Offseason rumors/discussion thread

[CSF77]

Mets are my feared team going in. Their staff/pen is legit.

Crew....IDK honestly. Thames was a non factor last year and he ripped up pitching the year beforehand. If Yelch and Baez drop and Thames and Bryant pick up. Cubs and Crew are getting a TOR off injury. It still might be a wash.

Cards make it interesting. It could click for them.

Reds are better. Not sure if that makes them good yet.

LAD is the team to watch right now. I honestly see them trading with Det for Castellanos vs Harper in RF then trade again for Kluber. I can see the Dodgers gutting their system some to get both. IMO that is a far better solution for them than spending 30M on 1 bat. I think they need a RHSP that slots in between Shaw and Hill more.

So I just believe Harper will be a Cub in view of this. This is the thing; they are dropping Hamels, Zobrist, Kintzler and Duesing. That is 35.5MM right there alone.that is not even getting into moving Heyward or Chatwood.

So I honestly would just say f-it for a year. Happ becomes expendable at that point so use him in a flip for a quality pen arm to shore up the back. Move Heyward to CF and just take the 1 year hit.

The next year pay roll should be around 225MM again so at that point they start looking at moving Chatwood and Heyward to get under cap again.

It will most likely be Joe’s last chance at it so give him the tools to win it all.

 

[Castor76]

Mets are my feared team going in. Their staff/pen is legit.

Crew....IDK honestly. Thames was a non factor last year and he ripped up pitching the year beforehand. If Yelch and Baez drop and Thames and Bryant pick up. Cubs and Crew are getting a TOR off injury. It still might be a wash.

Cards make it interesting. It could click for them.

Reds are better. Not sure if that makes them good yet.

LAD is the team to watch right now. I honestly see them trading with Det for Castellanos vs Harper in RF then trade again for Kluber. I can see the Dodgers gutting their system some to get both. IMO that is a far better solution for them than spending 30M on 1 bat. I think they need a RHSP that slots in between Shaw and Hill more.

So I just believe Harper will be a Cub in view of this. This is the thing; they are dropping Hamels, Zobrist, Kintzler and Duesing. That is 35.5MM right there alone.that is not even getting into moving Heyward or Chatwood.

So I honestly would just say f-it for a year. Happ becomes expendable at that point so use him in a flip for a quality pen arm to shore up the back. Move Heyward to CF and just take the 1 year hit.

The next year pay roll should be around 225MM again so at that point they start looking at moving Chatwood and Heyward to get under cap again.

It will most likely be Joe’s last chance at it so give him the tools to win it all.

That's what I've been saying. When you really look at it, the penalty isn't that much, especially if it's just for one year.

 

[beckdawg]

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.

The dodgers won 92 games last year. If you assume Seager and Machado in 2018 is roughly equivalent to a full year of Seager that really doesn't change much. However, Max Muncy was a 5.2 fWAR player. I wouldn't bet on that again. Yasmani Grandal is a FA and he was worth 3.6 fWAR. Puig and Kemp were worth 1.8 and 1.6 fWAR. Wood was worth 2.6 fWAR. At a minimum they've lost 9.6 WAR in Grandal, Kemp, Puig, and Wood. Strictly speaking, it's probably slightly less than that as they have internal replacements that are good but the point here is even if you say Kluber and Harper do go to them and are worth roughly 10 war they are only gaining a couple of wins at most. They would likely be a 95ish win team.

You compare that to the cubs winning 95 games with down years from most of the team in the second half, having a hurt darvish, a hurt bryant and a Rizzo who had an uncharacteristic down year. If you want to argue the dodgers got a chance to make the world series again then sure. I'd buy that. If you want to argue they are a slightly better team I'd disagree but it's not enough to really get me heated.

