Regular Show

I really don't think Heyward is getting traded this offseason. No team is clamoring to trade for him, and the Marlins have better OF options available. I think what this really boils down to is if the Cubs are serious about pursuing B. Harper next offseason, and whether they sign him or not. I know there is always the possibility Heyward rebounds and has a good year both in the field and at the plate, but I feel like that is a very remote possibility right now. If we sign B. Harper next offseason -- Heyward is gone.

Yeah. I'm certainly biased, but I've watched a TON of baseball and Rizzo has made some throws I've never seen a 1B ever make before. Like there was one game where he was playing in on a bunt and he fielded a ball way down the third-base line because either Baez or Bryant went to cover third base. It was so bizarre and I've never seen someone playing 1B ever make that play before. I mean Maddon freaking let him play 3B for a little bit. I've never seen a LH-throwing infielder at SS, 2B or 3B (for obvious reasons), but I was praying that a ball would be hit his way -- never happened unfortunately. Rizzo definitely deserved to win the GG, but P. Goldschmidt is pretty good.

wow he's so raw, he's only been playing baseball for 16 years. He's basically a newbie We've all heard the cautionary tales of 3 year olds burning out their arms, good thing he waited Are kids that young suppose to play with a full-size baseball? Like I thought I read somewhere that they encourage kids to play with a softer lighter baseball before their bodies/arms physically mature. I honestly can't recall little league baseball anymore, but I do remember the ball being a little bit different. I could be wrong... Anyway, when I play with my nephews I just use tennis balls.

It's not necessarily them killing it because they don't want to go to the new club. It's them requiring some enhancement to waive the NTC and that enhancement being something that one of the clubs cannot abide, thus killing the trade. Coming off the seasons they had, they know they don't have much leverage. They're the ones going to a more attractive situation, and for Samardzija it's a homecoming too. Yeah, the only NTC that concerns me is Heyward's. I'm pretty sure Samardzija almost signed with us a couple years ago before deciding to sign with the Giants so I definitely think he'd approve a trade to Chicago. Heyward is the problem in any trade scenario we come up with. I don't know if Theo and Jed have even discussed possible trade destinations with Heyward and his agent.

Did this happen to involve a grandfather flying his grandchildren in the Midwest? No, it didn't involve a grandfather. It did happen in the Midwest over 10 years ago. The father and pilot was a neurosurgeon. He wanted to get a pilot's license and bought a small plane. It was tragic and heartbreaking and I'm still upset about the whole ordeal. RIP R. Halladay

[glow=red][/glow] Yeah, I seriously doubt the Giants would want to do that deal. You'd have to expand it and the Cubs would have to throw in some cash and maybe some decent prospects. If they worked out all the details and money issues, Heyward could still just veto the trade. I don't think Heyward is that unhappy being here and Cubs fans hardly give him any grief because he helped win a WS his first year here + Game 7 inspirational speech.

Man this sucks. Brings back painful memories -- some close family friends perished in a plane crash a while back. The dad was a super rich doctor and took his whole family on a flight. I still don't know the details of the plane crash or how good a pilot he was. I always dread reading about these kind of stories now. I will never fly in a small commercial airplane/jet because of that incident...

I don't think we're going after Darvish unless his market has collapsed after his poor postseason performance. I doubt that's the case. Some team is going to give him the years and amount of cash he's looking for. We definitely would be down to sign him for 4 years but not at 5-6 years. I think we're definitely signing A. Cobb now. I predict 4 yrs/$72-80 with an option/buyout for a 5th season. Unless some team offers a lot more per year I think we're the favorites to sign him. I think Jake really wants to come back to the Cubs, but unless he's willing to signing a shorter term contract it's not happening. He's also going to get a 5-6 year deal for a lot of money. He might even get more than Darvish. I think Atlanta is going to sign him. Maybe he signs with the Giants? I doubt AL teams will have too much interest in him. We are not re-signing W. Davis and I think he signs the largest contract for a relief pitcher this offseason. More than G. Holland will get. I think the Cubs sign either B. Morrow or J. McGee to replace him. I think we're signing two SP this offseason to replace Jake and Lackey, and a bunch of relief pitchers. I think the Cubs will explore trading some of their young hitters, but they won't like the offers and decide against it since they'd be selling low on most of them. I think next offseason is when the Cubs will be more "ambitious" and make some big trades.

I was going to say. Was there anyone on NSBB at the time who said they didn't want Heyward or think he wasn't worth the contract? I wasn't a part of NSBB back then, but I wasn't thrilled with the signing at the time. I wasn't necessarily against it, but I thought it had the potential to become a bad contract if Heyward decided not to opt-out. I was hoping he would be productive enough to warrant opting out after 3 years allowing us then to move on to B. Harper or someone else. I knew he would be elite defensively in RF (and very good in CF), but I kinda wanted us to lockup D. Fowler on a short term contract for less money than what we gave to Heyward. I was happy he spurned the Cardinals and decided to join the Cubs, but I was worried that this could backfire. I will admit I never thought he would collapse this much offensively, at least not till the middle-last few years of his contract. I wonder what would've happened if the Cubs never tinkered with his swing (to unlock more power) before spring training of 2016. He was really good during the second half of 2015 with the Cardinals. Maybe he'll improve next season and settle around being a 2-3 WAR player going forward before declining again.

