mk49

Speaking of HR/9 at Wrigley this year. I remember Counsell said the wind was blowing out, pretty much every time Shota pitched. That was in June or July. Here's HR/9 (min. 20 innings pitched) Thielbar 2.39 Jamo 2.33 Thornton 1.99 Gausman 1.95 Cabrera 1.89 Shota 1.71 (1.62, if you don't count the inside the park HR, which was Pete's screw-up) Boyd 1.63 Rea 1.60 That's a lot. If it's going to be similar next year, it'd make a lot of sense to re-sign Peterson (0.96 HR/9) and Holmes (0.38 HR/9). And, surprised to find that Shota wasn't half bad. He just pitched a lot more innings than others.

Just found that Mize gave up 13 HR's in 44.2 innings (2.65 HR/9), after the trade. He'll fit right in.😁

We actually don't see many of them bunt.😁 In the last 2 seasons, I saw Pete, Happ, Amaya and Shaw (who sucked at it) bunting. But, that's about it.

Yeah, I think we need 3. In addition to re-signing Peterson, I want one of King, Peralta, Taira or Holmes. Then, trade for one more SP. We just have too many wild cards, like Steele, Brown, Cabrera, Garrett...

Is Kelly overrated, and/or Amaya underrated? One of the podcasters said out of all the Cubs free agents, re-signing Kelly should be the top priority, which I don't get. An article graded Kelly B+ and Amaya C-, and said "Kelly shines, Amaya struggles". Their wRC+ (both with and without RISP) and fWAR were basically the same in 2026. Defensively, Amaya was rated higher. Kelly was better against LHP's. But, that's about it. Oh, Amaya had higher K%. I'd like to re-sign Kelly at the right price (for the Cubs) for 1 or 2 years (Ayers ready or not), but somebody will outbid the Cubs for sure. I'll miss his baserunning and pitching for sure, though.😄 More than likely, I think we'll get another veteran catcher for less money than Kelly.

Excluding the 1st half of 2025, Boyd wasn't that good (ERA, xERA, FIP and xFIP all over 4.10). He's definitely not worth $23m, IMO. I'm hoping they will sign Peterson for 3yr/$39m. More than likely, he'll pitch better than Boyd. Peralta might take a shorter deal, because he basically sucked this year, except for Sep and the playoffs (so far). Who knows what we'll get? We might be surprised, disappointed or both.😄 Heck, if Shota accepts 2yr/$30m (highly unlikely), I'd take it.

A team without a rotation shouldn't be contending.😁 I've read a few mentioned trading for Kwan. Yes, Nico has the NTC.

Same here. Taira should fit well. Is he going to get a deal like $16~18m AAV for 3~4 years?

No, because Boyd will probably accept the QO. And, I wouldn't like that.

My guess is that Boyd will be worth 1yr/$15m (the same as the mutual option) or 2yr/$26m. So, no QO.

Comparable LHP's like Shota, Steele and Garrett? Boyd is slightly faster than those guys.😄

I agree with you, and nobody is saying the pen is good. But, we have a bigger thing (signing SP's) to deal with before start looking for Morejon or whoever.

Just compare our pen to the SP's, I feel a lot better about the pen.

Yeah, I want to see them beating the Sox, the Dodgers or the Brewers.😄

They do for coaches (or whatever the changes that need to be done), but he was saying finding them, before signing pitchers. They can't wait that long. I would think many good pitchers would be gone by Dec 2nd.