Stratos
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Everything posted by Stratos
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They still have a shot at being better than all the teams in the wild card hunt besides the Braves because they'll all mediocre like the Cubs. This could get interesting. I wonder how close they think Shaw is. He's hit really well the last month, another month of that could get him closer to playing 3b for Cubs and sticking Morel at DH or demote him and let Suzuki DH especially once Tauchman is back. Maybe another pen arm and/or catcher in trade. Getting Merryweather back will be nice.
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Steele is one of the very best pitchers in baseball
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They should target Jansen in FA and maybe trade for a 3b. If they really like Shaw at 3b they can always trade that 3b later when Shaw shows he can hit end field ok at mlb level. We have a bunch of internal options at DH going forward, like Seiya, Morel, Ballesteros, Triantos, maybe Caissie etc, some wild cards like McGeary, Mervis etc
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That's the most likely scenario. If they can find a 4 WAR player at a position we need that's ready to play next year then sure, but it probably doesn't happen. Why is a win-now team trading. Mlb-ready assets? Doesn't matter because they very likely aren't going to trade him because it makes little sense at this point.
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Far better than the other FA SS though. I would take offers and trade him for basically nothing and be happy moving Hoerner to SS simply based on the fact that Swanson is only going to get older. Not terrible to keep him though for the next year or 2. Try Morel at 2b.
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If the Cubs want to compete next year you keep Nico. He can always be traded next deadline or 2025/26 offseason if Shaw/Triantos show they can hit in the MLB. We also still need a 3b, which they would provide.
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Lefty righty platoon
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On pace for about -3 war. That's 5 wins difference at catcher alone. I doubt they'll be that bad in the 2nd half though. Amaya isn't good but he's not this bad most likely. At best he's probably a backup catcher. His defense and throwing came better advertised.
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Yes. There will be lots of SP on the FA market in Dec
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Taillon has some control left which will help us. Not expecting a ton, we see
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I'm not saying the Cubs are the 98 Yankees. But 98 Yanks didn't have a single 30 HR hitter on that team or a traditional middle of the order star slugger even in that HR era. They had a lineup filled with good productive hitters and few if any black holes, sort of in the vein of the Cubs in the 2nd half of last year. Yanks did have guys who had high averages which helped raise the slug and OBP. Not going to have a team of guys hitting for that high average any more. Having a league average 3b and catcher would nab us another 3-4 wins alone at this point in the season, and 6-7 wins over a full season, that's how bad catching and 3b has been, catching is on pace for -3 WAR, and an effective pen would add more wins. Maybe enough for a playoff birth. Prospects like Caissie, PCA, Shaw, Horton etc reaching the MLB full-time would add surplus and free up cash for us to upgrade at other positions,, including someone like Soto. Trading one of Happ/Suzuki, Taillon, maybe Nico in a year or will nab more prospects to the system.
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Bernie Williams, Jorge Posada, Jeter, Paul O'Neil, Tino Martinez, Scott Brosius, Chuck Knoblauch, etc Who was the star slugger in the middle of that lineup? End of the day the team totals are the only thing that matter. How you skin the cat can vary. A team filled with good hitters with a lack of glaring holes can still win.
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Some things are Jed's fault, but I agree some things aren't. No FO exec has a crystal ball to predict every unpredictable bad season. from his players Sometimes stuff just happens. Run this season back 10 times and we'd get 10 different results.
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Absolutely. 3b, catcher, and the pen are massive problems. Morel has negative WAR. Catcher is around -1.5 right now. Everyone would love to have Soto but he doesn't fix our other fundamental problems and isn't a magic bullet. The difference between Soto and e.g. Happ is will be around 3-4 WAR. At this pace the difference between our catchers and league average catching over a full season is 5 WAR.
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We traded for prospect Michael Busch and he contributed immediately. May not be possible on all trades but it's possible. We don't know the offers Jed had from 2021. If we're selling then Taillon absolutely needs to be on the block since he's very replaceable any winter. By Opening Day 2025 we need to acquire at least 2 SP to replace Taillon (if traded), Hendricks, and Smyly, we need a catcher and probably a 3B if Morel doesn't improve dramatically from his crappy replacement level performance, we need multiple quality BP arms including someone good enough to close. They could use a quality bat somewhere. It's maddening this franchise continues to throw so many millions every year at talent with pretty obvious mostly fringe tools like Smyly, Hendricks, Mancini etc.
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And then pitchers adjusted lol
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Agree. I'm sure they'll be talking to teams and scouting systems
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This is a logical stance for them at this point. No reason to jump the market
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Hendricks IL?
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Yeah i agree.
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Cool idea
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I really like the Phillies post-hit celebration routine.
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Can't hit, can't throw, can't field, can't run
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Only if the Cubs decline a more expensive team option after 2025. The way the contract is written, even if he's really bad or really good, it seems there's a pretty low chance he leaves before end of 2027. I think it protects the Cubs by giving him a lower minimum, but if he proves he's good they can unlock an extra year through 2028 plus it gives him a raise on all his years. Here's the contract terms. It's complicated and hurts my brain: https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/player/_/id/86203/shōta-imanaga
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Wonder how the Cubs will hit against an actual good SP if they can't hit the mediocre ones.
