Now that the season is over

[Diehardfan]

More input from the strait man. Another fan boy that believes that prospects have no trade value unless they are on the top 50. Rest are garbage.

Here is the thing.

Cleveland has been selling off their team. Mkay.

They even took on a D hack from SD and a thug who might end up behind bars on assalt one day in return.

We are talking about a team that does questionable trades as is.

You might want to work on that spelling there, ace. A little less time posting useless gibberish here....I mean you post shit here every damn day and it's barely legible at times. Investing in a life somewhere down the line might be something to look at as well.

Maybe you could trade for one......

 

[CSF77]

Kinda funny coming from a guy who's endorsing the injury prone Ryu as a number 2.

That is a fair assessment but sense 2018 he is 20-8 2.65 ERA over 43 starts. Age 32.
Same span: Hamels: 16-19 3.85 ERA in 58 starts. Age 36.

So move along skipper.

 

[CSF77]

You might want to work on that spelling there, ace. A little less time posting useless gibberish here....I mean you post shit here every damn day and it's barely legible at times. Investing in a life somewhere down the line might be something to look at as well.

Maybe you could trade for one......

I think that your wife is calling for you to go back to scrubbing the floors. Get a move on.

 

[sscubbie]

I agree with you on everything but Zobrist. I know he will be 39, but he is versitile, great clubhouse guy, good veteran prescence.

Sign him for a year and keep him as long as he can hit .250

Are we happy with .250? We have way too many of them now. Can't argue the clubhouse thing though. I think that position is under rated .

 

[sscubbie]

I don't think we should be expecting much out of the two since they weren't really that impressive in the minors as well.

How impressive was Nico in the minors? They got a nobody at the trade deadline who bats .190 and they were ecstatic about it.

 

[sscubbie]

You are riding the pitching a little bit hard, I think. We are losing games 3-2, 2-1, one run games. Manufacture a little offense and poof you are winning some of those games in spite of Kimbrell always giving up one or two runs in relief.

 

[Castor76]

You are riding the pitching a little bit hard, I think. We are losing games 3-2, 2-1, one run games. Manufacture a little offense and poof you are winning some of those games in spite of Kimbrell always giving up one or two runs in relief.

1 run games are generally coin flips and tend to balance out that next year. It's like winning games in the NFL by less than a touchdown. The Cubs are now 19-27 in one run games. If that was just balanced, they'd still be in it. Things like that also tend to sway back the next year. The Brewers have been great in 1 run games the past two seasons.

I'm not against shoring up the offense with a couple of more stable bats. Nico has a minor league total in 89 games of .297/.365/.427. He has a walk rate of about 8% with a SO rate to match.

 

[Steve_A]

This team seriously needs guys like Brantley and Lemahieu that they passed on last year.

Only decent OBP or contact guys out there in the 2020 free agent market are

Joe Panik
Anthony Rendon
Howie Kendrick

talk about a small list...
Situational hitting isn't going to come easy next year either boys...

 

[Steve_A]

Oh yeah we traded away La Stella who fits the mold as well...

 

[CSF77]

1 run games are generally coin flips and tend to balance out that next year. It's like winning games in the NFL by less than a touchdown. The Cubs are now 19-27 in one run games. If that was just balanced, they'd still be in it. Things like that also tend to sway back the next year. The Brewers have been great in 1 run games the past two seasons.

I'm not against shoring up the offense with a couple of more stable bats. Nico has a minor league total in 89 games of .297/.365/.427. He has a walk rate of about 8% with a SO rate to match.

Baez returning should help with the O.

The biggest issue will end up replacing Nick. Either a CF or a RF. And nothing looks good.

Nicholas Castellanos is the best OF going into the market with Yasiel Puig #2.

That is why I did post trading for Lindor and shuffling the pieces. The market sucks for hitting so the best option is to trade or promote.

Pitching is the market's strength.

