Illiterate Scholar
-
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
-
Could very well just be negotiating through the media, but if the Yankees are actually moving on from Bellinger, I have a hard time believing he's getting 5/150 (if that offer is true) from a team that doesn't play in Yankee Stadium.
-
Listening to Sharma and Mooney, they make it seem like Bregman is the target. A little unclear how much was just opinion. They mostly poo poo'd the other big 3 options.
-
I'm not ready to put Alcantara in the Almora role quite yet. He's young and talented enough where I'd rather him start the year in Iowa to see if he can figure out those righty breaking balls a little better and maybe play a bigger role in 2027.
-
Cerami also mentioned that he heard the Cubs felt like they were close to an Imai deal before he signed with the Astros. I was dismissive of Imai in the other thread because 3/60 (even with opt outs) told me the Cubs must not have loved him. I still think that's probably true, but I'm a bit troubled then that they apparently thought he was going to be their main SP addition. Perhaps I'm just undervaluing the deal he got from his perspective. It certainly has a chance to payoff if he's good.
-
The Marlins have a lot of talented young pitchers, and say what you want about the Cubs' farm system, but what they can offer is MLB ready pieces (which is different than the Baz deal). Trading someone like Cabrera might be less about selling and more about getting a bat or two and maybe another pitcher that could also contribute in 2026. It does seem like they don't want to trade Sandy.
-
Thinking about other pitching options, it wouldn't surprise me if Boras is able to get Gallen an opt out after year 1 (though theoretically a little harder to do with the QO attached). I know style wise we'd prefer a different look, but I also wonder if we don't hear a little about the Cubs interest in Ranger Suarez soon; he likely won't need an opt out and Jed is, shall we say, not scared away from soft tossers like other teams might be (meaning there could be precious value in the deal). Also I guess I'm now interested to see where Okamoto goes. Signing him and moving Caissie to the Marlins either in a package for Cabrera or more straight up for one of their other pitchers could make sense. This path (especially the non Cabrera pitchers) doesn't align as much with what Jed has said about their intentions but ultimately they're going to look for "value."
-
I'm picturing the 2026 game threads if the Cubs had managed to sign Imai and he put up numbers similar to the STEAMER projections
-
Guys he got less money than Shota. The Cubs didn't not sign him because they wasted resources elsewhere.
-
That price tells me that Hoyer wasn't really waiting on Imai and has probably always been more focused on other options, likely Boras guys with no deadline.
-
Reading the quotes, I'm not sure the url matches what he literally meant, especially when factoring in translation. But I bet Boras didn't love the openness and tried to clean it up at the end.
-
There's also situations like the one the Cubs might currently be in where their top 3 FA choices are represented by the same agent.
-
While we're all waiting on Imai for what seems like a natural fit, it'd be kinda funny if it was Bregman that Jed is truly focused on right now. The vibe from the Athletic guys and I guess Kaplan is that the Cubs might not love Imai so maybe that is what is really happening. I have concerns that 12-18 months of the 36 months of team control over Cabrera will be spent with him rehabbing from TJS, but we know the Marlins like Caisse (who is probably more valuable than he was last off-season?) so that fit has also always made sense.
-
If I'm Bethancourt, I would've held out for more of a ranch style contract.
-
Say what you will about Cerami, but he is clearly very well connected. When he said the Cubs were still involved with high end relievers after Maton, I do wonder what changed. Maybe they originally felt confident they were gonna trade for a SP and now are only in on a FA? Maybe they view Bregman as more realistic now? Because if they trade for a SP like Gore or Cabrera and don't sign Bregman, they'd start the season at least $30M under the first threshold. The large expenditure has to be coming soon.
-
We'll hear about the Padres needing to clear money for a few weeks, then they'll give Tucker $475M to play LF
-
Maybe this will look silly very soon, but I predict his contract ends up surprisingly "low". I also wonder if the confusion around whether he's done his visits yet or not is because teams aren't viewing him as a full formal visit, get out the red carpet, have dinner at Steve Cohen's house kind of player.
-
I wouldn't think so, at least not right away. If he's on the 40 man, he has to be in the majors given his service time unless I'm missing something.
-
Breaking down the phrasing of a Bruce Levine tweet is always a tricky game. But also where we are in the calendar, I'd kinda hope the answer is yes.
-
Cubs sign lefty reliever Hoby Milner
Illiterate Scholar replied to Bertz's topic in Chicago Cubs Talk
I would've preferred Leiter at 3M as a LHH out-getter but sure, this guy is useful. -
Cabrera is exciting but man that September elbow injury scares the heck out of me for someone whose trade price will be high (I understand he did come back for a few starts).
-
I no longer have a subscription but based on the headline of a Mooney article up today, this doesn't seem dead.
-
I know it's Bob but it'd be weird to be this wrong on something so specific. I wonder if he won't end up being right.
-
I won't pretend to be an expert on why but apparently he is a unique situation and will have a 4th option year, the last year being 2026.
-
I predict Jed leaves Wednesday talking about the "productive conversations" and "groundwork" and people will have thoughts. In all seriousness, I'd be curious to learn how close this FO views Imai and, say, King. Like is there still a chance they could sign King any day now for the right deal, or are they waiting to woo Imai.
-
I wonder if the Dodgers would be interested in Taillon (assuming we do add another mid/top rotation pitcher)
