Stratos
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Everything posted by Stratos
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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.
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If we're in the playoffs that makes us World Series contenders by default. We were a 83 win team last year. The Tucker/Bellinger moves can nab us about another 4 wins on paper if the Cubs spend the savings.
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I ignore all commentary from BN since its total cringe, I just use them as a good summary for Cubs news.
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They revealed Nico hasn't started throwing or hitting yet post- surgery. But that doesn't mean anything i guess.
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Did we hear anything about the Nico's surgery recovery this weekend? All I heard was that it bothered his throwing the most last season.
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Tom said in an interview 2 days ago with Kap that he thinks fans shouldn't call him cheap because he invested a billion dollars into the neighbourhood. I'm not kidding. Both interviewers kissed Tom's rump and backed up his excuses the whole interview. Time-stamped to the question:
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delete
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Robertson has been about as consistently good as a reliever could be. They'd just be rolling the dice on age decline, but he's showed no signs of it, in fact his velo has been at career highs. They likely get a 1-yr deal that makes up for the age risk.
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Well 3.83 FIP, and 4.29 xFIP is average territory for a reliever. He's not a soft-contact guy or a groundball guy so I just don't get it I guess. I don't think the Phillies added him to close did they? His FIP the last 2 season (outside Colorado) is around 3.60, the xFIP being around 4.35 (not doing the math either lol). I just don't see a dominant pitcher, I see someone they can work with to potentially create one, which IMO isn't what you want for a closer because it just might not happen. On the other hand, it would be a signing with upside rather than one with downside risk like the older guys Yates etc
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Estevez last year had career lows in BABIP, K/9, BB/9, HR/9, and HR/FB. His ERA was over a run and a half lower than his xFIP. He has every red flag of significant regression next year. He projects to a 4.00 ERA on FG. He seems like an average to maybe above average reliever. Not really sure why he's even considered a closer other than having some saves on some bad teams. I can see the Cubs seeing some upside here and he can bolster a pen but he's not a guy you'd sign as your closer if your goal is to win the division and make a deep playoff run. Needing to trade a good prospect at the deadline for 2 months of a legit closer if the Cubs are contending is a stupid position to put yourself in, stop trying to be cute and go get one now. I feel similar with Finnegan. I'm fine with either if they sign one plus a legit closer like Robertson/Yates.
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This signing is a joke. Beyond the Cubs this just isn't good for the mid and small market teams to compete. Dodgers won the WS and will be adding Ohtani, Snell, Sasaki, and Scott to their pitching staff.
