Looking into 2022..

[Diehardfan]

You want them to win, they lose. You want them to lose, they win.

**** this team.......

 

[CSF77]

You want them to win, they lose. You want them to lose, they win.

**** this team.......

 

[Bust]

1 to 2 year deal signings, try to flip them at the deadline, season the kids in the minors another year, and see what offers are out there for Contreras and Hendricks. If one is too good to pass up, take it. That's what the plan will be in the offseason.

Cubs have some pieces. Schwinn is looking good over clubhouse cancer Rizzo. Ortega and Mandrigal at the top 2 spots in the batting order next season . . . WOW! Supplement the middle of the lineup with Correa / Seager? woah.

Land 2 starting arms in free agency and the Cubs win the division next season.

 

[CSF77]

Cubs have some pieces. Schwinn is looking good over clubhouse cancer Rizzo. Ortega and Mandrigal at the top 2 spots in the batting order next season . . . WOW! Supplement the middle of the lineup with Correa / Seager? woah.

Land 2 starting arms in free agency and the Cubs win the division next season.

Don't get me started. I'll look like a fish flopping around on the deck.

That is a potential scenario. Schwindel and Ortega might be gems uncovered.

I have been conservative with my opinion post deadline due to the report that Tom might end up repaying off debt due to lost revenues over a year and a half. And I get it if that is the case.

But on the flip side Jed was willing to offer deals to all 3. So even if it was lowball offers it is still money willing to spend.

So a reserved opinion is 120-130M. Jed will be allowed to spend in that range.

What he does in anyone's guess. But I personally feel that if you can save resources at a position you do it.

Payroll:

Heyward 23M
Hendricks 14M
Contreras A3 Est 8M
Happ A2 Est 6M
Holder A3 Est 800K
Ortega Arb1 1mil IMO
Schwindel Arb1 1-3 Mil IMO
Wisdom Arb1 1-3 Mil
Mills pre arb.
Wick per arb
Heuer per arb
Alzolay pre arb
Hoerner pre arb
Madrigal pre arb


What makes the most sense is replacing the instability created in the pen. Wick and Hauer are stepping up. Megill is a poor man's set up. Wieck was lock down as a left handed set up. But you want more depth. Brothers is a resource waste. The rest can be hosed out. Let other teams deal with their issues.

Rotation wise 3 out of the 5 should stick. Thompson and Mills should go back to the pen. That leaves 2 openings.

Now this is where we can argue. The team above would cost what? 70M tops. Add a 3 pen arms. 2 lefties and 1 RH set up. 15 Mil

Leaves 2 SP.

I would target Daniel Norris for a lefty. If he falls short he can be moved to the pen when Marquez is ready. He is 29 and not many miles on his arm. 979 IP over 10 years of combined service.

Aaron Sanchez 29 YO Around 1170 combined innings. He has been pitching sense 17 in professional baseball. So around 12 years of service.

Both of these guys have never established themselves as a TOR. Sanchez had a strong 2016 but have never reproduced that season.

So both would be buy low options. This would be a faith buy seeing that they both have more to give and the coaches feel that a make over might get a another Gausman.

But again being conservative I can see Jed risking 1 on a rework. The other as a established TOR.

Norris makes sense then. Jed might get him for 3/15-20M. He falls back to an extra lefty pen arm which is a weakness.

Gausman should end up as the big winner this year. Stroman falls into the 2nd place winner. Thor can't throw breaking pitches right now. So he is in effect a 2 pitch pitcher. It is a bit of a risk but I can see the Mets taking a discount to resign him on a 1 year. Most teams will shy away.

Jon Gray is another potential. I could see Jed making that risk. He has gone that road before with ex-Rockies where other teams might view him as a bad investment.

 

[CSF77]

Jed asked for a tank. But instead got a Frank.

7 in a row and the Frank rolls on

 

[CSF77]

To be honest. I feel leaving the year on a good note is better than playing for a draft pick.

A pick affects the team in 3-5 years depending on who is selected. If that person makes it through the grinder.

Going out strong puts the team in a situation that they are looking at adding contract to strengthen the team

To be honest Frank Schwindel is a gem right now. I'll bet that the A's are kicking themselves about right now. This run could have been pushing them forward into the post. Instead they kicked him out for the Cubs to pick up for nothing.

Damn I'm pretty much down with the cast off crew. This shit is great.

 

[Castor76]

Jed asked for a tank. But instead got a Frank.

7 in a row and the Frank rolls on

It's like Major League. They're staying just competitive enough to frustrate the fanbase with a not as good draft slot. The Cubs were 7-21 at one point after the trades, but with these past 7 wins, they are actually only 1/2 further back of a wildcard spot than they were when the trades happened.

