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Bertz

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Everything posted by Bertz

  1. It's Morosi and worded pretty speculatively but hey it's five days to the deadline why not
  2. Why are we concerned with him being cheaper? If he's more expensive but also better is that not a viable path to improving the team?
  3. I've come around a bit in Taillon not bringing anything back. A big part of that is the Dodgers, Mets, and Astros all being pretty desperate for SP. A month ago the teams that looked like they were in contention and could use SP help were teams like the Orioles where the money felt pretty prohibitive. Not as much anymore, not to mention we're now another month into Taillon’s hot streak. I still don't expect anything more than league average production beyond this year but what he's doing right now feels a bit less fleeting.
  4. I'd love to do some one-stop shopping and do a monster deal with the A's or Angels. Something like Rooker and Langeliers or O'Hoppe and Rengifo (and Detmers?). Roll into the offseason with a to-do list of, pending what goes down with Taillon and Bellinger, one starting caliber player and some relief help. Like I don't love Alex Bregman this winter, but if you've got all that added oomf in the lineup from Rooker and Langeliers banked it's a different story. Filling the one remaining hole in the lineup with one of the premier patience/contact hitters in the sport makes the calculus completely different.
  5. You're always going to have slumps, and you're always going to have unfortunate periods where like 4-5 slumps line up together concurrently. The problem with catcher is that it has until these last 9 games been entirely made of slump. Having what is functionally a traditional NL lineup for half a season is far and away the primary issue with the offense this year (there is also the run environment like TT brought up this AM but people get super pissy when you bring that kind of thing up).
  6. I swear it's the not lack of offense the last two games, but I think I'm pulling a 180 on this not being my preferred route. It's actually the 3B conundrum that's pushing this. There's just not a perfect option there despite it being the ideal place to pour a big chunk of resources. Trade for Rooker and get some pure unadulterated offensive improvement banked, and then you don't have to sweat catcher and 3B so much. Like don't get me wrong you still need to address them, but there's just less need to get someone perfect. Plus Rooker's salary makes it easier to pile more upgrades onto the roster.
  7. Literally just fixing catcher moves the Cubs up 7 or 8 spots in runs scored per game.
  8. There were some very early murmurs around Hoerner to Seattle. If those were accurate you've got to think it'll be ratcheted up.
  9. Baseball is a game of thin margins, and most execs got to where they are by piling up a bunch of 52/48 type victories. The unfortunate side effect is they are, by and large, terrified of doing anything that isn't a slam dunk win. They NEED deadlines to act like adults and consummate deals. That's why more and more all the offseason activity happens around key dates as well (winter meetings, holiday break, nontender deadline, spring training reporting).
  10. Cool glad we didn't cash Canario in over the winter when it was already obvious he had no place on this team and was inevitable trade bait.
  11. Yeah I think all indications around Happ have been that the NTC was for personal reasons not for leverage like a lot of guys use them for.
  12. Hoerner makes sense for them but I don't see an OF like Happ. I think they are a VERY sensible Taillon suitor though, maybe the most.
  13. Do we know if this is an opener deal or a full on bullpen game? Because Zastryzny has been in pure short relief to this point in the year, even in the minors.
  14. I could totally see it. But even premium prices on a second division starter is still not anything worth stressing over too much.
  15. I was briefly tempted into this line of thought a few weeks ago, but I think if you bring in a veteran for that type of role you want someone who A) doesn't have the social capital where you have to worry about cutting them if it doesn't work out and B) might work out in the bullpen. Someone like Patrick Corbin who you can squint and say "if he's airing it out for 2-3 innings and throwing 70% sliders maybe...."
  16. Looking at slot values, they're essentially valuing Southisene as an early 3rd rounder and Lovich as an early 4th. That's fun, along with a lot of the IFAs who are progressing through the complex leagues MB should be pretty fun next year.
  17. Re: 3B....Luis Rengifo maybe? He's more of a supersub who's played primary 3B because of Anthony Rendon's issues. He's a switch hitter who absolutely mauls lefties (157 wRC+ going back to the start of '22) and is adequate against righties (94 wRC+). He's under control through the end of next year and as an Angel is surely available. It's a low ceiling "3B equivalent to Mike Tauchman" type move that would obviously necessitate going bigger elsewhere, but if like me you don't like any of the bigger options and want Shaw or Smith to ultimately own 3B he's probably about the perfect type of stopgap.
  18. Fair enough. Milwaukee and Boston are 23rd and 25th in this measure. They lack an extreme monster power bat (Devers is a great hitter but not an extreme raw power goof) and are two of the three biggest teamwide xwOBA overperformers.
  19. This is not the secret sauce you're convinced it is. You know what team leads the league in the rate they pull their fly balls? The Mariners (22nd in wRC+). The two teams directly in front and behind the Cubs? The Phillies (6th) and Yankees (3rd).
  20. Since getting to Iowa his contact rates have been much lower than a strikeout rate in the teens would indicate. This was probably always due. I'm not worried longer term, but he is most definitely not a guy who's imminent.
  21. https://www.audacy.com/670thescore/sports/chicago-cubs/jameson-taillon-cubs-relievers-could-be-on-move-at-trade-deadline Levine name checking Teel feels notable. I'd assume it'd be Taillon and additional young pitching Breslow feels strongly about (Wesneski?), as there's no way Taillon gets Teel directly.
  22. I don't love a pure DH as the way to improve the team. That said the A's are a team that is likely to just want value and not be picky about what it looks like, i.e. they see no difference between 2 quarters and 5 dimes. Also his salary is nothing, even with his breakout we're probably talking $6-8M next year? He's a major addition that you can do a lot on top of, which you can't necessarily say for a lot of the others.
  23. Funny I was just looking at him yesterday. He seems at minimum to be a lefty mashing utility man with a chance to be a low end starter to bridge us to Shaw or Smith. Padres need some OF depth, Canario for Rosario doesn't seem that far from fair? Maybe we tack on a reliever?
  24. Pretty decent chance this is Taillon’s last start as a Cub. He's slated to go again Monday night but if a move gets made for him I imagine it's before then.
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