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Rcal10

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Everything posted by Rcal10

  1. Rcal10
    That, I did not see. But for that I would agree with the FO. No reason to do a long term deal for a pen arm. I don’t blame Jed or ownership for not wanting to spend big money and/or long years for a pen arm.
  2. Rcal10
    I think a lot of posts come with some hyperbole. In this case WCWW is at least basing his statement on precedence. Up until now the Cubs have not make that mega year deal. I am sure you and everyone else knows he isn’t talking about 6 to 8 year deals. He is talking about the 10+ deals needed to get the elite free agent. While I wouldn’t put this squarely in Hoyer, I still do agree with him they the Cubs haven’t shown that sort of deal is what they will do.
  3. Rcal10
    To be fair, Jed has never offered the 10+ year deals the elite free agents require. Now you agree or disagree with that way of running the team but you can’t disagree with someone who says they haven’t made those offers. If the Cubs are going to get Ohtani or trade for and extend Soto, they are going to have to go 10+ on the contract. And WCWW isn’t wrong to point out that Jed hasn’t done that as of yet.
  4. Rcal10
    He wouldn’t be my choice either. You can add Wesnecki to that list and take Wicks out. Maybe you give them one of them and then a lowere level guy. Also, if you are correct and the Cubs have no thoughts of Morel at 3rd what would a Morel for Burger trade look like? Both have a lot of control left. Burger is not exactly a good fielder, but he does play 3rd. He is older than Morel but they both come with a lot of control time. What would need to be added from either team to make this work? Miami seems to be a team that acquires guys and then fits them into positions. Plus they are losing Soler. Could make some sense for the Cubs. Just not sure about Miami. Edit: after looking over Miami’s roster they really don’t have a place for Morel. So I don’t see that happening.
  5. Rcal10
    As long as it isn’t Horton I am fine with that. Even if just one year. But, if it is just one year there is no reason not to go over the 1st LT level if they know they will be below it the next year. They can also trade for Glasnow using that same thought process. If they know they won’t keep either past 24’ and they know the replacement for each of them will be someone in the minors, they can go higher with the payroll in 24’ and basically go for it.
  6. Rcal10
    And there was no inclination Madrigal could play 3rd either, until he did. In the end, Morel may not be able to do it. Maybe they do know it already. But if they are not certain giving him this off season to work in it doesn’t hurt anything. It could only increase his stock. If he can’t do it, IMO, he will be traded. And that is ok too. I think fans and posters are way to quick on making opinions on players. We don’t know why he didn’t play there. We don’t know why the Cubs seemed to want him as a super utility guy. We all just speculate. How many people were wrong in Masrigal? How many felt it was a stunt by the cubs to see if they can raise his value. How many are surprised at how elk he did? Since Morel has played some third why is it so silly an idea to think that if the Cubs worked with him exclusively at 3rd he could turn into an average, playable 3rd baseman? I don’t even know what mental gymnastics are, but I don’t feel that is a requirement to at least believe he might be able to do it.
  7. Rcal10
    I don’t. I think the Cubs wanted to groom Morel to be a guy for multiple positions. So they put Madrigal at 3rd to build up his stock a little. Then when they brought Morel up he hadn’t worked at 3rd base. They wanted his bat and didn’t want to mess with him learning 3rd base on the fly. Learning during the season which could have affected his hitting. So now this off season they need for him to just play 3rd and work with coaches specifically on playing 3rd. Maybe he can’t do it. But I think they are going to give him every opportunity to prove he either can or can’t. What decision they made last year, IMO, has no bearing on what they do this year.
  8. Rcal10
    So you really think the Cubs won’t retain Hendricks? I think they will. I can also see them going over the 1st layer on the LT if they traded for someone like Glasnow for 1 year. Then in 25’ let him walk and replace him with Horton or another young arm. So they can go over my his salary knowing they won’t be over the next year.
  9. Rcal10
    This also might make Glasnow more likely. Similar 1 year salary.
  10. Rcal10
    Why is it unlikely the Cubs retain Hendricks? I would say retaining him is very likely.
  11. Rcal10
    Either way he will be in the rotation. Probably not enough savings to the payroll for them to guarantee a second or third year. $16M is a little high for his pitching ability. But maybe what he adds as a teammate and someone to work with the younger pitchers offsets the couple million he is overpaid. I am fine with him another year.
