squally1313

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If this is a long way of saying David Ross shouldn't be on the roster, great, you're the first person who has ever had that thought. But he's the backup catcher. Yes, he sucks. So does pretty much every other backup catcher. If every team in baseball has the same 'problem', is it really a problem? And like others have said, you could make the argument that our starting catcher going down probably affects us less than most other teams, given that we aren't relying on him for much offense at all and have multiple options who can fill the spot.

When you have 2 of the top 5 players on Earth and evaluate talent well, it's going to be hard to be anything less. I've only seen them a couple times this year, but I think they are more explosive than they may have ever been. At times, yes, but there have been stretches where Kane's line was the only one scoring. Toews and Hossa are both having sub par seasons for them. Shaw is not the answer on the top line and the bottom pair on defense ranges from barely adequate to awful. Don't get me wrong, it's been a lot of fun to see them beat up on teams lately. To repeat, they're going to need another defenseman and a real solution at 1LW. The defense question will have to be addressed, unless Gustafsson far and away exceeds our expectations. Rozsival is an average third pair guy now, but we saw how much he wore down at the end of last season. Not sure what the solution is, but hopefully another Cup chasing guy pops up here in the next month or so, and works out better than Kimmo did (not that it ended up mattering). As far as the offense goes, I don't think you're going to an external solution for 1LW that's affordable and better than what we have now. Unless you're somehow able to fleece Tampa Bay for Drouin (and I think there are too many teams interested for that to happen), there's not much available with our cap situation. However, I think that line goes as Toews and Hossa goes. If this is really a step back year for them, we're in a lot of trouble. If they're pacing themselves during the long season and go back to normal in May and June...it doesn't really matter who is next to them. Yeah, it's not going to be Saad, but with our second and third lines showing the production they're providing now, we might not need that. We all know Q likes to hold on to 'trump cards' for the playoffs. There's been some talk lately about how the Kane line has generally been getting killed possession wise, but just been more than able to make up for it by capitalizing on their chances. I think if it gets dicey in the playoffs, Q switches Toews and Anisimov. Toews gives them a better face off guy, and a better ability to get the puck back. It's just a hunch, but I think Anisimov and Hossa will play well together, especially in the playoffs when space gets limited. Throw someone like Dano out next to them, and I think the offense will be fine.

Piscotty's 2015 Triple A OPS, which occurred with a significant sample size of over 300 AB's, was about the same as his MLB OPS. As for Grichuk his minor league OPS average was 818. His MLB 2015 OPS was 877. This again was with a nice MLB sample size of 323 plate appearances. And the increase was due to more power, which develops later in careers for many players. I don't think its beyond the realm of possibility at all that each puts together an OPS of around 850, which would be well above league average. That's not how that works. See Bryant, Kris and Schwarber, Kyle.

I know Coghlan makes a bit more money than you would like for a back up outfielder, but assuming we're alright on the financial side as things currently stand, I wouldn't mind him sticking around. If we are going to stick with Heyward in center, I'm still somewhat hesitant about handing over 600 PAs in RF to Soler. He's had lingering injury problems in the past, usually struggles in the cold weather, and really outside of the last few weeks wasn't entirely impressive in 2015. Keeping Coghlan around to spot start against the tougher righties, or as a pinch hitter late in games seems to hold a decent amount of value. Sign an all glove outfielder for the 5th spot and call it a day out there (unless Baez thrives there and can fill that role too). The only other variable with this is that Coghlan complained last year about how he thought he was playing well enough to be a starter (which, in his defense, he was). Joe/Theo would have to convince him to buy into that role.

I mean, we are kind of punting our longer-term pitching problems down the road this year, but for 2016 I'm finally happy with our pitching depth. Yeah but, while it hasn't necessarily panned out just yet, that's what we've been trying to address with our draft strategy the last few years. Take the best hitter out there, and then load up on pitchers and hope a few hit. Nothing yet, but there's at least a few intriguing options not super far away.

[tweet] [/tweet] [tweet] [/tweet] [tweet] [/tweet] #1 and #3 will do just fine.

Eh. He missed 36 games this year, and was on the DL for a month exactly. Javy is almost in the same boat as he was an hour ago. Fighting for playing time for those same reasons. But the biggest factor in him getting PT was if Castro was one of the worst hitters in baseball again next year. Zobrist isn't going to be bad enough to sit. And I realize this sounds stupid, because I'm basically complaining about a player being too good. But my gripe is more based on the fact the Cubs paid more money to get 10 years older and possibly only marginally better (depending on Castro and Baez's performance), when they have other needs. We've still got an injury prone right fielder, a shortstop that missed some time, and a third baseman that inexplicably got pulled from games once a month or so, plus could be our backup center fielder next year. Zobrist or Baez can fill those spots when they pop up. I get the age thing, but at the end of the day they're betting on Warren + Zobrist being $18m (plus Warren's cheap contract) better over the next four years. Assuming Zobrist can at least even out on the defensive metrics, which I think is fair, I'd take the Cubs side of the bet. If Javy proves he belongs in the starting lineup, they'll find a spot for him.