Regardless, the point here is nearly anything that could go wrong last year did and they still won 95 games. Additionally, compare their on paper rotation for 2019 to the actual rotation from 2018. If Hamels is anything close to what he was in the second half your #5 pitcher is probably more like a #3. And in particular that's REALLY going to help the bullpen which given the spending restrictions they have probably is gonna need to happen. First two or so months of 2018 the cubs couldn't get anybody out of the 5th. If Darvish is healthy and pitches more in line with his career numbers that's a huge add. He's the type of pitcher when things are going well can go out and get you 6-7 innings on any given night. Likewise Hamels appeared to be a somewhat similar arm in the 2nd half. And if any of the younger guys breaks out be that Happ/Schwarber/Almora....etc. then things get even more interesting.

My issue at large here is I see comments like the original one you made from people a lot recently. Now maybe you meant it different than I took it but what irritates me is I think people are so sour on the way the season ended that it has clouded their vision of what actually occurred. I'm not trying to sugar coat the end of the season because it did suck. But the fact of the matter is they got run down by an insanely hot team that faded shortly after in the playoffs after having dealt with a brutal schedule. It's hard to say exactly how much that 30 games in 30 days mattered but it certainly looked like a team that was just gassed at the end of the season. But outside that brutal stretch the cubs were the best team in the NL for the rest of the season and it wasn't really even that close for large portions. And to restate, that was with a lot going wrong.

 

[CSF77]

The dodgers won 92 games last year. If you assume Seager and Machado in 2018 is roughly equivalent to a full year of Seager that really doesn't change much. However, Max Muncy was a 5.2 fWAR player. I wouldn't bet on that again. Yasmani Grandal is a FA and he was worth 3.6 fWAR. Puig and Kemp were worth 1.8 and 1.6 fWAR. Wood was worth 2.6 fWAR. At a minimum they've lost 9.6 WAR in Grandal, Kemp, Puig, and Wood. Strictly speaking, it's probably slightly less than that as they have internal replacements that are good but the point here is even if you say Kluber and Harper do go to them and are worth roughly 10 war they are only gaining a couple of wins at most. They would likely be a 95ish win team.

You compare that to the cubs winning 95 games with down years from most of the team in the second half, having a hurt darvish, a hurt bryant and a Rizzo who had an uncharacteristic down year. If you want to argue the dodgers got a chance to make the world series again then sure. I'd buy that. If you want to argue they are a slightly better team I'd disagree but it's not enough to really get me heated.

Regardless, the point here is nearly anything that could go wrong last year did and they still won 95 games. Additionally, compare their on paper rotation for 2019 to the actual rotation from 2018. If Hamels is anything close to what he was in the second half your #5 pitcher is probably more like a #3. And in particular that's REALLY going to help the bullpen which given the spending restrictions they have probably is gonna need to happen. First two or so months of 2018 the cubs couldn't get anybody out of the 5th. If Darvish is healthy and pitches more in line with his career numbers that's a huge add. He's the type of pitcher when things are going well can go out and get you 6-7 innings on any given night. Likewise Hamels appeared to be a somewhat similar arm in the 2nd half. And if any of the younger guys breaks out be that Happ/Schwarber/Almora....etc. then things get even more interesting.

My issue at large here is I see comments like the original one you made from people a lot recently. Now maybe you meant it different than I took it but what irritates me is I think people are so sour on the way the season ended that it has clouded their vision of what actually occurred. I'm not trying to sugar coat the end of the season because it did suck. But the fact of the matter is they got run down by an insanely hot team that faded shortly after in the playoffs after having dealt with a brutal schedule. It's hard to say exactly how much that 30 games in 30 days mattered but it certainly looked like a team that was just gassed at the end of the season. But outside that brutal stretch the cubs were the best team in the NL for the rest of the season and it wasn't really even that close for large portions. And to restate, that was with a lot going wrong.

The trade deadline saved their ass. Bryant really never factored after his DL. What matters the most is Contreras and Schwarber IMO. Rizzo and Bryant are pretty much of a sure thing. Baez is subject due to his shitty walk rate. Zobrist is if he is healthy or not. You don’t doubt him in general.

