Offseason rumors/discussion thread

[Castor76]

And what if Harper is no better than Heyward. He costs more and is a worse defender. Harper is overrated

What's overrated about .290+/.390+/.500+ with runners on? How is it not a major upgrade over what the Cubs are getting from RF now?

 

[CSF77]

And what if Harper is no better than Heyward. He costs more and is a worse defender. Harper is overrated

If Harper tanks like Heyward did in Chi-town then I might agree..

Heyward has continually overthink his swing mechanics. I do not believe that he even has had a stable one ever. All that he brings is plus D. I would rather have 35 HR innRF

 

[Castor76]

Heyward has had 2 season his entire career with more than 15 HR. Harper has 1 with less than 24. As for Harper's defense being worse, Heyward been Gold Glove caliber so just about anybody's going to be worse. Maybe all the time spent in CF instead of RF got in his head. I do know if he just goes back to what he was before his offense makes up for it in spades.

 

[CSF77]

I've always thought Harper is way overrated but in this scenario, I would be pleased. No matter how overrated he may be, I'd still rather have him in right over Heyward. So you rid yourself of Heyward's bad contract, Chatwood's horrible pitching and Russell's awful homelife while getting Harper, hoping Melancon can help you for a year and Martin as your BU catcher. Too good to be true, but when it's too good to be true.......it's probably not gonna happen.

Well the Cubs would have to give up one of their top 3 arms. Lefty in A ball is promising and I could see a few teams looking at a lefty that hits 99. Teams tend to want that.
Like I said if they were to do it with SFG the Giants would have to absorb the diff but get a prospect upgrade. I believe they are at 200MM right now so 7.5 pushes them over. But not a deal breaking amount.

The Tor. Deal back up catcher for a SS and a fringe 5. Honestly that deal favors the Jays. It would just be a bad person/bad performance fir a player bench coach. He fits what the Cubs need. Jays need both. And they have to take issues to move Martin.

Honestly both deals are not too good to be true. More of just get them talking and discussing.

 

[CSF77]

Projected 40-,man CBT Payroll

Top teams:

Red Sox: 240,059,167
Cubs 226,887,143
Yankees: 194,250,000
Nationals: 191,747,709
Dodgers: 181,058,333
Astroes: $169,821,429
Cardinals: 165,593,483
Giants: $164,262,523
Angeles: $160,752,381
Rockies: $154,704,166
Phillies: 145,741,666

 

[Diehardfan]

And what if Harper is no better than Heyward. He costs more and is a worse defender. Harper is overrated

Ok, what if he is? How can he not be? At least he'll hit for power, drive in some runs......what did you call Heyward? Mr. 4-3 or something? Whatever it was, it fit and a good glove doesn't override it.

 

[Omeletpants]

Ok, what if he is? How can he not be? At least he'll hit for power, drive in some runs......what did you call Heyward? Mr. 4-3 or something? Whatever it was, it fit and a good glove doesn't override it.

A lot of "what ifs" in this debate

 

[Castor76]

A lot of "what ifs" in this debate

Well you've certainly provided so much evidence to support your claim that Harper is overrated. In fact, you provided half of those "what if"'s and not much else.

 

[JimJohnson]

Projected 40-,man CBT Payroll

Top teams:

Red Sox: 240,059,167
Cubs 226,887,143
Yankees: 194,250,000
Nationals: 191,747,709
Dodgers: 181,058,333
Astroes: $169,821,429
Cardinals: 165,593,483
Giants: $164,262,523
Angeles: $160,752,381
Rockies: $154,704,166
Phillies: 145,741,666

Rather depressing to be that high and still not have much of a chance to win the WS.

 

[CSF77]

Rather depressing to be that high and still not have much of a chance to win the WS.

I would say 45M of it is dead weight.

 

[CSF77]

A lot of "what ifs" in this debate

To be honest I believe Harper to be a 25M per value myself. Trout is the only player that has proven to be 34M valued. On the other hand Heyward is a 15M player. Neither will equal their contracts.

 

[Castor76]

Rather depressing to be that high and still not have much of a chance to win the WS.

I'd say they have as good a chance as just about anyone else. It's been almost 20 years since a team repeated as Series Champion.

