Bertz

Prior to this Mooney said the Cubs were looking to sign someone from the group of Mike Foltynewicz, Chris Archer, and Carlos Rodon. I doubt this signing changes that, and one of those three will still presumably be the "big" add to the rotation. So that'll make this what we likely have to work with: Established Guys Hendricks Davies Rodon (or whoever) Unestablished Guys, No MiLB Options Shelby Miller Alzolay (there's some debate here?) Mills Unestablished Guys with Options Kohl Stewart Tyson Miller Cory Abbott Justin Steele The (not very) funny thing is if we still had Darvish and he pushed everyone down a slot, I'd really like this group.

Not sure how much is left to wring out of him. The Twins are a pretty analytically savvy org and they let him go even though he's making league minimum and has MiL options. But hey stash him at Iowa what's the worst that could happen.

That's interesting. While it seems pretty bad, it's a relief from where my mind was going in that it's focused on a single person though. I'm curious what the story is, I don't see a whiff of anything from Google.

Do you think Tua is that good? He's probably got a better chance of being good than anybody else that would be available with that pick, and outside the top available QBs the Bears probably won't get, he's probably got the best chance of having a solid career going forward. It would be interesting at least. If Nagy can't make it work right away, they can move on with an organizational overhaul with all their important 2022 draft picks available, including what would probably be a high 1st/2nd/3rd. They'd also have the lottery ticket of Tua competing with whoever the new QB is drafted in 2022. Yeah. I think this would be a good way of hopefully setting yourself up for the long term, but if it fails you didn't pay a huge price. I'm *mostly* of the mind that a QB's rookie year doesn't tell you anything except maybe at the extremes. Even then, Baker Mayfield has settled into being pretty solid after having maybe the best rookie season since Luck. Josh Allen is now a star after being hilariously bad his rookie year. I think years two and three are when you start to know what a guy is, and so Tua's story is still mostly unwritten. So especially since Tua had a fairly normal rookie QB year, you buy him based on pedigree. And besides his injury (which I think is fully cleared at this point?) he's got better pedigree than anyone in this draft except Lawrence. If you have the opportunity to get that for #20 and a day 3 pick my gut says take it and run. And as a bonus you don't have to twiddle your thumbs through his rookie season.

I don't know what the cost should be but I'd absolutely love Tua if the Dolphins are gonna go for Watson.

Not the most exciting name, but he's a big time spin guy with a minor league option remaining. I'd love to stash him at Iowa.

Keith Law has Davis at 51 and Marquez at 72 on his Top 100. Nothing too surprising said about either. And I think he's always been the low man on Amaya so not shocked to see him miss out. Felt like there were a lot more draft picks on this list than in a normal year, so I was kinda surprised at no Howard.

Gotta think it’s something bad and labor related, like the players are considering a strike because the owners are being horsefeathers wanting to shorten the season/cut salaries and players want a full season/guaranteed pay and a new CBA. Plus since it’s SB week the story will get buried if Passan is basically running it as PR for the league. I suppose other news to tease like that would be expansion or the Rays moving? Or an owner in a McCourt/Zell type spot where they’re bankrupt/insolvent and needing to sell? Or maybe something with a plan for vaccinating the players and/or allowing fans to some capacity? Whatever it is, I expect it to be bad. Yeah I'm expecting something bad too. I would think something labor/COVID related wouldn't be something he could sit on for a week+ though. Those have got to be too fluid I'd think? I'm guessing something ugly in the vein of the Porter story, but with someone higher profile? But I'm hoping he finally has the deets on the Yankee's sign-stealing. That's big enough to warrant that reaction but personally doesn't fill me with existential dread like labor ickiness.

Seeing this and the Matz news nearly back to back in my timeline makes me think Bauer's about to sign with the Mets.

Jeff Passan was on the Pat McAfee show today and teased a really big story dropping next week.

Good. If your options are $5M in prospects now or a 30% chance at $20M in prospects come July, take the latter. That's to say nothing about the impacts on actually competing. I have generally assume at least one of him or Willson is going this offseason though. And so now that Realmuto has signed, we might start seeing more heat around Willson's name again.

Does anybody really think PTR is going to pony up the money to pay Wong, especially with other teams interested? Exactly. Any player whose market is "heating up" is not a player the Cubs are signing. It's going to be players who randomly sign (Austin Romine) because they are mostly just looking to find a team at this point and their already low contract expectations have little to no chance of going up by waiting. I mean, 24 hours ago you would have said the same about the Indians. They looked like they were competing with the Pirates for lowest payroll in baseball, and then they signed Cesar Hernandez and Heyman indicated that they're in on several other FA's in that tier. Whether because of positive vaccine news or just strategy, purse strings around the league have generally loosened over the last month. Payroll's currently down ~25% from last year. So while it's clear the Cubs are cutting payroll, if for instance the mandate was "only" 15% that leaves $20M to reinvest. That's enough for a solid starter like Wong and a couple of complimentary guys. There's also the KB factor, if he goes to the Mets or something, that's a similar $20M opened up. The smart money is always to be disappointed by PTR, but a mid level FA or two wouldn't be that much of a surprise IMO.

I liked the defense über alles kinda offseason even when I thought we were going to invest some money in the pitching staff. It makes even more sense knowing how young the staff looks like it's going to be at this point. Sign Wong, find some glove first CF, and try to win a bunch of games 3-2. Depending on what happens with KB and Willson that might be the best defensive team in the league.

I think they felt about Polanco playing SS kind of how we feel about Happ in CF. Not a disaster, and the bat's totally worth it, but they'd really like to move him down the defensive spectrum.

That's cute they think Seal Boy can play 3rd

Well this was unexpected. Surely takes them out on Bryant too.

This should hopefully shake loose a lot of the rest of the market

If Dak hits FA, I'd be ecstatic to give him an outrageous contract. Otherwise this terrifies me. horsefeathers it . lets go deep I'm cool with going deep. My biggest worry is that Ryan Pace is going to pay going deep prices for someone who is decidedly not deep, like Matt Stafford.

If Dak hits FA, I'd be ecstatic to give him an outrageous contract. Otherwise this terrifies me.