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Okay, being able to spend money and add additions helped in part in winning a championship in 2016. But they certainly didn't buy a championship in 2016 through FA. I almost wished they didn't sign Heyward or I should drop the almost part now. I wasn't here when that signing happened, but I wanted the Cubs to have an opt-out after the 3rd year (to go after Harper and/or in the event of a colossal collapse from Heyward). More teams need to do this, but that also probably means you don't get the FA... For those megadeals that go 7-8 years it's just so dumb to not include a mutual opt-out clause IMO. Front load the deals or make the buyout really painful for opting-out (for the team), but MLB teams need to wise up on these mega contracts. Stanton is going to age poorly and that contract will get ugly very soon.

No, that definitely was a huge part of what they did. I disagree. Yeah, we got Lester and we then got Heyward. Lol, Heyward didn't really contribute to the 2016 team so he doesn't count (in my mind). Take his salary away and that Cubs team isn't that high in payroll in 2016. Like if Heyward suffered an injury at the beginning of the 2016 season and was done for the rest of year. You could say the Cubs spent a decent amount of money, but the players that actually contributed to winning a championship wasn't that high in total payroll amount. We traded Castro to sign Zobrist... Like no one says the Cubs bought a championship in 2016 in the media or blogosphere except on White Sox' and Cardinals' message boards. ---- You don't "buy your way to a championship" if the players you spent money on create effectively replacement level value (0-1 WAR) in my mind. The other players on the team is what allowed you to win a championship and you spent poorly in FA.

This is going to be a bad take and not popular, but I don't want the Cubs to morph into the old Steinbrenner's Yankees where we buy FAs every offseason and outspend every team. Like if Mark Cuban bought the team and allowed the Cubs to spend as much as they see fit and didn't care about making a profit... On the one hand I'm happy the players are getting more money and all the revenue is being put back into the team, but I would hate winning that way. Like it's awesome if we outbid the Yankees for Cole, but I personally would kinda hate this team if we kept doing that and had a payroll over $300 million. I'm fine with a team near the luxury tax with times going strategically over. I want the luxury tax line bumped WAY up in the next CBA discussion. Next year it will start at $208M and then goes up to $210M. I'm hoping it gets bumped up to $240M in the next CBA since teams treat it as almost a hard cap. I hate the Yankees and I hate teams that buy their way to a championship (which I know the Cubs didn't do). They should always be in the top 3-4 in spending, but I don't want them to be #1 in spending except in strategic, special offseasons.

Heyward has some value and is considered a good clubhouse/veteran presence. You shouldn't compare him to Cozart IMO. I think Heyward can still generate between 1-2 WAR for the next couple years and be a solid defensive replacement in the OF for some team. I preferred attaching Q and adding Oscar De La Cruz or Ademan or a prospect(s) along those lines to get rid of Heyward. I wouldn't really love adding Hoerner + cash to get rid of Heyward at this point. Q's value has dropped and Heyward probably doesn't have a ton of value either. He isn't a negative WAR player or a perpetually injured player. I'm sure some team would be interested if the Cubs ate enough of his contract. It's true that the upside is gone and you can't "fix" his swing now. I've heard Cubs' management really likes him and he provides some leadership value in the clubhouse. Theo values that and craves a player with those qualities or something. I don't get it honestly...

I think I'm most disappointed that the Cubs haven't tried to trade Heyward. Like not even bother to get creative or something... Literally no rumors in the media this offseason or last offseason. I said attach Q to Heyward last offseason + cash and push hard to get rid of that contract. I mean I'd be willing to attach an okay prospect (+ cash) but teams are getting more reluctant to give up financial flexibility. After next season or during next season he'll have a full NTC. I really don't think Theo and the Cubs' FO even broached the subject these past couple offseasons. Super disappointing and frustrating...

He doesn't have to do that, only accuse everyone else of thinking they are smarter than Theo and also sucking each others dicks because we cannot think for ourselves. Lol. You're not defensive at all, are you... I just want to point out that during this debate over whether to trade KB we've kept things civil (for the most part) and that's a good thing. I don't agree with CubinNY and greatly dislike his response here. CubsWin should be allowed to explain himself without getting attacked like that. Also, the Mods need to step in when situations like this happen (you know what I'm talking about).

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Well, do you think he ends up with more than 5 fWAR or less than 5 fWAR? That was the whole question. Right around there so as not to make a significant difference. Does it really matter if it's 4.9 vs 5.1 fWAR? No one inside MLB teams and a modern FO cares about that small a difference. They always predict within a range or have projections showing a range.