Wow, that makes me sad. I loved reading the Q&A when Callis ran it while he was there. I don't even go to BA that much anymore. In-depth prospect and minor league coverage all over the internet is getting better. For now, BA is still the top source around draft time and super valuable for draftniks. They do need to hire some good young talent or they'll become irrelevant pretty soon.

Yeah, I agree with the idea that Ross will continue in his current role for a little while longer and whenever Maddon decides to move on/retire he'll be the perfect candidate to take over. I don't think Ross really needs any "apprenticeship" type role or experience as a coach before taking on a full-time manager role. I'm happy for D. Martinez and think he'll do a decent job. I am surprised they didn't go with Girardi or Farrell since they're available. I'm wondering if the Nats really are concerned that B. Harper wants to come to Chicago and play for J. Maddon after next season. If that's the case might as well hire a manager similar to J. Maddon and re-create the same atmosphere in that clubhouse.

I've been thinking about trade scenarios for Heyward for a long time as well. I thought about the permutations for a trade with Toronto and taking back Tulo, but I just don't think he would approve a trade there. Realistically, the best chance to trade him is next offseason when he has a limited no-trade clause. The Cubs also need to use him as defensive sub who occasionally starts if he is still here. This past season sucked in part because we had so many other players perform poorly along with Heyward. Maddon really loves great team defense and it seems like he'll trade offense-for-defense which means Heyward will probably get more playing time than he deserves. I don't know how realistic our chances are for signing B. Harper next offseason, but we need to stress to Heyward that his playing time will keep decreasing going forward hopefully making him more amenable to a trade down the road. The Cubs might have to trade him to a team on his no-trade list. I'd say the chances he gets moved this offseason are 1% (maybe less).

Wow, I feel really horsefeathering old after reading that tweet and I'm not even that old. Some of these former players must have had kids really young like Addison Russell lol.

What does he say about his pitching philosophy (Hickey) and how he handles pitchers? I also wouldn't mind interviewing M. Maddux and J. Farrell and seeing which one would be the best fit. The job does seem to be Hickey's if he wants it though.

Never know what could have happened between Thursday and this morning too. Maybe in doing an exit interview or something with Bosio they just didn’t like how it went/where it was going. Do coaches and instructors do exit interviews? I'm honestly not sure. I'm assuming J. Maddon is in conversation with Theo and Jed constantly so doing an exit interview for him isn't really necessary. I guess you should do exit interviews with the coaching staff and other instructors though.

I'm going to take a different take here, but I'm actually kind of happy we let Bosio go. I definitely hated listening to his interviews on the radio. I don't know exactly how much of an impact he had on our pitching staff, but he doesn't seem like the next L. Mazzone-level pitching coach. Most instructors and coaches are replaceable, and maybe a new voice and pitching philosophy will help our staff next season.

That was a very good assessment of the team, though. The Cubs can still be a Dynasty (however you define that) and win multiple championships going forward. I've read so many articles over the years about the Spurs Dynasty finally ending in the NBA and they're still relevant and still really horsefeathering good. They've won 5 championships, but never won any in back-to-back years.

I don't know what this means or who Theo is talking about... Is he talking about Almora and/or Happ? Maybe even one of Schwarber, Baez or Russell? I'm most curious about this comment, but I doubt we'll get clarification on it. Maybe some rumor/info will come out at the winter meetings.

Hmmm, they WANT us to sign B. Harper lol? Are you horsefeathering kidding me? Do they understand how gigantic a leap in production that would be going from J. Heyward-to-B. HARPER? How dangerous would our lineup be with B. Harper batting #3!?! That's hilarious. Do they also want us to sign M. Machado and J. Donaldson too LMAO?

Yeah, I agree with that sentiment too. I can take this loss a lot better this time. Losing to the Mets in 2015 felt way worse...

I meank except for when they went 5-20 from 8/26-9/20 Yeah I guess except for that slump. But they won 104 games overall, vs 92 for the Cubs. They're better You're not wrong, but the better team doesn't always advance in the playoffs. It's kind of a crapshoot. I mean the Yankees might advance to the WS and in no way do I think they're better than the Astros. horsefeathers the Yankees.

How good would his season have to be for him to opt out? Hahaha, you're asking the wrong guy. Ask TT or someone else because it's not happening.

I think Theo and Jed need to convince Heyward to find a new calling in life (Motivational Speaker) and retire so we can sign B. Harper after next season lol.

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 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...

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.