***Official 2024 Chicago Cubs Thread***
- Thread starter CycloneErik
- Start date
But we'll hear rumors about Juan Soto, even though we'll never contact him.
Though I haven’t seen any media say anything similar, I just have a hard time believing Jed will actually return the same group of guys solely because his job is on the line, and this season was an unmitigated yet completely avoidable disaster.
Not that I believe we go after Soto/Burnes, but you have to go get stars, of which we currently have zero.
Not that I believe we go after Soto/Burnes, but you have to go get stars, of which we currently have zero.
I think Shota looks like a star. PCA could get there too. But yeah, some marquee players are needed. And a friggin decent bullpen for once.
I swear if we start next season with bench options of Wisdom Mastrobouni and Tauchman I will send Hoyer a box of manure. Something has got to change with this roster construction, maybe make a bold trade but a top end rotation starter, a couple proven bullpen arms, and upgrades at 3B and C are the most logical spots to do it at. Anything else requires moving a starting caliber player still with years left on a contract in order to upgrade a position which I am not against doing but its got to be a smart move as for example Nico is not a bad 2B but you have to have a plan in place to replace him with a significant upgrade if do a deal that includes him.
Also have the problem that we traded away a lot of the core guys a few years ago to load up the farm system and now a lot of those guys are blocked in Chicago because we weren't smart with some contracts. I don't expect Bellinger to opt out but if he does that helps the OF situation and payroll substantially as you now can go into the offseason either charting a path to give some OF prospects a fair shot at an everyday role or at worst 4th or 5th OF spot going into the season or you try to make a huge upgrade through a signing or trade. If he opts in then you basically have no place in the OF with Happ PCA Belli and Suzuki as the primary DH so basically Tauchman's bench spot would be up for grabs. I don't think they are interested in replacing Busch at 1B so that is not an option to move Belli to either.
Lastly, there are some 40 man decisions to be made. What is the future of Brennan Davis, Alexander Canario and Matt Mervis for example? Caissie has to be added to the 40 man going into the offseason, I expect they will part ways with Alzola Brewer and possibly Almonte too. At one point I thought Kilian and Keegan Thompson could get squeezed out too but both have pitched well enough I think they are safe. Mervis just seems like a guy we need to find a new home for where he might get a legit chance with because it's obvious it won't be with the Cubs, Canario is starting to look the same way too with all the OF prospects we have and the little he's been given for opportunity. Davis may be a situation where they take him off the 40 man and see if he will stay on a minor league deal and hope he can finally string together a long stretch of health. Its sad to think he used to be the top prospect in the org and has looked like it at times too but he just can't catch a break to stay healthy long enough to get a call up.
“We should try to be building 90 win teams here”
Craig with an apparent shot at Jed during today’s pre-game presser.
As much as I agree with him, he’s also the one frequently benching Michael Busch for a dude hitting .190 and ignoring the fact that results matter.
But my guess is he also came here thinking of our farm system and boat loads of money and is now realizing we like to spread the money evenly amongst all positions instead of buying elite players.
Craig with an apparent shot at Jed during today’s pre-game presser.
As much as I agree with him, he’s also the one frequently benching Michael Busch for a dude hitting .190 and ignoring the fact that results matter.
But my guess is he also came here thinking of our farm system and boat loads of money and is now realizing we like to spread the money evenly amongst all positions instead of buying elite players.
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“There’s a big gap - they’re (the Brewers) are ahead of us by a lot”
Dude is sounding like he’s expecting moves this offseason
Dude is sounding like he’s expecting moves this offseason
I heard Ricketts is spending all his money on Trump, cubs are what they are.
All the analytics have to say that Smyly against anyone is a bad matchup for us.
I would love to know just how much influence the front office and analytics people in the organization have on the manager making a lineup. We saw it with Ross and I was hoping it would change under Counsel but they keep putting bums like Wisdom out there with certain pitching matchups instead of letting the younger guys get a shot at them and try to figure it out. They aren't benching PCA against lefties and he has actually hit them better than righties to the tune of .258 to .238. Busch has been pretty good against lefties when given the chance .274 to .249 against righties. So tonight we put Whiffdom and his shaky glove at 1B who has hit lefties for .193 this season with a 37% strike out rate against them and he goes 0-2 with a K then put Busch in to finish the game. Wisdom in September is 1-13, in August 3-17 with 8 K. Why he is still on the roster is beyond me. I didn't want him back this season and he's at a negative WAR too so he's proven to be a waste of a roster spot this season.
Pretty scathing quote. Highest paid manager in MLB just threw the entire org under the bus.
The CHGO Cubs podcast with Justin Steele in the title spent about the first 15 minutes lighting the organization on fire - specifically Jed.
My favorite is the rant on hope - you’re the 3rd richest organization in baseball and you hoped Busch would work out, you hoped Morel would work out, you hoped guys would outperform the back of their baseball card, you hoped Alzolay was healed, you hoped Gomes would remain the high level player he was the year before. You were happy with an 83 win projected team, and hoped they would win more.
Poor, poor, poor roster construction.
My favorite is the rant on hope - you’re the 3rd richest organization in baseball and you hoped Busch would work out, you hoped Morel would work out, you hoped guys would outperform the back of their baseball card, you hoped Alzolay was healed, you hoped Gomes would remain the high level player he was the year before. You were happy with an 83 win projected team, and hoped they would win more.
Poor, poor, poor roster construction.
Jed also didn't let him build his own staff. Jed is so in love with Tommy Hottovy that somehow moving on from him is non-starter and I'm not sure Craig got to pick his own bench coach, He's NEVER talking to Flaherty and the only thing Flaherty seems to get to do is call the video room for review and relay the message.
We'll 'be the runners up' for Soto and the org will kick out the 'long term injury concerns' line on Burnes. They'll run it back convinced that MVP level Bellinger is magically going to return, PCA is ready to be a 6 WAR guy and that Happ will repeat his career year with the hope that if everything goes just right, we can grab a wildcard.
You can already see it coming.
As for non-tenders, Davis's injury made that decision easy (unfortunately). Mervis is gone. Brewer, Almonte, Alzolay, Shawn Armstrong, WIngenter and Madrigal are gone. Caissie is the only big name that has to be protected. There is flexibility there but I don't have any faith in Jed using it correctly.
Yes to all of this.
I saw Mervis in Iowa most of the year. He struggled bigtime and threw fits all the time. I sit behind the Cub dugout and it was not uncommon to hear him destroying his bat after striking out....pouting the entire time. Never smiles and looks like he is having the worst time of his life everyday.
The unfortunate thing?
We want Burnes or Soto.
We’ll get Flaherty or Eovaldi or Santander.
We’ll be told it’s smart spending.
We’ll tune into CubsCon.
We’ll care about how guys look in spring.
We’ll get pissed when we’re 9 games under .500 in June.
And we’ll have these same conversations next year.
We want Burnes or Soto.
We’ll get Flaherty or Eovaldi or Santander.
We’ll be told it’s smart spending.
We’ll tune into CubsCon.
We’ll care about how guys look in spring.
We’ll get pissed when we’re 9 games under .500 in June.
And we’ll have these same conversations next year.
Yep. They'll miss on both Burnes and Soto and they'll gaslight the fans on how reckless spending big on stars is. They'll go cheap, it wont work out, but there will be a few kids raking in AA that will keep us convinced that they are on the verge of something. Butts stay in seats and the money machine keeps printing for Tom, so nothing changes. Rinse and repeat.
Is it a miss, when we're going to offer them $12/hour, or just not really trying?
