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Stratos

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Everything posted by Stratos

  1. Stratos
    They could sign anyone now in theory. They have to rebuild almost the entire pen so I'm thinking they spend around 25m on that. About 10m on the bench. That leaves 50m on good players.
  2. Stratos
    This was inevitable. Shota was a big beneficiary of the wind conditions at Wrigley the last 2 years plus the Cubs excellent defense. Not sure I'd even want him back on a QO. Acquire someone better. I think Framber Vakdez is the best SP on the market.
  3. Stratos
    Well "TORP" doesn't neccessarily mean a #1 starter. #2 would also be fine
  4. Stratos
    No interest in him. Seems like Robel Garcia, or left-handed Patrick Wisdom with more walks. Wouldn't mind Okamoto if he can hit LHP well. Can be insurance for Shaw, can DH, can platoon with Busch. Probably wants a guaranteed everyday job somewhere though.
  5. Stratos
    Not sure why any team would consider Albert Pujols, an 1B/DH, to be a managerial candidate.
  6. Stratos
    I'd rather they put that money into SP upgrades. My preference is they decline on Shota and sign 2 TORP SP, Pick up Rea's option for depth. FA TORP, FA TORP, Boyd, Horton, Taillon is a good rotation, with Rea as a swingman and Steele coming on at some point in the year. If by miracle everyone is healthy when Steele is back they could always use Horton in relief, or put any of those guys in the pen for a period to manage their workloads if necessary.
  7. Stratos
    I saw them on ticketmaster, they were official tickets not re-sale tickets, and not great tickets. Maybe they were cheaper for season ticket holders. Keep in mind this in Canadian dollars. So your $280 would be around $400 in 2016.
  8. Stratos
    Probably another reduction LOL. Jk. Hard to say. We know they probably aren't going over the cap though.
  9. Stratos
    Odd. Went from AAA to AA. Maybe sees and easier path to the majors in that org?
  10. Stratos
    The Jays were pulling $1000+ per ticket this WS. 45k x $1000 x 4 games = 180k. Plus concessions and TV ratings (Jays ownership also owns the TV channel that has national broadcast rights in Canada even during the WS & pulling in 10 million viewers a game across the country). That doesn't even include the previous rounds. Dodgers would be raking it in too. Dodgers can keep affording their insane payrolls if this is their business model.
  11. Stratos
    For me the Jays lost on their bone-headed baserunning plays. Bichette walking off the bag and getting picked off at the beginning of Game 3 would have scored and been the winning run preventing the 18 innings extras. Barger getting picked off to end Game 6. Springer stopped running during a SB attempt and got caught in no-man's land in Game 7. Can't assume anything in a WS. IKF whatever, probably didn't want to get doubled-off. Anyways, great series and amazing Game 7. Dodgers bought themselves this WS with Ohtani, Yamamoto and the rest of their rotation. Everyone thought the Jays were going to get steam-rolled but their bats and pitchers went toe-to-toe with probably the best 4-man playoff rotation i've seen since i've been alive, maybe best rotation ever. They saw them all in Game 7 and still went toe-to-toe. Vlad is a legend, and incredible player on both sides of the ball and a true leader. The Jays have heart and fight to the last out. Would like to see more of that from the Cubs, who seem to sometimes just roll over and die in unison, at least in the regular season.
  12. Stratos
    Bieber pitched his first game of the season on Aug 22, and coming back from TJS. He was an unknown. Hindsight = 20/20.
  13. Stratos
    I'd also suggest the forum do some kind of thread on end of session awards for the Cubs we could all vote on. Not just the usual awards but all sorts of fun categories like "most improved player", "best team leader", most hustle", "best offseason acquisition" etc as well as maybe some dubious awards like "worst fielder" etc. We don't even have to add up the vote totals if it's too much work, it would just be fun to see everyone's responses. Something to pass the time between the end of playoffs and start of free agency.
