Cubs offseason needs/ Talk

[CSF77]

here’s Mooney:

The Cubs were involved in the negotiations that resulted in Taijuan Walker agreeing to a four-year, $72 million deal with the Philadelphia Phillies. The price of pitching appears to be skyrocketing and the Cubs did not have a single pitcher who exceeded 25 starts or 140 innings this year. Drew Smyly is a free agent. Marcus Stroman can opt out of his contract after next season. Kyle Hendricks got shut down for the second half of this past season. Justin Steele didn’t pitch in September. With all that in mind, the Cubs aren’t done trying to add to their rotation, staying in contact with the representatives for Japanese pitcher Kodai Senga.

 

[SilenceS]

People on twitter reporting Aaron Judge to Yankees. 9 years, 360M. For some reason, I though him to the Giants was a done deal

Pretty fascinating story, he may have just changed the FA game. Seems he was really never going to San Fran and the video of him was a marketing tool to make the Yankees pay him. This as planned by his camp and leaked a bunch of rumors. It ended up with Steinbrenner calling Judge and saying "Do you want to be a Yankee?" Judge responded "Yes, but you have to go to 9 years 360 million." Steinbrenner agreed and they made the deal between them. Seems the Yankees were stuck at 340 million and wouldnt budge until the talk. Judge literally played them for 20 million more.

 

[Discus fish salesman]

Pretty fascinating story, he may have just changed the FA game. Seems he was really never going to San Fran and the video of him was a marketing tool to make the Yankees pay him. This as planned by his camp and leaked a bunch of rumors. It ended up with Steinbrenner calling Judge and saying "Do you want to be a Yankee?" Judge responded "Yes, but you have to go to 9 years 360 million." Steinbrenner agreed and they made the deal between them. Seems the Yankees were stuck at 340 million and wouldnt budge until the talk. Judge literally played them for 20 million more.

I'm not sure that this is anything new. Players use leverage to get the deal they want from who they want every offseason

 

[SilenceS]

I'm not sure that this is anything new. Players use leverage to get the deal they want from who they want every offseason

Not to the extent of the marketing. Players camps spread rumors. Thats nothing knew but this was a whole step by step plan of marketing that he would go to San Fran. It worked so much that Jon Heyman got fooled.

 

[TL1961]

Cubs are more than just a SS away from competing.

I am not expecting a one year contract. C'mon, we know you want to be peeing in the pool, but stop being obtuse.

 

[TL1961]

I'm good where they are at right now.

As is:

Happ LF
Bellenger CF
Suzuki RF
Wisdom 3B
Hoerner SS
Madrigal 2B
Mervis 1B
Gomez C
DH rotational.

Word is Cubs are still in on Senga. If they sign both then they can use some arm depth towards trades.

Over all could be interesting off-season.

I'm not.

 

[beckdawg]

My personal take on the offseason so far as I've not been particularly active here... Bellinger I like a lot. He's an above average defender in CF with the potential to be a big bat. Obviously recently that's not been the case but a big season has been in him previously. And in CF just findings someone who can defend is often enough let alone the potential to hit. Tallion strikes me as the type of pitcher who's underwhelming looking but can be good. Low walk rate guys often don't really pop the way high k rate guys do but look at hendricks. Guy has always been an effective pitcher. If he's healthy i like the signing.

As for the SS... i'm glad the cubs didn't get xander. Unless they were gonna play him at 3B his defense to me was a real worry especially when you consider the downgrade from nico. Tunner i had mixed feelings on. He's an interesting player but he relies so much on his speed and contact which are skills that often don't age well. Dansby i could like but probably not at the price he will get paid. He's a good defender but i question how legit his bat is. But overall to me if you're gonna spend the money correa is the guy.

Oh one more thing on Bellinger that i think is interest. Morel is probably gonna play some CF next year so the ability of Bellinger to slide to 1B is handy. As for going forward, rumors on cubs going for Murphy are interesting to me. Obviously would depend on cost but i like him a lot. And cubs could also probably still use more pitching.

 

[Castor76]

Seeing what Turner and Borgaerts got, you have to figure the market for Correa and Swanson are set in the 9-12 year range and at 25-28M AAV. Maybe a little lower AAV on Swanson. They're basically the same age. Both have had recent GG defense at SS but Correa is markedly better with the bat. I know long deals get horrible in the end, but if the Cubs wanted to take that step, they need to bite that bullet. They still have about 55M before the CBT. About half of that on Correa and you could have a front 6 of Hoerner, Happ, Correa, Bellinger, Suzuki, and Mervis. If they pulled off the Murphy trade and just went with Wisdom at 3B they could look for a .315ish OBP for DH.

 

[CSF77]

I

Seeing what Turner and Borgaerts got, you have to figure the market for Correa and Swanson are set in the 9-12 year range and at 25-28M AAV. Maybe a little lower AAV on Swanson. They're basically the same age. Both have had recent GG defense at SS but Correa is markedly better with the bat. I know long deals get horrible in the end, but if the Cubs wanted to take that step, they need to bite that bullet. They still have about 55M before the CBT. About half of that on Correa and you could have a front 6 of Hoerner, Happ, Correa, Bellinger, Suzuki, and Mervis. If they pulled off the Murphy trade and just went with Wisdom at 3B they could look for a .315ish OBP for DH.

Correa should get 300M
Dansby 200-250M range.

Cubs are still in on Senga. So that might happen.

If Jed gets Senga then he can trade with the A's for Murphy. Jed will have a few chips to toss with the rotation more stable.

I kinda agree with Beck. Correa is a better buy for SS. He is worth 300M.

Cubs pull this off they are a legit threat to STL.

 

[TL1961]

They need to sign Correa. Quickly.

 

[Discus fish salesman]

They need to sign Correa. Quickly.

