Don't they have to blow it up?

[bamainatlanta]

Speaking of blowing it up, at one point this season, the Dbacks were 15-13. Now they are 20-46

 

[Steve_A]

Do you all think the team can catch the brew crew?

 

[bamainatlanta]

Do you all think the team can catch the brew crew?

No

 

[CSF77]

Do you all think the team can catch the brew crew?

1 vs LAD
3 Vs MIL
3 VS CIN
4 VS PHI
3 VS STL

TBH they could get into a mini run and then get to full strength at the ASG.

MIL
1 VS COL
3 VS CHC
4 VS PIT
3 VS NYM
4 VS CIN

They both have cheese going on pre ASG. Mets are the hardest team to beat. So the 3 game series will dictate the pace.

Brewers will have Peralta Woodruff and Burnes.
Cubs should counter with Hendricks, Davies and Arrieta.

Good match ups.

 

[Raskolnikov]

The Team is winning a bit lately but they've

1 Traded away Darvish who has a 1.75 ERA this year last year
2 Can't re-sign Bryant who probably would like to go somewhere else at this point
3 Rizzo as well considering the negotiations so far
4 Is Javy even worth resigning?
5 Contreras needs to be resigned for the lack of backstop prospects but does he want to stay?

It'll probably be a long long rebuild if these guys go but will the team be able to keep them even if they wanted to?
And does the team want to begin out with?

What do you all think?

Totally agree. Nuke it or at least microwave until it splats.

 

[Discus fish salesman]

1 vs LAD
3 Vs MIL
3 VS CIN
4 VS PHI
3 VS STL

TBH they could get into a mini run and then get to full strength at the ASG.

MIL
1 VS COL
3 VS CHC
4 VS PIT
3 VS NYM
4 VS CIN

They both have cheese going on pre ASG. Mets are the hardest team to beat. So the 3 game series will dictate the pace.

Brewers will have Peralta Woodruff and Burnes.
Cubs should counter with Hendricks, Davies and Arrieta.

Good match ups.

Cubs might not score a run vs Milwaukee in this series

 

[SilenceS]

Cubs might not score a run vs Milwaukee in this series

Good chance brewers won’t either. Their offense is one of the worst in the league. Everyone in the central has problems. No one is clear cut

 

[Discus fish salesman]

Good chance brewers won’t either. Their offense is one of the worst in the league. Everyone in the central has problems. No one is clear cut

The issue is I'm not buying this year for a chance at the playoffs. If they have a legit world series chance, them sure go for it. But I'm sick of depleting the minors for 1st round exits if they make it. Especially when at seasons end we have no idea what is happening with this roster

 

[knoxville7]

Good chance brewers won’t either. Their offense is one of the worst in the league. Everyone in the central has problems. No one is clear cut

yeah, but yelich has hit .250 with 5 homers this season. If he wakes up, they could run away with the division

 

[Discus fish salesman]

yeah, but yelich has hit .250 with 5 homers this season. If he wakes up, they could run away with the division

I think Yelich best chance of waking up is if they let him start stealing signs again.

 

[CSF77]

The issue is I'm not buying this year for a chance at the playoffs. If they have a legit world series chance, them sure go for it. But I'm sick of depleting the minors for 1st round exits if they make it. Especially when at seasons end we have no idea what is happening with this roster

If they go buyers.

1st they are getting Duffy and Hoerner back.

David most likely will run:
Joc LF
Bryant CF
Contreras C
Rizzo 1B
Duffy 3B
Baez SS
Heyward RF
Nico 2B

So I don't see Jed going after a bat. He will have Wisdom and Happ freed up for trades. And it might be smart to pack them up for a rental. A team might buy into Wisdom and believe Happ just needs a change in atmosphere.

 

[CSF77]

If they go sellers.

They have to market Bryant, Rizzo and Kimbrel. All 3 will be hot tickets.

To back fill they have to push Happ into CF and Wisdom at 1B.

Relief core promote Leeper and let David play with the 9th and stick with the stable arm.

Baez I just don't see teams parting with anything worth the trade. Story will be the big ticket SS.

 

[CSF77]

But trade chip values:

Wisdom: 1.1 fWAR
Happ 0.3 fWAR

This would be the get rid of a big contract to get control. IMO late bloomers like Wisdom burn out fast. So sell fast. Happ will rebound. But he needs a balanced line up to work in. Cubs have too much swing and miss going on to allow a struggling player to take up PA's.

Bryant 3.1 fWAR leads the hitters. I wouldn't expect much back. He could get a 50 rated prospect but I wouldn't get my hopes up. but his Off is at a 14.5 so a team might just need the bat and don't care.

Rizzo 0.8 fWAR. I see this as a D upgrade to a AL team to shift their hitting 1B to DH. It would be for D vs O. Thus a meh return. I wouldn't expect more than a 45 grade player.

Baez has 1.54 fWAR. Better than I expected. His HR's are getting the love. His D has 3.8 value.

Kimbrel is at 1.7 fWAR. #2 behind Hader in fWAR. So I could see a over pay on him. Closers are at a premium in the play offs.

