You're the GM (Game)

[czman]

For me it is tooooo sooooooooon for this thread. I had a disagreement a few months ago, I think, where I was stating the Cubs are swing and miss with bad defense. That the off season should be about starting pitching, playoff caliber, and low strikeout BA/OBA players. It is way to easier now to say I told you so and over react to what we saw against the Mets. It is probably not wise to do that though.

I had a clearer picture of what I wanted to see a few months ago. I do think they will ultimately have to move 1 player at a minimum most likely 2 of the young players. I don't think anyone should be untradable though. Every player they have has some sort of flaw. Bryant struckout 200 freaking times. Russell does not look like a high OBA guy so he is another lower order hitter. Kyle is postilionless and probably needs to be DH. Solar can't stay healthy and should probably be a LF. Castro is who is is and that is not untradeable. Baez is another middle or bottom of the order bat is a higher SO lower OBA guy. Rizzo can probably be replaced by Bryant or Kyle (although I suspect he would be bad their too).

I guess I just see the cubs as having a lot of power high SO talent who are not excellent defenders for the most part and in some cases well below average. The lineup is very redundant in what they do. They have to find a leadoff hitter and high OBA 2nd batter. Where do they have positions to put them outside of CF. Someone will have to be the odd man out. Maybe two players.

Bryant
Russell
Casto
Rizzo
Kyle
Solar
Baez

That is 7 players for 6 positions unless one of them can play CF or catcher. A move like that will probably make them of the worst defensive teams in the league and doesn't solve the low BA high SO.

The million dollar questions is how do you sort that out? Probably trade. I am not ready just yet to pose any idea what it should look like.

 

[FirstTimer]

For me it is tooooo sooooooooon for this thread.

Bryant
Russell
Casto
Rizzo
Kyle
Solar
Baez

That's kind of the thing....no one had problems with this team when it was one of the best teams in baseball all season. It ran into a scorching hot Mets team and the bats went silent at bad times. Shit happens. I don't think you need to reinvent the wheel here. Yeah the strikeouts were high but so was the OBP. Bryant struck out 200 times but was nearly top 10 in OBP for example. low strikeout guys(and teams) can slump too, we've seen it countless times in MLB history.

This team needs some front line arms and needs to not have the bats go silent at the wrong times.

I really don't think there's a ton to "fix" here. We're overreacting to a playoff series loss at this point. Wound is still fresh. So I get it..kinda..but step back and relax(not you...fans in general)

I mean people are actually talking about trading Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo.

Jeebus.

 

[Omeletpants]

As much as I like the idea of Kris Bryant, in reality, he is a .250 hitter, 30 HR and will lead the league in KOs. Those numbers arent even close to the top 5 third basemen in the league. The guy has no business batting third and should batting 7th. On defense he fumbles the ball cause he uses a monster sized glove and cant get the ball out.

 

[ZAN]

As much as I like the idea of Kris Bryant, in reality, he is a .250 hitter, 30 HR and will lead the league in KOs. Those numbers arent even close to the top 5 third basemen in the league. The guy has no business batting third and should batting 7th. On defense he fumbles the ball cause he uses a monster sized glove and cant get the ball out.

Not to derail the thread, but you expect regression from the kid? I mean, with a boatload of K's he still hit .275 this year. A lot of his K's are derived of his patience in working deep counts (hence his high OBP)

I'm under the impression that he's PROBABLY going to cut down on his K's slightly each year. I'm not expecting him to cut 25% of his K's to next year...but if he only K's 175x next year, that's a huge improvement.

 

[DJMoore_is_fat]

As much as I like the idea of Kris Bryant, in reality, he is a .250 hitter, 30 HR and will lead the league in KOs. Those numbers arent even close to the top 5 third basemen in the league. The guy has no business batting third and should batting 7th. On defense he fumbles the ball cause he uses a monster sized glove and cant get the ball out.

You do realize he will be the 4th best player in major baseball shortly, right?

 

[DanTown]

As much as I like the idea of Kris Bryant, in reality, he is a .250 hitter, 30 HR and will lead the league in KOs. Those numbers arent even close to the top 5 third basemen in the league. The guy has no business batting third and should batting 7th. On defense he fumbles the ball cause he uses a monster sized glove and cant get the ball out.