 

[beckdawg]

https://www.bleachernation.com/2018...likely-to-land-bryce-harper-than-the-dodgers/

 

[chibears55]

https://www.bleachernation.com/2018...likely-to-land-bryce-harper-than-the-dodgers/

Yeah..
Kinda feels like cubs is his first choice and Dodgers second..

Have to think it just a matter of when the cubs are able to pull off a trade to clear some money

 

[CSF77]

Yeah..
Kinda feels like cubs is his first choice and Dodgers second..

Have to think it just a matter of when the cubs are able to pull off a trade to clear some money

Chatwood for Martin is easier. You could just keep it at that to clear more for 2020. SFG is a harder match up. The only one that makes sense is Melencon-Heyward. But would SFG go there.

 

[beckdawg]

Chatwood for Martin is easier. You could just keep it at that to clear more for 2020. SFG is a harder match up. The only one that makes sense is Melencon-Heyward. But would SFG go there.

I don't see why people think Heyward to the giants makes sense. They aren't going to take on $106 mil to get rid of $28 mil. That team won 73 games last year as well. Why are they buying an OF making over $20 mil? They literally tried this play last year and it got the GM fired with Longoria/McCutchen.

If the cubs are clearing money for Harper I think it's gotta be Zobrist. I really like Zobrist but if you just look at it from a value standpoint he's the easiest player to move/replace who's making real money. Just as an example here, Happ had a terrible year. But, we saw some of the bright spots with him. Would people be that upset with him as the starting 2B if it meant the cubs had Harper in RF and Heyward in CF with Almora as the 4th OF?

If for example the cubs also made whoever they were to trade Zobrist also take Kintzler the cubs would be roughly $38 mil under the $246 luxury tax threshold. If you figure the cubs save $5 mil for in season moves that's $33 mil. Looking at the roster as it stand right now, if you add Harper they have 4 OF. If Happ is your starting 2B with Descalso and one of Bote/Russell as your two back ups they have 6 IF. They could probably do better than Caratini as the back up C but running him out there again if they had to isn't the worst thing in the world. They have 5 solid starters. They have 5 of 8 pretty good bullpen arms in Monty from the LH side, Morrow, Strop, Edwards, and Cishek from the right. Duensing I don't love but he covers the second LH you need. So, if you could move Chatwood in a bad contract swap for Martin and not take on money you'd probably have $3-4 mil you could use on one reliever and I imagine they are gonna do what they did last year anyways for the #8 guy which is just constantly swap in guys from AAA when they are overworked.

 

[CSF77]

wRC+
V LH:

Bryant: 194
Baez: 143
Bote: 134
Contreras: 123
Zobrist: 116
Russell: 102
Almora: 101
Heyward: 97
Rizzo: 88
Schwarber: 85
Happ:69
Caratini: 32


V RH:

Rizzo: 138
Baez 127
Zobrist: 125
Schwarber: 121
Happ: 118
Bryant: 108
Heyward: 100
Contreras: 93
Almora: 84
Bote: 79
Caratini: 76
Russell: 72

Taking away off the top Caratini needs to be removed from the roster. He is not even back up quality.
Then Happ should scrap hitting right handed. He sucks. Too boot his highest value is backing up Schwarber but is a clear downgrade in every area to him.
Bote needs to be used only vs LHP.

So in view of this they need a back up catcher that can hit right better than Contreras to give him a day off here and there.
They need a RH bat in LF. Bote might suffice IMO especially to keep him on the roster. 134 wRC+ is a clear upgrade to 88 or Happ's 69.
Heyward is an every day player. He is split neutral. Zobrist also.

 

[CSF77]

I don't see why people think Heyward to the giants makes sense. They aren't going to take on $106 mil to get rid of $28 mil. That team won 73 games last year as well. Why are they buying an OF making over $20 mil? They literally tried this play last year and it got the GM fired with Longoria/McCutchen.

If the cubs are clearing money for Harper I think it's gotta be Zobrist. I really like Zobrist but if you just look at it from a value standpoint he's the easiest player to move/replace who's making real money. Just as an example here, Happ had a terrible year. But, we saw some of the bright spots with him. Would people be that upset with him as the starting 2B if it meant the cubs had Harper in RF and Heyward in CF with Almora as the 4th OF?

