Offseason thread

[knoxville7]

Anyways his market should be at 5/115. That is 23M AAV. The market for aces is 35M. He should be getting a deal like the Cubs gave to Darvish. Which is #2-3 market value.

By the numbers he is a 2-3 pitcher. A ace on some crappy teams.

I expect regression from Shota and Taillon.their splits were showing a clear home field cooking. So neither should be sitting on ERA below 3.50.

So in view of that you want a sure thing. Not a experiment or a waiting game. Or a pitcher that has never pitched a full season or even a season

Just the way I feel. The rotation should be suspect going into 2025. Justin was the only one who pitched better on the road than at home. Shota is to a lesser degree. Taillon and Assad would have been 4-5 ERA pitchers if Wrigley played neutral

id suggest you look at the innings pitched per season for Flaherty. he is faaaar from a sure thing

 

[TL1961]

I totally get that argument.

But I feel that they need a guy to slot between Justin and Shota. Jack has been that guy.

Sasaki most likely is not going to be a Cub. To me this is Jed holding out for the cheap option.

SFG kinda knew what was up and moved on. Buster IMO has been pretty impressive to date. He did not give in to Boras on a option filled deal for Burnes. So instead he took a 1 year on Verlander.

I do like that approach as it is aggressive.

Jed took that approach with Tucker. The fact that he is pussy footing the rest of the off-season sucks. It just feels like it was a save my Job move and ownership got a discount on it making them happy.

Waiting for Sasaki would make sense if they are the clear favorite. They are not. So all this is is Jed waiting for the cheap date and getting stood up while the field gets thin.

I don't think it is at all accurate or fair to say he has been pussy footing around and simply waiting on Sasaki.

He was trying to trade for Luzardo, and was rumored to be discussing Castillo. You want him to make a trade 8 days before Sasaki makes his decision?

 

[TL1961]

id suggest you look at the innings pitched per season for Flaherty. he is faaaar from a sure thing

Yeah, they're all over the board. He can be really good, but he has not shown the consistency or durability that one would prefer.

 

[CSF77]

This actually a good conversation.

If we really had to look at the state of the team

1. They need a legit back up to Shaw and Hoerner. Hoerner goes down or is delayed they are screwed with hot trash. Or if Shaw get smoked out of spring. A huge WTF moment.

2. Pen, Merryweather was a Trainwreck last year. Hodge had great numbers but do you give him the 9th? Jed went cheap on replacements so far but it really feels like a half assed job that he expects to tumble into place like last year

3. Rotation. There is a real issue going on.

Shota 3.21 FIP Home. Home 4.26 away.
Taillon 3.56 FIP Home 4.36 away
Assad 3.89 FIP Home. 5.30 away

A bit of a trend here.

Now they are at 193M on lux tax. That gives them 48M to the tax. I would expect 38M TBH

So what are they doing? Waiting for a lotto ticket with 5 teams and now a new unknown player. My guess is the Astro's and would not shock me if they get him with their history of taking pitchers like Verlander and Cole and making them even better

But ya I do see some issues with Jack also. But he has 900 MLB IP on the books. So he is a proven commodity. 23AAV is not ace level pay off. The Cubs do not need a ace. They have 2 guys that can be that guy if they are on that year.

That said I am pretty much feeling that Jed is not going to win Sasaki. 5% is all I will give it. I do not believe it will be the dodgers. The unknown has been really good at keeping in the dark so that is concerning.


I would say f-it. Target 3 guys with the 38M

Flaherty or trade with Seattle or Min. They will have players with no options plus top 100 to deal with. TBH IDC. I just would not bank on a pipe dream.

Mocena is the next guy if you can get him under 5M. He has put up 4+ WAR when healthy. He can't hit for shit from the right side so he is a lefty in my book. But he is better than the hot trash that Jed has been squirting out

That should put them around 10M left and I would just target Kirby Yates with it on a 1 year deal

I love Hodge but I will still love him in the 8th and it really allows natural progression vs forced progression. Brown might be the future closer with his nasty 2 pitch mix but you really want to let it evolve naturally

The last thing I want to see is them rolling out a 200M roster because profit is cool and stuff

 

[CSF77]

And I would rather pass on Cease. They already did a rental move and doing another to tap the system on a all in then bust plus soaking the farm

Jed should be tarred and feathered and hung on the flag pole with a L slapped on his dome for that.

