Cubs hire Craig Counsell as manager

[knoxville7]

Let me help you out here.

“I was wrong about Ross. You were right. Have a nice day.”

Try it. You’ll feel better.

Except I wasn’t. The cubs this year exceeded their win total and thus exceeded expectations under Ross. Thus, I and most here defended the job Ross did. Sorry that you cannot grasp that

Congrats on being your usual delusional self!

 

[knoxville7]

Live feed of @JustinSteeleCyYoung right now over pretending most here thought Ross was a better manager than counsell, even though nobody here has ever said such a thing

 

[JustinSteeleCyYoung]

View attachment 32203

Live feed of @JustinSteeleCyYoung right now over pretending most here thought Ross was a better manager than counsell, even though nobody here has ever said such a thing

Actually what I said is Ross mismanaged the lineup and the bullpen and even the starting rotation in September (there was zero reason for Marcus Stroman to be starting games or really pitching at all when he was supposedly injured and absolutely one of the worst pitchers in the league in the second half)

I also said his complete collapse would force the Cubs to find another manager.

You disagreed on both of those points.

As proven today, I was right. Or more accurately, Jed Hoyer believes I was right.

Have a nice day!

 

[Bust]

Holy Moly Guacamole! My GAWD, cubs set the new pay scale for managers

----

The longtime Milwaukee Brewers manager was lured to Chicago with a record-setting five-year, $40 million contract, sources familiar with the deal told ESPN.

The previous high average annual value for a manager was Terry Francona with the Cleveland Guardians at $4.5 million.

 

[knoxville7]

 

[JustinSteeleCyYoung]

Except I wasn’t. The cubs this year exceeded their win total and thus exceeded expectations under Ross. Thus, I and most here defended the job Ross did. Sorry that you cannot grasp that

Congrats on being your usual delusional self!

Haha. You think the Cubs would spend $40,000,000 on a manager if they believed they had a good manager.

Today’s move proved conclusively that the Cubs believed they had a problem at manager.

Sorry you were wrong. Continue humiliating yourself though. I enjoy it.

 

[Castor76]

If cubs are truly going to be this aggressive, you’ve got to think anything is on the table, as @Chicagosports89 said

Can’t rule out a trade for Soto and a trade for Alonso even

So what’s your dream offseason? Not what you think will happen, but all out scenario(within some realm of possibility)

If I'm reading Spotrac correctly, Cubs have about 76.5M before the CBT. Re-signing Bellinger is my #1. Would prefer 6 years but go 8 if it keeps him out of NY or SF. 27.5M AAV. Getting Soto pretty much means either Happ or Suzuki would have to agree to a trade to another team as well, so I'll stay away from that for this.

Trade for Pete Alonso - Baseball Trade Values says Alonso for Mervis straight up is a fair trade. Maybe toss is a Rule 5 possible player. Estimated payroll for Alonso is 22M.

Trade Wisdom, Smyly, and 4M to Oakland for Basso - Frees up 7M on the CBT and lets Morel slot in as the most likely DH bench power bat if he can't be adequate defensively at 3B.

Get one of the top 4 SP FA who isn't Ohtani, hopefully on a 4Y120M or less deal. That leaves 4M before the CBT.

Get David Robertson on a 2Y20M deal to solidify the pen. Brandon Belt for 4M to be the LH Bench bat.

Line up

Tauchmann DH
Hoerner 2B
Bellinger CF
Alonso 1B
Suzuki RF
Happ LF
Swanson SS
Morel 3B
Gomes C

Bench - Madrigal, Mastrobouni, Amaya, Belt

Rotation

Steele
Nola
Taillion
Hendricks
Wicks

Pen - Alzolay, Robertson, Leiter, Merryweather, Assad, Little, Cuas, and whichever guys they will rotate to be innings eaters.

Only about 10M over the CBT with about 35M coming off after the 24 season. IF PCA is great in AAA, move Belli to 1B in 25 or think about moves to keep Alonso if he works out.

Crazy would be trying to add Hader as well at 20M AAV and not care about the CBT the next few years.

 

[knoxville7]

If I'm reading Spotrac correctly, Cubs have about 76.5M before the CBT. Re-signing Bellinger is my #1. Would prefer 6 years but go 8 if it keeps him out of NY or SF. 27.5M AAV. Getting Soto pretty much means either Happ or Suzuki would have to agree to a trade to another team as well, so I'll stay away from that for this.

Trade for Pete Alonso - Baseball Trade Values says Alonso for Mervis straight up is a fair trade. Maybe toss is a Rule 5 possible player. Estimated payroll for Alonso is 22M.

Trade Wisdom, Smyly, and 4M to Oakland for Basso - Frees up 7M on the CBT and lets Morel slot in as the most likely DH bench power bat if he can't be adequate defensively at 3B.

Get one of the top 4 SP FA who isn't Ohtani, hopefully on a 4Y120M or less deal. That leaves 4M before the CBT.

Get David Robertson on a 2Y20M deal to solidify the pen. Brandon Belt for 4M to be the LH Bench bat.

Line up

Tauchmann DH
Hoerner 2B
Bellinger CF
Alonso 1B
Suzuki RF
Happ LF
Swanson SS
Morel 3B
Gomes C

Bench - Madrigal, Mastrobouni, Amaya, Belt

Rotation

Steele
Nola
Taillion
Hendricks
Wicks

Pen - Alzolay, Robertson, Leiter, Merryweather, Assad, Little, Cuas, and whichever guys they will rotate to be innings eaters.

