Jump to content
North Side Baseball

Illiterate Scholar

Old-Timey Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    530

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 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 Pick Tracker

Blogs

Events

Forums

Store

Gallery

Everything posted by Illiterate Scholar

  1. Illiterate Scholar
    Yep, double ear flaps and Pumas, that's Bellhorn
  2. Illiterate Scholar
    I kind of hate the idea of Brown starting in the minors, which it seems like he will. I mean on some level, with the current roster the way it is and having minor league options, I get it. (Can we go back in time and not sign Rea?). But sometimes it feels like the minors are thought of as some magical place where everyone is always healthy and are guaranteed to get their ABs and innings. I just don't like him wasting bullets in AAA.
  3. Illiterate Scholar
    Yeah and it'd help offset the 2nd and 5th round losses. Given where we are in the calendar, I wouldn't expect a good major leaguer in return for Nico if he's traded before the season.
  4. Illiterate Scholar
    I'll be surprised if Brown opens the season at Iowa, or for that matter, if he spends any non-rehab time there during the season. Especially with Jed on a hot/warm seat.
  5. Illiterate Scholar
    Sasaki's tremendous injury risk combined with the low monetary cost seems like it shouldn't affect the plans really at all. I guess maybe it'd make Jed less willing to give up the necessary prospects for someone like Lopez if he lands Sasaki? I don't know if I actually believe that though.
  6. Illiterate Scholar
    I'd be very surprised if Seiya gets traded this offseason. Though I do feel like if we manage re-sign Tucker (I don't love those odds), he'll get traded next winter. The Seiya stuff overall is kind of interesting. Like when everyone involved was talking about how great Imanaga's transition went in all phases this past year, I felt like there was always a subtext of comparing it to Suzuki's transition of being "eh, fine I guess." I don't know, I hope the trade rumors and DHing don't make things too weird because I'm a big fan of his game, and he's obviously a very important player for this team.
  7. Illiterate Scholar
    In theory, it's very possible for everyone to get plenty of starts and we're paying the manager a lot of money (relative to other managers) to figure things out. That said, these are still human beings, and at the Happ/Suzuki/Bellinger level of player, I'm not sure that's a setup they'd be happy with. We've already heard a little of that with Seiya and I suspect he'll get more starts in the outfield than what would make sense on paper. I also think it's moot and Bellinger will be traded any day/minute.
  8. Illiterate Scholar
    Kaplan also mentioned the Cubs' interest in Luzardo on his podcast. Seems like there's smoke.
  9. Illiterate Scholar
    Our best player since prime KB. I wonder if he'll get any run in CF vs lefties/certain matchups
  10. Illiterate Scholar
    I suspect Paredes and Bellinger will have very good 2025 seasons; those are great fits for those two teams. Still I love this
  11. Illiterate Scholar
    Me reading Tom's posts and fully comprehending the 1.0 and 2.0 like it's normal is a real "go touch grass" moment for myself.
  12. Illiterate Scholar
    Jed's doing a bit with the football analogies right?
  13. Illiterate Scholar
    For me, it's less about not having faith in Jed, though I'm OK if this is a make or break year for him. My frustration is that it seems apparent he has to move salary to accomplish what he wants to do this offseason. And it's not like we're talking about Preller or Dombrowski, so what he's looking to do in the first place is likely nothing wild.
  14. Illiterate Scholar
  15. Illiterate Scholar
    This could be correct. It would make some sense. However, to me, this also has the air of "Certainly they wouldn't pick up Hamels' option if it they know it'll take them out of the Harper sweepstakes." Like all of this would make more sense if Alcantara or Caissie were coming off a 1.000 OPS stint in AAA, but neither are truly forcing the issue as of yet. The fact that Mr "it's about years not dollars" is working hard to trade a good player under contract for only 2 more years, when he's not shopping at the top of the market anyway, has my eyebrows raised. I fear that $50M budget that's been thrown around here and elsewhere will end up not being accurate. I also don't want to make too much out of a player of Tauchman's caliber, but releasing him to save $3M is....odd.
  16. Illiterate Scholar
    Sharma mentioned a week or two ago in their podcast that the Cubs would be looking for a veteran backup catcher, but he also said something about trading for a prospect with upside as an idea. Now that Jed picked up a 2nd/3rd catcher type and retained him, it has me wondering if he'll do something a little more creative than Jansen or Kelly. I was thinking something like Alcantara for Dalton Rushing. Similar to last year's trade. They'll likely be ranked close to each other on prospect lists, though we'd probably have to throw in another decent piece since Alcantara only has one option year left. Seems like the Dodgers would have more use for a CF than C in the near or even long term and the opposite for us.
  17. Illiterate Scholar
    Has the official list of teams that went over the CBT threshold in 2024 been released to the public yet? I'm guessing the teams know by now but just curious.
  18. Illiterate Scholar
    I'm very OK with this. It's more money than his replacement would cost, but Jed was in all likelihood going to be staying in the Oneil/Santander/Lowe level of player and Cody is just as likely to have the best all around 2025 as any of those guys. With this decision and because the FA pitching is pretty good, I wonder if prospect capital will be used to trade for a catcher.
  19. Illiterate Scholar
    Mooney and Sharma mentioned in their podcast yesterday that they are less sure that Bellinger will opt out now. They said a week ago they were more confident in the opt out but something might have changed. Didn't sound super confident either way though.
  20. Illiterate Scholar
    I expect that this offseason I'll like each move individually but will end up feeling a bit underwhelmed when it's over. That's the Jed experience.
  21. Illiterate Scholar
    With Nico's status potentially in doubt to start the year, I'll predict Brandon Lowe will be a Cub. He makes sense even if Nico were perfectly healthy, but this adds to it. That said, it would 100% have to come via trade which we could obviously do.
  22. Illiterate Scholar
    Brett pointed this out in his article but in the Cubs' press release of Ballesteros winning the org's minor league POY, he's listed as 19 years old. That's in all likelihood just a typo right? Or is it possible his listed birthday is wrong?
  23. Illiterate Scholar
    I'm not super surprised Hoyer seemed to indicate he expects Bellinger to opt out but interesting nonetheless. I've actually come around to hoping he doesn't, as I think he's likely to have a better overall 2025 than his replacement, whether that person is a RF or DH.
  24. Illiterate Scholar
    Everyone's favorite 4+ win shortstop doing it all!
  25. Illiterate Scholar
    Jesus, get a grip Phlly fans with all the booing
×
×
  • Create New...