 

[CSF77]

I don't think it is at all accurate or fair to say he has been pussy footing around and simply waiting on Sasaki.

He was trying to trade for Luzardo, and was rumored to be discussing Castillo. You want him to make a trade 8 days before Sasaki makes his decision?

I am not sure why he backed off. Philly did the deal and it seems like he is healthy

It feels a bit off and over played. Then he went with a reclaim project after.

I don't mind reclaim deals. The chances that Caleb Thielbar rebounds is pretty good but a move like that is not moving the needle in adding wins to the season.

 

[CSF77]

Dead line to exchange numbers is today

Cubs

Kyle Tucker (5.079):
Julian Merryweather (4.109): $1.225MM agreement reached in November
Nate Pearson (4.005):
Justin Steele (3.143):
Eli Morgan (3.091):
Keegan Thompson (3.006): $850K agreement reached in November

 

[CSF77]

Nate Pearson (4.005): $1.35MM agreement today (per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com)

 

[CSF77]

x.com

x.com

 

[CSF77]

Nothing on Tucker yet. Kilian was given a 4th option year due to his injury last year.

 

[Szlachcic]

Nothing on Tucker yet. Kilian was given a 4th option year due to his injury last year.

I said then (when Cubs traded for Tucker) and still stay by my comment. Cubs trade was stupid.. He wont sign with Cubs long term.

Kyle Tucker and the Chicago Cubs fail to agree on his 2025 salary — and now appear headed for arbitration

Kyle Tucker and the Chicago Cubs fail to agree on his 2025 salary — and now appear headed for arbitration

The Chicago Cubs and outfielder Kyle Tucker failed to reach an agreement on his 2025 salary in the slugger’s final year of arbitration.

www.chicagotribune.com

 

[CSF77]

I said then (when Cubs traded for Tucker) and still stay by my comment. Cubs trade was stupid.. He wont sign with Cubs long term.

Kyle Tucker and the Chicago Cubs fail to agree on his 2025 salary — and now appear headed for arbitration

Kyle Tucker and the Chicago Cubs fail to agree on his 2025 salary — and now appear headed for arbitration

The Chicago Cubs and outfielder Kyle Tucker failed to reach an agreement on his 2025 salary in the slugger’s final year of arbitration.

www.chicagotribune.com

It is looking that way. They are fighting over 2.5M. really pathetic

Tom should just sell the team off to a group that is willing to win. That is the core problem with the Cubs right now.

This is why Sasaki will not come over ownership just does the motions.

 

[CSF77]

 

[CSF77]

Called it.

x.com

x.com

x.com

x.com

Ownership group sucks. Don't want to spend. And don't have a clue

 

[CSF77]

Chalk it up to Tucker was a dick tease. Enjoy your lap dance and he will be traded out by July.

This is a bad dark comedy

 

[Diehardfan]

Then why are you here every day? It's not front page news. A lot of us saw this coming two years ago which is why this forum is so dead.

 

[TL1961]

Chalk it up to Tucker was a dick tease. Enjoy your lap dance and he will be traded out by July.

This is a bad dark comedy

They won’t trade him in 2025.

 

[CSF77]

They won’t trade him in 2025.

I don't know man. At first it seemed like a strong play to push for a ring but in reality they got cheaper and are constantly making penny pinching deals.

I would write it up as they are not doing well financially and that means extending is not going to be in the budget. So if they are not winning the division ya it is cut and release time.

So in view of this Caissie is going nowhere. Rae is just a budget move to give Horton a year to prove he is MLB ready

 

[CSF77]

TBH Tom should have bought WGN vs making Marque. Then he would have a known commodity that he could push his brands through

 

[TL1961]

I don't know man. At first it seemed like a strong play to push for a ring but in reality they got cheaper and are constantly making penny pinching deals.

I would write it up as they are not doing well financially and that means extending is not going to be in the budget. So if they are not winning the division ya it is cut and release time.

So in view of this Caissie is going nowhere. Rae is just a budget move to give Horton a year to prove he is MLB ready

They’ve been discussing trades for pitchers and are likely waiting until after the Sasaki decision.