Rcal10

It’s just hard to predict. I remember last year some guys people were talking about because of a good 23’ season were Brasier, Armstrong and Stephenson. Of the 3 Brasier was the best this year, and not very good. Stephenson got hurt and didn’t even pitch this year. Armstrong got cut by 3 teams this year, including the Cubs. Neris was coming off a good year. Stanek as well. Hader got $19M last year and for a few more years. He wasn’t that good. Cubs picked up guys like Miller, Lopez and traded for Pearson. All as good as any of the coveted FA pitchers. There is going to be a similar cast of characters available next off season. Differnt names maybe, but similar guys. Sure, off of last year a lot of people will want Lopez back. But he is probably just as likely to suck as he is to be lights out. I will say they do need to have a lefty in the or . So if one is not in the system they need to sign one. And even if Little is a guy next year, might not be a bad idea to have another. Who it is, I have no idea. And I doubt anyone can say with full certainty which guy is the one or two they should sign. Other free agent pitchers signed consist of Stanek, Will Smith, Matt Moore, Chafin, Martinez, Wade Miley, Suter and others. Most not very effective.

Who has 3 guys they can count on year in and year out? The position is filled with guys who are good one year and not so good the next. Having guys who happen to be having a good year is the key. But how do they go about doing that? You could argue Miller, Lopez and Hodge were all guys that the Cubs could count on when they were healthy. Brown was also good as was Almonte for his about time with the team. You are not wrong, they need a good one. But how do they get it? How do they get a guy and pretty much know he is going to be good?

No issues at all with the Cubs not having Castellanos. Cubs have better corner outfielders than him. Schwarber does hurt though.

Honestly, looking at some of these playoff team line ups, I’m not convinced that the Cubs wouldn’t have as good an offense as many of them if everyone came back and maybe they upgraded at catcher. PCA should be better next year. Maybe Busch too. I also think Parades is an upgrade over what we saw from Morel last year. If they upgraded the bench a little and added a higher end staring pitcher and got lucky with whoever they brought in to the pen, they could be a very good team. I say get lucky with the pen because honestly their just isn’t a way to build a pen that anyone can say with 80% certainty it will be good. Look at pens around the league. Some of the best are teams with home grown guys and guys they pick up off waivers. Most have guys that are journeyman and who happen to now be having a good year. IMO they really are not far away. Solid starter, upgrade at catcher and complimentary pieces, if Bellinger stays. If he leaves they have to aim high for a big bat. While I think the team can be good enough even if Bellinger stays, I am very confident if they add a bat better than him along with the other moves they need to make they absolutely could/shoukd be a 90+ win team.

Talking about where he played in HS is a bit much. Basically the best player in the team is usually the guy who plays SS and/or pitches. But chibear is correct he did play second in the minors. As for not playing well there, I have to take the word of people here saying he was bad. I don’t like the idea of moving him to second and trading Nico. If they did get Vlad I would let him and Busch split first and DH. Open up second for Shaw. Or put Paredes at 2nd and bring Shaw up to play 3rd. This is assuming Bellinger opts out. Probably something we won’t have to worry about. Trading for a Vlad is just not something I see in the Jed game plan of building sustained success. Maybe they will fool me. But up until now they have not shown the willingness to do something that aggressive.

Truth is you are probably right and they will most likely settle for a lesser bat rather than swinging for the big guys (Soto, Vlad, Rooker, Tucker). Probably more like Winker or Lowe. They kind of fit your left handed bat idea. Maybe Santander?

Don’t put me in the camp that’s conditioned to believe Jed won’t sign a long term deal for the right person. That is it what I am saying. But I am in the camp that does not believe Jed would trade for a 1 year rental unless he had a very good idea what the player wanted and was comfortable providing that sort of deal to the player. If the Cubs did trade for a rental like Tucker or Vlad or even a high end pitcher in the last year of his deal, I would be shocked if they did not also extend that player. Whether it took 2 weeks or 2 months after the trade, I would expect an extension. And I doubt they would trade for someone without knowing they could sign him. I mean it goes against everything Jed has done up until now and what he is still suggesting. Long term sustained success. If he doesn’t think he could sign a guy long term I would expect him to do more trades for guys with years left on deals. Guys like Rooker(of course, why would the A’s trade him), maybe O’Hoppe, Schmidt, Gore, a pitcher on Seattle, etc….. I am sure there are several others that fit. Keep in mind, my take on trading for rentals doesn’t matter. As you said, the cost will be based on them only having one year left. So you don’t have to give up as much as you would if they had several years left. I get that. But so far, anyway, Jed has stayed away from a big trade for a one year rental. So, IMO, it is his take. Maybe he proves me wrong?

Then I guess I wouldn’t want to trade for Vlad or Tucker, then. Not if they aren’t almost certain they can get a deal done, because they know what he wants and are comfortable giving him what he wants, And I am pretty sure it would be a barrier to this FO too. If Jed has been consistent with one theme, it has been long term sustained success. I would be shocked if he decided to trade for a rental without pretty much knowing he could get an extension done. They didn’t do it last off season with Alonso or a few others, and I wouldn’t expect them to do it this year either.

This is true. But, I certainly would hope they know what a guy would take to not go to free agency and know they are comfortable going to that place before making a trade. And then lock him up long term, soon after they trade for him. And if they don’t pretty much know they can get him locked in, I would rather not trade for a one year rental.

Well that escalated quickly. Kind of uncalled for. But whatever. Have a good day biitner.

