You're the GM (Game)

[Raskolnikov]

Heyward complicates things with Soler. Call me crazy, but I think you trust in a guy with work ethic and the guy you trade is Montero.

You play Schwarbaby at catcher, put Soler in left because he could end up hitting like Cespedes and you can't just trade priceless commodities away.

Keep Baez too and platoon with Zobrist and Russell. This move allows you to still acquire a true defensive/lead off center fielder. Zobrist and Lackey is so much money that could have been used wiser. These moves reek of an Adam Archuleta type where the gm and coach think they are acquiring a player they once knew imtimanty, and are willing to overpay based on what they once meant to the club, or may mean for 1 more year at best but then...

Cubs are in win now mode but I don't like it. Why Zobrist? Lackey is losing velocity and health. If there was no market for Castro they should have waited, now GM needs Warren to succeed to justify.

Hard to really screw this up with the pieces they have and this kind of money to spend, but they are tempting fate on multiple fronts and settling for below value deals that make us slightly better.

 

[Boobaby1]

Heyward complicates things with Soler. Call me crazy, but I think you trust in a guy with work ethic and the guy you trade is Montero.

You play Schwarbaby at catcher, put Soler in left because he could end up hitting like Cespedes and you can't just trade priceless commodities away.

Keep Baez too and platoon with Zobrist and Russell. This move allows you to still acquire a true defensive/lead off center fielder. Zobrist and Lackey is so much money that could have been used wiser. These moves reek of an Adam Archuleta type where the gm and coach think they are acquiring a player they once knew imtimanty, and are willing to overpay based on what they once meant to the club, or may mean for 1 more year at best but then...

Cubs are in win now mode but I don't like it. Why Zobrist? Lackey is losing velocity and health. If there was no market for Castro they should have waited, now GM needs Warren to succeed to justify.

Hard to really screw this up with the pieces they have and this kind of money to spend, but they are tempting fate on multiple fronts and settling for below value deals that make us slightly better.

You still have David Ross, and I don't think you should throw Schwarber to the wolves. I would let another year play out, and by then, maybe Contreras is ready to step in and they can then deal Montero.

Right now, I like the fact that the Cubs have three catchers on the team, and two don't have to be on the bench.

I want Kyle to have a full year under the tutelage of Montero and Ross, to gauge just how ready, or if he ever will be ready to catch.

Conventional wisdom says you should be strong up the middle as far as defense, and that starts with the catcher. SS is good, 2nd base is good, and they are possibly willing to sacrifice a bat, for defense in CF.

They are pretty much going textbook with this, so we will see if Schwarber indeed has a place behind the plate.

 

[TC in Mississippi]

Heyward complicates things with Soler. Call me crazy, but I think you trust in a guy with work ethic and the guy you trade is Montero.

You play Schwarbaby at catcher, put Soler in left because he could end up hitting like Cespedes and you can't just trade priceless commodities away.

Keep Baez too and platoon with Zobrist and Russell. This move allows you to still acquire a true defensive/lead off center fielder. Zobrist and Lackey is so much money that could have been used wiser. These moves reek of an Adam Archuleta type where the gm and coach think they are acquiring a player they once knew imtimanty, and are willing to overpay based on what they once meant to the club, or may mean for 1 more year at best but then...

Cubs are in win now mode but I don't like it. Why Zobrist? Lackey is losing velocity and health. If there was no market for Castro they should have waited, now GM needs Warren to succeed to justify.

Hard to really screw this up with the pieces they have and this kind of money to spend, but they are tempting fate on multiple fronts and settling for below value deals that make us slightly better.

You're wrong on Lackey in terms of velocity. He's remained remarkably consistent on both his 4 seam and 2 seam fastball. His slider disappeared a few years back and he's throwing fewer cutters. He's made his age adjustments already, mainly in pitch selection, which probably means he has two more good years. That's why the contract was a good one.

As far as Zobrist goes he makes more contact than Castro and is a better fit for this lineup. There were balance issues that really don't exist anymore. As far as Warren there are a lot of people very high on him and in the end Castro's value was what it was. They needed his money for Zobrist.

