2019-20 MLB Hot Stove thread

[SilenceS]

You can be currently broke while not being broke overall.

If Theo knew they had to slash payroll and get under the luxury tax, that still makes them currently broke. And he wasted a lot of money to get to this point, even likely knowing this point was coming. That ain’t smart.

Yes, winning a ship was never the smart idea. It’s 2020. Be better

 

[kerrywoodwins20]

Yes, winning a ship was never the smart idea. It’s 2020. Be better

No one argues with Theo’s ability to turn a franchise around from the bottom up. Sustaining that success though, he’s never done that in his career. And it’s obvious why.

Most of the bad decisions have come after 2016. Starting with trading so much equity for Quintana, a pitcher who’s numbers were noticeably declining for a few years in a row.

I don’t blame him for decisions that were smart at the time, like Heyward. But most of the moves that have crippled this team were bad decisions at the time they were done.

 

[Castor76]

The Cubs were epic level bad at lead off last year, yet they had a good offense. They ranked 10th in Runs Scored, 5th in the NL, 8th in OBP and OPS, 4th in the NL. At lead off, they ranked 26th, 30th, and 29th in those categories. NL average OBP was .330. If the Cubs got even .320 versus the .294 they got in 2019, they could have a top 5 offense.

I'm hearing complaints about it not being addressed, but who are they supposed to get who's going to be a sure thing versus what's in house? Short of going with Rizzo, I think they'll go with a combination of Happ, Bote, and Hoerner.

 

[TL1961]

Bote gets a bad wrap for some reason, but his bat is league average with his terrible year against lefties. He hit righties well. He has great exit velocity on his bat and seems to be a later bloomer. He isnt a scrub, but he isnt Bryant. He could easily start for teams.

His bat is league average and his D is below average.
That is why he gets a bad rap.

 

[Discus fish salesman]

His bat is league average and his D is below average.
That is why he gets a bad rap.

To be fair, I think if he started a full season, his bat would be well below league average too

 

[SilenceS]

His bat is league average and his D is below average.
That is why he gets a bad rap.

His D is not below average. Its s false statement. He plays multiple positions. He is a better D third baseman than Bryant. Also, his bat is actually above league average and against RH was a serious plus. He had a bad year against lefties like the rest of the team.

 

[SilenceS]

To be fair, I think if he started a full season, his bat would be well below league average too

Yes, over an .800 OPS against righties shows he would be below league average if he started full time.

David Bote 2024 MLB Splits - ESPN

View the 2024 MLB season full splits for David Bote of the Chicago Cubs on ESPN. Includes full stats per opponent, and home and away games.

www.espn.com

 

[SilenceS]

No one argues with Theo’s ability to turn a franchise around from the bottom up. Sustaining that success though, he’s never done that in his career. And it’s obvious why.

Most of the bad decisions have come after 2016. Starting with trading so much equity for Quintana, a pitcher who’s numbers were noticeably declining for a few years in a row.

I don’t blame him for decisions that were smart at the time, like Heyward. But most of the moves that have crippled this team were bad decisions at the time they were done.

He won two in Boston and his drafts set up a third ship. You are talking nonsense. Theo makes mistakes and he has had some bad signings plus a bad trade. Its called sports.

 

[Discus fish salesman]

Yes, over an .800 OPS against righties shows he would be below league average if he started full time.

David Bote 2024 MLB Splits - ESPN

View the 2024 MLB season full splits for David Bote of the Chicago Cubs on ESPN. Includes full stats per opponent, and home and away games.

www.espn.com

If he ever is a starter the majority of the year and plays at a similar rate I’ll gladly admit I’m wrong. But I’m pretty certain that won’t happen, likely because teams realize he’s not an everyday player and won’t use him that way

 

[CSF77]

Bote:

BB%:%/ SO: 26.1%
.257/.362/.422

D wise: 3B was a 0 DRS. League avg D. 2B 4 DRS.

I would prefer them keeping Bryant and making Bote the starting 2B. See if a team will pay more mid season for him or just extend Bryant.

Trading him IMO is pointless unless they can get a top 100 prospect in return.