Only about 10M over the CBT with about 35M coming off after the 24 season. IF PCA is great in AAA, move Belli to 1B in 25 or think about moves to keep Alonso if he works out.

Crazy would be trying to add Hader as well at 20M AAV and not care about the CBT the next few years.

First off, thanks for getting this thread back on track

2nd, I would honestly say instead of Nola getting Hader. I think we need a veteran, dominant arm in the pen more than we do in the rotation. Which is weird to say, cuz you always need more starting pitching traditionally

 

[Chief Walking Stick]

If I'm reading Spotrac correctly, Cubs have about 76.5M before the CBT. Re-signing Bellinger is my #1. Would prefer 6 years but go 8 if it keeps him out of NY or SF. 27.5M AAV. Getting Soto pretty much means either Happ or Suzuki would have to agree to a trade to another team as well, so I'll stay away from that for this.

Trade for Pete Alonso - Baseball Trade Values says Alonso for Mervis straight up is a fair trade. Maybe toss is a Rule 5 possible player. Estimated payroll for Alonso is 22M.

Trade Wisdom, Smyly, and 4M to Oakland for Basso - Frees up 7M on the CBT and lets Morel slot in as the most likely DH bench power bat if he can't be adequate defensively at 3B.

Get one of the top 4 SP FA who isn't Ohtani, hopefully on a 4Y120M or less deal. That leaves 4M before the CBT.

Get David Robertson on a 2Y20M deal to solidify the pen. Brandon Belt for 4M to be the LH Bench bat.

Line up

Tauchmann DH
Hoerner 2B
Bellinger CF
Alonso 1B
Suzuki RF
Happ LF
Swanson SS
Morel 3B
Gomes C

Bench - Madrigal, Mastrobouni, Amaya, Belt

Rotation

Steele
Nola
Taillion
Hendricks
Wicks

Pen - Alzolay, Robertson, Leiter, Merryweather, Assad, Little, Cuas, and whichever guys they will rotate to be innings eaters.

Only about 10M over the CBT with about 35M coming off after the 24 season. IF PCA is great in AAA, move Belli to 1B in 25 or think about moves to keep Alonso if he works out.

Crazy would be trying to add Hader as well at 20M AAV and not care about the CBT the next few years.

Bellinger is a FA

 

[oso4lyf]

Does this mean the Cubs trade all their assets for prove it now or bring them up?

 

[Castor76]

First off, thanks for getting this thread back on track

2nd, I would honestly say instead of Nola getting Hader. I think we need a veteran, dominant arm in the pen more than we do in the rotation. Which is weird to say, cuz you always need more starting pitching traditionally

I almost went with that in the immediate. The idea of foregoing adding a SP and focusing on solidifying the pen is intriguing. Almost go at it like the Royals in 2015 with the idea of if you weren't in front of them by the 6th, you were losing because their pen was so dominant. If a team's starters only averaged 5 1/3 IP per start, that would be 863 1/3 IP for the starters. 9 teams did that last year. Ironically, the Cubs BP was 12th fewest in IP this last year. Get 5 guys they trust to be lock down along with a rotation of guys who can shuffle from MLB and AAA to be bad start innings eaters and just ask the starters to get you into the 6th and not necessarily through it.

 

[Castor76]

Bellinger is a FA

That would be why I said "re-sign" him. If he signs with the Cubs after having signed with them this past season, that's re-signing him.

 

[Chief Walking Stick]

Lol if that was going to happen he wouldn't be testing FA

 

[Castor76]

Lol if that was going to happen he wouldn't be testing FA

Of course he'd still test FA. Why not get a few free trips and dinners? But if the Cubs offer him a 27.5M AAV deal, the Giants would have to offer 32.45M AAV and the Yankees would have to offer 33.55M AAV to just match the post tax income of a salary. Even if it's just about the money, those teams would have to pay him a lot more just to cover his taxes. If it's about winning as well, what suitor offers Bellinger the best chance to get to the post season?

The question was what would be my ideal offseason, not what I thought would happen.

 

[TL1961]

Fact check: The first 20 dislikes between our accounts were you disliking mine.

Sorry you were wrong about David Ross. I figured you’d be used to this, you’re wrong about almost every sports take I’ve ever seen you have on this forum. You could just listen to people who know what they’re talking about rather than being so bitter.

Best of luck, little man.

Grow up.

 

[knoxville7]

Cubs definitely need to find a middle of the lineup left handed bat, whether it’s Bellinger or Soto or someone else

 

[Discus fish salesman]

Cubs definitely need to find a middle of the lineup left handed bat, whether it’s Bellinger or Soto or someone else

Whatd be ideal is adding Jose ramirez and either Soto or keeping bellinger. Then adding a BP arm like Hader.

 

[knoxville7]

Whatd be ideal is adding Jose ramirez and either Soto or keeping bellinger. Then adding a BP arm like Hader.

I’m into that!

Can Soto play 1st? lol

 

[Castor76]

I’m into that!

Can Soto play 1st? lol

One thing about trading for Ramirez is unless Cleveland is really desperate to shed payroll, he'd cost a lot in prospects and players.

 

[Diehardfan]

They got three Gold Glovers.....I would love to add another in Bellinger (2 Pos). To say nothing of THE left handed bat they are in need of. I mean if they are gonna spend the money, I'd love to see him over anyone in Cubby blue. I don't think Alzolay can be counted on to close.....so I'd pass on Soto and help SD get out of debt by taking Hader off their hands. I'm sure Counsel would buy into that....he rode Haders coattail for years.