If for example the cubs also made whoever they were to trade Zobrist also take Kintzler the cubs would be roughly $38 mil under the $246 luxury tax threshold. If you figure the cubs save $5 mil for in season moves that's $33 mil. Looking at the roster as it stand right now, if you add Harper they have 4 OF. If Happ is your starting 2B with Descalso and one of Bote/Russell as your two back ups they have 6 IF. They could probably do better than Caratini as the back up C but running him out there again if they had to isn't the worst thing in the world. They have 5 solid starters. They have 5 of 8 pretty good bullpen arms in Monty from the LH side, Morrow, Strop, Edwards, and Cishek from the right. Duensing I don't love but he covers the second LH you need. So, if you could move Chatwood in a bad contract swap for Martin and not take on money you'd probably have $3-4 mil you could use on one reliever and I imagine they are gonna do what they did last year anyways for the #8 guy which is just constantly swap in guys from AAA when they are overworked.

Yes but are they better? Not sure on that. They would be over budget for sure but better I'm not sure about. Zobrist is the best over all player on the team. His only draw back is his age.

I think the only problem is Heywards contract. That is it. He is a avg player. Which is 2 WAR or 16M per year. That is the real issue. If he was paid as such then his trade value soars.

 

[CSF77]

That said if they Cubs did a swap for Melancon for Heyward.

He is worth 16M AAV based off his 2 fWAR year in 2018 right now. So he is basically worth 80 Mil. Cubs owe him 106M plus 20M bonus paid 2024-2027.

So to realistically off load him they would have to pay another team 26M if they were trading prospects and still pay the bonus. or they could take back the 26M in bad contract and call it even.

Mark Melancon kinda fits the bill right now with 28MM left on the books.

 

[MDB111™]

I don't see why people think Heyward to the giants makes sense. They aren't going to take on $106 mil to get rid of $28 mil. That team won 73 games last year as well. Why are they buying an OF making over $20 mil? They literally tried this play last year and it got the GM fired with Longoria/McCutchen.

If the cubs are clearing money for Harper I think it's gotta be Zobrist. I really like Zobrist but if you just look at it from a value standpoint he's the easiest player to move/replace who's making real money. Just as an example here, Happ had a terrible year. But, we saw some of the bright spots with him. Would people be that upset with him as the starting 2B if it meant the cubs had Harper in RF and Heyward in CF with Almora as the 4th OF?

If for example the cubs also made whoever they were to trade Zobrist also take Kintzler the cubs would be roughly $38 mil under the $246 luxury tax threshold. If you figure the cubs save $5 mil for in season moves that's $33 mil. Looking at the roster as it stand right now, if you add Harper they have 4 OF. If Happ is your starting 2B with Descalso and one of Bote/Russell as your two back ups they have 6 IF. They could probably do better than Caratini as the back up C but running him out there again if they had to isn't the worst thing in the world. They have 5 solid starters. They have 5 of 8 pretty good bullpen arms in Monty from the LH side, Morrow, Strop, Edwards, and Cishek from the right. Duensing I don't love but he covers the second LH you need. So, if you could move Chatwood in a bad contract swap for Martin and not take on money you'd probably have $3-4 mil you could use on one reliever and I imagine they are gonna do what they did last year anyways for the #8 guy which is just constantly swap in guys from AAA when they are overworked.

isnt zobrist in the final year of a 4 yr 40 million?---so they would only save 10 mil?

 

[JimJohnson]

The dodgers won 92 games last year. If you assume Seager and Machado in 2018 is roughly equivalent to a full year of Seager that really doesn't change much. However, Max Muncy was a 5.2 fWAR player. I wouldn't bet on that again. Yasmani Grandal is a FA and he was worth 3.6 fWAR. Puig and Kemp were worth 1.8 and 1.6 fWAR. Wood was worth 2.6 fWAR. At a minimum they've lost 9.6 WAR in Grandal, Kemp, Puig, and Wood. Strictly speaking, it's probably slightly less than that as they have internal replacements that are good but the point here is even if you say Kluber and Harper do go to them and are worth roughly 10 war they are only gaining a couple of wins at most. They would likely be a 95ish win team.