Baseball be crazy.

 

[TL1961]

It's like Major League. They're staying just competitive enough to frustrate the fanbase with a not as good draft slot. The Cubs were 7-21 at one point after the trades, but with these past 7 wins, they are actually only 1/2 further back of a wildcard spot than they were when the trades happened.

Baseball be crazy.

The fact that all the wild card contenders are struggling has something to do with that.

San Diego seems deterined to play their way out, yet who can take that second spot? Cincy? Get serious. Philly? Maybe. Mets? They blew another 9th innning lead today. Cards? Please...they're barely over .500. (Their loss Sunday after leading 5-1 in the 9th was glorious!)

 

[CSF77]

I'm just glad that the Cubs are playing better with less talent right now.

Out of this mess we got Frank the Tank and now Justin Steel is turning into a solid starter.

I could see Jed getting a bit crazy this off season. To keep line up balance after Davis comes up they will need another left handed bat. The top hitter will be Seager. 3B Wisdom is expendable. If the DH sticks then they can push Mad there as his D is meh and then move Nico back to 2B. I prefer the DH as a rotation spot for fielding days off vs true days off. A stationary DH is a resource waste.

 

[Bust]

It's like Major League. They're staying just competitive enough to frustrate the fanbase with a not as good draft slot. The Cubs were 7-21 at one point after the trades, but with these past 7 wins, they are actually only 1/2 further back of a wildcard spot than they were when the trades happened.

Baseball be crazy.

It's okay, Cubs have over 100 million to spend in free agency and the 2022 class is crazy good.

 

[CSF77]

It's okay, Cubs have over 100 million to spend in free agency and the 2022 class is crazy good.

50 is more likely. I can see Tom spending 50M on back debt.

He needs to add for sure but they have a decent core right now and just need to add vs rework it

15M into the pen.
20M into the rotation.
15M into the line up is a expectation.

Targeting one guy at 30M is not going to happen. If it was then Bryant would be on the team still.

 

[JP Hochbaum]

Don't get me started. I'll look like a fish flopping around on the deck.

That is a potential scenario. Schwindel and Ortega might be gems uncovered.

I have been conservative with my opinion post deadline due to the report that Tom might end up repaying off debt due to lost revenues over a year and a half. And I get it if that is the case.

But on the flip side Jed was willing to offer deals to all 3. So even if it was lowball offers it is still money willing to spend.

So a reserved opinion is 120-130M. Jed will be allowed to spend in that range.

What he does in anyone's guess. But I personally feel that if you can save resources at a position you do it.

Payroll:

Heyward 23M
Hendricks 14M
Contreras A3 Est 8M
Happ A2 Est 6M
Holder A3 Est 800K
Ortega Arb1 1mil IMO
Schwindel Arb1 1-3 Mil IMO
Wisdom Arb1 1-3 Mil
Mills pre arb.
Wick per arb
Heuer per arb
Alzolay pre arb
Hoerner pre arb
Madrigal pre arb


What makes the most sense is replacing the instability created in the pen. Wick and Hauer are stepping up. Megill is a poor man's set up. Wieck was lock down as a left handed set up. But you want more depth. Brothers is a resource waste. The rest can be hosed out. Let other teams deal with their issues.

Rotation wise 3 out of the 5 should stick. Thompson and Mills should go back to the pen. That leaves 2 openings.

Now this is where we can argue. The team above would cost what? 70M tops. Add a 3 pen arms. 2 lefties and 1 RH set up. 15 Mil

Leaves 2 SP.

I would target Daniel Norris for a lefty. If he falls short he can be moved to the pen when Marquez is ready. He is 29 and not many miles on his arm. 979 IP over 10 years of combined service.

Aaron Sanchez 29 YO Around 1170 combined innings. He has been pitching sense 17 in professional baseball. So around 12 years of service.

Both of these guys have never established themselves as a TOR. Sanchez had a strong 2016 but have never reproduced that season.

So both would be buy low options. This would be a faith buy seeing that they both have more to give and the coaches feel that a make over might get a another Gausman.

But again being conservative I can see Jed risking 1 on a rework. The other as a established TOR.

Norris makes sense then. Jed might get him for 3/15-20M. He falls back to an extra lefty pen arm which is a weakness.

Gausman should end up as the big winner this year. Stroman falls into the 2nd place winner. Thor can't throw breaking pitches right now. So he is in effect a 2 pitch pitcher. It is a bit of a risk but I can see the Mets taking a discount to resign him on a 1 year. Most teams will shy away.

Jon Gray is another potential. I could see Jed making that risk. He has gone that road before with ex-Rockies where other teams might view him as a bad investment.

