Nolo

Morejon is an elite arm

Shota will end up on the white sox and be a top 5 candidate for Cy Young with our luck.

My take on some guys: Michael Busch: he’s still relatively young. I think he just had a down year. He’s our first basemen. Conforto; I don’t think he will be super expensive. He’s getting older and the market will know him as a failed dodger and a cubs platoon guy. if we add legit arms for the rotation and pen we could be looking at PCA, Conforto, and Shaw/Ramirez OF. Conforto has also DH. See below. Clay Holmes: we should re-sign him to have that veteran leadership and depth. He still has some good seasons left in him. Gausman: bet he retires, or signs a 1 year deal with Toronto. He gone either way. Ben Brown: may have to put him in the bullpen because of his neck flare ups but we really need him in the rotation. I just don’t trust that neck over the course of a season. Edward Cabrera: he’s not going anywhere, he needs to figure his blister thing out but he’s going to be in the rotation to start the season. Justin Steele; as far as I’m aware he had no setbacks in his rehab starts. I expect him to be ready to go opening day.. SP depth: Bring back either Peterson or Boyd. Turn them into long relief Rea type guys if the rotation is set opening day, but if the stuff hits the fan with injuries we have options because we need SP depth. We need to have at least 6 solid starters going into the season because you can count on 2 of them getting hurt. The big focus needs to be landing Morejón as a free agent. Give him whatever he wants. I’d be okay with losing Suzuki if we can secure Morejón. I wouldn’t be mad with a bullpen of Morejón, Zeferjahn, Palencia, Miller, maybe Brown. If Jeds serious get Skubal and Morejón, or King and Morejón. Maybe one of those Padres coming to the Cubs would sway the other idk. From Jed’s interview these are the vibes I got: - Happ is more realistic to return than Suzuki. Although Suzuki is the guy we’d want. Honestly though he seems to be talking up Shaw and Ramirez and I bet one or both of them is in the OF. If we add some elite arms to the rotation and bullpen I’ll take Shaw/Ramirez in a corner OF spot and Conforto in the other. Mix and match. But we would be losing a LOT of middle of lineup power in Happ/Suzuki in this case so that needs to be considered. Shaw/Ramirez are 10-15 HR guys max. - it seem like any money that will be spent, will be spent on the bullpen and pitching. I sure hope that’s true.

We really need to do what we can to secure Suzuki imo. I know he can be frustrating but when you look back at his numbers over the past few seasons, that’s massive production that would be lost. Any other big market fan base would be very happy to land him.

Pitching needs to be the focus. Injured Players: We need Steele and Brown to be healthy and Horton to come back at some point later in the season. New Free Agents: Need to pick up at minimum one guy for the rotation, a 1 or 2 guy. Skubal would be great but that’s a pipe dream. Michael King has a player option for $28M so he will probably stay with the padres. Need 1-2 elite relief pitchers. The guy who stands out is Morejón from Padres. If we don’t get him then the offseason is a failure. Current Guys: Should re-sign Holmes or Gausman. I think Holmes has a player option but idk if either of these guys will want to return after this disaster end. Holmes didn’t even get an inning in Wild Card series. i am not ready to give up on Cabrera yet either. He’d make a solid 4-5 guy if he can figure it out. Rotation 1. Free Agent 2. Steele 3. Brown 4. Holmes 5. Cabrera 6. Horton in the mix if he’s back Top pen guys: Morejón, Palencia, Zeferjahn, Miller, Rolison, etc. Hopefully 1-2 elite additions. Position Players 1B - Busch 2B - Hoerner SS - Swanson 3B - Bregman OF - PCA OF - Suzuki OF - Taylor / Conforto / ??? C - Ayers DH - ???