The only 3B with better BA than Kris Bryant (which was actually .275)
Josh Donaldson
Matt Duffy
Martin Prado
Nolan Arenado
Adrian Belter
Manny Machado
Mike Moustaskas

Only 3B with more HR
Arenado
Donaldson
Machado
Todd Frazier
Matt Carpenter

Only 3B with higher OPS
Donaldson
Arenado
Carpenter
Machado

Kris Bryant UZR/150: 5.4
Nolan Arenado (GG winner last year) UZR/150 in 2015: 4.6

Fangraphs WAR rank: 3rd (6.5)
Baseball Reference WAR rank: 3rd (6.0)

 

[dabears253313]

As much as I like the idea of Kris Bryant, in reality, he is a .250 hitter, 30 HR and will lead the league in KOs. Those numbers arent even close to the top 5 third basemen in the league. The guy has no business batting third and should batting 7th. On defense he fumbles the ball cause he uses a monster sized glove and cant get the ball out.

I thought you only trolled the Bears forum?

Where did you get that from? He hit over .300 in the minors and .275 in the MLB and he also didn't even hit 30 home runs this past season. A LOT of players make errors. As highly as people talk about Addison Russell, he made some errors as well.

This was his rookie year, give him a chance. He'll be the 2016 or 2017 MVP. 2017 if Anthony Rizzo takes it.

 

[Diehardfan]

The only 3B with better BA than Kris Bryant (which was actually .275)
Josh Donaldson
Matt Duffy
Martin Prado
Nolan Arenado
Adrian Belter
Manny Machado
Mike Moustaskas

Only 3B with more HR
Arenado
Donaldson
Machado
Todd Frazier
Matt Carpenter

Only 3B with higher OPS
Donaldson
Arenado
Carpenter
Machado

Kris Bryant UZR/150: 5.4
Nolan Arenado (GG winner last year) UZR/150 in 2015: 4.6

Fangraphs WAR rank: 3rd (6.5)
Baseball Reference WAR rank: 3rd (6.0)

And he's a rookie who has played all of 151 regular season games. Kinda think the arrow is pointing up for this kid.

 

[beckdawg]

Tim Kurkjian(SP?) said last night after the game that he guarantees the Cubs sign a big name pitcher. So, theres that.

Define "big name pitcher." I know you're just passing along what he said but it seems like a fairly hallow statement because you could easily say shark is a "big name pitcher" and he probably doesn't break the bank. Lackey as Parade mentions would be a "big name" in some contexts.

 

[CSF77]

Define "big name pitcher." I know you're just passing along what he said but it seems like a fairly hallow statement because you could easily say shark is a "big name pitcher" and he probably doesn't break the bank. Lackey as Parade mentions would be a "big name" in some contexts.

I think big name means big dollar. Right now the only guys that fall into that zone are Price, Greinke, Cueto and Zimmerman. That is it. Anyone else will struggle to get near 100 mil

 

[CSF77]

Without concerns about payroll or age I would go after Price due to his connection to Maddon. Not to mention they can use Arreta to split up him and Lester. At that point they can start to let Edwards and Ramirez battle for back of the rotation spots. Johnson would be in Iowa so we could also see him later year.

This is the biggest concern. Sure they need more contact hitters in the line up but that has lesser concern.

 

[Parade_Rain]

I think big name means big dollar. Right now the only guys that fall into that zone are Price, Greinke, Cueto and Zimmerman. That is it. Anyone else will struggle to get near 100 mil

The only person worth the money on that list in the long run is Greinke, IMHO.

 

[Doubledown]

I would personally sell my soul for hayward & price.
But I like Bryant in the OF, can we just play four guys out there lol..

 

[fatbeard]

Here's what I'd do:

– Re-sign Dexter Fowler to a 2-year extension

– Re-sign the bullpen arms of Trevor Cahill, Jason Motte, and Travis Wood to team-friendly deals

– Re-sign Chris Denforia and Chris Coglan to team-friendly deals

– Sign John Lackey to a two-year deal with a team option after the first year

– Trade for Indians pitcher Carlos Corrasco

So basically what you're going to do is sign everyone to team-friendly deals directly against their own economic interests. Because that's totally realistic.

"I'm gonna sign everyone to dramatically less money and less years than they're going to get offered on the open market, and they're all going to agree because I'm such a swell guy." Collects GM of the Year award and walks away.

