*** Official 2025 Chicago Cubs Thread***



Yea, what was that from PCA. He leaps into the wall, falls to the ground and it was a 450 foot HR.

He might be believing the hype. But he ain't Superman:cool:
I mean, I don’t know that this means anything, because you might say that experience would mature you past the stupid and pointless…but I at least can’t talk because I did something similar on one or two occasions. I was a pretty good defensive outfielder, and I certainly knew I had no chance to get the one ball I’m thinking of, but perhaps the adrenaline of the moment and just really wanting to do something led me to do something pointless. Perhaps that’s what he would say he was feeling?
 
Picking up Rea's option at $6 mil is a no brainer. Don't even need to use him in the rotation but having him as a swingman to cover long innings or a spot start at that price is a huge value. That was the role he was supposed to have this season but injuries forced him to be in the rotation most of the year. Does Assad still have minor league options left for next year? If so he's just a cheap depth piece that you can never have enough starting pitching depth as we have found out lately. If they do go out and sign or trade for a top end SP then Boyd or Taillon probably has to be traded if Steele is healthy to start the season. My fear though is the FO is just going to say we are fine if everyone is healthy, we have Steele, Horton, Shota, Taillon, and Boyd plus some depth pieces in Rea and Assad so we will be just fine if all those guys are healthy. The wise thing to do is realize you need to upgrade 1 spot in the rotation and there will likely be an injury or 2 along the way that will hurt the pitching depth.

Don't care what they do with Soroko and Civale. If they come back on cheap 1 year deals fine but they won't make or break the bullpen. The big question is do you pick up Kittredge's $9 mil option which I think you may as well because right now there is no other money committed to the bullpen for 2026 other than arbitration and pre-arb pitchers. I'd love to bring Keller back but he's probably going to garner some decent offers as well as he has pitched out of the bullpen this year. I do agree getting a proven stud closer should be on the shopping list too. If not in free agency use some prospect capital to trade for one.

Brown needs to work hard in the offseason at finding another pitch to add to his limited arsenal. I don't trust him in any role at the moment till he can prove he can command the strike zone and get outs more consistently. I'm done with Wicks too, would be fine if they included him in part of a trade in the offseason.

Need to figure out what is the philosophy with the offense going forward and then make the moves to achieve that. I've said it many times, if anyone on this roster should be extended it's Nico and they should do it now before he hits free agency. Busch looks like a long term piece, no if Craig would just let him learn to hit left handed pitching once in awhile instead of using kid gloves with him. While PCA, Swanson, and Shaw have been solid defensively it's been painfully clear when we hit the bottom end of the batting order we can't seem to generate offense. Swanson is not terrible, still hit 24 HR this year but just doesn't seem to get hits with guys on base. PCA and Shaw are still young and have room to improve but we just lack some guys in the lineup that know how to get hits when they count. We'll see if they can find a way to maybe get Happ to waive his NTC as OF really is the only opportunity to bring in someone significant. The infield is pretty set at this point unless you decide to go a completely different direction and trade 1 of them.
Good post. Nico needs to retire a cub, does everything the right way. We need 5 more guys like that. Rea will be back as well, for one he should be because he's been excellent, but the cubs are cheap and they have a club option. He's been our best pitcher for 6 weeks now and been damn good the last 2 years. He's a third starter for any playoff team.
 
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Add it to the list!
  • Stroman has an oblique issue and 5 weeks later its discovered he has a broken rib.
  • Dansby plays 2 months of baseball with an injured leg and is worthless the entire time he plays instead of letting it heal
  • Hoerner sits 8 days instead of taking a 10 day IL stint. Ends up requiring surgery in October that takes him out the first 2 weeks of the following season.
  • Alzolay getting Tommy John after having discomfort for 10 months, which effectively takes him out for 2.5 seasons
  • Lopez flirts with an IL stint, ultimately doesn't go on IL. Finally comes back after sitting 6 days, gets blown up for 4 runs and is the sole reason the Cubs lose a game, goes to the IL immediately after.
  • Tucker with weird finger issue, let him suck for 6 weeks, decide to IL him.
  • Cade Horton not needing 10 days to heal being put on the 10 day IL during the postseason.
 
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Good post. Nico needs to retire a cub, does everything the right way. We need 5 more guys like that. Rea will be back as well, for one he should be because he's been excellent, but the cubs are cheap and they have a club option. He's been our best pitcher for 6 weeks now and been damn good the last 2 years. He's a third starter for any playoff team.
Trade for power hitting 3rd baseman. I like Shaw but he is not a legitimate power hitter.
 
Add it to the list!
  • Stroman has an oblique issue and 5 weeks later its discovered he has a broken rib.
  • Dansby plays 2 months of baseball with an injured leg and is worthless the entire time he plays instead of letting it heal
  • Hoerner sits 8 days instead of taking a 10 day IL stint. Ends up requiring surgery in October that takes him out the first 2 weeks of the following season.
  • Alzolay getting Tommy John after having discomfort for 10 months, which effectively takes him out for 2.5 seasons
  • Lopez flirts with an IL stint, ultimately doesn't go on IL. Finally comes back after sitting 6 days, gets blown up for 4 runs and is the sole reason the Cubs lose a game, goes to the IL immediately after.
  • Tucker with weird finger issue, let him suck for 6 weeks, decide to IL him.
  • Cade Horton not needing 10 days to heal being put on the 10 day IL during the postseason.
Cubs have the doctor from Arrested Development apparently.
 
