Bertz
-
Posts
13,444 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
39
Content Type
Profiles
Joomla Posts 1
Chicago Cubs Videos
Chicago Cubs Free Agent & Trade Rumors, Notes, & Tidbits
2026 Chicago Cubs Top Prospects Ranking
News
2023 Chicago Cubs Draft Picks
Guides & Resources
2024 Chicago Cubs Draft Picks
The Chicago Cubs Players Project
2025 Chicago Cubs Draft Pick Tracker
2026 Chicago Cubs Draft Tracker: Picks & Bonuses
Blogs
Events
Forums
Store
Gallery
Everything posted by Bertz
-
Even if every individual extension was smart in a vacuum in aggregate I think what AA has done is dumb and a huge unforced error
-
There's this weird thing where you're not allowed to criticize the Braves because "har har you're just jealous." But like I'm jealous of e.g. trading for Sean Murphy, not locking him in for 7 years. The former was cool the latter seems pretty dumb.
-
Maybe? They were $30-40M under the tax this AM, needed one SP (and were talking to James Paxton about a reunion), and had been sniffing after Teoscar Hernandez. Now they've given themselves another $10M but opened another hole. I kind of think this puts them more on Bieber/Cease, but realistically they could go anywhere.
-
Saves Boston ~$10M but puts them down a SP
-
The specifics on the money probably impacts how heavily Boston gets back into the SP pool. They were purportedly just gonna run it back with James Paxton prior to this.
-
Reds need pitching bad, but they're also very cheap. I could see either side to whether this takes them out on Cease/Bieber.
-
I hadn't actually checked but that makes a lot more sense. I do doubt he's even as high as BBTV has him listed though. Like this is the quick writeup Eric Longenhagen has on his player page
-
I....don't have a good sense of how BBTV got there. I don't see Westburg on top 100 lists and he was fine but not amazing in his debut. Like he's valuable for sure but I chalked him up as approximately Wicks/Brown valuable. If not him though one of the others, the O's have A TON of infielders right now
-
TT mentioned Santander several times early in the offseason. I didn't like the idea then because I *sigh* thought Juan Soto was much more likely than he ended up being. But I love when guys are true switch hitters, and his salary is notable but not problematic. Santander along with either Bellinger or Chapman or Hoskins would make for a pretty damn strong lineup. I also wonder if we could do some one stop shopping in Baltimore and grab a 3B. The Orioles have too many infielders to count, maybe send Baltimore either a second arm or a higher caliber one and grab one of their second tier IF prospects (Jordan Westburg maybe?).
- 9 replies
-
- 1
-
-
- anthony santander
- javier assad
- (and 1 more)
-
That's a false choice though. The Cubs have, COVID aside, always spent right up to the LT line. We have good reason to expect they're going over it this year, but we *know* Jed is going to spend at least $40M this winter. We also know Jed is very conservative in regards to pitching depth, so it's silly to think a SP addition isn't earmarked for (it's pretty clearly the 2nd biggest hold on the roster after 1B). Jed might miss on one of the lefties, there are only three of them after all. But the realistic worst case scenario is like Bieber or a Stroman reunion, not just letting it fly with Wicks and Assad both in the opening day rotation.
-
lol okay. Two things and then I'll drop this: 1. You keep starting these conversations. Anytime I bring up one of the lefties you jump in and respond telling me how you don't think Jed will sign one. Don't pretend like I'm chasing you around the site shouting you down 2. You went apeshit recently when someone told you to calm down and touch grass, so the whole second half of this post is rich
-
The Angels biggest signing under Perry Minasian is Tyler Anderson at 3/$39. The Orioles biggest contract since before Trump took office was Alex Cobb at 4/$57M. You have gone out of your way to constantly mention that you don't think Jed will sign any players to big contracts (the 9 figure deals for Dansby and Seiya don't have any bearing for...reasons) and you're literally bringing up these poverty franchises as more likely to pull down a top player? Jed might not sign one of the big pitchers. The difference is that I'm watching the market and waiting until after he actually fails to start complaining and you're watching the calendar and assuming he already has.
-
Such as? Show your work. Who are these teams you're scared of? The teams I am/was scared of grabbing a top pitcher are Boston, San Fran, and the Yankees. With Boston making this move, I see three teams definitely in the market for a top SP and three top SPs. If another team grabs one of those top guys I will start to get nervous, until then I'm not going to play these Chicken Little games.
-
Giolito was projected to get Taillon money. He bet on himself by taking way less guarantee in exchange for a little higher AAV with an opt out. Again not sure the consternation is warranted.
-
We is us, here. People here would be PISSED if this was the Cubs' big pitching addition, and rightfully so.
-
If you're going to worry when teams that have the ability to sign players we want instead sign players we don't want I don't really know what to tell you.
-
Great news, assuming as expected they're doing Giolito and Paxton and not not Giolito + someone bigger
-
Nothing Cubs specific, but as another big market team in on players at a lot of the same positions it's a good market check. Plus obviously we should presume they have the same taste in pitchers as us. A few notes that stood out to me: - Lucas Giolito got divorced last year, so between the off field stuff and the White Sox being a mess sounds like none of the smart teams are worried about him at all. You really get the sense this is who Boston is expecting to end up with (in addition to James Paxton) - We've talked about getting Bellinger on a Carlos Correa type deal, sounds like that might be the route Blake Snell goes too - Much like the position player market, Boras is being blamed for dragging his feet on Montgomery and Snell (I didn't realize he represents them too) - Imanaga is being framed as living in the second tier of SPs with Giolito/Stroman, not with Montgomery/Snell. Apparently teams have to make an offer to Imanaga and then he's setting up visits from there? The Sox do not have one on the books yet - Sox get mentioned as going after Robery Stephenson and Teoscar Hernandez, and a potential fit for Rhys Hoskins among others
-
Especially with how connected Heyman is to Boras this seems notable
-
Jordan Wicks had a 16% strikeout rate last year, 11% after his debut. He did not exactly go scorched earth on Iowa. I like him, he does not need to have his name in pen for the opening day rotation.
-
Every starting pitcher the Cubs have except Assad and Wesneski has a pretty elevated injury risk. Every SP the Cubs have except for Steele has high performance risk. Jed's clearly not going to spend on stars this winter, so the rotation *needs* numbers. It's 7 deep right now, with presumably a front half SP on the way. That's great! We should make sure it stays that way.
-
I never said anything about the bullpen. If we've got our full complement of youths I'm happy to hand the 5th starter spot to Wicks et al. If the herd is thinned I think bringing someone in is probably smart.
-
I think if you trade from the cache of young pitching, which as we know there's some rumblings about, you can fit a guy like this in pretty easily. I like James Paxton under similar circumstances.
-
My interest would be highly dependent on the rest of the offseason around him, but Manaea is going to be a savvy pickup for someone. SFG did a lot to get him back on track including this sweeper and adding back some velo.
-
The line for a first division starter at 1B is being approximately 20% better than average on offense (a 120 wRC+ and an .800ish OPS). That is IMO a slightly rosey but not totally unreasonable expectation for Bellinger's offense moving forward. Bellinger is a good defender at 1B and a good baserunner and for a free agent quite young. But even all of that being considered as purely a 1B Bellinger would maybe get like 4 years and $80M? That's why I'm out on Bellinger on a traditional contract. There's value in his flexibility and being able to man the OF but not close to $100M IMO. Give me Bellinger on a short term deal though and I'm very onboard.