Agree on Vlad. Love to have him. But any deal to get a big addition with only 1 year left in his deal has to come with an extension. If not, I don’t want the Cubs to give up solid minor league assets for one year of any player. That goes for Vlad, Tucker, or any high end pitcher who might be on his last year. Fine with trading for any of them, but they need them signed long term.

So in order to not have to explain every time why a team would want to make a trade why not just realize people are just bringing up ideas or wishes for a trade. Obviously no one knows what another team is thinking. As long as someone doesn’t suggest something like Otahi for Mastrobuoni why not just allow people to make suggestions. In the case of Seattle, they have an all mright handed staff. They also have a bad offense. So why wouldn’t they want to trade from a strength to add to a weakness? Also, we are talking about a team run by Dipino. He does, at times, do some unorthodox things. Just like when Cuzi brought up Schmidt. No one said. Why would they want to take a chance on a rookie bat when they can just buy a bat, why do we question the other team FO and what they might do. This is the off season. We are going to hear a lot of ideas and a lot of wants. It is also just fans talking. Bottom line is we don’t know what the Xhbs plan iA, let alone any other team. So maybe just listen to ideas instead of questioning why a team would do something.

Did you purposely leave out my next sentence when quoting me? I said maybe they would dump his salary to then add a FA bat. Same as what you said. When I said they might not care to dump salary I was referring to the the team bottom line total salary.

Castillo would be an interesting move. He isn’t cheap, but probably can still be an effective starter ahead of Taillon. And as you said, shouldn’t cost as much in the way if trading minor league assets. Not sure the Mariners would care so much about dumping salary, but they do have 4 other very good starters. So maybe that is something they would consider if they could then use that salary savings to sign a FA bat. I wouldn’t expect them to eat much of his salary, which is fine as long as the asset we dealt back was a lottery ticket. The more they eat if his salary the bigger the asset we have to send back.

Along the same lines, would Seattle be interested in Cassie? Probably can’t get Miller or Woo unless the package was expanded. But what about Kirby?

I like Schmidt. He would be a good option. Might not have to spend big on a starter if they brought him in. That would allow them to use a lot of dollars to add to offense and maybe the pen.

I realize what will bring a player to Chicago is offering the most money. PERIOD! I also realize the Cubs FO hasn’t proven they will provide the most money for ELITE talent, up until now. But they are in the best position they have been in for a long time. Prospects are probably at max value. They team is decent as is. No bad contracts of any consequence. They have money, especially if Bellinger opts out. And Jed is on the last year of his deal. The time is now to put up or shut up. As for your criticism on Hoyer and Ricketts, I don’t agree with that. If the Cubs make the best offer in a trade or offer a FA the best deal, no one in baseball is going to tell them no because they view them as used car salesman. While I agree with you that playing in Wrigley and in Chicago isn’t going to sell a FA, if the mkneh isn’t there, I don’t think it will be a deterrent if the money is there. to be clear, I am not suggesting I like Hoyer or Ricketts, I am saying industry wide, in the world of the mlb, I doubt they are viewed as terrible people to play for.

Well said.

Well if you read comments prior to my posts you would have seen Vlad mentioned as a trade possibility. Of course I didn’t see a smart ass comment after that. However then someone posted the issue they had with trading for Vlad was he was a right handed bat and he wanted a lefty. Bertz suggested that was a concern for him as well. Since most of the talk about a big bat being added via trade centered around Vlad, Tucker and Rooker, with some also adding Robert, I light heartedly mentioned if you want a lefty go get Tucker. Problem solved. This wasn’t meant to be some great trade proposal. It was just a throw away comment using the one lefty bat people have commented on previously. And as Cuzi pointed out, the reason the Astros might be willing to move him is due to a possible payroll situation. I never said it was a slam dunk. Never said it was easy peezy. Just talking Cubs baseball.

I don’t know if he would want one or not. I just wouldn’t want that to be the line in the sand the Cubs put down if they actually had a chance to sign him. I wouldn’t be interested if he wanted it after the first 2 years, but after year 3 (maybe) or 4 (definitely)I wouldn’t have a problem with it. The issue isn’t will he want one. You may be right. He might not want one. He might use it as leverage to get something else. This isn’t a decision on if he would demand one. It is a discussion on if he did demand one should the Cubs drop out of the bidding for him. I would much rather get Soto for 4 years in his absolute prime than not at all.

Yes. But if they deal for Cease they would have to sign him, or don’t deal for him. My apologies for leaving that out. And, also, before biitner criticized the idea and asks if SD is fine with him not in the rotation, it goes without saying that no trade idea is a slam dunk. Obviously you need a partner to make a trade. All anyone ever does here is make suggestions and obviously it is much easier to suggest a trade than to actually make it happen. But SD does have some high salaries on their team and some solid pitchers. So IF they didn’t think they could sign Cease long term, and they felt they had enough pitching without him, maybe he would be available.

I never suggesting trading for Tucker was a slam dunk. I was just pointing out if people had an issue with targeting Vlad because he is right handed, the Cubs could look to Houston to see what they want for Tucker. We have talked about adding a big bat here for some time now. Soto has been mentioned as a FA and Vlad and Tucker have been mentioned as a trade. Of course it won’t be easy to get it done. But neither would trading for Vlad or signing Soto..

How about Cease in the last year of his deal? Castillo for 3 more years. These are a few other options, depending on costs. Of course I would love Logan Gilbert or maybe another young pitcher in the Mariners as well. But Castillo cost less.

Ok, Bellinger opts out and they trade for Tucker instead of Vlad. Problem solved. Again, have to sign him long term though.

Don’t see the downside of having him and him maybe leaving after 4 years, but guess we will just have to agree to disagree.