Well, the fact that we would still have Rizzo, Bryant, Russell and Schwarber is kinda big in this scenario. If we trade Castro and Soler, then they are simply trading the two worst guys of our "core," depending on if you consider Javy a part of the core. They aren't trading away the cheap, young stars. In fact, Starlin isn't really any of those things. His salary isn't really cheap anymore. It's not prohibitive or expensive really. But, he isn't pre-arb, like those other guys. And he is what he is now. He's just a guy that happens to be kinda young and under contract for awhile. Trading a guy like Soler might bite us. But, he's like our fourth or fifth best pre-arb guy, anyway. And he hasn't done anything to prove that he is anywhere near the level of the guys we are actually keeping. That's not how it works though. Zobrist isn't that much better than good Castro. He's not that much better than bad Castro and Baez (who would presumably take over for bad Castro at 2B), that you pay him 19Mil more over the next 4 years with 10 years of age on his side. And there's no law that you can only have 4 good pre-arb players. And if I'm trading a good pre-arb player, I want a similarly good pre-arb player at a bigger position of need. It's swapping out Starlin for Zobrist for $15 million more over the next four years + whatever we get back in a Starlin trade. I think it is brilliant. Depends on what they get for Castro. Also, gotta figure Baez into this somehow. Unless he really takes to CF, then the collateral damage of Zobrist at 2B is not only Castro being traded, but likely Baez being traded. Zobrist has too big of a contract and leash to put Baez in there everyday if he's struggling. Zobrist is already your super-utility guy. Going to be hard to get Javy ABs in the lineup as constructed, and that's before the Cubs have a CF. I don't see how this spells the end of Baez. Zobrist in his late 30s isn't going to be playing every day as it is. He can spot Schwarber against tough lefties (or if they keep up the catching experiment), Soler in big outfields, Bryant if they want him in the outfield for those reasons. Someone broke down a realistic PA split of the players we had about a month ago that got everyone plenty of ABs, and I don't think anything has changed since then, besides that Zobrist is capable of filling in more spots than Castro was able to. And that's before this Baez to CF thing.

I was a bigger fan of Warren's 2015 line before I realized he come out of the bullpen for most of his appearances. Still...cost controlled arm.

Same. The team has gotten significantly older, is paying twice as much and they may or may not be better. I mean, they are definitely better than they were a week ago.

Still not worth it. Unless someone signs Heyward for 14M more per year than the Cubs should pay (thinking 38-40Mil aav), then I'd still take 1 Heyward over Zobrist and whoever else they get. Zobrist and Lackey right now, plus whatever other minor additions. Short term, yeah, probably Heyward. But I like the fact that the Zobrist/Lackey contracts are off the books by the time the remaining core (Bryant, Schwarbs, Russell) is up for the big money.

Nah Id be pretty happy to. I don't like Castro and I'd certainly prefer to have Zobrist on the roster than Castro. I just see Castro as a defensive liability and a bit of a mental flake. He's had a pretty inconsistent career. You're going to hate Zobrist's 2B defense if you think Castro is a liability there. Has it really fallen off the table that quickly? I know you regress as you age, but when you look through his numbers 2015 seems like more of an outlier than anything. He's had a positive UZR in 5 of the 7 years he played any significant innings at second.

The only issue there being that Boxberger might suck.

Yeah, wasn't criticizing you obviously. As someone else mentioned...defining pitchers by the their spot in the rotation is dumb. If Shark puts up 200 innings and 200 Ks, he'll be a really good pitcher. But I don't think it's something we should expect.

I hate how so many people just have no clue what constitutes a quality ace/#2/#3/etc. There were 14 pitchers in all of baseball last year that threw 200 innings and had 200 strikeouts. Outside of James Shields, every one of them had a WAR over 4, and outside of Shields and Hamels, every one had a WAR of at least 5. There is no way anyone should be expecting Shark to put up those numbers, but if he does, then he's either not our #3 for 2016, or he's the best #3 in a long time.

At the same time, it's hard for me to criticize the trade too much at this point. Anisimov has been really good, playing a position that we don't really have anyone else to put there. Yeah I wish he was 22 instead of 28 or whatever, but that's a problem for down the road. And I'm just hoping Q gives Dano a long enough leash to settle into that lower scoring line role ("bum-slaying") that got Teuvo going last year. Kid definitely has the talent.

It's unbelievable really that the Hawks were able to pluck this kid up. I mean I know he wasn't unknown, so it wasn't like superior scouting or anything. But to keep adding talent like this as the established talent is forced to leave...crazy stuff. Losing Saad and Sharp hurt like hell but replenishing with Panarin and Anisimov (and Dano) is not a bad consolation prize, although I do worry about how we are going to be able to afford Panarin after next year when he is a UFA (right?). Hope we can extend him early at a discount., According to CapFriendly.com (no idea how reliable), but he's a RFA after next year, so in theory it'll just be another Saad situation then. That's also the year Teuvo is up for RFA (and Dano too, being optimistic that he reaches his potential), so there might need to be some decisions made. We'll be getting out the Bickell and Daley deals at that point at the latest (hopefully before then). I assume Stan is betting on the Canadian dollar rebounding.

Bread Man quietly moves up to a tie for 4th in points in the whole league. That line has been unreal, especially considering the (relative) early season struggles of the top line. Stay healthy and find a way to slot in another reliable D-man and this 'rebuild year' could be more 2014 than 2011.

Unless Newcomb is way better than his walk rate shows, this seems pretty underwhelming from the braves side, given that they were apparently asking for degrom or Harvey earlier today and then fangraphs was discussing a Simmons/puig trade.

Haha of course [expletive] this

Love you dex

Make those McFadden d-bags wait

Beating the Cards was pretty cool Just have to believe that these things are crap shoots and we just need to make the playoffs every damn year to breakthrough Yeah that was cool, but I don't get the logic of being satisfied showing our asses in the LCS just because they had a nice regular season. Nobody's going to feel satisfied with the memory of beating Cincinatti in June. There is no satisfaction to be had in the last four games. But, and I'm not feeling it now, there is plenty to be had for this season. Hell, we've got 38 games against the Pirates and the cardinals next year, and every single one of them I'm going to be able to think back on how we sent them home on the backs of massive dongs. That's pretty satisfying to me.