Belli signs!

[JP Hochbaum]

3 years at 80 million total.

First two years at 30 million with opt outs for Belli, last year is 20 million. Great contract for the Cubs, IMO.

 

[knoxville7]

That doesn’t math up. It’s 3 years 80 mil

 

[Diehardfan]

I heard opt out potential after two. Fair would be mutual outs...if he does well, he could go FA again....if he's a bust, Cubs can dump him.

Might be the first...maybe the only time I applaud Hoyer. I asked for three guys, Belly, Neris and Hader. He got two...good job.

 

[JP Hochbaum]

That doesn’t math up. It’s 3 years 80 mil

Ugh, fixed it

 

[SilenceS]

Its a beautiful contract.

 

[knoxville7]

This is why you wait out a boras client. Cubs executed beautifully, as they didn’t want to tie themselves to Belli on a long term deal

Got him on a 3 year deal, that will most likely be a 2 year deal

Cubs have lots of OF prospect depth coming, not having an aging massive contract eating up one of the OF spots in a few years is huge

Let’s hope he doesn’t have a massive regression

 

[CSF77]

I'm expecting Happ, PCA and Suzuki in the OF with Belligner rotating all 3 via the DH.

I also see Wisdom and Tauchman on the team as they are used to bench roles.

In Iowa we can expect a OF of Davis, Canario and Caissie. All 3 need full time play.

Over all I am fine with the resigning. The DH was open anyways and this makes sense.

 

[TL1961]

I see a lot of fan reaction on Twitter saying the Cubs "beat the evil Boras".

I think this is a good deal for both sides. Boras would never acknowledge someone else got the best of a deal, and frankly you don't want him feeling he got a bad deal.

I was willing to see the Cubs commit more years to Belli than most people were, but I understand the concerns, and I am also fine with the structure of this deal. It may very well be 1 year. If Belli has the kind of year he had last year, he likely will opt out again, but for that to happen the Cubs also benefit.

As @SilenceS said, it's a beautiful contract.

Now go throw some cash at Jordan Montgomery or Blake Snell.

 

[bears5150]

I would feel a lot better if they went and got Snell. I think we could use a top of the rotation vet

 

[beckdawg]

i'm curious if anyone else has this take.... so presumably the reason belli had issues with teams was his numbers were iffy analytically because his hard hit rate. What i'm curious about is if he tries to improve that but in return hurts his performance because of it. I guess either way he has the opt out guarantee to cover his down side but it was something that came to mind as to why he only got this

 

[wonky73]

Wow, his market must have been lower than expected. Nice sign

 

[CSF77]

I see a lot of fan reaction on Twitter saying the Cubs "beat the evil Boras".

I think this is a good deal for both sides. Boras would never acknowledge someone else got the best of a deal, and frankly you don't want him feeling he got a bad deal.

I was willing to see the Cubs commit more years to Belli than most people were, but I understand the concerns, and I am also fine with the structure of this deal. It may very well be 1 year. If Belli has the kind of year he had last year, he likely will opt out again, but for that to happen the Cubs also benefit.

As @SilenceS said, it's a beautiful contract.

Now go throw some cash at Jordan Montgomery or Blake Snell.

I doubt that they go over the first tax hit.

I feel pretty good with Wicks as the #5. His changeup is a great pitch and he spent the off-season working on a slider grip that works with his arm angle.

Spending $$$ doesn't make sense in the rotation. Wicks is a high floor guy with upside. I personally expect him to become a force in the rotation

I liked the Cody deal as he can opt out after year one which is perfect as it gives time for development.


I'm pretty sure that Cody told Scott to take a deal with Jed. It is solid for him as 80M is great cash and 30M this year is far more than expected. Plus it drops the Q offer post Diamond TV deal has time to stabilize

 

[TL1961]

#5?

What about 3 and 4?

There’s plenty of room for improvement.

 

[CSF77]

#5?

What about 3 and 4?

There’s plenty of room for improvement.

Steele
Taillon
Imanaga
Hendricks
Wicks

And they will need a 6th man at times for Imanaga's adjustment from a 6 man to a 5 man. They have Assad and Smyly around for spot starts

Hayden might end up in Iowa starting as Council has said that he believes in his stuff and he would be stretched out to start again.

Payroll will be at 232M and tax is at 237. So Jed would have blow the top off of it to sign any of the remaining Boras 4.

So I don't see it as a thing.

So if they need a starter mid season. They have internal options. Hayden, Brown and Horton.

They could use their OF Iowa depth to trade for a starter. This is a good option. White Sox and Cease come to mind and they can look to extend after


So they have options outside of blowing the top off of the tax hit. Mid season and they are poised to go deep into the play offs then yes I can see a trade and not absorbing the whole year hit on the player.

 

[TL1961]

They need better Day 1, not midseason.

My grandma can hit Taillon.

 

[CSF77]

They need better Day 1, not midseason.

My grandma can hit Taillon.

#lies

 

[CSF77]

Pre asg 3-6 6.15 ERA

Post ASG 5-4 3.70 ERA.

So he improved. And he said around the Yankees game he stopped looking at metrics and went back to feeling the game more. His numbers went back to his career numbers after.

So no grandma would go into ICU with a 95 MPH heart attack

 

[CSF77]

Should call him "Code Blue" after smoking ya granny out.

 

[JP Hochbaum]

i'm curious if anyone else has this take.... so presumably the reason belli had issues with teams was his numbers were iffy analytically because his hard hit rate. What i'm curious about is if he tries to improve that but in return hurts his performance because of it. I guess either way he has the opt out guarantee to cover his down side but it was something that came to mind as to why he only got this

His hard hit rate was down because he switched to a contact approach at two strikes. So he traded fewer strikeouts for softer contact.

 

[JP Hochbaum]

Steele
Taillon
Imanaga
Hendricks
Wicks

And they will need a 6th man at times for Imanaga's adjustment from a 6 man to a 5 man. They have Assad and Smyly around for spot starts

Hayden might end up in Iowa starting as Council has said that he believes in his stuff and he would be stretched out to start again.

Payroll will be at 232M and tax is at 237. So Jed would have blow the top off of it to sign any of the remaining Boras 4.

So I don't see it as a thing.

So if they need a starter mid season. They have internal options. Hayden, Brown and Horton.

They could use their OF Iowa depth to trade for a starter. This is a good option. White Sox and Cease come to mind and they can look to extend after


So they have options outside of blowing the top off of the tax hit. Mid season and they are poised to go deep into the play offs then yes I can see a trade and not absorbing the whole year hit on the player.

Yeah they aren't in a for sure window yet to be signing someone. They have to be sure things at the trade deadline to add more salary. I am feeling good about this team being playoff contenders, and being incredibly deep. We have injury proof everywhere.