Stratos
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Everything posted by Stratos
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Next offseason King, Cease, Gallen, Valdez will be FA, plus probably Vlad Jr, Bichette, and Tucker. Very good class.
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Maddux did not have well above average velo through most of the 90s. Maddux wasn't an ace because of his velocity or K rate. He was elite at other things. The point is if Steele had an 11 k/9 and threw 97 mph with the same ERA more people would call him an ace, which is ridiculous.
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Maddux never threw hard and never had a high K/9.
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Technically I think he would have as long as he wants. I don't see how a team could enforce a deadline, unless it's in the collective agreement or something.
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Probably right, but Id have gone with the mid rotation arm. Sends all our young arms to the pen or Iowa. Brown as setup is nice. Id dumpster dive for the bench (gotta be another Wisdom/Schwindel out there) and rely on the Iowa prospects for injuries. I don't think Turner or Canhe are good enough to spend 5m or whatever on, they project for under 1 WAR and won't get much playing time.
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I believe they're at about 208m after Pressly, so they have around 20-25m left if we're assuming they leave around 8-10m under the LT. They have enough for another closer arm and a quality bench bat. The Tucker move was big because he'll make surplus salary. If he were signed as a FA at market prices we wouldn't have any more room to add under the LT. Buys us potentially a couple more wins on paper. Value FTW.
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Heck yeah. Go get Robinson or another piece
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Wouldn't the strength of the top 4 SP matter more than the strength of your best SP, even for playoff purposes? I'd rather have four #2 types than a #1, a #3, and a bunch of BORPs. Anyways, Steele is a #1. You don't need to have impressive K/9 to be a #1, ask Greg Maddux. Steele doesn't give up runs and that's all that matters.
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Steele is a #1 starter IMO, but I don't think that matters anyways, more important is the strength of the rotation as a whole and the top 3-4 guys for playoff purposes. They probably needed to add another above-average SP this winter. Boyd looked very good last year so we'll see how he does, he won't give the innings though. They pounced on him quickly so must like him a lot. Jed's done pretty well so far, we need to keep adding.
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Astros better be eating at least 5m to get a NTC. Or Robinson and Jansen are going for high dough.
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The Dodgers currently have a total luxury tax payroll of 370m. They'll pay 116m in luxury taxes on that. Their total spent on tax payroll will be 486 million dollars. Almost half a billion. The Cubs will be spending less than half of that.
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He could be the Cubs #1 preference. It's not like he's the only guy they're interested in. If he declines they move to their 2nd best option.
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Well the Brewers had a bad rotation last year. Around 24th in xFIP and 17th in ERA. They won with hitting, baserunning, defense, and luck. We have some depth but I wouldn't call Rea, Assad, or Wicks anything more than BORPs and they may all be below average SP. We do probably have a higher than average floor for the rotation hopefully with the depth. The upside i see is if Brown and Boyd are healthy and above average and Steele/Imanaga stay healthy. Our defense will help the run prevention to be hopefully above average and the offense can hopefully also be above average.
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I think our rotation is pretty average.
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I agree. They shouldn't promise anything to anyone. All they can say is he'll probably close and will have a good opportunity to do so. I don't many GMs and managers guarantee much to any player, it's more about opportunity than promises IMO. Once he's on the team Counsell needs to be free to always act in the best interests of the team. I've never seen Ross or Counsell act differently. If he's terrible in April/May they aren't going to keep him as closer.
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His BB/9 history in the minors is terrible. That could come back at any time.
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Robertson is probably off the table if it happens. Not sure why the Cubs are so gung-ho on Pressly over Robertson. Latter projects slightly better. Maybe cost. And I could see Astros eating about 5m.
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Detroit is a beautiful city for me to poop on.
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Heyman: "Cubs Showing Significant Interest in Alex Bregman"
Stratos replied to Matthew Lenz's topic in Chicago Cubs Talk
Fake news, courtesy of Boras. -
David Robertson talking to Cubs about returning
Stratos replied to Southpaw19's topic in Chicago Cubs Talk
Seems like three Cubs are talking to pretty much everyone who can close, which shouldn't surprise us. We previously had reports on them and Estevez too. A Pressly deal seemed pretty close though barring no trade clause. -
David Robertson talking to Cubs about returning
Stratos replied to Southpaw19's topic in Chicago Cubs Talk
We currently have 18 relievers on the 40-man and a few of them can also start. That's a lot but its good to have pitching depth. Some will obviously be in the minors, maybe guys like Palencia, Kilian etc. Your list is missing some SP who may wind up in the pen if there's no rotation injuries, 3 of Brown, Rea, Assad, Wicks. Not sure where Poteet fits in. A guy like Wicks could maybe stay stretched out in Iowa if he's not needed in the rotation, who knows. I have doubts we sign 2 closer-types like Pressly/Robertson. Even if its one, having Hodge, Brown, and Mayweather to setup would be solid. Injuries always happen though. My ideal is Brown taking the #5 SP spot if everyone's healthy. -
For 1B bench its possible they try to get one or more of the current bench infielders some time at 1B in ST to fill in in a pinch, they're all good fielders. They can all bat RH. Tucker also has 100 innings of 1B experience from 2019, and as you say Amaya has a bit of time there and is also RHB. There's been no heat around them signing an 1B and its hard to see them signing one over a 3B. If Busch is injured they have Jonathon Long and Ballesteros too, which made Mervis expendable.
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Agree would be nice to keep Workman. He does have power too. If there's an injury at 1B or OF there's a good chance one of the better prospects are called up to start instead of using these lower tier bench guys. So we do have bench power in a sense but just in Iowa. Cubs seem to be leaning towards fielding and speed for the bench guys so far, which might make sense since it's less volatile and easier to maintain with limited playing time. But I still could see them signing a bench INF power bat. Would give them another option at DH also. I think it's hard to sign good though if they can't guarantee playing time.
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After Berti the Cubs have room for 1 more bench infielder. But I don't think Brujan has options and Workman has to stay on the 26-man. Brujan can also play OF including CF as well so they could carry him as a super utility to cover OF if they want and still add a bench corner INF. I assume the Cubs carry 4 bench players plus Suzuki.
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Berti replaces Mastrobuoni's role and seems like what they always wanted Mastro to be. Decent depth signing especially with Nico/Swanson coming off injury. Just turned 35 but he still had 90th percentile running speed in 2024. Has neutral splits.
