Brock Beauchamp

Ignore me, testing software upgrade.

I should rephrase that: I don't think a contending team wants Bellinger in center well into his 30s. He's good there now and probably for the next couple of years but at some point, you're just going to want a mid-20s speedster back in that position.

I'd prefer they keep them both. I don't think Bellinger has many more decent seasons left as a dedicated center fielder. I suspect you end up wanting PCA soon anyway. Of course, it all depends on the cost-controlled pitcher we're talking about here...

The Athletic published this great piece from Sahadev Sharma, interviewing baseball personnel about Cody Bellinger and what to expect this winter. In it, they run through the ups and downs of Cody Bellinger since he won the MVP award in 2019, his later fall from grace, and his 2023 rebound with the Cubs. There's a lot to unpack, as they talk in relative detail about his successful 2023 campaign and some of the underlying metrics that still give cause for concern, such as his continued unimpressive exit velocity and hard-hit balls that led to a .319 BABIP, the highest of Bellinger's career. There's also a lot to like about Bellinger: he's still only 28 years old and his athleticism and defensive flexibility lend weight to the idea that he will age well through a long-term contract. Personally, I'm generally against paying long-term for a player based on one season of play. Yes, Bellinger had quite a track record from 2017-2019 but that drop-off, followed by underlying metric concerns, make me question committing 5+ years to him. Couple that with Bellinger's agent, Scott Boras, often taking his clients deep into the offseason in an attempt to maximize the return on a contract, and the Cubs might be taking a significant risk by holding out on other options in hopes of landing Bellinger in January or even February. View full rumor

Same. It’s hard to get an accurate scouting report on Uwasawa but it feels like the Cubs have this area covered with Hendricks-type pitchers.

I'm not sure what to think of this posting. Uwasawa has announced intention to post for MLB teams this winter. The 29-year-old righty turns 30 before the 2024 season will begin and is known as a finesse pitcher, offering a fastball that sits around 91mph. Over the past three seasons, Uwasawa has pitched roughly 490 innings with an ERA right around 3.00 but his strikeout rate is well under one batter per inning. Other Japanese pitchers have posted similar numbers and later had great success in Major League Baseball (see Maeda, Kenta). Maeda came to the Dodgers for his age 28 season but, similarly to Uwasawa, offers a fastball in the low-90s and struck out well under one batter per inning in Japan. Upon arriving in the US, Maeda's numbers jumped considerably as he began striking out 9.9 batters per nine innings during his MLB career. Like many Japanese pitchers, Uwasawa has a "kitchen-sink-and-the-entire-toolshed" pitch arsenal. He throws a four-seamer, forkball, cutter, changeup, slider, and knuckle curve. Reports on the efficacy of his secondary and tertiary offerings vary. Recently, Uwasawa held a throwing session for several MLB teams and the Cubs were in attendance. View full rumor

I kinda disagree on the price but agree that it will likely come down to fit. The Padres aren't going to give up in the short-term and it will ultimately come down to what Preller thinks will most help the team in a 2024-2027 window.

I’m not bashing Morel at all, I just think plenty other teams would jump at that price. Yankees, Dodgers, Rangers, Phillies, Astros, Mariners, maybe Mets off the top of my head. And there are some mid-market teams like the Cardinals and Twins who shouldn’t be counted out when it comes to sneaking into blockbuster deals.

Boy, I just don't see that being enough. I could see 10 teams happily making that trade with an equivalent player, which means that price is way off. Soto is a 5+ win player due to make about $30m on a one-year deal. Lots of teams would take that on for a single season.

How much was Bieber's velo down? I guess once the Guardians dropped out of contention, I stopped paying attention to what was happening over there. I know he only made a few starts at the end of the season.

According to 670 The Score, the Cubs are interested in a trade for who is probably the best all-around hitter in baseball, Juan Soto. Soto was traded to the Padres at the trade deadline in 2022. The 25-year-old lefty has a career 157 OPS+ with a .421 on-base percentage. He also becomes a free agent after the 2024 season and because his agent is Scott Boras, he'll likely explore that option. The Padres, after making two hard pushes for a championship and making it to the NLCS in 2022, are reportedly cutting nearly $50 million from payroll in 2024. Despite having only one year remaining, the price for Soto will remain high and suitors plentiful. Is this a smart move for the Cubs front office? Does Soto fill a need large enough to warrant the price? View full rumor