I don't disagree with you here. I think Cubs very well could win more regular season games than the Dodgers. But I don't feel like this Cubs team is built for a playoff run (2016 aside). They win a lot of games because they don't have a glaring weakness. They are good all around but I don't feel like they excel at any one thing.

Regardless, the point here is nearly anything that could go wrong last year did and they still won 95 games. Additionally, compare their on paper rotation for 2019 to the actual rotation from 2018. If Hamels is anything close to what he was in the second half your #5 pitcher is probably more like a #3. And in particular that's REALLY going to help the bullpen which given the spending restrictions they have probably is gonna need to happen. First two or so months of 2018 the cubs couldn't get anybody out of the 5th. If Darvish is healthy and pitches more in line with his career numbers that's a huge add. He's the type of pitcher when things are going well can go out and get you 6-7 innings on any given night. Likewise Hamels appeared to be a somewhat similar arm in the 2nd half. And if any of the younger guys breaks out be that Happ/Schwarber/Almora....etc. then things get even more interesting.

So my issue with you here is you've got a shit ton of "ifs." And then what frustrates me Beck is that you list all the things that could go well but don't list all the things that could go wrong.

Hamels being close to what he was during the 2H of last season is very, very low probability. Also, you say he's our #5 starter but not really. Until Darvish goes out and proves he can actually throw a baseball again without pain, Hamels is our #4 which is probably right around where he should be.

"If Darvish is healthy"- Another HUGE if beck. Until Darvish goes out and proves something, I have him chalked up as a loss. I'll be more than happy to be proven wrong but at this point, there isn't much need to pencil him in for anything. If that changes and goes back to his old dominating self, then that certainly will change the equation. But as of now, I pencil that in as another low probability chance.

You also say what if a "younger guy breaks out like Happ/Schwarber/Almora." Okay that's possible. Now what about all the possible negatives?

Will Contreras bounce back or will he have another bad year?
Will Baez continue at his MVP rate or will he drop off? I'd bet on a drop off. People are chalking up Yelich to have a big drop off so there is no reason to assume Baez won't as well.
Lester is going to be 35 years old before the next season starts. He had a great 2018 but at some point there is going to be some drop off.
Cubs still haven't figured out their infield situation with Addison.
Cubs bullpen isn't great. Morrow is uncertain. Cubs haven't addressed this.

So essentially what I'm saying is that the Cubs will field a very good team in 2019. I predict they will win the Central and probably win 90+ games. But I don't think they are a team that will go all the way in the playoffs.

And my initial comment about being depressed was in relation to the Cubs financial situation. They are in a tight spot and don't have much wiggle room. They don't really have trade assets either. So it's hard for them to improve the team. Unfortunately Theo has made a series of free agency blunders. I think it was CSF who said we have a lot of money tied up in dead weight that most teams wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole.

 

[CSF77]

isnt zobrist in the final year of a 4 yr 40 million?---so they would only save 10 mil?

14 mil

 

[CSF77]

I don't disagree with you here. I think Cubs very well could win more regular season games than the Dodgers. But I don't feel like this Cubs team is built for a playoff run (2016 aside). They win a lot of games because they don't have a glaring weakness. They are good all around but I don't feel like they excel at any one thing.



So my issue with you here is you've got a shit ton of "ifs." And then what frustrates me Beck is that you list all the things that could go well but don't list all the things that could go wrong.

Hamels being close to what he was during the 2H of last season is very, very low probability. Also, you say he's our #5 starter but not really. Until Darvish goes out and proves he can actually throw a baseball again without pain, Hamels is our #4 which is probably right around where he should be.