You can't play Schwarber at C. You need his bat and you need him to start making everyday player adjustments especially against LH pitching much like Rizzo went through. LF is an easier position to learn at with less impact on his bat. He'll get some time behind the plate but to trade Montero is madness. Also where are you coming from with work ethic? This guy was a leader in the clubhouse all year.

They're in a position now where if there is a deal for Soler involving a cost controlled pitcher and/or a CF they'll make it. If there isn't Heyward will be in CF and I think will do better than people expect.

 

[TC in Mississippi]

There's a lot of buzz about a trade for Ender Inciarte that would send Soler and more to Atlanta. I was all for trading Soler for pitching but this scares me. I get the principle in that it dramatically increases Heyward's value to the team and gives you a much better defensive OF but Soler is a huge cost unless the FO knows something we do not.

 

[DJMoore_is_fat]

There's a lot of buzz about a trade for Ender Inciarte that would send Soler and more to Atlanta. I was all for trading Soler for pitching but this scares me. I get the principle in that it dramatically increases Heyward's value to the team and gives you a much better defensive OF but Soler is a huge cost unless the FO knows something we do not.

Maybe a pitcher is involved in the deal? We'd have to seriously considering moving Soler and a piece for Inciarte and a solid pitcher.

 

[TC in Mississippi]

Maybe a pitcher is involved in the deal? We'd have to seriously considering moving Soler and a piece for Inciarte and a solid pitcher.

Even if it's one of their minor league guys yes but Soler + prospects for Inciarte alone? I'm not doing that.

 

[DJMoore_is_fat]

Giants just inked Cueto. They now have Baumgarten, Cueto and Shark at the top of the rotation. Would love to see them in the playoffs so we can destroy Shark.

 

[JimJohnson]

Giants just inked Cueto. They now have Baumgarten, Cueto and Shark at the top of the rotation. Would love to see them in the playoffs so we can destroy Shark.

Pretty reasonable contract for Cueto.

 

[Hammer]

Those 2 signings (Zimmerman and Cueto) for around $20M per year could raise some questions about Cubs front office decision making in FA period if things go wrong next season.

I mean, would you rather have aging veterans Lackey and Zobrist for $30M per year, or you would rather go with youger, more durable Castro and Cueto/Zimmerman for the same amount of money.

If Lackey and Zobrist start showing their age and become busts, then Cubs fans will regret for Epsteins lack of judgement when signing FA players, why would you ever willingly choose to go old if you have other options available, that kinda boggles me.

And it's kinda crazy that they basically gave Castro away for AAA type of pitcher.

 

[JimJohnson]

Those 2 signings (Zimmerman and Cueto) for around $20M per year could raise some questions about Cubs front office decision making in FA period if things go wrong next season.

I mean, would you rather have aging veterans Lackey and Zobrist for $30M per year, or you would rather go with youger, more durable Castro and Cueto/Zimmerman for the same amount of money.

If Lackey and Zobrist start showing their age and become busts, then Cubs fans will regret for Epsteins lack of judgement when signing FA players, why would you ever willingly choose to go old if you have other options available, that kinda boggles me.

Depends on if they are able to trade for a young pitcher like Salazar. If they are able to, then all their FA moves were the right one. You'd have Arrieta, Lester, Salazar, Lackey which is a terrific front 4. Then you've got Heyward and Zobrist hitting in front of Rizzo and Bryant which gives me a major boner. Not sure how you could be disappointed with that.

 

[Hammer]

The problem is that they didn't use Castro to get that young pitcher type you're talking about, but they basically gave him away (and it's even worse because they gave him away to the evil empire like Yankees for 28 years old AAA player).

So if they choose to trade for that 'young ace', then they'll need to trade even more parts of the young core, players like Soler and Baez.

Plus, the longevity factor is a serious issue because in 37 year old Lackey you have 2-3 good years at very best, with 30 year old Zimmerman/Cueto you could get 8-10 good ones.
Similar with Zobrist, he's what, 34 year old with 3-4 good years in him at most, and with 25 year old Castro you get 10-15 more years.

So Epstein is basically intentionally shortening Cubs title window by going older and not necessarily better with moves he made, that's kinda crazy to me.