No offense, but this isn't a very good or informative poll... Basically, you're asking if people think he's healthy or suffers an injury. If he suffers an injury and misses some time then he probably doesn't reach that 5 fWAR threshold. If he gets enough PAs, it's a no-brainer. You need more options and a wider range. How many people think he reaches 7 or 6 fWAR again? Personally, I think he ends up right around 5 fWAR again assuming no major injuries. The defense is going backwards and bWAR does not rate him as highly, btw.

No, not run the Cubs. I will say Duke Silver was pretty smart and I wonder how good he could be as an analyst inside baseball Ops for an MLB team... No, I wasn't trying to make a comparison between running the Cubs and creating a small business selling custom made candles; just trying to point out how a fan can turn a passion into a profession in time with enough dedication and hard work. It's obviously so much harder and entails so much more running a team or any large corporation for that matter. I wasn't trying to make any suggestion that making candles and running the Cubs is the same in any possible way. Not sure Duke would be able to last. When the going got rough and he ended up being wrong, he sort of flamed out. That's not why he left... I spoke to him privately and Aaron is a good dude and very smart. I seriously doubt he cared about being wrong or cared enough to quit the board altogether. He was really disgusted with ownership and the Cubs bringing Addison Russell back. Just the general conduct of the team and management, and I totally get it. If the Ricketts ever sold the Cubs I could see Aaron coming back and posting again.

I changed it for you and I agree. It's damn hard running a team and making these decisions, but I trust Theo (for the most part). I don't trust the scouts and people under him making the right decisions, but I guess they're rectifying that by changing personnel pretty heavily throughout the organization. The majority of fans would make terrible decisions and trades and draft picks, but I'm sure a very small quantity of fans would actually do pretty well if given the chance. This is true for all walks of life and not just sports. I have a friend that just got into the candle making business and created a small company and sold $1400 worth of custom made candles in a single day. They're high quality and look really nice. I had no idea he had a passion for making high-quality candles, but good for him. I knew he was a fan of candles, but I never thought he would start a business selling them... This kid is in Med School also, which I find hilarious. I don't know where he finds the time lol. I'm assuming that you aren't comparing someone's ability to pull off a modest direct to consumer side hustle to someone casually able to run an MLB front office. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that absolutely no one who posts on NSBB could run the Cubs, let alone better than the current FO. If anyone reading this has the chops, for the love of God, log off and get into baseball. No, not run the Cubs. I will say Duke Silver was pretty smart and I wonder how good he could be as an analyst inside baseball Ops for an MLB team... No, I wasn't trying to make a comparison between running the Cubs and creating a small business selling custom made candles; just trying to point out how a fan can turn a passion into a profession in time with enough dedication and hard work. It's obviously so much harder and entails so much more running a team or any large corporation for that matter. I wasn't trying to make any suggestion that making candles and running the Cubs is the same in any possible way.

I changed it for you and I agree. It's damn hard running a team and making these decisions, but I trust Theo (for the most part). I don't trust the scouts and people under him making the right decisions, but I guess they're rectifying that by changing personnel pretty heavily throughout the organization. The majority of fans would make terrible decisions and trades and draft picks, but I'm sure a very small quantity of fans would actually do pretty well if given the chance. This is true for all walks of life and not just sports. I have a friend that just got into the candle making business and created a small company and sold $1400 worth of custom made candles in a single day. They're high quality and look really nice. I had no idea he had a passion for making high-quality candles, but good for him. I knew he was a fan of candles, but I never thought he would start a business selling them... This kid is in Med School also, which I find hilarious. I don't know where he finds the time lol.

I don't know what you mean by 2 years in a row? He hit .288/.348/.525 (.874 OPS) in admittedly a very SSS of 66 PAs in 2018. That was good for a 127 OPS+

I would wager that a lot of his milb offense was bolstered by his speed, turning squibblers into infield singles and some bloop doubles. He averaged 81 EV last year, hes horsefeathering weeeeeeak. I believe he benefited quite a bit from the juiced ball last year and wouldn't expect 15+ HR in a 'normal' year. I'm not gonna go gaga over a 4 war season from a 21 year old that's all based on non-offense. Been down that road before. Theres enough for me to believe that hes really not a good hitter and if he doesnt get a lot stronger, I feel his offensive upside is not that great. Well, you're wrong. It's pretty dumb to say his offensive upside is "not that great". I haven't talked about Robles in a long time with scouts, but at one point a while back the Nats were higher on him than Juan Soto. That changed pretty fast obviously and Soto is a generational talent. Still, scouts all praised the tools and athleticism and cannon Robles has. I don't know what his ceiling is on offense, but I could see him reaching 5+ WAR All-Star status in a couple years. He's only 22 and should improve. I could like come up with trade packages with the prospective teams needing a 3B, but we don't know how interested those teams are in KB. We know the Nats are interested in KB. We'll see what happens, but if teams are offering shitty trade packages back then I agree we should keep him and move on. All this applies to Willson Contreras too, but I just don't see teams offering enough to make the Cubs consider it and we have 3 years of team control left.