"If Darvish is healthy"- Another HUGE if beck. Until Darvish goes out and proves something, I have him chalked up as a loss. I'll be more than happy to be proven wrong but at this point, there isn't much need to pencil him in for anything. If that changes and goes back to his old dominating self, then that certainly will change the equation. But as of now, I pencil that in as another low probability chance.

You also say what if a "younger guy breaks out like Happ/Schwarber/Almora." Okay that's possible. Now what about all the possible negatives?

Will Contreras bounce back or will he have another bad year?
Will Baez continue at his MVP rate or will he drop off? I'd bet on a drop off. People are chalking up Yelich to have a big drop off so there is no reason to assume Baez won't as well.
Lester is going to be 35 years old before the next season starts. He had a great 2018 but at some point there is going to be some drop off.
Cubs still haven't figured out their infield situation with Addison.
Cubs bullpen isn't great. Morrow is uncertain. Cubs haven't addressed this.

So essentially what I'm saying is that the Cubs will field a very good team in 2019. I predict they will win the Central and probably win 90+ games. But I don't think they are a team that will go all the way in the playoffs.

And my initial comment about being depressed was in relation to the Cubs financial situation. They are in a tight spot and don't have much wiggle room. They don't really have trade assets either. So it's hard for them to improve the team. Unfortunately Theo has made a series of free agency blunders. I think it was CSF who said we have a lot of money tied up in dead weight that most teams wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole.

1: Hamels: History is on his side here.
2: Darvish is on track with his time line. His issues were related to miss diagnosis. Not concerned here. Cubs have Montgomery...again.
3: Another young guy...Well Schwarber lost a full year. His AB's should be near where Baez was pre break out. Baez was right at Schwarber 2017. Just saying.
4: Contreras: I think his wRC+ splits show that he needs days off vs R when he does. Caritini was a 32 wRC+ vs them. There is a core problem here.
5: Baez. Drop off expected. Most expect this as he is a undisciplined hitter. That said I doubt that he falls below 125 wRC+ v L and 90 v R. That is still better than Russell.
6: Addi. He is a UI. And that is what he should be treated as.
7: Heyward for Melencon solves this a bit. Then signing Harper solves another issue caused by it. Melencon has 0 fWAR value right now. So he is great as a bad deal trade chip. But he adds a late inning arm with closing experience. All that you really require right now. I see him as fill with maybe a reboot plus. At worse a extra arm when needed,.

 

[CSF77]

I think it was CSF who said we have a lot of money tied up in dead weight that most teams wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole.

45MM

20M Heyward (He has 6M dislike value)
12.7M in Chatwood he put up a -.5 fWAR. That hold 0 trade weight.
3.5M Duesing: -.9 fWAR. Again 0 trade weight.
5M Kintzler: -.3 fWAR 0 trade weight.

Honestly if you packed them all up it would come up to .3 fWAR for 41.2M That is dead weight 101

 

[JimJohnson]

1: Hamels: History is on his side here.
2: Darvish is on track with his time line. His issues were related to miss diagnosis. Not concerned here. Cubs have Montgomery...again.
3: Another young guy...Well Schwarber lost a full year. His AB's should be near where Baez was pre break out. Baez was right at Schwarber 2017. Just saying.
4: Contreras: I think his wRC+ splits show that he needs days off vs R when he does. Caritini was a 32 wRC+ vs them. There is a core problem here.
5: Baez. Drop off expected. Most expect this as he is a undisciplined hitter. That said I doubt that he falls below 125 wRC+ v L and 90 v R. That is still better than Russell.
6: Addi. He is a UI. And that is what he should be treated as.
7: Heyward for Melencon solves this a bit. Then signing Harper solves another issue caused by it. Melencon has 0 fWAR value right now. So he is great as a bad deal trade chip. But he adds a late inning arm with closing experience. All that you really require right now. I see him as fill with maybe a reboot plus. At worse a extra arm when needed,.

1) Hamels had a 2.36 ERA with the Cubs in 2018. There is 0% chance of him repeating that performance for a full year. We'd be lucky to see him post a 4 ERA.

