Jump to content
The trade deadline is today, and 70 of our top 80 are still on the board. Click here to stay up-to-date! ×
North Side Baseball

Stratos

Old-Timey Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    4,109

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    1

 Content Type 

Profiles

Joomla Posts 1

Chicago Cubs Videos

Chicago Cubs Free Agent & Trade Rumors, Notes, & Tidbits

2026 Chicago Cubs Top Prospects Ranking

News

2023 Chicago Cubs Draft Picks

Guides & Resources

2024 Chicago Cubs Draft Picks

The Chicago Cubs Players Project

2025 Chicago Cubs Draft Pick Tracker

2026 Chicago Cubs Draft Tracker: Picks & Bonuses

Blogs

Events

Forums

Store

Gallery

Everything posted by Stratos

  1. Stratos
    He's too old for me especially at catcher. They got him fairly cheap though. The only catcher FA I even remotely like is Jansen. Kelly if he came cheap. I wouldn't be shocked if Thaiss ends up our 2nd catcher.
  2. Stratos
    I've tried to give the benefit of the doubt on Hoyer transactions i was iffy about in past off-seasons, but my instincts have usually turned out to be correct on them. I can't give him the benefit of the doubt here anymore. End of the day he's got solid stuff but only putting up reliever innings with a career 4.85 ERA at age 34, so not sure what kind of late-career miracle they're looking for here. The contract isn't particularly good even if they acquire someone else. Maybe Lance Brozdowski will do a piece on him or something. If he can manage something like a 3.85 ERA over 110 IP then at least he's better than Hendricks was last year, so there's that LOL
  3. Stratos
    Hoyers done lots of good deals. Virtually all his smaller guaranteed FA signings are trash. Literally nobody on this forum would have signed Boyd on that contract because its stupid.
  4. Stratos
    It's not based on 1 deal if you read my post. It's a pattern of incompetence, every offseason. They overpay for mediocre players instead of investing in quality players.
  5. Stratos
    No, the contract isnt good. 2/24 is already a lot for this guy and well above the predictions. I don't think flushing 5-10m dollars early in the offseason for an intelligent spending GM is "silly" and i don't appreciate the condescension of your comment
  6. Stratos
    2/24 is understandable based on what guys have been getting so far. 2/29 is just nuts.
  7. Stratos
    Good to hear they're in on pen arms, not surprising. There's a few names there I'd have no issues cutting.
  8. Stratos
    Yeah maybe like 1/9m deal with team option. 2/29 is a joke. I've defended Jed on a lot of things and have been rooting for him, but I'm tired of these types of signings instead of signing quality players. It's so easy for this deal to turn out bad. He's 34 y/o on top of it. I've never said i wanted Jed fired but If I owned the Cubs I'd fire Jed ASAP based on this move because its a pattern of low-level waste on fringe players. Enough is enough.
  9. Stratos
    14.5m AAV for a Smyly pen/spot starter makes no sense.
  10. Stratos
    I'm getting 2018 Tyler Chatwood/Brandon Morrow vibes. Lol. Trying to be too cute for their own good. Geez Richie Rich Ricketts just spend 10m over the tax so we can get some quality FFS. Matthew Boyd??? So tired of this org.
  11. Stratos
    Yeah maybe 4-5 innings and piggy back a few innings with the young SP in the pen. The young guys aren't going to give 170 IP either. 2/29 for an injury guy with little success track record who isn't going to throw a ton of innings still seems like an overpay.
  12. Stratos
    Why do they give players a big signing bonus? What is the purpose? Do they get that money up front?
  13. Stratos
    For bench they already have 4 OF. If they want a 5th they can use Canario or invite some guys on minor league ST invite contracts. Middle INF bench they have Mastrob plus Cowles and Vazquez. I think the only MLB guy they might go after is a RH corner bat to replace Wisdom, but that guy could also be a minor league ST invite.
  14. Stratos
    It's possible they sign another 3rd-rate SP with upside, or trade for one. That would make it 6 SP for 2 rotation spots if you count Wesneski too, and just let them all duke it out and put the others in the pen, Guys will get hurt inevitably too. I'm not particularly optimistic at this point.
  15. Stratos
    Even as the depth 2nd starter acquired this winter this is a bit of an overpay for a guy who hasn't pitched many innings in forever. Hopefully he's better than Hendricks was last year lol
  16. Stratos
    Agreed. Interesting arm but how do you give him 2/29 as THE rotation pickup? Just an odd move, trying to be too cute here IMO, kinda like the Chatwood signing. Just go pay a bit more and get proven quality without the injury history. He's Cade Horton without the stuff lol. If they want to ride the guy for 140 ip this year after not doing that in many years they're just setting him up for more injuries.
  17. Stratos
    Shaw isn't better than a 4 WAR player right now, and probably never will be, we have no idea. A hit prevented with the glove is worth exactly the same as a hit added with the bat. Nico improves the ERAs of our pitchers. If Dansby or Nico added most of their value with the bat instead of glove most fans would feel differently about them because fans are biased towards hitting.
  18. Stratos
    Guys we only need to improve the hitting, starting pitching, and bullpen. Everything's going to be fine.
  19. Stratos
    I enjoy their podcast. Part 1 of that mailbag from a few days ago they dispel the fears of the Cubs cutting payroll. They think Bellinger opting in has just limited them on payroll space so they're trying to maximize payroll room to add. That seems most likely.
  20. Stratos
    I agree rotation is the most obvious place to add wins. Walker Buehler is multiple steps and multiple wins down from the top tier FA SP, but i don't think they go that low. Unless they trade for an SP, I think the Cubs as always will likely check in on all the quality FA SP they could be interested in and sign the one that's the best bang for the buck.
  21. Stratos
    Cubs signing just a solid mid-tier SP like a Taillon-type would feel like a letdown i agree, but it would depend on how they spend the money saved between that player and a top tier SP. The difference in WAR between between them would likely be around 1.0 to 1.5. If they save 6-10m on their main FA SP and spend that to upgrade elsewhere, like the pen or catcher or a 2nd SP, and that upgrade is worth another 1.0 to 1.5 WAR, then it evens out and the point is moot. If they pocket that cash or spend it on the next Trey Mancini contract then it's a letdown. My main hope this winter like every offseason is they take whatever payroll Ricketts gives them and they maximize the potential WAR added with that money. How it shakes out it doesn't matter a lot at the end of the day. We all like having/watching top-tier players but wins are the important thing, the rest is just emotion, and investing based on emotion is very unwise. (not saying you support that).
  22. Stratos
    True. In 5 years they might suck though when some of these guys get old, unless they just spend wads more. In the meantime they're going to dominate. The next CBA needs to clean some of this up.
  23. Stratos
    So we find out its not as much an overpay, just includes deferrals. They don't call them the Dodgers for nothing! https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2024/11/dodgers-blake-snell-agree-to-five-year-deal.html 52m signing bonus? What does that accomplish accounting-wise?
  24. Stratos
    That seems like an overpay, but Dodgers keep getting better damn.
  25. Stratos
    Anybody on this forum could have written an article saying "Cubs probably out on the high end FAs" and have an 80% chance of being correct every year. Don't see how Bob is breaking any news here, but using the word "probably" sounds more like speculation.
×
×
  • Create New...