 

[fatbeard]

As much as I like the idea of Kris Bryant, in reality, he is a .250 hitter, 30 HR and will lead the league in KOs. Those numbers arent even close to the top 5 third basemen in the league. The guy has no business batting third and should batting 7th. On defense he fumbles the ball cause he uses a monster sized glove and cant get the ball out.

Because no 23-year old first-year player ever improved. At all.

 

[beckdawg]

So, I was reading this article about Schwarber and had a thought. The basic premise of the article was what to do with Schwarber. Some scouts said he was hopeless defensively. Some said they thought he could be passable in LF in time. Some actually think he can catch though not be amazing at it. What caught my eye was one comment about him playing LF only if the cubs essentially had 2 CFers. That is kind of interesting when you factor in some rumors of them sniffing around Heyward. My original thought was the idea on Heyward was playing him in CF as a Fowler replacement. However, that article made me think about him as a 2nd CF more or less in RF.

if you go with that train of thought, Soler would be an expendable piece. If we go back to the rumor mill, there was some talk at the deadline of Soler for Teheran. I wont speculate on money and other possible pieces for those two moves but that strikes me as quite interesting. Heyward adds defense and some much needed speed/contact and Teheran is a pretty desirable young pitcher.

 

[Hammer]

Guys, you need to stop with this "trade young talent under control" stuff.


What Cubs actually need to do...

1. Move Baez or Bryant to CF and fill 3B with the other.
2. Sign one of the top FA pitchers (be that Price, Greinke, Cueto or Zimmerman).

Other than that, you fill the backup field positions and bullpen via. arbitration, and this team is good to go.
Btw. I'd wait with Arrieta extension after these less then stellar Playoffs, especially since he's under control for 2 more years.


Batting order
2B Castro
RF Soler
3B/CF Bryant
1B Rizzo
LF Schwarber
CF/3B Baez
SS Russell
C Montero
pitcher

Backups: C Ross, infielders La Stella, Herrera, outfielders Coughlan, Szczur

Pitching rotation
Arrieta
FA addition
Lester
Hammel
Hendricks

Bullpen
Rondon
Strop
Grimm
Richard
Cahill
Edwards

Then, during season you can evaluate the development of younger players, for example pitchers Turner, Johnson, Williams (as candidates for #4/#5 rotation spot or bullpen), outfielder McKinney and catcher Contreras.

And in the end, if Hammel and Hendricks do not meet the expectations, you can always pull the trigger and use the stacked farm (Almora, Torres, Happ, etc.) to acquire another TOR pitcher.

 

[Parade_Rain]

Guys, you need to stop with this "trade young talent under control" stuff.


What Cubs actually need to do...

1. Move Baez or Bryant to CF and fill 3B with the other.
2. Sign one of the top FA pitchers (be that Price, Greinke, Cueto or Zimmerman).

Other than that, you fill the backup field positions and bullpen via. arbitration, and this team is good to go.
Btw. I'd wait with Arrieta extension after these less then stellar Playoffs, especially since he's under control for 2 more years.


Batting order
2B Castro
RF Soler
3B/CF Bryant
1B Rizzo
LF Schwarber
CF/3B Baez
SS Russell
C Montero
pitcher

Backups: C Ross, infielders La Stella, Herrera, outfielders Coughlan, Szczur

Pitching rotation
Arrieta
FA addition
Lester
Hammel
Hendricks

Bullpen
Rondon
Strop
Grimm
Richard
Cahill
Edwards

Then, during season you can evaluate the development of younger players, for example pitchers Turner, Johnson, Williams (as candidates for #4/#5 rotation spot or bullpen), outfielder McKinney and catcher Contreras.

And in the end, if Hammel and Hendricks do not meet the expectations, you can always pull the trigger and use the stacked farm (Almora, Torres, Happ, etc.) to acquire another TOR pitcher.

What did you see that makes you think Hammel in the rotation is acceptable?

 

[fatbeard]

We thank you for tuning in to PBS for The Day the Cubs Traded Kyle Schwarber and Other Assorted Fairy Tales of Buttfuck Stupidity, and don't forget to contribute in order to enjoy more great, original programming!

 

[Hammer]

Hammel is always decent for the 1st half of the season, he's also owed a total of $11M ($9M in 2016 and $2M 2017 buyout), with him in the rotation you can wait and see if Hendricks can become decent #4 and if any of the younger guys (Turner, Johnson, Williams) can compete for rotation spot, and if none of that transpires you can always trade for a SP by the trade deadline.