There's a ton of chatter about the MLB postseason format and while I think it's blowing current issues out of proportion - we have all of two years of data from which to draw - I believe there is some merit to the criticisms. There's a relatively easy fix, though, and it can actually reduce the length of the postseason by a day should MLB wish to take that route. First, there are complaints about the number of teams in the postseason. I rather strongly disagree with this take; as a fan of multiple teams and a person who runs sites for several fanbases, it's simply more fun watching fans engage with their team until the end of September instead of losing interest in mid-August or earlier. The more engaged fanbases there are in the sport, the better the health of the sport overall. Plus, the postseason makes MLB buckets of money. Whether you like it or not, 12 postseason teams is going to be the standard moving forward. There is plenty of room to prioritize the regular season within this format. Here was the 2023 format: Oct 1: Game 162 Oct 2: Off Day Oct 3-5: Wild Card Games 1-3 Oct 6: Off Day Oct 7: Division Round Begins Most of the complaints of the current format revolve around two issues: prioritization of the best regular season teams and prolonged off-days for bye teams. As a response, I suggest removing off-days and stacking the Wild Card round even more in favor of the third division winner and the best wild card team (seed #4). Instead of a three game series, extend it to a five-game series with the home team receiving a "free win" going into the round. A similar format is used in the KBO (Korean Baseball Organization) and I think it's a good example to follow. This means the three and four seeds in the Wild Card - those two teams who host the round - have to win two games to win the "five game" series while the road team has to win three games to advance. This stacks the deck considerably against the lower-seeded teams, which is what most people seem in favor of doing. As a bonus, MLB might get more postseason games out of fourth Wild Card games. Secondly, get rid of the off-days, which impacts everyone in the Wild Card round. No longer do they have much hope in setting up their pitching and bullpen for the Division Series, they might back into that series having played as many as 7-8 games consecutively without a day off. If you add a potential game four and remove two off-days, this actually reduces the time off for the first and second-seeded bye teams by a day, reducing potential complaints about "rust" and "too much rest". Additionally, removing that first off-day after game 162 favors the Wild Card host teams, who are more likely to have sewn up a postseason spot days earlier, allowing them to enter the Wild Card round with their pitching set up for the postseason. My new format would have looked like this in 2023: Oct 1: Game 162 Oct 2-5: Wild Card Games 1-4 Oct 6: Division Round Begins Thoughts? What are your issues with the current postseason format and is this solution a good one?

Right? This is a really fun thing to do a few times a year because I get to dig into old posts and uncover forgotten gems like that post.

Yeah, I don't think any of the options are bad. I think keeping Hendricks for at least one more season makes the most sense so would lean toward picking up the option or extending him for no more than two seasons.

The relaunched North Side Baseball concluded its first season earlier this month and it's time to give back to the community that supported us along the way. Image courtesy of North Side Baseball & Brock Beauchamp This is new to the community at NSBB but is something we created for Twins Daily several years ago: a few times a year, we look back and see who wrote the most popular community content and which users were most active in the community. We offer prizes for being such an integral part of the NSBB community for two of those users. We'll be looking at the entirety of the 2023 MLB season, starting with Opening Day and concluding with game 162 on October 1st. Let's get into it. Most Popular Post As you'll find in years to come, this category is often dominated by personal experiences that add to the discussion... or it goes to a ****post. The latter is the case in An Old Friend Rears His Head, and it's an absolute gem of a post, winning the most reactions during the 2023 MLB season. Thanks to @imb for this entry, and as a reward, a Mark Grace autographed rookie card is coming your way. Runner Up A game thread post is the winner here, which is a surprise. Given that single-game threads are so ephemeral, it's rare to see a late-July game thread receive so many likes. But it was a good win. Thank you to @treeman for this post! Most Popular Blog Post Given the site's newness, blog traffic is still pretty light around NSBB. I encourage all of you long-term users to check out that section of the site, as it's a great place to voice your thoughts in a long-form way, and every blog post is promoted through our various social media channels and reaches thousands of Cubs fans. It's a great way to get your voice out there if you're interested in trying your hand at writing without any kind of scheduled commitment. Our most popular blog post of the 2023 MLB season was Chicago Cubs: Kings of the Slider? from @Bertz. It looks at the Cubs' organizational shift toward the slider, which they implemented often and well. I encourage you to look at Bertz's excellent piece and consider writing something this offseason! As a gift, Bertz will receive a Staley bobblehead... Don't worry; I checked that they're a Bears fan before writing this. Thank you again to Bertz for leaping into the site's blog section; we hope to see more of this great content from you in the future! Most Prolific Posters These are the most popular posters of North Side Baseball over the past six months. That means they received the most system "points," which can be awarded by creating threads, posting comments, posting blogs, or receiving reactions. During the 2023 season, our most popular user was @Transmogrified Tiger, with @UMFan83 coming in a close second. It was a long season with some bumps along the way as we all got to know one another. A sincere thank you to every single member of this community who helped me get into the swing of things, find and notify me of bugs, and helped me get the lay of the land. We're in this for the long haul and looking forward to an exciting offseason, hopefully, one that heavily involves a name that rhymes with No Hay Oh Pawney. View full article

I'm curious about the Mets. They hired Stearns, who isn't going to throw bad money at a player if the Mets aren't ready (and he's said the Mets are really looking at 2025). That might exclude Ohtani... or it might not, as Ohtani isn't going to pitch in 2024 but should pitch again in 2025.

As we approached the offseason, I assumed the Cubs would be looking for a good starting pitcher. But as the landscape changed in the final 6-ish weeks, I started second-guessing that, particularly Stroman's opt-out. So if both Stroman and Hendricks are here in 2024, what is your primary driving goal this winter?

Testing comment.

It has been reported by 670 The Score that the Cubs and starting pitcher Kyle Hendricks have discussed a contract extension. The Cubs hold a $16 million team option on Hendricks for the 2024 season with a $1.5 million buyout. Hendricks had a nice bounceback season in 2023, posting a 3.74 ERA over 137 innings pitched. He will be entering his age 34 season in 2024 and struggled through much of 2021 and 2022. It's hard to get a read on what a Hendricks extension might look like given his recent struggles. Is he willing to take less money and/or fewer years to stay with the Cubs or is he going to leverage his above-average 2023 season into a longer term deal? View full rumor

I... don't know. Let me check into it and get back to you. I don't really use social media much anymore - particularly Insta - so I've never tried.