 

[DanTown]

The Cubs traded Castro for Warren+Zobrist because Zobrist was a lead-off hitter. They needed a leadoff hitter. They didn't have one on the roster and signing one in FA would have meant either Heyward (who has been vocal about not playing there) or Russell (completely unknown) or another guy in FA and probably no Heyward.

The Castro trade does not impact the long term impact of the team and doesn't change one thing about the arc of this team. I mean, Zobrist has been much better than Castro the past few years and while the age thing will likely happen with Zobrist, the bat is still quite elite.

And signing Lackey to a two year deal doesn't impact your potential to re-up Arrieta at a high cost.

 

[Shawon0Meter]

I think they're banking on Arrieta being a Cub long-term too and that factors in.

Lester is making 26 a year for the next 5 years. Arrieta will get huge money. I can see why they don't want yet another long term 9 figure deal with a starting pitcher. Going short-term with old guys or getting cost-controlled young guys make sense.

As far as losing Castro, they obviously feel Zobrist is better for win now and might see the future middle infield as Russell and Gleyber Torres or maybe even Baez. The future should still be just fine at SS and 2B.

The Cubs didn't trade Castro to the Yankees to do the Yankees a favor, it just puts his real value in perspective unfortunately

 

[Shawon0Meter]

I still dislike the Castro trade btw, that was just my attempt at a defense

 

[Hammer]

I get the need of SP cost control.

But why give Castro away for a 28 year old nobody, that puzzles me.
I mean, when they acquired 2B Zobrist and RF Heyward, then why not package Castro with Soler and/or Baez to get high quality young pitcher instead of just giving him away for basically nothing, that's somewhat bad resource management.

I mean, for example, you can't tell me that offer consisted of Soler, Baez and Castro for a young cost controlled pitcher is somehow worse then offer consisted of just Soler and Baez.

 

[beckdawg]

I get the need of SP cost control.

But why give Castro away for a 28 year old nobody, that puzzles me.
I mean, when they acquired 2B Zobrist and RF Heyward, then why not package Castro with Soler and/or Baez to get high quality young pitcher instead of just giving him away for basically nothing, that's somewhat bad resource management.

I mean, for example, you can't tell me that offer consisted of Soler, Baez and Castro for a young cost controlled pitcher is somehow worse then offer consisted of just Soler and Baez.

That "28 year old nobody" has pitched as well as Shelby Miller. Warren has pitched 289.1 IP in his career with a 7.62 K/9, 2.96 BB/9 and a 3.39/3.69 ERA/FIP. Miller has pitched 575.1 IP in his career with a 7.56 k/9, a 3.24 bb/9 and a 3.22/3.82 ERA/FIP. I'd argue Miller has higher upside than Warren given each's age, but it's not like Warren's been a bad pitcher and those are AL numbers vs NL numbers. And more to the point, he's proven he can work well out of the bullpen which gives him additional flexibility

As for including Castro in some other trade, it's entirely plausible most teams don't want Castro. Castro cleared waivers last season meaning when given the opportunity to claim him for nothing not one team took the chance. And while you could argue the cubs would have pulled him back off waivers if they couldn't reach a deal, goes to show you where people were on Castro. Either way, timing matters. The cubs had a number of goals this offseason. If we work backwards and assume the plan was always Heyward as the #1 target, in order for that to happen you have to find a lead off hitter as he's on record as saying he doesn't like doing it. Castro can't hit lead off and if you're playing Heyward in CF you don't have any space in your line up to add someone. Enter Zobrist. In order to make that happen, you had to move Castro to open up a spot for him. As such both those moves likely had to be made before you can rest assured you can get Heyward.

I'm sure the cubs probably did try to package Castro to get pitching but with several options available in FA the urgency to make a deal wasn't there and the cubs couldn't just wait around forever on a trade because then Zobrist/Heyward may sign else where. Maybe the Yankees bought low at a great timing. But there's a reason Castro was available in the first place and that's because he's played like shit for over half of the last 3 seasons.

 

[beckdawg]

I mean, would you rather have aging veterans Lackey and Zobrist for $30M per year, or you would rather go with youger, more durable Castro and Cueto/Zimmerman for the same amount of money.

This is a pretty simplistic look at roster construction. If you signed Cueto or Zimmerman you're tied down a lot longer and that isn't always a good thing. More to the point, if we can all assume they want to re-sign Arrieta, you would have been looking at probably some where in the range of $70-75 mil tied up in 3 pitchers over 30 for the next 5 or so years. That's a bad bet.

