Transmogrified Tiger

I'll ask

How good would his season have to be for him to opt out? I'll ask they said real good

How good would his season have to be for him to opt out? I'll ask

some thoughts need to stay in our thinker

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.

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

I'll ask they said ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTAYLOR not sure what that means

I'll ask

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.

I'll ask they said ask again later

I'll ask

No

the slur hernandez game

yes it was an elaborate ruse

Taylor and Turner are going on the list

The Dodgers have crammed a month's worth of 2 strike foul balls into 35 innings.

Not to be nitpicky but: Iso Happ .261 Schwarber .256 Schwarber's isoP since his AAA stint is .310.

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.

Hendricks should be on his side session day and you could certainly use Lester out of the pen if you had to. You'd have to cobble the rest together in LA, but using one or both of those guys is an option. I would hope we'd only use a starter if things go very wrong for Quintana. Get to LA and then you could use Arrieta in Game 6 and Quintana in Game 7 if need be.

Yes. Davis is the only person unavailable. The only person not on at least one day's rest is Duensing and he only threw 2 pitches yesterday with 2 days off before that. Plus there's an off day on the other side of today should they win.

i mean seriously

gonna be remembering Jim Wolf's name

Even if average age were something they wanted to optimize, they lose Lackey(38), Uehara(42), and Duensing(34), and likely Arrieta and Davis(both 31). Edwards is 25, Hendricks and Montgomery 27, Quintana is 28, and Wilson is 29. Lester and Strop are the only returners already over 30.

This is the brewerfan.net logic all over again. - The Cubs have an enormous head start on the rest of the division in the form of Bryant/Rizzo. 10 wins from 2 position players gives the Cubs a leg up before you even get to the rest of the roster, and the Cubs have had and look to continue to have terrific depth. - This really needs to be said twice. The Cubs are upwards of 10 games better than the rest of the division today. The most important players they lose over the next 2 offseasons are Arrieta and Davis, both guys who you don't necessarily want to trust for future seasons, and in Davis's case has only been around this year and are much more easily replaced with cash. - Yes, the core will need to be paid more through arbitration, but the Cubs can afford to live at or above the luxury tax, and that means they aren't going to have to cut salary or even be all that inhibited in free agency. There's a path to a potential logjam around 2020 or so, but that is 1) 3 years away (see below) 2) requires spending on other really good players(e.g. Harper) and 3) assumes the Cubs will absolutely want to keep every pre-FA player that long. Maybe one of Schwarber/Russell/Baez tanks and they don't want to pay them their arb salaries. That's not going to make or break the Cubs competitive chances, and mitigates their risk on the payroll side. - Projecting team quality more than 2-3 years in the future is 100% guesswork. 2 years ago, Eloy was putting up a .746 OPS in short season ball and Cease had a handful of wild innings in Mesa coming off TJS. This summer they were part of the 'depletion' of the farm system to get a controlled SP. 2 years ago, Happ put up a .763 OPS in Low-A, this year he was an above average player in the big leagues. - But, if we're going to play doomsday with the Cubs chances years from now, make sure to do it with their competitors too. Fowler, Carpenter, and Molina are going to get worse before they get better. Tommy Pham has no track record for his 2017 (same with DeJong) and he turns 30 before Opening Day. Wacha was their 2nd best starter(an indictment itself) and is 2 years from FA. Their farm system has depth but their main hope for impact players are hoping Pham continues to run a .370 BABIP into his 30s and that Alex Reyes comes back from TJS with better control than he had before it. They are in purgatory.

Martin is gonna be non-tendered so fast that they'll mail his stuff to him instead of letting him clean out his locker.