Braves Waters would have to be the main return with a pitching prospect or 2 off the 100.

Nationals: Kieboom would have to be the return and then move Baez to 3B.

IMO both moves are just a cost cut and getting out of paying him. Nat's are the easier sell with their history of signing Boras clients. Atl IMO would rather go for Arendo if they are going to pay a top 100.

 

[kerrywoodwins20]

Could we really not afford Shogo? He could be exactly what we need out of the lead off position. Most Japanese hitters keep their plate discipline when transitioning to the Majors. Power, not as clear, but the balls are juiced.

 

[CSF77]

Could we really not afford Shogo? He could be exactly what we need out of the lead off position. Most Japanese hitters keep their plate discipline when transitioning to the Majors. Power, not as clear, but the balls are juiced.

I believe that Happ ends up the starting CF. He proved that he has made the needed adjustments to stick.

 

[fatbeard]

Could we really not afford Shogo? He could be exactly what we need out of the lead off position. Most Japanese hitters keep their plate discipline when transitioning to the Majors. Power, not as clear, but the balls are juiced.

He'd be 32 and the Cubs are heading into a transition season, maybe two. What would be the point?

I believe that Happ ends up the starting CF. He proved that he has made the needed adjustments to stick.

And he proved this during his whole 64 innings at CF last year?

 

[CSF77]

He'd be 32 and the Cubs are heading into a transition season, maybe two. What would be the point?



And he proved this during his whole 64 innings at CF last year?

He has 814 innings combined. And his over all is a -3.

At the end of the day it will end up best O starts and best D closes games. Everything else is bull shit.

 

[CSF77]

I see the biggest question going in being if they trade Bryant or not. So when his grevance is final then we will see what they do.

 

[fatbeard]

He has 814 innings combined. And his over all is a -3.

At the end of the day it will end up best O starts and best D closes games. Everything else is bull shit.

https://library.fangraphs.com/defense/drs/

 

[CSF77]

The other thing to remember is that DRS isn’t going to work well in small sample sizes, especially a couple of months or less. Once you get to one and three-year samples, it’s a relatively solid metric but defensive itself is quite variable so you need a good amount of data for the metrics to become particularly useful. There’s plenty more to say about this issue, but that’s for another entry. In general, DRS isn’t perfect because it doesn’t factor in shifts, positioning, and can’t perfectly measure everything it needs to, but it’s still among the best options out there

 

[CSF77]

I didn't post a 64 game sample. I said over his MLB exposure he is -3 runs saved compared to a avg MLB CF in 814 innings.

So he is not killing them out there as long as the bat justifies it.

So not sure on your point here? CF is a O void and D only position?

 

[kerrywoodwins20]

I see the biggest question going in being if they trade Bryant or not. So when his grevance is final then we will see what they do.

Trading Bryant now is stupid. See how the team responds to last year’s failure and his value will be more or less the same at the trade deadline, and a contender might get desperate and overpay at the trade deadline.

 

[beckdawg]

Sounding like washington is likely to miss out on Donaldson. Also sounds like Atlanta is in the pole position. Were that to come to pass, I'd be happy with Bryant for Jackson Rutledge and Victor Robles. I imagine there'd be more moving pieces involved but those are two names from the Nats that I'd want the most.

I also saw a suggestion I thought was interesting and that was including Happ going to Washington. The idea was Bryant and happ for Robles, Kieboom, Tim Cate and Austin Voth. Voth I wouldn't mind as a 5th starter throw in type piece. Cate I'm more meh on. I'm also kinda meh on Kieboom despite his prospect status. He's probably a 2B and while he can hit just feel like he's not the right fit for the cubs. As mention, I'd rather have Rutledge who looks like he could potentially turn into a 6'8 monster starter. He already sits 95-98 and has a extremely good slider.

IDK how I'd feel about Robles and Rutledge for Bryant and Happ. Feels like cubs are giving up too much but then that probably means it's fair as I know nats fans don't want to give up Robles. There'd obviously be more filler in there than that but I think I could be ok with trading Bryant if the cubs came away with those two pieces.