Smart and good rotation by Counsell, I keep forgetting Ross isn't manager anymore and he definitely would have gone with four lefties in the rotation just because he loves Smyly.
I dont think spring matters much but it is a bit concerning how bad he's looked in the field and at the plate against major league talent so far. But it's a minuscule sample size.
I think for those 2, it was more about the draft pick loss. If they didn't have the qualifying offer attached, I bet one of them would have been a Cub, but then maybe either of them wouldn't have taken what is basically a one year deal.
Given the circumstances he should have, not having the foresight to realize running your bullpen ragged would lead to injury or ineffectiveness was what mostly led to the Cubs epic collapse. Hindsight 20/20 but I think most people realized that Merryweather, Leiter and Alzolay were looking cooked the last 2 months and I was cringing each time they came in with big leads.
Hoyer probably anticipated that Ross wouldn't use Brown anyways. He wasn't "one of the guys that got us here" look at Little, was barely used and the bullpen was imploded by Ross's stupidity.
I think Busch has a great chance of flopping, thats why Bellinger is so important. Hoyer probably signed his love Dom Smith and Peralta as insurance for those reasons as well.
I'm increasingly wanting the Cubs to add Montgomery, way too many question marks in the rotation right now and going with an complete unproven at the 5th starter seems too risky if they have actual playoff aspirations