I'd argue that Lackey at $16 mil/season is well worth it to only be tied down for two years for a couple of reasons. For one, Pierce Johnson has MOR ability and maybe needs 1 year. Chances are he is competing for a spot in the rotation by midseason or next ST. You also have a number of really good arms(Cease, Underwood, De La Cruz) who are 2-3 years away. Lackey is a solid pitcher with playoff experience who allows you to act as a short term patch while you wait for your own pitchers to develop.

As for Castro vs Zobrist...I mean look at each's last 4 years. If you want to argue Zobrist falls off due to age fine but 80% of what he's been the past 4 years is still likely better than any season Castro has ever had. And as others have mentioned, Castro can't bat lead off which is largely the point in bringing in Zobrist in the first place. Castro necessitates another player on the roster for that roll.

Ultimately, signing Cueto/Zimmermann is a early 2000's yankees move. And the problem with that is it becomes a death spiral at some point. You have guys like Arrieta and Lester who while really good now are going to eventually fall off. So, you sign the top 29+ year old pitcher to help. After a couple of seasons he falls off. So, sign another... etc. What you eventually end up with is CC Sabathia getting paid $23 mil the past 2 seasons and $25 mil this season to pitch as poorly as he has. In other words, you want to keep your roster as lean as you can and you want to space out your FA signings in such a way that you aren't relying on several 30+ players at the same time.

 

[beckdawg]

With the prices of top tier pitching being what they are, I honestly wonder what teams would offer if the cubs made Arrieta available. With how good the cubs are likely to be that might seem like a crazy idea. And maybe it is but teams are going insane to acquire pitching. And Arrieta is 30 and only controlled 2 more years. I think you could make the argument that Arrieta is worth at least the Dodgers top 3 pitchers Julio Urias, Jose De Leon and Grant Holmes who are two of the top 8 pitching prospects and 3 of the top 25. I mean that's seriously pretty crazy to talk about.

I'd be surprised if the cubs are actually considering it but as a discussion I think it's pretty interesting. The cubs would still have Baez/Soler and others to try and acquire something for 2016 and you would be potentially adding 3 top arms plus maybe more.

 

[TL1961]

Heyward complicates things with Soler. Call me crazy, but I think you trust in a guy with work ethic and the guy you trade is Montero.

You play Schwarbaby at catcher, put Soler in left because he could end up hitting like Cespedes and you can't just trade priceless commodities away.

Keep Baez too and platoon with Zobrist and Russell. This move allows you to still acquire a true defensive/lead off center fielder. Zobrist and Lackey is so much money that could have been used wiser. These moves reek of an Adam Archuleta type where the gm and coach think they are acquiring a player they once knew imtimanty, and are willing to overpay based on what they once meant to the club, or may mean for 1 more year at best but then...

Cubs are in win now mode but I don't like it. Why Zobrist? Lackey is losing velocity and health. If there was no market for Castro they should have waited, now GM needs Warren to succeed to justify.

Hard to really screw this up with the pieces they have and this kind of money to spend, but they are tempting fate on multiple fronts and settling for below value deals that make us slightly better.

I really like Soler and Baez, and would be happy keeping them.

But Schwarber at catchet,and platooning Russell are insane ideas

 

[TL1961]

With the prices of top tier pitching being what they are, I honestly wonder what teams would offer if the cubs made Arrieta available. With how good the cubs are likely to be that might seem like a crazy idea. And maybe it is but teams are going insane to acquire pitching. And Arrieta is 30 and only controlled 2 more years. I think you could make the argument that Arrieta is worth at least the Dodgers top 3 pitchers Julio Urias, Jose De Leon and Grant Holmes who are two of the top 8 pitching prospects and 3 of the top 25. I mean that's seriously pretty crazy to talk about.

I'd be surprised if the cubs are actually considering it but as a discussion I think it's pretty interesting. The cubs would still have Baez/Soler and others to try and acquire something for 2016 and you would be potentially adding 3 top arms plus maybe more.

Offering a pitcher would be OK if you were deep in pitching, and other holes.
Our situation is exactly opposite that.