*** Official 2025 Chicago Cubs Thread***
- Thread starter Cyforce
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Honestly just took a look at our top 10 prospects. Keep Shaw Ballestareos and Alcantara give the other seven up for Skenes. I make that deal in a heartbeat.
Why would the Pirates ever take that deal? You could offer them all 10 of the Cubs' top 10 prospects, and I'm not sure they would do the deal.
Give me Horton instead of Alcantara and I'm all the way in.
I'll even throw in Major League ready Burl Caraway.
I didn’t know we had front office personnel in the forum. Seven of the top ten from a top five farm system isn’t under value actually if you look what others are paying it’s overpaying. Horton and Caissie are very valuable prospects. But it’s easier to just say no way they would do that because you are the expert
Problem with that is the two headliners are both outfielders
I know hes in shape and has an intense and somewhat unusual workout routine but I'm afraid with as hard as he (Skenes) throws, he'll totally get a Tommy John surgery at some point.
The reason the Pirates wouldn't take that deal is Skenes is a rookie of the year pitcher who throws close to 100mph. His projection is a generational pitcher winning multiple Cy Young.
To get Skenes the Cubs would need to give up All-Star level major league players and players among the Cubs top 3 prospects. Trading prospects 4-10 ain't gonna cut it. Good chance only a couple of those 4-10 will ever be everyday MLB players and maybe a 25% shot any of those top 10 are ever All-Star players.
He didn't necessarily say expensive mlb all stars. PCA is playing at an all star level and is cheap, for example.
Swanson swinging a hot bat over the past week+ over the past 15 days really has been batting .295 Heard Alex Cohen interviewed on KXNO earlier this week say people over-react to his hitting as he goes through hot and cold streaks throughout the season but plays elite defense at a premium position and will probably end the season around a 4-4.5 WAR as a result.
Big difference with the lineup at this point of the season compared to last year. Yesterday's lineup by batting average compared to 5/1 last season:
.279 .272 Happ/Hoerner
.278 .295 Tucker/Tauchman
.295 .217 Suzuki/Happ
.282 .207 Busch/Morel
.284 .255 Hoerner/Busch
.266 .234 PCA/Swanson
.266 .130 Amaya/Mervis
.213 .203 Swanson/Amaya
.306 .250 Berti/PCA (used Berti here instead of Lopez since Berti is the regular at the moment)
Not only better averages top to bottom but much better hitting n general in the heart of the order.
Big difference with the lineup at this point of the season compared to last year. Yesterday's lineup by batting average compared to 5/1 last season:
.279 .272 Happ/Hoerner
.278 .295 Tucker/Tauchman
.295 .217 Suzuki/Happ
.282 .207 Busch/Morel
.284 .255 Hoerner/Busch
.266 .234 PCA/Swanson
.266 .130 Amaya/Mervis
.213 .203 Swanson/Amaya
.306 .250 Berti/PCA (used Berti here instead of Lopez since Berti is the regular at the moment)
Not only better averages top to bottom but much better hitting n general in the heart of the order.
I was pessimistic about this team coming into the season and I still worry if the pitching is good enough to hold up over the course of the season if they get any more injuries, but man it sure feels like they found the right combination to have a good season and push to win the division. If they can figure out 3B and bolster the pitching at the deadline then the ceiling will be raised even more.
Pay whatever it takes to extend Tucker, we are seeing the difference of what having an MVP caliber hitter in the heart of the order does for everyone else. Also helps that PCA and Busch are taking the next step forward in their young careers. Kelly has been a huge hit so far too. Locking up Tucker along with PCA being under team control for awhile that is an elite OF regardless if Happ is here past 2026 as you either replace him with Caissie or Alcantara or 1 or both of them are traded to fill another need. Ballesteros will either have to be adequate defensively at catcher otherwise be the future full time DH as Busch is probably going to lock down 1B if he keeps playing like he has. As long as this group stays healthy and keeps winning it's going to be hard for Caissie, Alcantara, and Ballesteros to break through in Chicago this year but that either means they keep increasing their trade value by playing well in Iowa or the Cubs can delay their plans with them till 2026. Let's say they find a way to keep Tucker which will be pricey. At that point with Happ and Suzuki on the last year of their deals maybe they can convince one of them to waive their no trade clause to clear some of the salary that is going to Tucker but also free up a spot for 1 of those 3 to play every day in 2026. If Tucker walks then they probably stay in-house to fill RF and look to spend that money on top end starting pitching or upgrade at 2B or 3B.
Pay whatever it takes to extend Tucker, we are seeing the difference of what having an MVP caliber hitter in the heart of the order does for everyone else. Also helps that PCA and Busch are taking the next step forward in their young careers. Kelly has been a huge hit so far too. Locking up Tucker along with PCA being under team control for awhile that is an elite OF regardless if Happ is here past 2026 as you either replace him with Caissie or Alcantara or 1 or both of them are traded to fill another need. Ballesteros will either have to be adequate defensively at catcher otherwise be the future full time DH as Busch is probably going to lock down 1B if he keeps playing like he has. As long as this group stays healthy and keeps winning it's going to be hard for Caissie, Alcantara, and Ballesteros to break through in Chicago this year but that either means they keep increasing their trade value by playing well in Iowa or the Cubs can delay their plans with them till 2026. Let's say they find a way to keep Tucker which will be pricey. At that point with Happ and Suzuki on the last year of their deals maybe they can convince one of them to waive their no trade clause to clear some of the salary that is going to Tucker but also free up a spot for 1 of those 3 to play every day in 2026. If Tucker walks then they probably stay in-house to fill RF and look to spend that money on top end starting pitching or upgrade at 2B or 3B.
The offense and defense are legit. Pitching terrifies me over the course of the season and in the playoffs but hopefully the FO can make some deals to get help. Rea will come back down to earth at some point and just not sure how much I can trust Ben Brown. Steele getting hurt really sucks.
Yeah, this team looks very legit right now, but as the roster stands today I'm not convinced we have the pitching to win a 7 game series against the Dodgers if it comes to that in the NLCS.
Don't disagree.
They'll make a move plus Horton is legit. I actually trust Jed a lot in the trade market. He's done really good work there. His two bad deals (Darvish and Bellinger) were ownership directed salary dumps that he had no control over.
