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***Official 2024 Chicago Cubs Thread***

ISUCubswin said:
There's speculation the Astros are going to be unloading some salary as they'll be flirting with the first tier of the luxury tax after projected arbitration guys settle and have extensions and holes they’d like to fill.

Having failed to sign Kyle Tucker to an extension in the past and he's entering his walk year, I wonder if there's any shot the Cubs could try and make a move for him.
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Where is he going to play in an already crowded OF? Would have to make another trade just to clear an everyday spot for him. Jed is not smooth enough to pull this off, he's already made the mistake of giving 2 corner OF contracts with NTC, PCA is not getting traded, and I don't see Bellinger being easy to trade without eating some money and taking less than fair value back in prospects. OF is not a place the Cubs have flexibility to bring in another guy, would have to be a corner infielder or catcher at this point.
 
Honest question for those that follow the team—-do you think this is a championship caliber team with Happ, Suzuki, Bellinger, Hoerner, Wisdom, Tauchman, Swanson, and Taillon?

All told, that is $127 million in payroll to 8 guys that don’t move the needle. Aside from Tauchman and Wisdom, we are stuck with this squad for 2 more years because of some non-friendly team deals. If we add an elite arm, it doesn’t change the fact that the lineup is marginal at best.

I say take a page out of the Braves playbook and lock up young talent early (PCA) now for a fraction of what you pay in 4 years.
 
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CyState85 said:
Honest question for those that follow the team—-do you think this is a championship caliber team with Happ, Suzuki, Bellinger, Hoerner, Wisdom, Tauchman, Swanson, and Taillon?

All told, that is $127 million in payroll to 8 guys that don’t move the needle. Aside from Tauchman and Wisdom, we are stuck with this squad for 2 more years because of some non-friendly team deals. If we add an elite arm, it doesn’t change the fact that the lineup is marginal at best.

I say take a page out of the Braves playbook and lock up young talent early (PCA) now for a fraction of what you pay in 4 years.
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I think the Cubs have the pieces of a championship roster. But any good team has a high level 1-4 batters in a lineup, and we do not have a real cleanup hitter.

Because we don’t have a legit 1-4, we force guys like Swanson, Hoerner, Busch to hit higher than they probably should on a championship-caliber roster

Swanson hit 9th in the WS for the Braves, came here, and for some reason was expected to perform as a high level bat when, career wise, we knew that’s not what he’s ever been.
 
CyState85 said:
Honest question for those that follow the team—-do you think this is a championship caliber team with Happ, Suzuki, Bellinger, Hoerner, Wisdom, Tauchman, Swanson, and Taillon?

All told, that is $127 million in payroll to 8 guys that don’t move the needle. Aside from Tauchman and Wisdom, we are stuck with this squad for 2 more years because of some non-friendly team deals. If we add an elite arm, it doesn’t change the fact that the lineup is marginal at best.

I say take a page out of the Braves playbook and lock up young talent early (PCA) now for a fraction of what you pay in 4 years.
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The simple answer is no. We have some nice complimentary pieces but don't really have any superstar caliber hitters in the heart of the lineup that other teams fear to pitch to.
 
Passan does not have the Cubs listed among teams he knows are meeting with Fried. In fact, he says if the Cubs add a FA SP, it’ll likely be a midtier SP.

So not only do we hate the idea of getting stars, we hate the idea of getting above average players in FA as well. Give us those C-level players who low ceilings and high floors.
 
CyState85 said:
Honest question for those that follow the team—-do you think this is a championship caliber team with Happ, Suzuki, Bellinger, Hoerner, Wisdom, Tauchman, Swanson, and Taillon?

All told, that is $127 million in payroll to 8 guys that don’t move the needle. Aside from Tauchman and Wisdom, we are stuck with this squad for 2 more years because of some non-friendly team deals. If we add an elite arm, it doesn’t change the fact that the lineup is marginal at best.

I say take a page out of the Braves playbook and lock up young talent early (PCA) now for a fraction of what you pay in 4 years.
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Not only is it not a championship level team, that lineup over the past 2 years hasn't been a playoff caliber lineup.

I don't have an issue if the Cubs don't go after 2-3 upper cost guys. IMO they need 5-6 guys who are pros, who can perform in the big moment.


C
1B/DH
SP
CL
U INF
 
I think the Cubs need to ride out Happ, Taillon, Suzuki, and Bellinger’s contracts. I understand people wanting to add FA stud pitching but the roster isn’t built to win a WS.