You contradict yourself again. You seem to think we need to spend a ton on our bullpen when we likely don't. In your own post:

You have a bag end of Megill, Rodriguez, Wick, and Hauer, and you're adding Thompson and Mills to it. That is almost an entire bullpen, which doesn't include likely call ups. So I doubt we have to spend there as we only have one opening and out 7,8,9 likely locked up, which is where big spending typically happens.

Where we severely lack is TOR, and our team can't afford to wait for 2023, hoping one will be there. They have to attack that this off season. Now if we go with your plan and move Thompson and MIlls to the pen, then we have one slot left for starting pithching. Signing one TOR at 20-30 million a year puts us around 80 million next year.

Position player wise, we then sign a few one year flip guys, and a stud, which puts us at 120-130 million.

 

[Raskolnikov]

Man...this is great. This forum is my new comedy club.

You guys actually think you have a chance to be decent next year and your owner will spend money.

This season is just developing the book on your supposed "gems," let's see how they do in a full season playing meaningful games.

 

[Diehardfan]

Man...this is great. This forum is my new comedy club.

You guys actually think you have a chance to be decent next year and your owner will spend money.

This season is just developing the book on your supposed "gems," let's see how they do in a full season playing meaningful games.

Whats great is that there are actually fans here posting. Why don't you try and populate the dead Sox forum....they actually have a pretty good young team and still nobody cares. A weak troll job over here won't change that.

 

[Discus fish salesman]

Whats great is that there are actually fans here posting. Why don't you try and populate the dead Sox forum....they actually have a pretty good young team and still nobody cares. A weak troll job over here won't change that.

Hey! They have a post on their forum in the last two weeks. That's excitement for them

 

[CSF77]

You contradict yourself again. You seem to think we need to spend a ton on our bullpen when we likely don't. In your own post:

You have a bag end of Megill, Rodriguez, Wick, and Hauer, and you're adding Thompson and Mills to it. That is almost an entire bullpen, which doesn't include likely call ups. So I doubt we have to spend there as we only have one opening and out 7,8,9 likely locked up, which is where big spending typically happens.

Where we severely lack is TOR, and our team can't afford to wait for 2023, hoping one will be there. They have to attack that this off season. Now if we go with your plan and move Thompson and MIlls to the pen, then we have one slot left for starting pithching. Signing one TOR at 20-30 million a year puts us around 80 million next year.

Position player wise, we then sign a few one year flip guys, and a stud, which puts us at 120-130 million.

I said 15M. That is a set up and 2 lefties.

That is not at ton.

Say that Jed offers Rodon 6/120. I think that is a strong offer for a gamble. Opt out on each side after 2.

That pushes Thompson into 2 inning work.

Rodon
Hendricks
Alzolay
Steel
Mills

MR
Thompson

Set up
Wick
Hauer
Weick

This team is not qualified for a major spending on a closer. But Megill is rolling out a ERA in the 8's. That doesn't give him shit. He has to go into spring on the bubble and kick in the door.

Maples. Why the duck is he still a Cub?

We can go on but if they are using youth then it has to proven youth. Not filler. Filler is fine for injury depth. Rolling out filler on opening day Jed should be ***** slapped for it.

 

[Discus fish salesman]

I said 15M. That is a set up and 2 lefties.

That is not at ton.

Say that Jed offers Rodon 6/120. I think that is a strong offer for a gamble. Opt out on each side after 2.

That pushes Thompson into 2 inning work.

Rodon
Hendricks
Alzolay
Steel
Mills

MR
Thompson

Set up
Wick
Hauer
Weick

This team is not qualified for a major spending on a closer. But Megill is rolling out a ERA in the 8's. That doesn't give him shit. He has to go into spring on the bubble and kick in the door.

Maples. Why the duck is he still a Cub?

We can go on but if they are using youth then it has to proven youth. Not filler. Filler is fine for injury depth. Rolling out filler on opening day Jed should be ***** slapped for it.

You had Maples as part of the future somewhat recently. Winds mustve changed

 

[Diehardfan]

You had Maples as part of the future somewhat recently. Winds mustve changed

Classic windsock......



BTW, the Cub's next ace is out again with a bad shoulder.......but yeah, be a Ryan Pace.....go out and sign him.

 

[CSF77]

You had Maples as part of the future somewhat recently. Winds mustve changed

AAA he was running a 8+ ERA. So post blister he goes back to the guy that can not figure it out again.

He was drafted the same year Javy was. He has had enough time to figure it out.

 

[Discus fish salesman]

AAA he was running a 8+ ERA. So post blister he goes back to the guy that can not figure it out again.

He was drafted the same year Javy was. He has had enough time to figure it out.

Agreed. This is more of a you issue. You flip flop each time someone has a good appearance