Rcal10

I would rank then Bichette, Tucker, Bregman, Bellinger ……….Suarez far behind. But tbh, I would be very happy with any of the top 4. If they added Bellinger, who I rank 4th on my list, I would be happy. Then Mo can catch all year in AAA. They should also be able to go over the LT to make any move, but if not trade Rea to get any other money they might need. They will still have work to do on the bench. It would be Alcantara, back up catcher and Austin. Need a utility guy. Maybe that is who comes for Rea?

Nice. Love it.

It is stops at Hernandez this is a good move. I like this. Now get a bat and let’s go….. Cabrera was my preferred choice of a pitcher in the off season so they can add a bat as a FA.

What am I missing? Boyd gets $13M and Rea $6M a year. How is that $26M. My numbers might not be exact, but they are much closer to $19M than they are $26M.

No please!

I’m not arguing with you. I agree who would be the better player. However, is Rea and Boyd comparable in salary to Fried? I don’t think that is true. Anyway, that isn’t the point of my response. I am just trying to make sense as to why Jed wouldn’t do a max year, max salary contract, even if Tom would be ok with it. Other large market teams work behind a bad contract. Cubs won’t.

To your post, yes the best player available is the best option. But people who suggest Jed will never get the superstar and will always only settle for good players are right. But is it Jed who is risk adverse or Tom? Will Tim just not do it because he knows on the back end the deal suck? We don’t know. But let’s say it is Jed. So he doesn’t want to giving a 10 year deal to a superstar. For this season, let’s use Tucker. Let’s make it simple, 10/$370. Assuming Tom is not ever going to play over the LT on a regular basis, what happens if Tucker ends up with injuries most years that makes his contract an albatross. Not even Kris Bryant bad, but bad. The Cubs ownership won’t go over the LT to bring in other good players, they will just allow the team to try being competing with a waste of $37M a year on the roster. At least with good players and less years they aren’t wasting as many years or money if that player end up with problems staying healthy or maybe just not being very good. Look at the Phillies. They carried Castellanos and still added. They had Realmuto for a high salary, Nola too. But they signed Schwarber again. Hell, the Dodgers were paying guys not in the playoff roster more than some teams payroll. They have carried bad contracts for years. Even before this unprecedented spending of money. Padres, who are said to be broke. Spent money even with a bad Bogaerts contract. There are more. But the point is, I don’t see Tim allowing that. Cubs would just have to ride it out and suck. A major market team should be able to compete, even with a bad contract or two. And until Rom gives the green light that he will go over the LT on a semi regular basis, I don’t really blame Jed for being risk adverse. One wrong mega contract could set the team into sucking for a decade.

I don’t agree with this. Why can’t value signing continue to provide value? The FO isn’t “hoping” a guy they sign underpriced plays to a higher value. They are predicting he will. Why are they less likely to provide excess value than a star signing provides? Swanson has provided excess value well over Bogaerts and Correa. Would they have been better off signing the star, Correa? Honestly I am having a hard time understanding a point to your comments. Does signing a star player guarantee that star will outperform his contract. Cubs traded for Tucker last year. He is a star player. He even performed to his contract cost. And where did it get the Cubs?

Right. It is BS. Even if they put a hard cap in, how does it affect the Cubs with all the FA they have next year? And it will surely be bigger then this year anyway.

The cubs using uncertainty in the new CBA to not spend money is complete BS. No outcome of the next CBA will hurt them moving forward. It is just an excuse not to spend.

How does Jed go about getting “star” players? By signing mega deals? Does ownership and the FO strike you as being willing to do that. I don’t agree you have to have superstars to win the WS. Teams win a WS. Not individuals. But if the Cubs really need to sign a superstar to win a WS, they will never win. That isn’t how they do things. Jed has put together a group of good players and built a good team. Sure, I wish they would go further. I wish they flexed their financial muscle, but ownership isn’t going to do that, therefore they aren’t getting the star player.

👍 yep, Jed is such an idiot!

It is also not a hot take to suggest the team with a top 5 revenue in the sport should also be a top 5 spender every year and frequently go over the LT line. It should use its financial muscle. But that doesn’t happen either.

I would put Bichette at 3rd and leave Nico at second. As for ‘27, if Nico leaves put Bichette or Shaw at 2nd and the other at 3rd.

I’m done thawv. Your right the Cubs should win every year and failure to do so is all Jed’s fault. Happy?

Absolutely. IMO, unless Cassie is traded Mo should spend all next year at AAA. Strictly working on his catching. Or if they realize he can’t do it, they may have to get him reps in left field. He can’t play first at 5 Ft 8 inches. Maybe he can hide in left. Could he be any slower than Keith Moreland, who played right field for the Cubs in the mid 80’s?

He isn’t Nick Castellanos either. I don’t love him out there. But I don’t worry about every ball he needs to make a play on, either.

If I had to guess I would say Ballesteros will not be an everyday catcher or even a guy who plays 60 games a year behind the plate. But he is still very young and it is a little too early to definitely write him off. You are most likely going to end up right. But too early for me🤷

What does having $240M to spend have to do with a small market team? The Cubs don’t get the benefits of a small market team. They are a large market. There only advantage is to spend money. What makes you an expert on what is enough money to build a winner. The Mets spend over $100M more than the Cubs. What did they win? The league is filled with teams who spend more than the Cubs, many without the financial resources the Cubs have. How many of them had a better season than the Cubs? Enough about not winning the division. They won 92 games and when playing head to head with the Brewers over the regular season, won the series. They can’t control the Brewers winning 97 games. I just don’t understand how you put it all on Jed. Ricketts is choosing not to spend to win.

When he came here his defense was exaggerated when they spoke of how good he was. Now it has flipped too far the other way. He is pretty average to me.

Defensively he really disappointed me. Not saying he was terrible, but he was supposed to be very good. He wasn’t. I can’t be disappointed in his bat. I believe the reason for poor production after June was his injury. I still believe he is a very good hitter and would love to have him injury free.

I like the idea of trading Tailon and adding Gallen as well. But along with that I wouldn’t mind seeing Cabrera traded for as well. Still gives them 5 starters plus Steele when he comes back. Which is fine. But it also secures ‘27’s rotation. They would have Steele, Cabrera, Gallen, Horton and probably Wiggins for 2027. And because Cabera doesn’t cost too much, they can still sign a big bat (Bichette). Maybe they go a little over the LT, but it wouldn’t be that much.

I think people exaggerate him being so bad in right field. How good was Tucker? Seiya will be fine there.

Double post.

I think the Cubs would have to add someone like Brown, Assad or Wicks for this to work. If not one of them, maybe the Marlins would have an interest in a young prospect not currently ranked in the Cubs top 30. I don’t think Cassie and Long are enough.