PeanutPunch33

My position is the latter. Why did they need a SS? They already had one in Nico Hoerner. If I recall, he graded out as a top 6 or 7 defensive SS the season before the Cubs got Swanson. Just an incredibly poor use of resources. The Cubs were nowhere close to competing in 2022/2023 so that move made no sense. They should have continued growing organically and developing thru the draft. Or maybe they could have gotten a targeted a young 2B prospect when they traded all those WS heroes.

Firing Zaidi was the right move for the Giants. Even if their replacement is not working out. I do agree that if the Cubs make a move it has to be for a legitimate upgrade and not some old WS Hero. Lol as much as I dislike Jed I wouldn't want to see him fired and replaced with John Lackey.

I personally hate the talking point of (paraphrasing) "how many people here were upset when X happened..." Sure, if we are comparing Jed to a couple of drunk dummies at the bar, he checks out as a good GM. But Jed is supposed to be a professional who makes a lot of money to make these decisions, with endless resources and analytics to make better decisions than he has to date. He has access to everything from player medical records to their former teammates to every little analytic you can think of. With a staff of what, 200+ at his disposal to do these things. I was happy when the Cubs got Bregman for sure and honestly, that move is the least of my worries at the moment. I think a lot of people knew from day 1 that the Swanson acquisition would be a disaster, that the Cabrera move would not work out, that getting Taillon was pointless when the team was supposed to be rebuilding. This GM had a ready made excuse to spend 3 seasons tanking and use that time to build up a loaded team like Theo did, like the White Sox are currently doing, like the Brewers wouldn't hesitate to do if it was in their interest. Instead, he basically immediately signs Dansby Swanson, signs Taillon, signs Suzuki, I believe they also signed Tucker Barnhart (lol). He wanted to compete right away and not only have the Cubs not really competed, they also don't have much young talent on the way. He should have picked a direction and stuck with it instead of just producing average teams every single season.

Okay, there's a lot to unpack here but let me just start by saying it's funny that you write 4 paragraphs ardently defending the guy, right after you call him a good GM, just to leave yourself an out "by the way, I'm not saying the Cubs have been amazing". Lol what exactly is the point of a baseball GM? To produce teams that are "not amazing?". I'm not twisting your words, those are your own words being repeated back to you. The Cubs are hardly better off today (year 6 of this GM) than they were the day he inherited a wildcard team at the end of 2020. Anyways, you are hyper focused on the "cornerstone" comment while ignoring literally every other point I made - why don't you discuss the abomination that is this starting rotation? How's the Phil Maton signing going? How many guys do they have in this bullpen that can throw 97+ mph? Lol one or two? Why is the lack of velocity a year-over-year issue if he's a good GM? "The Cubs have 0 pennants in 6 years but most teams do" ... yeah most teams can't spend $250 million on payroll and have basically unlimited resources to build a baseball team. Also, 6 years is not an "incredibly small amount of time". Most GMs are out of a job by then or on the hot seat if there aren't serious results on the field. See: Chaim Bloom, Jerry Dipoto, Ben Cherington, Kevin Towers, Al Avila, (fired after his 7th season), Farhan Zaidi. Now, I'll discuss your "cornerstone" rebuttal: at the end of the day, GMs have to be measured relative to each other. The White Sox rebuilt their entire lineup in what, year 3 of a new GM. Do you think the White Sox have a fraction of the resources or analytics infrastructure that the Cubs have? The Brewers rebuild their team every few years. The Cardinals always seem to have young studs on the way. Even in the years they aren't great, it's never due to a lack of young talent. I'd argue that even the Pirates are now better positioned for the future than the Cubs are. If you don't think 6 years is enough time to build a contending team, take a look around the league. Hell, look around the division. Yes, PCA is playing like a mega-star and Hoyer deserves credit for that. It was strongly implied in my comment that the Cubs need more than one player like that (like, you know, every other contending team has). Aside from PCA, he got next to nothing for Bryant, Rizzo, Schwarber, Contreras. His drafts haven't been great... his free agent signings haven't been great... so what exactly makes him "pretty good"? He also signed Swanson to a mega contract during the supposed "budget cut" that you keep referencing. Maybe there was a budget cut after that because the owner didn't trust the GM to spend his money on mediocre players? Anyways, it seems like you concede that Hoyer can be upgraded and as long as that's your position - everything else we discuss is just air. I agree that they can't just pick a random guy to replace him lol. But, they absolutely should be trying to be great instead of settling for mediocre or average. The Hoyer situation reminds a bit of when the Giants fired Farhan Zaidi, tbh. I don't see why Jed's fate should be any different.

they needed this

Pedroooo

Straight up thrilled to see Ramirez getting this opportunity instead of horsefeathers Swanson

Hopefully Hoerner can start playing like the guy he's been his entire career instead of this Darwin Barney impression from the last 2 months

LOL

If Happ puts one in the seats... extend him tomorrow lol

A walk off would be sweet

oh horsefeathers I thought that was going to the corner

If PCA cranks one right here...

I think so. Hoyer is only aggressive when it comes to removing talent from this ballclub (Schwarber, Estrada, etc.). He will be in his element.

This GM and his "pitch lab" is so great that they got grandpa coming out in the 8th inning instead of a guy that can throw 98+... I mean why do what every other team does 🤷 🤣

that is the most PCA sequence ever lol

lol this is the guy you bring out to face 3 consecutive lefties 🤣

The PCA extension is the best move this org has made in a long time. Probably since the Arrieta trade.

Remember when Jed traded Contreras when he had 1.5 years of control and got a monster return? Me neither. Haha. Instead, he let him walk in free agency and got nothing in return. Even though the Cubs were going nowhere fast and he traded every other member of the old core. But the one guy that could actually bring back a monster return? Nah. Nobody even talks about that one anymore. His list of screw ups is so long. It's hard to know where to begin. Bottom line - year 6 of a GM who's team is 37-35, who has the ability to outspend every other team in the division by 3x, and still has never come close to building a team that can win a pennant. I'm grateful for PCA, Brown, Busch, and Horton - but I don't have to pretend the guy is a competent GM. In any other organization he would have been fired years ago.

Calling Jed a good GM is mighty generous. The Cubs are loaded with terrible contracts across the infield, they don’t have any great hitting prospects in the pipeline and they have only 2 cornerstone players in the lineup after 6 years in Busch and PCA. The rotation has no velocity outside of 1 or 2 guys, the bullpen has no velocity outside of 1 or 2 guys. Their best pitcher in their lone playoff year was a 34 year old journeyman who almost certainly will never have a season like that again. It’s just not been good enough. 0 pennants in 6 seasons, 1 playoff appearance in 6 seasons and a team devoid of high end talent. Don’t get how that impresses anyone.

I thought they should have taken him out after the HBP or even the batter before that. Like you mentioned, the HR changed the dynamic of that inning. It seems like a reoccurring thing with him - pretty damn solid for 3 or 4 innings, falls apart in the 5th or 6th inning. Which is understandable because he's a swing starter like you mentioned. But CC needs to have a better plan, IMO

They need to have a quick hook with Rea, but for some reason this guy gets such a long leash in every start. He's not good.

It'll make me sick if they get Abrams or Skubal... unfortunately, this might be the year where they trade some prospect capital and go for it.

I know the Cubs already have a crowded infield but I wish they had a way of getting CJ Abrams and moving Nico to short... and air dropping Swanson onto the Cardinals

Jeez... I didn't realize how insane his numbers are this year.