  14. Stratos
    Congrats winners. Would love to see a hall of shame for most disliked post haha
  15. Stratos
    I think they'll genuinely look to sign a good SP. Whichever quality SP they sign we can be pretty sure based on past offseasons that they'll sign the guy whose contract offers the best bang for the buck out of the crop of pitchers they're looking at. That's also similar to what they seemed to do with Swanson vs the other top FA SS. Hoyer has done a great job with virtually all the SP contracts he's ever signed. We all always want a TORP every offseason, he signs a guy like Boyd or Imanaga for far cheaper/shorter, and it usually works out very well. With all the good SP on the market this winter he's in a good position to land someone quality on a solid contract.
  16. Stratos
    The Cubs will have interest in every single quality SP this winter, This happens every winter, we hear about their interest in Bregman, Ohtani etc. It means nothing until they announce a deal is made. The Cubs don't get points for losing bids.
  17. Stratos
    Shout-out to Colonel Sanders sitting the front rows of Game 2.
  18. Stratos
    What the owners or players want is irrelevant, only thing that matters is what leverage either has vs the other and what terms they're able to acquire with it. Agree with Bertz, negotiation 101 is you start your demands with the best imaginable scenario for yourself and work your way down from there. I do think the vast majority of teams want to stop what the Dodgers have been able to do. I could see a higher tax penalty on the higher payroll tiers, so not a cap but something creeping a bit more that way.
  19. Stratos
    It might be a weird offseason with the contracts due to the possible lockout like you say. Hoyer has seemingly been especially planning for it with all these deals ending next year.
  20. Stratos
    Agreed. Grab a solid vet or 2 for the 7th/8th innings to stabilize things a bit but otherwise go with cheap finds. We saw what happened with Yates and Scott on the Dodgers this year. Pens are too volitile to spend a lot of money on, and lots of guys improve any given winter and you don't really know who will pop off. Cubs method works with their budget. They'll allocate that money to another position anyways.
  21. Stratos
    Fine suggestion. I wonder if the Cubs still want a guy who can hit LHB like Castro for the INF backup role since our starting SS/2B/3B are all RHB? Or do they just want more RHB on the bench in general, including who could sometimes DH vs LHP? Problem is most of our guys don't get pinch-hit for because of their fielding value so the whole righty-lefty thing isn't an issue other than possibly Shaw, but even he has a lot of glove value. Would love to have a quality INF bench guy to keep guys fresh through the summer months. I'd probably target a RHB because of the likely DH platoon. Even if they acquire a bench OF RHB the INF RHB bat can be serve as a backup.
  22. Stratos
    If any of the rookie bench candidates needs regular PA's in Iowa instead of rotting on the bench it's probably Alcantara. There's virtually no playing time in the OF unless there's injury or Seiya is DH. If they spend any money on a FA OF bench guy it's probably more geared to someone who can DH as RHB (or push Seiya to DH). Cubs had some struggles vs LHP so I'd be ok getting FA RHB at both bench 1B and bench OF/DH who can smash LHP. Or vs LHP Alcantara could start in RF and Seiya at DH, while vs RHP it's Seiya + Caissie or Ballesteros (can't see both as LHB being rostered with a 4-man bench). You're right in that it's unlikely Jed makes bets on 2 rookies in Long/Alcantara to be able to smash LHP, it's too risky, especially with so many young players already in the starting lineup.
  23. Stratos
    I like Shaw, he had major hoops to jump through his rookie year with the major stance/swing changes they made with him (with likely more to come). Much bigger changes than PCA and Amaya made in 2024. IMO it was a bit unfair they had Shaw adjust to those major changes at the MLB level as a rookie. I think he did fine, especially considering the short Spring Training he had and early season start in Japan. Struggling against those beast pitchers the Cubs saw in the playoffs isn't surprising or alarming. He was a really good hitter in college and the minors and showed extended flashes in 2025 so i think he's a work-in-progress but medium and longterm will be a good player and has the fielding floor to be worth the early struggles.
  24. Stratos
    Yeah, they have to replace almost the entire bullpen and every late-inning arm minus Palencia. Jed will be busy.
  25. Stratos
    Other thing is if Long stunk as the bench RHB there's no backup. They'd probably sign some Patrick Wisdom/Schwindel type and keep them in AAA, which isn't terrible but as good as signing a guy like Goldschmidt and at least Long is the backup for him.
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