  12. Rcal10
    Hendricks will be in the rotation. Especially now. Either they take him on that 1 year deal or he gets a 2 or 3 year contract with an average of around $12M to $13.5M. I can see 2/$27 with a 3rd year option of $9M. I would rather not go 3, but that might be what Kyle wants.
  13. Rcal10
    Another angle on this is maybe Stroman is not very confident he can go through a year and not get injured again. Maybe he wants the security of a 3 or 4 year deal because he fears going down next year might be the end of his earning years. Why not get the 3 or 4 years and the $50M to $70M now.
  14. Rcal10
    I get it. I can see Stroman getting a 3 or 4 year deal with annual right around what he makes next year if he opted in. Maybe a little less. Maybe 4/$72 or 3/$56. Something in that area. So why not get the guaranteed money now.
  15. Rcal10
    I get that. Yes, now it means the FO doesn’t have any excuses when it comes to signing a top FA starting pitcher. If they don’t sign Yamamoto or Nola they can’t fall back on suggesting they like their staff so they didn’t go after the top guys. They need one of them now. And if not them, at worste Jordon Montgomery. I feel if Stoman stayed they wouldn’t have gone big for a pitcher. Might have ended up with the other guy from Japan or someone like Lugo. Now they have more money and a bigger need for a top guy. So go get him.
  16. Rcal10
    That is a good thing. I am surprised he would do that. But happy he did.
  17. Rcal10
    But if Morel can play 3rd they can have both. Not suggesting they get Soler, just saying if they did it wouldn’t have to be either or.
  18. Rcal10
    I think you are right about Estrada. What the Cubs did is really not a big deal. They can keep them all if they want them.
  19. Rcal10
    Cubs didn’t lose any of those guys. If they want them back. They just took them off the 40 man roster. They can sign them up again as a minor league free agent. I would expect they do that for Estrada, at the very least.
  20. Rcal10
    If they feel Morel can play 3rd I would be ok with him there and then trying Mervis at 1st again. Then, like you said either trade for Polanco or someone else that can play 1st or 3rd. Or they can sign Candelario as a fall back at either position or Garver/Hoskins as a fall back at 1st. Also whoever they got could be a DH option as well. That would leave them enough to either sign a higher end pitcher. Maybe not Yamamoto, but maybe Montgomery. Or they can trade PCA for a young controlled pitcher and bring back Bellinger. As you said, they can’t fill all with FA. They have to trust some youth and it needs to come through. I also think they will go past the first tier in spending this year. They have a decent amount coming off next year with guys they can fill with young talent. Stroman can be filled from within with young talent. They lose Smyly, Mancini, Barnhart, Gomes and maybe Hendricks salary. And none would be hard to replace for less. So if they did go over in 24’ they should be under again in 25’. Obviously this is just one option. The point is, IMO if they are aggressive this off season and are willing to go over the LT in 24’ there are a lot of ways they can get good enough to add 7-10 wins to their total in 23’. But even being aggressive they will need to depend on some youth as well as some guys they get in trades.
  21. Rcal10
    I don’t agree with this. If they work with him they should know. If their plan is to exclusively let him work with someone playing third and he does it for several months they should, and most likely will, know if he can handle it. He doesn’t have to play a season or even a few months of a season for them to know.
  22. Rcal10
    He is. But the Cubs have no control of where he plays for that team. He will play where that team feels they need him.
  23. Rcal10
    Simply put, it all comes down to if the Cubs think Morel can play 3rd base or not. Something I said long ago. If they think he can and feel good about him at 3rd, I would hope they don’t trade him. They can go the prospect route instead, when making a trade for any proven talent. If, after working with him in the off season and maybe into spring training, they feel he cannot handle the position they probably should trade him. This is why I said, IMO, Morel is the key to how the off season unfolds. And I don’t put too much stock into them not doing it last year. Morel came up and exploded as soon as he got here. I think they wanted his bat in the line up and didn’t want to add anything else to his plate at that time. I don’t feel they wanted to work with him as a 3rd baseman and try having him focus on that when they wanted him to hit. I think this off season is a perfect time to work on playing the position.
  24. Rcal10
    The problem with this scenario is the budget. Sure, they have enough assets to trade for both those guys. They don’t have, or I should say, they won’t spend the money.
  25. Rcal10
    If they signed Chapman and traded for Soto that wouldn’t be a bad start. Still like to see more, but maybe through another trade they add a rotation piece. Not a huge Chapman fan, but if Morel is traded for Soto I would be fine with Chapman playing 3rd. They would have an elite defense.
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