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Maybe we can work the same magic in the Pitch Lab that transformed Rowan Wick into a solid reliever. I think the Cubs could even work out a small trade with the Padres to allow us to send him down to AAA. Given the state of the pen, he might be more valuable on the 25 man roster. Kimbrel Wick Ryan Mills Winkler? Maples? Cotton? Yeah, the bullpen is far from finished and we'll go quantity over quality this time around (that's what it looks like right now). Definitely add Brad Wieck and maybe Adbert Alzolay to that list... I was just saying the Cubs could make a small trade to give them more flexibility with Megill. I'm sure at some point next season they'd like to shuttle him down to AAA and call up a fresh arm for the pen. The 26-man roster does help so maybe they could manage to keep him up the whole year with a few stints on the IL.

[tweet] [/tweet] Maybe we can work the same magic in the Pitch Lab that transformed Rowan Wick into a solid reliever. I think the Cubs could even work out a small trade with the Padres to allow us to send him down to AAA.

Oh well, then I guess we're stuck with our 5 WAR 3B. Okay, Victor Robles produced 4.1 bWAR and is legitimately great on defense. I'm not saying Robles is nearly the player KB is, but just going by WAR totals is dumb. Some people here tend to just look at WAR totals without doing any analysis and it's stupid. Are you going to tell me Lance Lynn is more valuable and a better pitcher than Justin Verlander next?

[tweet] [/tweet][tweet] [/tweet]Who are these Cubs fans on Twitter telling people to be happy for Hawk Harrelson lol? I agree he was a really shitty broadcaster and that's probably being too kind... Hmm, I would say he's a terrible piece of horsefeathers human being who reminds me of Trump and a really shitty broadcaster.

Correct, don't trade Bryant. Not what the post I originally replied to considers an option. It's certainly an option to keep Bryant, but I don't expect that to happen at this point. The Cubs are waiting for Josh Donaldson to sign somewhere and then for the ruling on the service time issues. If the teams that lost out on Donaldson and Rendon aren't that interested in KB and aren't willing to give up enough then I'm sure Theo will move on and we keep KB (I just don't think that's happening). You can line up a trade right now and just wait to consummate the trade till next month (after the ruling). Sure, there's a chance it blows up but waiting till next month doesn't depreciate his value. EDIT: Okay, yes his value does depreciate next month if KB wins and gets a favorable ruling on the service time issue. That's obvious and we all know that... No team is trading for him until that gets resolved however.

[tweet] [/tweet][tweet] [/tweet]Not a big loss. I don't think he's Marwin Gonzalez 2.0

Look, I get you really don't want the Cubs to trade Bryant, but it's going to happen... Just make your peace with that fact now. The ruling on his service time issues will happen in early January and the trade will happen shortly after that (KB probably loses that fight). The parameters of the trade will have been established by then. I won't say whether it's smart or a good/bad move until I see the trade package we get back. It'll probably be the Braves or the Nats or maybe the Phillies (if they are willing to include Bohm in the package). Not that it matters now, but I wanted the Cubs to go after Rendon super hard this offseason. If no money issues then sign Rendon and move KB to RF and make the necessary trades to free up cash to do so. If money is really tight I would sign Rendon and trade KB and whatever players are needed to make it happen, but even that wasn't possible (which completely sucks).

Are you trying to make an analogy between what the Cubs (and Theo) are doing right now regarding KB vs. what Larry Himes and the Cubs did almost 30 years ago when Maddux became a FA? I don't think they're similar scenarios...

Rizzo's agent was instructed to reach out to the Cubs to discuss a possible extension, but was rebuffed. Obviously, now is not the time to be extending Rizzo (maybe next offseason?) and probably better to wait. I feel the same way regarding Rizzo -- probably isn't a smart move considering his age and the position he plays. Still, I'd be okay with tacking on 2 more years taking it through 2023... I don't think that's what Rizzo and his agent have in mind however. He wants to be a Cub for life and I seriously doubt that happening unless he plans on retiring in his early-30's.

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