Yeah honestly the market is crazy and him and Swanson will both get insane contracts, but if you are giving a stupid contract, I'd much prefer it to be a player of correas caliber than Swanson. Probably 10-12 years at 310-350 million at this point

 

[Diehardfan]

The incredibly crazy part is that they theoretically could be paying a 40 year old SS over $30 million a year......WTF.

 

[TL1961]

The incredibly crazy part is that they theoretically could be paying a 40 year old SS over $30 million a year......WTF.

That’s always everybody’s reason for not signing the contract, but what’s the alternative? Some suggest giving him a higher annual value for shorter years but if it comes out to the same total money what’s the difference? 10 years from now 30 million won’t be such a high price.

It’s not simply that Correa is that much better than every other shortstop, that’s not really it. But the Cubs need to make a statement this off-season that they are serious about being a team that matters. San Diego has four guys at this price the Cubs can afford one and they have to do something to become marketable again.

Lots of prospects coming up but somebody’s gotta anchor it and somebody’s gotta kick it off which is why the Lester signing was so huge back at the time.

There’s gotta be some indication that competing is the goal and it starts now versus we’re going to save money and we can have a parade to watch Tommy Ricketts balance his checkbook.

 

[Castor76]

The incredibly crazy part is that they theoretically could be paying a 40 year old SS over $30 million a year......WTF.

Depending on how the contract was set up, it would probably be 25M. Neither Turner nor Borgaerts got 30M AAV deals. Correa getting one is probably not happening but 10-12 years could happen as one team will get desperate for Correa especially. I wouldn't be that mad if the Cubs went 12y/350M. You'd think/hope the first 7-8 or good years and then ride out the latter years. I'd rather it be 340 or right at the 28M AAV but 10M wouldn't break the deal for me.

 

[knoxville7]

My personal take on the offseason so far as I've not been particularly active here... Bellinger I like a lot. He's an above average defender in CF with the potential to be a big bat. Obviously recently that's not been the case but a big season has been in him previously. And in CF just findings someone who can defend is often enough let alone the potential to hit. Tallion strikes me as the type of pitcher who's underwhelming looking but can be good. Low walk rate guys often don't really pop the way high k rate guys do but look at hendricks. Guy has always been an effective pitcher. If he's healthy i like the signing.

As for the SS... i'm glad the cubs didn't get xander. Unless they were gonna play him at 3B his defense to me was a real worry especially when you consider the downgrade from nico. Tunner i had mixed feelings on. He's an interesting player but he relies so much on his speed and contact which are skills that often don't age well. Dansby i could like but probably not at the price he will get paid. He's a good defender but i question how legit his bat is. But overall to me if you're gonna spend the money correa is the guy.

Oh one more thing on Bellinger that i think is interest. Morel is probably gonna play some CF next year so the ability of Bellinger to slide to 1B is handy. As for going forward, rumors on cubs going for Murphy are interesting to me. Obviously would depend on cost but i like him a lot. And cubs could also probably still use more pitching.

Have the cubs said bellinger will play some CF? I figured he would play mostly first base.

Turner is more than a speed and contact guy. He has 124 home runs in his career and his 162 game avg is 24 home runs. He’s got pop in that bat too

 

[SilenceS]

Have the cubs said bellinger will play some CF? I figured he would play mostly first base.

Turner is more than a speed and contact guy. He has 124 home runs in his career and his 162 game avg is 24 home runs. He’s got pop in that bat too

Yes, he is going to be our CF. Mervis is going to get a shot at first and I would assume the Cubs are looking to add another righty power who can play first. Bellinger will probably see some time there over a season but primary CF with Morel probably sliding in if he sits against some lefties

 

[knoxville7]

Yes, he is going to be our CF. Mervis is going to get a shot at first and I would assume the Cubs are looking to add another righty power who can play first. Bellinger will probably see some time there over a season but primary CF with Morel probably sliding in if he sits against some lefties

I would imagine Mervis if he truly can hit at the MLB level, fits in more at DH. Like I’m sure he will play some first base at times, but isn’t Bellinger a really good fielder? I havent heard anything about Mervis’ defense, but I imagine Bellinger is significantly better defensively.

that first base defense will really matter if we end up with one of the SS’s not named Swanson

 

[Discus fish salesman]

I would imagine Mervis if he truly can hit at the MLB level, fits in more at DH. Like I’m sure he will play some first base at times, but isn’t Bellinger a really good fielder? I havent heard anything about Mervis’ defense, but I imagine Bellinger is significantly better defensively.

that first base defense will really matter if we end up with one of the SS’s not named Swanson

I think bellinger is pretty great defensively in cf and at 1b from what I've read. I'll be interested to see whether they bring in a keiermaier type for cf or if they get someone like Mancini or another 1b/dh option. If it's a scenario like that, I'd prefer keiermaier and just have elite defense at important positions.

 

[CSF77]

CF > 1B TBH.

I'm pretty sure that Jed was thinking give PCA a full year to get MLB ready and have a big name guy in CF in 2023.

1B you have to add a RH 1B/DH type to ease Mervis into the league. But Mervis would have to flop to go full tilt and push Belly over.


I honestly doubt that they target keiermaier.

 

[knoxville7]

CF > 1B TBH.

I'm pretty sure that Jed was thinking give PCA a full year to get MLB ready and have a big name guy in CF in 2023.

1B you have to add a RH 1B/DH type to ease Mervis into the league. But Mervis would have to flop to go full tilt and push Belly over.


I honestly doubt that they target keiermaier.

Why is CF>1B?

First basemen have waaaaay more opportunities to make plays, or more importantly **** up plays

Remember Dunston throwing to Grace at first? Imagine how bad that would of been if grace wasn’t there?