 

[beckdawg]

Rather depressing to be that high and still not have much of a chance to win the WS.

Cubs had a roughly 14% chance if memories serves heading into the playoffs. You can disagree with how that's formulated but people need to step off the fucking ledge. This was the second best team in the NL last year and they literally tied the best team record wise in MIL. Acting as though the cubs have no shot to be good next year is just dumb. If anything a healthy darvish and Bryant probably makes them a 100 win team.

That doesn't guarantee much vs the AL in the world series as I think Boston and Houston are probably better teams by a significant margin but the cubs have just as good odds as any other NL team to get to the WS. Once you're there who knows what happens. 7 games and anything can happen.

 

[JimJohnson]

I'd say they have as good a chance as just about anyone else. It's been almost 20 years since a team repeated as Series Champion.

Respectfully disagree. They will field a good team and anything can happen in the playoffs but there are 3 or 4 teams that I would list as having a better chance at the moment.

 

[JimJohnson]

Acting as though the cubs have no shot to be good next year is just dumb.

Nobody said that.

If anything a healthy darvish and Bryant probably makes them a 100 win team.

Darvish is a BIGGGGGGGGGGG IF. Personally (and you can say I'm on a ledge if you want) I think Darvish is going to be shit again. He's a mental midget so even if is able to overcome his injury (and that's a big if) he will still have his mental demons of thinking Cubs fans hate him.

....but the cubs have just as good odds as any other NL team to get to the WS.

Nah. I'd put the Dodgers ahead (especially if they land Harper and/or Kluber). They won't have Machado but they'll get Seager back.

Brewers are on par with the Cubs.

 

[Castor76]

Respectfully disagree. They will field a good team and anything can happen in the playoffs but there are 3 or 4 teams that I would list as having a better chance at the moment.

Let me guess, Red Sox, Astros, Dodgers, and Brewers. How much better would you say their chances are? Even if Darvish is only 5th starter effective, the Cubs still have 4 other guys to throw and not even use him should they make the playoffs. This team won 95 games using band-aids to keep the staff together from what they expected coming into the season. Maybe 60 games of the years had their top 3 bats in the line up and clicking given what Rizzo dealt with at the beginning and then with Bryant's health issue. Then you add in that they lost both guys they used to close out games.

Every team mentioned above will be tough and we don't know how the rest of FA will shake out. But you said it, anything can happen in the playoffs. The Brewers will have to play a season with expectations. The Dodgers are going to have a make or break feel to them. The Cardinals are almost throwing a hail mary. NL East is wide open.

 

[anotheridiot]

If Harper tanks like Heyward did in Chi-town then I might agree..

Heyward has continually overthink his swing mechanics. I do not believe that he even has had a stable one ever. All that he brings is plus D. I would rather have 35 HR innRF

Thats a pretty tough call to make considering how Harper tanked the year the dollars were only dancing in his head. The pressure of a guys first million dollar contract is pretty big, the pressure of Rizzo and generational wealth is huge, the pressure of multi generational wealth has to be immense. The problem with our sport currently is these players have little to do with the demands of the money, its all the agents. Maybe a Machado is all about a dollar figure, but I believe everything we hear from "Harper" is all Boreass. I think he is a good guy. You take the little things, going to concerts with his friend, did not go out and marry a super model, has favorite sports teams and supports them. Its a shame he is top talent or everyone would probably like him.

 

[SilenceS]

Nobody said that.



Darvish is a BIGGGGGGGGGGG IF. Personally (and you can say I'm on a ledge if you want) I think Darvish is going to be shit again. He's a mental midget so even if is able to overcome his injury (and that's a big if) he will still have his mental demons of thinking Cubs fans hate him.



Nah. I'd put the Dodgers ahead (especially if they land Harper and/or Kluber). They won't have Machado but they'll get Seager back.

Brewers are on par with the Cubs.

Brewers lose ten more games next year. They over achieved and had everything go their way.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Chief Walking Stick]

Brewers lose ten more games next year. They over achieved and had everything go their way.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yup. No way Yellich has a repeat of last year.

 

[JimJohnson]

Brewers lose ten more games next year. They over achieved and had everything go their way.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Definitely possible.

It's also possible Cardinals could surprise and be quite a bit better than expected.