Gerrit Cole (29)
Madison Bumgarner (30)
Dallas Keuchel (32)
Hyun-Jin Ryu (33)
Zack Wheeler (30)
Alex Wood (29)
Rick Porcello (31)

I wouldn't even bother trying to resign Hamels with that market in place.

 

[CSF77]

I take that back. Brett Gardner (36) I would go after if they sign Joe Giradi. You are going to want to have a player who clicks with him when he comes in. And Brett profiles as a bench presence.

But this year he has put up a 117 wRC+ and 3.7 fWAR. That would be a welcome addition. Crazy thing is 27 HR's which has smashed his 21 previous high.

Now his .254/.330/.507 is not lead off material but it makes for a nice middle of the order bat to replace Rizzo's presence there if he leads off.

I believe that this would be a cheaper answer and would not cost talent to trade for. Basically you use him and Happ for OF flexibility.

 

[greg23]

This team seriously needs guys like Brantley and Lemahieu that they passed on last year.

Only decent OBP contact guys out there in the 2020 free agent market are

Joe Panik
Anthony Rendon
Howie Kendrick

talk about a small list...
Situational hitting isn't going to come easy next year either boys...

Joe panik?

He's had an obp above 350 once....in a year he hit 315 or so.

Last 2 years hes below 320

Nice defense
Decent pop
Bats left handed
But not an on base/leadoff guy

 

[Castor76]

The Cubs are either going to have to go the Rizzo route next year at lead off or make a trade. 2-3 guys need to go via trade just because the clubhouse needs the shake up. Schwarber might be the biggest piece of trade bait on the MLB roster unless they go Bryant.

Gardner's not a bad pick up choice. When not batting lead off this season he has a .275 BA with a .342 OBP.

If he was the lone bat brought in.
Rizzo
Bryant
Schwarber
Baez
Contreras
Gardner
Hoerner
Heyward.

Leave a good deal of money for the pitching staff with a line up that could/should hit 200 HR with some even distribution throughout.

 

[Steve_A]

Joe panik?

He's had an obp above 350 once....in a year he hit 315 or so.

Last 2 years hes below 320

Nice defense
Decent pop
Bats left handed
But not an on base/leadoff guy

Sorry meant obp or contact guy that get's the ball in play.
Think my general statement holds tough.

 

[Fred Garvin]

Get Anthony Rendon or watch someone else get him. The bullpen needs to be nuked. EVERYONE in the pen needs to go. Can't go cheap. INVEST in the pen. It's a huge factor in wins and losses. I love Zach Zademan trying to make a case for Cubs making playoffs. All that has to happen is Brewers lose their remaining 5 games...and Cubs win their next 5. Cubs will most likely go winless the rest of the way, But hey....they clicnched a winning record. So there's that.

 

[Fred Garvin]

Bat wise there's not much out there the Cubs need that's also available. Adam Eaton is about the only lead off option available in FA. He is also a lefty.

Otherwise the only bats I'd be interested in would be wither of the 2 3B so Rizzo could be lead off, if they don't trade for one, and they move Bryant to RF and Heyward to CF.

...just rearranging the seats on the Titanic.

 

[Steve_A]

Baez returning should help with the O.

The biggest issue will end up replacing Nick. Either a CF or a RF. And nothing looks good.

Nicholas Castellanos is the best OF going into the market with Yasiel Puig #2.

That is why I did post trading for Lindor and shuffling the pieces. The market sucks for hitting so the best option is to trade or promote.

Pitching is the market's strength.

Gerrit Cole (29)
Madison Bumgarner (30)
Dallas Keuchel (32)
Hyun-Jin Ryu (33)
Zack Wheeler (30)
Alex Wood (29)
Rick Porcello (31)

I wouldn't even bother trying to resign Hamels with that market in place.

