Stratos
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Everything posted by Stratos
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Taillon has some control left which will help us. Not expecting a ton, we see
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I'm not saying the Cubs are the 98 Yankees. But 98 Yanks didn't have a single 30 HR hitter on that team or a traditional middle of the order star slugger even in that HR era. They had a lineup filled with good productive hitters and few if any black holes, sort of in the vein of the Cubs in the 2nd half of last year. Yanks did have guys who had high averages which helped raise the slug and OBP. Not going to have a team of guys hitting for that high average any more. Having a league average 3b and catcher would nab us another 3-4 wins alone at this point in the season, and 6-7 wins over a full season, that's how bad catching and 3b has been, catching is on pace for -3 WAR, and an effective pen would add more wins. Maybe enough for a playoff birth. Prospects like Caissie, PCA, Shaw, Horton etc reaching the MLB full-time would add surplus and free up cash for us to upgrade at other positions,, including someone like Soto. Trading one of Happ/Suzuki, Taillon, maybe Nico in a year or will nab more prospects to the system.
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Bernie Williams, Jorge Posada, Jeter, Paul O'Neil, Tino Martinez, Scott Brosius, Chuck Knoblauch, etc Who was the star slugger in the middle of that lineup? End of the day the team totals are the only thing that matter. How you skin the cat can vary. A team filled with good hitters with a lack of glaring holes can still win.
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Some things are Jed's fault, but I agree some things aren't. No FO exec has a crystal ball to predict every unpredictable bad season. from his players Sometimes stuff just happens. Run this season back 10 times and we'd get 10 different results.
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Absolutely. 3b, catcher, and the pen are massive problems. Morel has negative WAR. Catcher is around -1.5 right now. Everyone would love to have Soto but he doesn't fix our other fundamental problems and isn't a magic bullet. The difference between Soto and e.g. Happ is will be around 3-4 WAR. At this pace the difference between our catchers and league average catching over a full season is 5 WAR.
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We traded for prospect Michael Busch and he contributed immediately. May not be possible on all trades but it's possible. We don't know the offers Jed had from 2021. If we're selling then Taillon absolutely needs to be on the block since he's very replaceable any winter. By Opening Day 2025 we need to acquire at least 2 SP to replace Taillon (if traded), Hendricks, and Smyly, we need a catcher and probably a 3B if Morel doesn't improve dramatically from his crappy replacement level performance, we need multiple quality BP arms including someone good enough to close. They could use a quality bat somewhere. It's maddening this franchise continues to throw so many millions every year at talent with pretty obvious mostly fringe tools like Smyly, Hendricks, Mancini etc.
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And then pitchers adjusted lol
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Agree. I'm sure they'll be talking to teams and scouting systems
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This is a logical stance for them at this point. No reason to jump the market
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Hendricks IL?
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Yeah i agree.
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Cool idea
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I really like the Phillies post-hit celebration routine.
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Can't hit, can't throw, can't field, can't run
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Only if the Cubs decline a more expensive team option after 2025. The way the contract is written, even if he's really bad or really good, it seems there's a pretty low chance he leaves before end of 2027. I think it protects the Cubs by giving him a lower minimum, but if he proves he's good they can unlock an extra year through 2028 plus it gives him a raise on all his years. Here's the contract terms. It's complicated and hurts my brain: https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/player/_/id/86203/shōta-imanaga
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Wonder how the Cubs will hit against an actual good SP if they can't hit the mediocre ones.
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Not sure Jed would bother trading a guy with the Cubs history and loyalty of Hendricks for some mediocre prospect. Maybe they'd ask Hendricks if he'd prefer to stay or potentially play for a contender the rest of the year.
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It's the pitchers getting hurt. Are they teaching them all screwballs or something? Position regulars are all healthy but Tauchman and they still suck.
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It's hard for me to see Nico traded at this point. Next year I could see it with Shaw and/or Triantos potentially knocking on the door. Maybe Nico is moved not this offseason but next. Taillon and Happ could potentially be traded. Ideally they'd hold on to Happ until Caissie or other corner OF are a bit closer, but Bellinger can always play a corner if PCA & him stick next year. IMO there's some potential for an overreaction in dealing guys just to deal them. I'm more worried about improving 3B and catcher for next year. We're still in the early stages of this rebuild. With the prospects and players we have I think the state of the infield and OF look somewhat promising. Catcher is unknown because we don't know how the Cubs see Bellosteros' catching defense. We still need more HR power from somewhere.
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Brock can you post your source? Unless I missed something else, I don't see any reports of trade talks about Nico with Seattle by Morosi in the video Morosi talks about it on MLB network. He's simply speculating on players who could possibly be moved by the Cubs and potential destinations.
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Steele shows first sign of Cubs fire in 2024
Stratos replied to Javy Is Still A Cub's topic in Chicago Cubs Talk
We don't know what happens in the clubhouse. I'd be surprised if he's the only player to lose his cool. I've seen visible frustration from several players over this stretch on the field, most often at themselves. Swanson, Happ, Bellinger, Gomes etc. Seiya is always hard on himself. Pen guys as always when things go bad. -
It took Heyward more than 4 seasons as a Cub to put up the same WAR that Dansby has in a year and half.
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I think at least offensively we were a bit lucky last year especially during the summer and this season we've been unlucky. Offensively I think we're somewhere in the middle.
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Left fielders suck?
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Accurate description of the last 60 games.
