Stratos
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Everything posted by Stratos
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Well Belt and Martinez were much better hitters than Turner so they weren't just 1 war guys, so you could legitimize them at full time DH more. We really don't know what they'll do at 3b and DH. Will be interesting to see who else they pick up. I think they could live with who they have now at 3B. Busch might be the other 3B and they grab a 1b/DH type. But would be nice if they had yet another 3b/1b option.
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Turner was solid with the bat but also a DH so 1.2 WAR over a full season I believe, which was near what Manini had when signed. They may prefer a hitter who can also play the field adequately.
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Yes that's true, but we still don't know if or by how much they're going to fall off due to age regression. Jed seems to prefer to sign guys, even on 1 yr or minor league deals, who are at their peak age years of 26-30. With someone like Hoskins you get upside, with Turner and Martinez etc you get downside. They're still an option, Belt is too and he'll be 36, you can get a discount for the downside risk for older players and can sign them for 1 yr, and yeah it's not like signing Abreu for 3 years, but i'm just saying it's not something Hoyer has done in the past. My main hope is he doesn't sign any fringe position players for millions like the last 2 years. I think Turner probably qualifies for that, but Martinez or Belt probably don't.
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Jed seems to avoid older players like Turner. I agree with the strategy because you're paying for past production and the odds say they're more likely to decline in performance than have upside. If the price is right he'd sign him but another team probably offers more. Cubs have many more assets in the minors and some are going to need to move, so we could see a trade, or another FA signing. Hoskins or whomever. If it were me I'd scout and figure out who is more likely to be a better 3B vs 1B between Morel vs Busch. if it's Morel then in ST you play him mostly at 3B and give him some time at 1B, and with Busch you do the opposite but primarily at 1B. If Morel can't handle 3B then swap him with Busch at 1B. Madrigal is a backup option if all fails and who can start at 3B if the Cubs have a contact SP like Hendricks or groundball pitcher like Steele on the mound, or in situations like you mention like the wind howling in.
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Mancini/Hosmer/Barnhart/Mervis were terrible and once they were replaced by Morel, Tauchman, Amaya, and Bellinger at 1B the offense took off and had a really good 2nd half. If they avoid those kinds of blackholes again, especially at offensive positions like 1B and DH, I think they'll have a good offense again. They have more depth this year all over the diamond so hopefully that's not going to be the issue it was. At every position except DH and 2b the average MLB teams gets between 2.0 to 2.3 WAR over 162 games. If the rest of the offseason is productive for Jed we have a good shot to be above average at every position besides possibly catcher, but that should improve at least without Barnhart. I'd be fine with just average at 1B given Busch/Mervis being basically rookies and Wisdom or someone else there against LHP when needed. The weakness as of now is again the pitching. The SP can be at least adequate and has depth, we'll need the pen to be a strength and lock down leads + keep trailing scores close for the hitters.
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Examples?
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I haven't heard this
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Cubs rotation isn't a strength but I don't see them filling up 4 of 5 rotation spots with longterm SP when there's several good young SP. Unless they want to go to a 6 man rotation. Trade for short term SP makes more sense
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Article: What Did Jed Hoyer Mean By That?
Stratos replied to Josh Illes's topic in North Side Baseball Front Page News
I'd like a solid lefty and righty in the pen that can handle late inning work, another corner INF LHB, a run at Bellinger (they can load it with opt outs), and invite some relievers to ST on minor league deals. I don't expect much else. -
In Jed and Carter's Q&A at CubsCon Jed mentioned that a lot of FA and trade rumors are nonsense and some players the Cubs have been connected to they haven't even contacted their agent about, and says it's likely agents just name-dropping the Cubs for leverage because they're a large market team.
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They also mentioned DH as possible for Morel. Yeah they don't know, and that's fine.
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After what happened last season with this group of arms, if they only add 1 more arm plus Almonte, who sucks, then that's a huge fail. Just like how Cuas wasn't enough.
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I remember after the deadline hoyer saying the trade cost of relievers in that market was too high for them, so it may not have been a LT thing. Who knows.
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Best case scenario for both Cubs and Bellinger might be him having 2 or 3 really good seasons and then opting out.
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I dunno, a lot of teams are probably down on his metrics from last year. Lance Brozdowski thinks he may get south of 24-25m AAV because of it. He does a great breakdown on if what he did in 2023 is repeatable including what he did with 2 strikes:
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Let's hope so, but I dunno. I guess we'll see, but Imanaga and Busch aren't moves that point towards that.
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I really hope Almonte isn't one of the 2 arms because he's clearly a below average relief arm.
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Cubs were in on Suter down to the end: https://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/mlb/reds/2024/01/13/how-new-reds-pitcher-brent-suter-brings-world-view-to-hometown-team/72216493007/
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https://twitter.com/ryan_a_herrera/status/1746256069687439495
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This is on Ricketts. He bulldozed most of Wrigley a freaking national landmark and rebuilt a facsimile on its footprint but with more seats and ugly electronic scoreboards for more ad space and some stupid mascot to sell for birthday party events so he could make more money but doesn't put much if any of it back into the team. Fans are shelling out their money for the Cubs Con right now and Ricketts will pocket that too. Jed is doing what he can to make the best team possible under the cap because that's the budget he's been given. He'd still be spending intelligently with a 270m budget, he'd just be able to afford better and more players.
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No. They were never going to acquire 2 quality SP this offseason, unless a great deal fell into their lap they couldn't refuse. They have Wicks, Assad, Wesneski, Smyly, Brown to fill the 5th spot. Doesn't make any sense to block the young guys that are decent assets. They might sign some cheap depth SP flyer to compete for the 5th spot. They chose to bring back Hendricks over a more expensive upgrade. They had 1 SP to fill to replace Stroman. They could have signed Snell, or Montgomery, or traded for Bieber etc. They chose Imanaga. They went for the cheaper value signing. They're likely trying to squeeze under the CBT cap again. They've got about 35m under the cap to spend right now. Enough for Bellinger, a couple of decent pen arms, and another cheap corner/DH bat. We're probably not getting Hoskins unless we miss on Bellinger or Ricketts is ok with going over the cap slightly.
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From Jordan Bastian, Cubs.com: https://www.mlb.com/cubs/news/cubs-roster-needs-remain-as-cubs-convention-begins --------------------- Hoyer believes the Cubs have their new first baseman in Busch, who will be given a shot at earning that job this season. Imanaga is likely the Cubs’ biggest move for the rotation this offseason. Hoyer leaned on the old baseball adage that a team “can never have enough” pitching, but said he did not envision another major rotation addition. “That's an area we probably don't make another transaction,” Hoyer said. “I think if we do, it may be smaller. Something could fall in our lap. We could end up with something, but that's not my expectation right now.” While Hoyer is generally opposed to longer deals for relief pitchers, he acknowledged that the Cubs have made some multi-year offers to available bullpen arms this offseason. Adding more depth and quality to the relief corps “is an area of priority” for the team. “We'll end up making more deals this winter,” Hoyer said. “I don't know if they're going to happen next week or if they're going to happen in February. Things could be really slow this year. And that's just the nature of it. Last year, it was the opposite.”
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Are you at the Cubs con? Or watching on Marquee?
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Interesting that they may get another 1B bat, that could create quite the lineup. Team hits LHP well, glad they're focusing on RHP.
