doesn't count towards the luxury tax), I would expect everyone to treat their offseasons(GM meetings, winter meetings) as if they aren't getting Otani, and let him be a happy bonus if he chooses them. If Nippon posts him much earlier, then that changes things. EDIT: Thinking on this a little more, I wouldn't be surprised if Otani has a smaller gap from posting date to signing. The others strung things out to try and get a maximum offer, but Otani can't do that. -
Yes, Happ + prospects for Yelich and Volquez is my current fantasy that will inevitably be shattered by reality. I think it would be pretty closely tied to something like Otani picking the Cubs though, because it's almost certainly lower priority than SP and RP, and using trade assets of that caliber and taking on 20 million is only something you can do if you're more confident in what you have on both of those fronts.
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COUNTERPOINT [tweet] [/tweet]
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Theo thinks some of the problem with walks, especially in the playoffs, was due to the organizational approach, e.g. being too fine in hitters counts: http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2017/10/19/theo-epstein-takes-blame-for-cubs-pitchers-wildness-notably-in-bullpen/ So if that's correct, then hopefully you see some slight improvements from the likes of Edwards and Montgomery(if he's in the pen) from doing a little less nibbling. That said, I think you'll see a bit of a priority in strike throwing this year as a result. Guys like like Shaw and Nicasio. From the left side, I imagine they'll find another Duensing, but it's tough to tell about targets since LHRP are heavy on guys with control problems, and Duensing is an example of a guy who did not look at all desirable after his 2016.
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I'll ask they said who cares
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I'll ask
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How good would his season have to be for him to opt out? I'll ask they said real good
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How good would his season have to be for him to opt out? I'll ask
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some thoughts need to stay in our thinker
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The bullpen wasn't a major flaw, it was 3rd in the NL in ERA. Having a collective freakout in the postseason isn't indicative of poor design, no more than the offense struggling means that the position player group needs to be overhauled. I get that the bullpen was sporting a good ERA in the NL and I knew some posters would bring that up. I still had very little faith in our bullpen before the postseason started and think I was right. I mean I know I'm right now... W. Davis and CJ were trending the wrong way going into the playoffs. Strop looked very erratic. Lackey in the bullpen is just a terrible idea unless you use him strictly as a mop-up guy. Rondon is Rondon. J. Wilson looked terrible in his brief time with the Cubs. B. Duensing is okay. I mean I understand you could run this group back and they'd probably sport a good ERA again collectively, but that doesn't mean I have faith in them come postseason time... And the Dodgers were 5 games under .500 in September, unless there was reason to think they were hurt(like Strop/Rondon last year), there's no reason to suspect that this performance was coming. Edwards had his best walk rate since May, Montgomery's two best months were August and September. This happens in small samples.
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they said ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTAYLOR not sure what that means Did you offer Zagunis, Julianna Zobrist, and the years supply of Lackey’s Breathsavers he didn’t use??? they didn't seem to be dissuaded by Zagunis, that lady with the cookie monster fur coat, and a box of urinal cakes
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I'll ask they said ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTAYLOR not sure what that means
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I'll ask
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Every GM every year has work to do. It's their job. There is no major flaw with this team. They won their division and reached the NLCS for a third straight year. There is stuff to clean up. But this team came awfully close to winning another World Series, despite flaming out in this series. I agree with you Duke, but this team did have a major flaw (the bullpen) and it was exposed during the postseason. The bullpen needs to be revamped in a major way. We shouldn't bring W. Davis back and need to get rid of Rondon and Grimm. The only ones I want back are CJ, Strop and M. Montgomery. The bullpen wasn't a major flaw, it was 3rd in the NL in ERA. Having a collective freakout in the postseason isn't indicative of poor design, no more than the offense struggling means that the position player group needs to be overhauled.
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I'll ask they said ask again later
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I'll ask
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Schwarber Starting Against Kershaw? You Kidding Me?
Transmogrified Tiger replied to Garapp's topic in Chicago Cubs Talk
No -
the slur hernandez game
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Schwarber Starting Against Kershaw? You Kidding Me?
Transmogrified Tiger replied to Garapp's topic in Chicago Cubs Talk
yes it was an elaborate ruse -
Taylor and Turner are going on the list
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The Dodgers have crammed a month's worth of 2 strike foul balls into 35 innings.
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Not to be nitpicky but: Iso Happ .261 Schwarber .256 Schwarber's isoP since his AAA stint is .310.
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Yeah, he takes good at bats, and his true talent level even in decline and considering the injury is better than his 2017 line. Happ's problem is he's not quite as good as alternatives at everything. He's not the defender that Almora, Heyward, and Baez are, he doesn't hit for power like Schwarber does, and doesn't have the patience/pitch selection of Zobrist. I get the arguments for Happ and even agree that he's been underutilized in the postseason, but I can't bring myself to be overly upset that he's not getting starts.