So my final thoughts are let this series play out. Gauge the market as a buyer or seller based off the series. Seller start taking bids for Kimbrel. Bryant I expect to pick up near the dead line. A middle of the order is normally a secondary concern to teams. Injury will always change this and a team like the White Sox might become potential buyer for a hitter. Injury to Roberts and Eloy opens a spot for Bryant.

Shoot I could see Jed trying to pry Vaughn and Jonathan Stiever (50 rated RHP in AAA) for Bryant and Kimbrel. Vaughn is a 1B which is locked by Abreu. Vaughn would slot in LF for the Cubs and Joc moves to CF. Next year he goes to 1B.

Sox get a 8-9 shut down tandem. a needed power bat to replace the injury loss. And losing Bryant is not a huge loss due to Eloy and Roberts returning next year.

 

[Steve_A]

Well looks like the narrative has flipped again to dismantle but what do you all think?

 

[CSF77]

Well looks like the narrative has flipped again to dismantle but what do you all think?

After this run yes.

ASAP Bryant and Kimbrel.

Wait til ASG Davies and Rizzo.

Give QO Baez

Extend: Contreras and Duffy maybe.

DFA Jake.

That is all they really need to do. There will Stull be games to play and next year is not magically going to disappear. Happ should get a min upgrade in Arb. Bote is a good filler and can man 2B if Baez turns down the QO. Nico moves to SS then. Wisdom is a good filler 1B for a year or more.

I see it as the next wave starts with Marquez and Davis. Neither are in Iowa. So there is no major rush to make a splash right now.

So when those two are ready then I expect Jed to go into buyer mode again. Until then it is more so keep the truck chugging.

 

[Steve_A]

Will Jed be around to see that though.
This team could tank for quite a while dude.

 

[CSF77]

Will Jed be around to see that though.
This team could tank for quite a while dude.

Maybe. Like I've said for a while. The Cubs need to be self supportive in pitching. This year the switch has flipped. So I would use the next year and a half to get Alzolay, Steel, Thompson and Marquez adjusted. They have Kyle and he is a poor man's ace. That is what they need.

The rest IDK to be honest. I would keep Duffy around. Most teams have offered him coaching gigs. They need a guy who knows how to make contact around.

My breaking point with Jed is that he puts metric guys in as hitting and pitching coaches. They need to have hands on guys. Sure it worked when they had a established team. It will not work while self developing a rotation and line up.

So in that sense they need a new direction. They need more baseball minds vs Stat heads making the decisions.

 

[JP Hochbaum]

The Cubs don't have to be bad with this rebuild.

Right now the trade market is quite slim, so what Hoyer can do, is what he did in the Darvish trade. Instead of getting top 100 prospects he got guys that were too young to be ranked that high, but could develop into top 100's. WE can continue to load up on those guys and give us that wave of talent in 5 years from now.

So say we trade guys that can bring a return: Bryant, Baez, Rizzo, Kimbrel

That still leaves us with a division contender if we fill their departures with some midlevel contact hitting free agents next year. I don't see them spending big but getting guys on 1-2 year deals as placeholders for the farm


1b - Wisdom
2b - Hoerner
SS - Semian, Simmons
3b - Bote
OF - Heyward, Happ, Peterson, MArisnick, FA's
C - COntreras

Obviously this lineup above won't scare anyone, but the idea isn't to win a WS in the next year or two, but to stay close to the top of the division, so that when we can compete again we can spend big in 1-2 years and still have a decent team to watch. And in 1-2 years those guys that we picked up in trades can be off loaded for other holes to fill.

 

[Steve_A]

The Cubs don't have to be bad with this rebuild.

Right now the trade market is quite slim, so what Hoyer can do, is what he did in the Darvish trade. Instead of getting top 100 prospects he got guys that were too young to be ranked that high, but could develop into top 100's. WE can continue to load up on those guys and give us that wave of talent in 5 years from now.

So say we trade guys that can bring a return: Bryant, Baez, Rizzo, Kimbrel

That still leaves us with a division contender if we fill their departures with some midlevel contact hitting free agents next year. I don't see them spending big but getting guys on 1-2 year deals as placeholders for the farm


1b - Wisdom
2b - Hoerner
SS - Semian, Simmons
3b - Bote
OF - Heyward, Happ, Peterson, MArisnick, FA's
C - COntreras

Obviously this lineup above won't scare anyone, but the idea isn't to win a WS in the next year or two, but to stay close to the top of the division, so that when we can compete again we can spend big in 1-2 years and still have a decent team to watch. And in 1-2 years those guys that we picked up in trades can be off loaded for other holes to fill.

This lineup you posted does not look good compared to other teams dude.
STL should be a better then they are now and the Brew Crew will be good for a while as well with their pitching.
I also think that going half way into anything isn't a good either in a sense of draft picks.

 

[JP Hochbaum]

This lineup you posted does not look good compared to other teams dude.
STL should be a better then they are now and the Brew Crew will be good for a while as well with their pitching.
I also think that going half way into anything isn't a good either in a sense of draft picks.

Yeah I didn't say or imply that it was good, just that with the right free agents we can stay competitive in the division, not saying we would win it.