There are 7 guys in the system that at least deserve a crack at the big leagues next year and a few young arms that have potential. I think it’s a 3-5 year re-tool similar to what the Braves and Orioles had done.
 
Feel a bit like Hoerner’s uncertainty is a blessing in disguise. Shaw should get a chance to play everyday to start. When Hoerner returns it might be a Shaw/ Paredes question in May or June.
 
Passan says the Cubs are shopping Belli and Hoerner.

I think we lack 4 guys who I am comfortable with in the every day 1-4 spots. I’m comfortable with Happ, Suzuki, and Bellinger up there. I would like to see one more external addition.

Trading Bellinger means we need 2 more guys to fill those spots.
 
ISUCubswin said:
Passan says the Cubs are shopping Belli and Hoerner.

I think we lack 4 guys who I am comfortable with in the every day 1-4 spots. I’m comfortable with Happ, Suzuki, and Bellinger up there. I would like to see one more external addition.

Trading Bellinger means we need 2 more guys to fill those spots.
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PCA late season is a legit lead off. Have to wait and see if that’s who we get come April. But I’d put him there all spring training.

Shaw could also be 2/3 by the end of the season.
Smith could be 5/6 by 2026
 
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Cyforce said:
PCA late season is a legit lead off. Have to wait and see if that’s who we get come April. But I’d put him there all spring training.

Shaw could also be 2/3 by the end of the season.
Smith could be 5/6 by 2026
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I don't know why they didn't expiriement with PCA at leadoff at the end of the season after we got eliminated from playoff contention. Had nothing to lose at that point and it's the logical place for him with his base running skills. He still needs to prove he can be a good on base guy there but just like the kid gloves we treated Busch with when there was a lefty on the mound the only way to find out if the kids can play is to put them in those spots and give them a chance to succeed or fail and not just assume the so called analytics are right. They have such a small sample size that young in their career that I don't know how you can trust the analytics or how you ever plan to develop them if they don't get the opportunities. With Busch we were literally sitting him in favor of Wisdom when a lefty was on the mound despite the fact Busch was actually hitting lefties better than Wisdom was this season.
 
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I actually think PCA profiles as a middle of the order guy as he develops. He's not going to walk a ton and is going to grow into some pop. Ian Happ is perfect in the lead off spot for the next two years.
 
ISUCubswin said:
Passan says the Cubs are shopping Belli and Hoerner.

I think we lack 4 guys who I am comfortable with in the every day 1-4 spots. I’m comfortable with Happ, Suzuki, and Bellinger up there. I would like to see one more external addition.

Trading Bellinger means we need 2 more guys to fill those spots.
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If we are being honest, this is because those cheap ***** in the FO just don't want Belli's contract.
 
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Clonefan32 said:
If we are being honest, this is because those cheap ***** in the FO just don't want Belli's contract.
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I honestly think that the Ricketts aren't that cheap. They've shown flexibility in increasing payroll and going into the tax in the past.

I think Jed is just so timid and risk averse that he basically ties himself into knots trying to save a dime wherever he can and he's way over reliant on analytics for a big market team. He's just not cut out to be a big market GM.

I don't give a **** if the 2035 Cubs would be hamstrung by a Soto contract. I'll gladly take the 8-10 years of HOF level production knowing that having to buy out the last couple of years is the price you pay.
 
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I am not sure if it is because they have been burned by young players not working out, but it seems like their rosters over the past few years have been full scraps from other teams that they try to make a reclamation project from and there is a reason other teams didn't want them. They ended up paying a lot of people like Happ a bunch of money and they didn't deliver to their contract. It feels like because of those bad decisions they are automatically out of the market for big time stars. Even if they make a change at GM by removing Jed, it is going to take a long time to get out of some of these bad contracts unless the Rickets are going to overspend to get out of them. They also had a ton of young talent that didn't develop like they hoped and that hurts too.
 
I so wish baseball had a salary cap. I heard the Dodgers are a likely landing spot for Soto. They already spend like they are in congress and now they can spend more and could care less about the luxury tax. It seems like a cap would push more equal distribution of stars. They also need to establish a salary floor so teams aren't just constantly selling off all their talent every few years (like the Marlins are usually doing) and or tanking. This would make baseball more interesting in my opinion. That is what makes the NFL so good. The teams are a lot more equal to each other.
 
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Imagine a world you sign Sasaki and trade Hoerner + Alcantara for Logan Gilbert.

You have the best Starting 5 in the MLB and managed to cut payroll, which gives you $50+ MM to only spend on BP and a big bat.
 
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