2) I heard the same thing about Darvish last season. And as I said earlier, even if he overcomes his physical issue, he is still a mental midget that thinks Cubs fans hate him. Until he proves it on the field, I'm not really even willing to discuss Darvish.

3) If you want to say Schwarber is going to have a breakout year, feel free. People said the same prior to the 2018 season. Maybe he does better.

4) Problem agreed.

5) Of course he will be better than Russell. I haven't seen anyone suggest otherwise.

6) If Addy is a UI, then the Cubs haven't addressed their infield. They need someone to play most games at SS and someone to play most games at 2B. I assume Zobrist will get most playing time at 2B but I also see people wanting to trade him to free up cap room. So that's a bit confusing.

7) Heyward for Melancon is just a pipe dream rumor at this point. Is there any reputable source saying this is in the works? Maybe I missed something.

 

[CSF77]

1) Hamels had a 2.36 ERA with the Cubs in 2018. There is 0% chance of him repeating that performance for a full year. We'd be lucky to see him post a 4 ERA.

2) I heard the same thing about Darvish last season. And as I said earlier, even if he overcomes his physical issue, he is still a mental midget that thinks Cubs fans hate him. Until he proves it on the field, I'm not really even willing to discuss Darvish.

3) If you want to say Schwarber is going to have a breakout year, feel free. People said the same prior to the 2018 season. Maybe he does better.

4) Problem agreed.

5) Of course he will be better than Russell. I haven't seen anyone suggest otherwise.

6) If Addy is a UI, then the Cubs haven't addressed their infield. They need someone to play most games at SS and someone to play most games at 2B. I assume Zobrist will get most playing time at 2B but I also see people wanting to trade him to free up cap room. So that's a bit confusing.

7) Heyward for Melancon is just a pipe dream rumor at this point. Is there any reputable source saying this is in the works? Maybe I missed something.

1> Hamels put up a 1.5 fWAR in 12 starts with the Cubs. over all 2.0 fWAR which was #2 on the staff behind Hendricks. Again not concerned.
2>Last year they miss diagnosed and gave the wrong treatment. I think we have been laid up enough to know how rehab works.
3>Baez 2017 1267 PA 2.3 fWAR. Schwarber 2018 1274 PA 3.2 fWAR. If anything he is superior to him at this point. Just saying.
4>I still think Russell Martin is the guy that you want. He put up .6 fWAR. 89 wRC+ vs R which is a upg to Contreras. So it makes sense to trade Chatwood who is on the right side of 30 with a plus but erratic. Fixed that deal becomes a huge flip towards the Jays.
5> I can see a platoon of sorts. Russell has better splits vs L. Then use Descalso at 2B to create a rotation. Occasionally you would give Baez a day off but it could work out.
6> As above. I see Baez SS Descalso 2B vs R Addi SS Baez 2B vs L and on his day off you have to go plus production else where to compensate.
7> Plenty of rumor to this point from many sources. Nothing with any basis of the teams even talking. I believe it is more theorycraft.

 

[JimJohnson]

Descalso isn't that good. I'm not that excited about him getting a bunch of PT. I think of him more as a LaStella fill in. PH, occasional start. That's it.

 

[CSF77]

Descalso isn't that good. I'm not that excited about him getting a bunch of PT. I think of him more as a LaStella fill in. PH, occasional start. That's it.

Depends on what you are looking at. If it is his BA then you need to get out of the 80's mentality. wRC+ is the best metric right now to evaluate a hitter. He was at 134 vs L and 107 vs R which are both above league avg. To be honest he would be a upgrade to Russell in all accounts.

If you wanted to create an optimal line up with what they have:

vs R


Zobrist RF 125
Rizzo 1B 138
Baez SS 127
Schwarber LF 121
Happ CF 118
Bryant 3B 108
Delcaso 2B 107
Contreras C 93

VS L

Bryant 3B 194
Delcaso 1B 134
Baez 2B 143
Bote LF 134
Contreras C 123
Zobrist RF 116
Russell SS 102
Almora CF 101


Sad thing is Heyward is not on a optimal list....