Rea should have started Game 1, its criminal that he was our best pitcher down the stretch then was relegated to mop-up duty. Then he could have gone Shota in game 2 on 4 days rest, followed by Boyd on 6 days rest in Wrigley where hes much better then on the road and the wind blowing in.

I donr know if Counsell was thinking he absolutely wanted Taillon starting a game and that's why he decided to pitch guys on short rest, but whatever his reasoning he didn't even give us a chance in this series.
 
Trade for power hitting 3rd baseman. I like Shaw but he is not a legitimate power hitter.

In 2026 if Shaw's a .260 hitting 20-25 HR guy that should be great for a 3B with his defense, age and salary.

For me the 2026 positions the Cubs should change are: LF, RF & DH. Happ & Suzuki both have NTC, but the Cubs need to shake up the starting lineup. They can't just tweak a couple spots in the lineup and expect change.

The other bit of tweaking to upgrade the Cubs lineup is finding solid platoons for PCA and Busch. Realize people drool over PCA's defense and feel Busch should play everyday, but PCA's BA/OB% were .188/.217 & Busch was .207/.274. Maybe Alcantara is PCA's mirror in CF. But the Cubs need to swing big at 1B (against lefties & DH).
 
Who is this 30/30 guy?
Shaw may never be a 30/30 guy but I’d argue there is no better value at 3B in all of MLB. He does look overmatched at times but most 23 year old rookies do. Cubs probably missed the boat but I’d extend him now and keep him a Cub for the next 8-10 years.
 
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Shaw may never be a 30/30 guy but I’d argue there is no better value at 3B in all of MLB. He does look overmatched at times but most 23 year old rookies do. Cubs probably missed the boat but I’d extend him now and keep him a Cub for the next 8-10 years.
This thread is not too far off from realizing he is 1/19 with 12 K and 5 BB in his last 24 AB and will start calling for his head.
 
In 2026 if Shaw's a .260 hitting 20-25 HR guy that should be great for a 3B with his defense, age and salary.

For me the 2026 positions the Cubs should change are: LF, RF & DH. Happ & Suzuki both have NTC, but the Cubs need to shake up the starting lineup. They can't just tweak a couple spots in the lineup and expect change.

The other bit of tweaking to upgrade the Cubs lineup is finding solid platoons for PCA and Busch. Realize people drool over PCA's defense and feel Busch should play everyday, but PCA's BA/OB% were .188/.217 & Busch was .207/.274. Maybe Alcantara is PCA's mirror in CF. But the Cubs need to swing big at 1B (against lefties & DH).

Not a fan of platooning guys that hit 31 and 34 HR with 90+ RBI this year. I would be all for upgrading the bench options behind them as Turner was a big drop off when he started for Busch and did not really have an option behind PCA in CF. They both are young and still developing and both had pretty significant steps forward in offensive production this year. I keep saying it, I hate analytics sometimes as how can you say a guy can't hit lefties when he doesn't get to face them consistently and learn how to hit them? That seems like an opportunity to develop that aspect of their game much like you would adding another pitch to a pitcher's arsenal. Busch only got 89 AB against lefties last year and 87 this year. PCA on the other hand got 170 AB against lefties and obviously struggled to hit them when you look at his splits but much like Swanson his glove is too valuable to leave out the lineup so you take your lumps at the plate.

The roster construction should be looked at in the offseason and I agree that there needs to a shake up but the 2 NTC contracts makes that difficult as the corner OF spots and DH are the most logical spots to bring in impacts bats. Also adding to that problem is your top prospects also play those positions in Caissie, Mo B, and Alcantara so are you confident with in-house options which allows you to commit dollars to pitching otherwise you have to have some hard conversations about trading prospects or some other positional piece(s) on the big league roster to clear a way to upgrade somehow. I don't see that happening with anyone in the infield.
 
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Mo is the only one of the in house guys that I'm confident in.

I think Caissie is going to strike out too much to be more than a platoon bat unless that power goes to another level. and Alcantara can't hit right handed pitching in AAA, that's going to get ugly in the bigs.
 
Who gets to start on short rest today?

You're acting like this has been a thing. Boyd started one game on 1 day shorter rest. Shota started on normal rest. Taillon today on 1 day longer rest.

Also, not sure why this hasn't been discussed more, but its seems to me the reason the Brewers have lit up the Cubs pitching is more because the Cubs are tipping pitches, and less because the Cubs pitchers are pitching on short rest.
 
It's more fun to make fun of this org trying to money ball this post season and it all blowing up in their face.

I did see the tipping pitches rumor. It wouldn't surprise me.