***Official 2023 Chicago Cubs Thread***
- Thread starter BigJCy
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Love the guy, want him in now and in 2024, but I have a feeling some team is really going to overpay for him.
I'd like to see them exercise the club option on Gomes to ease the pressure on Amaya. Amaya is looking good, but he's seen very little time above A ball. They should salvage what they can on Barnhart....maybe a team desperate for catching would be willing to pay $1M of his salary next year?
With the random move to go grab PJ Higgins last week despite having 3 MLB catchers, I have a feeling there are plans to move Barnhart just as a minor salary dump and salvage whatever money they can for 2024. There is zero reason Barnhart should ever play when you have Gomes and Amaya on the roster.
CycloneErik
Well-Known Member
I couldn't be more ecstatic, the Tennessee Smokies are just a piece or two away from winning it all this year and trading Bellinger might just do the trick to get us the resources we need to be AA Champs!!!
CycloneErik
Well-Known Member
IMO Morel has to be a bigger part of the Cubs future than Happ or Mervis. Ross just needs to stop using him as a utility player. Decide if he is a corner outfielder or 3B and let him focus on 1 position. Tough to find guys with 30 HR potential based on career to-date major league at bats.
Also feel the Cubs are set at catcher with Gomes and Amaya in 2024. Barring the Cubs don't trade Gomes in the next week.
Barnhart has performed exactly as expected, solid defender, very little offense. He's a bargain compared to what St Louis got in Contreras. They'll likely trade him if possible but no reason to give him away.
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P.J. Higgins Returns – Cubs Acquire Old Friend from Diamondbacks
The Cubs today acquired catcher P.J. Higgins from the Diamondbacks.
www.bleachernation.com
I was more of an insurance move with Dom Nunez going to the IL in Iowa. If something crazy happened with the catcher situation in Chicago they were lacking an option in Iowa with big league experience as an emergency call up.
As much as I love Yan Gomes, I could see a scenario where the Cubs go into next year with Amaya and Barnhart. As you said, Barnhart has been as expected. Gomes has had one of his best offensive years and is 36. Save a few mil and you have a good defensive backup to Amaya.
In general, I agree with the idea of committing to guys at one spot, but I think I prefer Morel serving as a super-utility solely because I'm concerned with the idea of a hot and cold guy like himself being expected to permanently hold down a spot.
Removing his first 13 games in the league this year, he's hitting just .230. Since July 1 he has just one dong and is striking out 38% of the time.
If his stats outside of his first 13 games are what we got out of our third basemen, we'd be demanding a new third basemen next year. But who knows, maybe he just needs the consistency of playing the same spot every day.
In (my) perfect scenario next year, he's playing 75% of games primarily as 2B/3B/DH/5th Outfielder
Major issue with Morel sticking to one position is he's a bad outfielder, below average 3B ans basically serviceable at 2nd.
Plus Suzuki likely isn't going anywhere so we are going to hopefully see Bellinger playing full-time spread around 3 positions and Tauchman in the OF mix.
So if we can keep Bellinger i think I'd rather see us go out and get an everyday 3B and trade Morel. Kid is just too hot and cold.
Agree; trade or keep as a DH unless he's needed on the field. And with Mancini/Gomes/Amaya, , you have the DH spot filled next year. So I guess I would lean trade if someone is listening.
Trading Smyly ($8.5 Million) Mancini ($7 Million) and Barnhart ($3.5 Million) saves the Cubs $19 Million for 2024.
I know no team in their right mind would take any of them, but if the Cubs want $20 million more to spend on top FA's, maybe you throw one of them in with Bellinger or Stroman and diminish the return a bit. You could also put feelers out there for Morel or Madrigal and tell teams you'll diminish the return if they take one of those three.
I know no team in their right mind would take any of them, but if the Cubs want $20 million more to spend on top FA's, maybe you throw one of them in with Bellinger or Stroman and diminish the return a bit. You could also put feelers out there for Morel or Madrigal and tell teams you'll diminish the return if they take one of those three.
