Bertz
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Everything posted by Bertz
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Again, are they? The Cubs have a generic need for another bat and would like another starter and reliever. Aside from a defensive minded infielder like Ha Seong Kim, they have a roster fit for essentially anyone. And financially if Bellinger’s gone I'm not sure if anyone left outside of Burnes is outside of their financial orbit.
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Are they? 14 of MLBTR's top 20 FAs are still on the board. 36 of the top 50.
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I know there has been a small amount of smoke around Santander, and he doesn't sound imminent so the timing would likely work out. My guess though is there's less of a direct replacement planned and more of a "spread the money" planned. Like a lot of the rumoring says they're not just looking to dump his salary. Now maybe that's face-saving (in fact it's almost surely face-saving), but either way the reality is probably less of a clean break and more of something else coming back. Let's call it Bellinger for Ryan Pressly because I think that's the cleanest deal. You've now got closer checked off the list and added $10M to the piggybank, leaving ~$40M total. I wouldn't call that plenty to do the rest of the offseason shopping, but it's doable. And if you knock out SP with a trade for someone cost controlled, it's suddenly plenty.
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I like Carson Kelly. I wanted Jansen more, but the difference between the two feels like one of floor vs. ceiling, and given the debacle behind the plate last year I'm not going to cry about raising the floor. I'll say too that signing Kelly feels like the most urgent item on the to-do list by an order of magnitude. There's just not any other area of Free Agency shallow enough for it to be one guy or bust, but catcher is there. I like Kelly, I wouldn't be happy but I could stomach Diaz or Bethancourt, and everyone else is sub-Thaiss level. And signing a catcher is one of the few things that is completely independent of Cody Bellinger's place on the roster, so it needs to get done here at the meetings IMO.
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Alex Bregman is totally getting $200M now
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Here on the first day of the winter meetings, he Athletic provided an article touching on a number of Cubs subjects. Among them Sahadev Sharma provided an update on the Cubs plans at catcher: Carson Kelly was written up last week as a Cubs target by Bruce Levine. Given his place as the last remaining starting caliber catcher on the market, it seems likely his free agency comes to a head here at the winter meetings. If free agency doesn't prove a viable path for upgrading the position, it will be interesting to see what the team attempts via trade. Logan O'Hoppe was reportedly the team's target at the trade deadline, but the Angels seem intent on attempting to compete in 2025. View full rumor
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Here on the first day of the winter meetings, he Athletic provided an article touching on a number of Cubs subjects. Among them Sahadev Sharma provided an update on the Cubs plans at catcher: Carson Kelly was written up last week as a Cubs target by Bruce Levine. Given his place as the last remaining starting caliber catcher on the market, it seems likely his free agency comes to a head here at the winter meetings. If free agency doesn't prove a viable path for upgrading the position, it will be interesting to see what the team attempts via trade. Logan O'Hoppe was reportedly the team's target at the trade deadline, but the Angels seem intent on attempting to compete in 2025. -
The Rizzler being aligned with the Mets while Big Justice is a Yankee fan probably should have made this outcome obvious from the start.
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The general sense was that all hell would break loose after Soto signed. So that happening in conjunction with the meetings starting should hopefully make this a fun couple of days.
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It would be fun if this guy turned out to be something. IIRC one of the Yankee/Red Sox "traitors" like Damon or Ellsbury netted a star via comp pick
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The crazy thing is that the Yankees' best backup plan now is trading for Bellinger and throwing a ton of money at Bregman. Guess who wins in that scenario? Boras again!
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Wowwww. Like you can't imagine this bid has a chance of losing when you submit it
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https://legacy.baseballprospectus.com/compensation/cots/league-info/highest-paid-players/ Damn near as big as any two non-Ohtani contracts combined
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Nothing deferred, he blew Ohtani's deal out of the horsefeathering water. This winter is the Scott Boras revenge tour, clearly.
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!!!
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Combined with the smoke out of NYC about Soto being imminent do we take this as the Dodgers being officially out?
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Potential Landing Spots For A Cody Bellinger Trade
Bertz replied to Brock Beauchamp's topic in Chicago Cubs Talk
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If there was some team that demolished lefties, like the Cards a few years ago when Goldschmidt and Arenado were at the height of the powers, there might be an argument against four lefties. As is there's none. It's uncommon but there's not a real argument against it.
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Potential Landing Spots For A Cody Bellinger Trade
Bertz replied to Brock Beauchamp's topic in Chicago Cubs Talk
I like Jordan Montgomery as a bounce back candidate. But his deal is much further underwater than Bellinger's (at least for 2025). I think the Dbacks would need to eat additional money or throw in additional player (relief help). I would doubt there's a satisfactory intersection between a deal that makes sense for the Cubs and for the Dbacks. -
When did all of these players sign?
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https://www.fangraphs.com/players/dexter-fowler/4062/stats?position=OF https://www.fangraphs.com/players/yu-darvish/13074/stats?position=P https://www.fangraphs.com/players/tyler-chatwood/4338/stats?position=P
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This is feeling like it ends tomorrow
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If we don't have multiple moves by this time next week*, I will suspect the plan is January bargain shopping again. Which, honestly, probably not the worst idea on paper. But man it makes these winters a slog. *Assuming Soto signs in the next 48-72 hours
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I increasingly want to replace Cody with JDM. Statcast doesn't think his offense took as big of a step back as his surface numbers appeared. Sign JDM, move Seiya back out to the field, and if you're wrong about Martinez swap in one of the Iowa kids. But yeah if the plan is an actual RFer kinda gotta get moving ASAP.