The things that I worry about these guys is

Bumgarner has a 2.80 era at home and 5.29 era on the road
Ryu hasn't pitched that many innings over the years due to injury and age is not on his side
Wood has the same problems as Ryu but he is a bit younger
Procello has been durable but is a guy with a 5.56 era really an upgrade at all

The only guys I think that are worth the money out of the bunch is Cole and Wheeler.

 

[CSF77]

The things that I worry about these guys is

Bumgarner has a 2.80 era at home and 5.29 era on the road
Ryu hasn't pitched that many innings over the years due to injury and age is not on his side
Wood has the same problems as Ryu but he is a bit younger
Procello has been durable but is a guy with a 5.56 era really an upgrade at all

The only guys I think that are worth the money out of the bunch is Cole and Wheeler.

Ryu has been stable sense returning.
Procello has been a even year pitcher now for 5 years. 148-118 4.36 ERA in the AL. That drops a run in the NL. I'm concerned with his 6.6 SO/9. That is not something to invest into.

Ryu has a 2.0 BB/9 and a 8.1 BB/9. You know who has that?
Kyle Hendricks 2.0 BB/9 7.6 SO/9

The top arm regardless if Stras opts out is Cole and he should get near 300M
Wheeler 3.3 BB/9 8.7 SO/9. He is a 80M arm.

So all said and done. If Ryu is undervalued? Good that means discount.

 

[Castor76]

...just rearranging the seats on the Titanic.

You got a better plan or is it just hope and pray from you?

There are very few good bats available this offseason in FA. Rendon is going to cash in, around 30 M AAV. Donaldson is going to get probably 25 or so AAV for 3-5 years. The only person who hits lead off with any kind of good OBP who's also a FA is Eaton.

Cubs could trade Bryant either in a package for an arm or just to re-stock the farm. That would free up about 20 M from next year's payroll. Do that and you have room to go after Rendon. Doesn't fix lead off so you still have that problem. Maybe the Cubs trade 2 yrs of Bryant to Boston for 1 yr of Betts. Because unless you do a couple of massive trades, just about anything is going to be moving the deck chairs. They could just move to re-sign Castlellanos and put out there Rizzo, Castel, Schwarber, Bryant, Baez, Contreras, Heyward, and Nico and have a good line up. Win a series line up? Probably not. Or they could sign Eaton instead and go with Eaton, Bryant, Rizzo, Baez, Schwarber, Contreras, Heyward, and Nico and get about the same results. Or sign Gardner and move Rizzo to lead off, Schwarber to #3, and bat Gardner #5.

Or they can try your "suggestion" of signing Rendon. Either you blow payroll up, which is something I'm not against if you can afford it, or you trade Bryant away to make room. Let's say the Cubs do the latter and trade him mostly for prospects. Let's also say in this fantasy off season the Cubs trade Schwarber, Russell, and other pieces to Cleveland for Lindor and Tyler Clippard. To round it off the Cubs sign Gardner for LF. Now they can put out a line up of Lindor, Rizzo, Rendon, Baez, Gardner, Contreras, Heyward, and Hoerner (playing CF). Defensively, that could be the best infield in baseball.

 

[anotheridiot]

The new manager will know the best choices on the roster to lead off are Baez and Hoerner. This Rizzo shit needs to end. Hippie ball will end. You are being paid to be a middle of the order hitter and drive in runs, not walk and not get driven in.

You are paying Heyward 20 plus million a year and he cant hit in pressure situations. Yeah, great lineups, someone has to hit 7th, but you are not fielding 160 million dollars worth of position players yet.

It all adds up to terrible signings, starting with Heyward, saving dollars passing on the stones of Wade Davis, Chatwood, Darvish, the nose, deciding to pay Strop. its been one bad decision after another.

Theo and Jed seem to be accepting some responsibility by promoting Jason McLeod to the brain trust in free agent signings, I just cannot see any more coming. The only thing we do not know about this roster is how it will play when motivated differently, held accountable, reminded of guessing pitches with two strikes and getting called out. It will probably take a half a year to break this Maddon curse.