Trade Stroman, Hendricks, and cut the fat on the guys that aren’t in the long term plans (Mancini, Bote, Barnhart, Madrigal, Wisdom, Boxberger, Etc) and you have some payroll to play with. Heyward’s contract also expires this year even though he gets another $5 million in deferred money.
With Bellinger if there
I'd love to bring him back next year but with Scott Boras as his agent there is zero chance Boras let's him sign an extension this season and will want him to see what the free agent market will bring for offers. The Cubs front office is not going to overspend on a ridiculous offer just to sign him now so they'll just have to bid on him like everyone else. That being said if the Cubs sell you have to cash in on Bellinger and trade him then do your best to bring him back next season. If he was not a Boras client I would be more inclined to hold on him and try to sign him to and extension after the trade deadline but the way he's playing right now it's in his best interest to play this season out and see what offers he gets in the offseason.
IMO if the Cubs sell you have to look at selling anyone not in the plans for 2024 or beyond and trying to clear as much payroll as possible while acquiring some more prospects to give them more system depth and payroll to go all out in the offseason to build this thing.
Some of the names people are mentioning like Wisdom and Madrigal, the Cubs don't necessarily need to trade them to get them off the payroll for next year. Review the multi-year payroll matrix here: Chicago Cubs Multi-Year Payroll | Spotrac The Cubs can just non-tender offers to arbitration eligible players so there really is no need to shop them around unless some team really wants to take one of them in a deal and I doubt there is much of a market for a guy like Wisdom. It would be great to move Mancini as he surely would exercise his $7 mil player option after the season he has had but that's also an issue as other teams probably don't want to take that on either. Same with Barnhart and his $3.25 mil but that is a little easier to swallow if you had to cut him. Boxberger is a mutual option, I doubt the Cubs pick that one up and Bote is pretty much dead money as they already DFA and signed him back on a minor league deal so he's not even on the 40 man anymore. This breaks it down a bit, I'm not exactly sure when that deal runs out: David Bote Contract Details, Salaries, & Earnings | Spotrac I think it runs through 2024 then they can decline the club options after that.
I'd love to bring him back next year but with Scott Boras as his agent there is zero chance Boras let's him sign an extension this season and will want him to see what the free agent market will bring for offers. The Cubs front office is not going to overspend on a ridiculous offer just to sign him now so they'll just have to bid on him like everyone else. That being said if the Cubs sell you have to cash in on Bellinger and trade him then do your best to bring him back next season. If he was not a Boras client I would be more inclined to hold on him and try to sign him to and extension after the trade deadline but the way he's playing right now it's in his best interest to play this season out and see what offers he gets in the offseason.
IMO if the Cubs sell you have to look at selling anyone not in the plans for 2024 or beyond and trying to clear as much payroll as possible while acquiring some more prospects to give them more system depth and payroll to go all out in the offseason to build this thing.
Some of the names people are mentioning like Wisdom and Madrigal, the Cubs don't necessarily need to trade them to get them off the payroll for next year. Review the multi-year payroll matrix here: Chicago Cubs Multi-Year Payroll | Spotrac The Cubs can just non-tender offers to arbitration eligible players so there really is no need to shop them around unless some team really wants to take one of them in a deal and I doubt there is much of a market for a guy like Wisdom. It would be great to move Mancini as he surely would exercise his $7 mil player option after the season he has had but that's also an issue as other teams probably don't want to take that on either. Same with Barnhart and his $3.25 mil but that is a little easier to swallow if you had to cut him. Boxberger is a mutual option, I doubt the Cubs pick that one up and Bote is pretty much dead money as they already DFA and signed him back on a minor league deal so he's not even on the 40 man anymore. This breaks it down a bit, I'm not exactly sure when that deal runs out: David Bote Contract Details, Salaries, & Earnings | Spotrac I think it runs through 2024 then they can decline the club options after that.
