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***Official 2024 Chicago Cubs Thread***

Actually like the Berti signing. Slightly below average bat, good with the glove pretty much anywhere, good on the basepaths. A nice bench specific piece.

Still work to do, but the roster is starting to take shape.

Rotation seems pretty set unless you can get a crazy value on someone like Flaherty. Steele, Imanaga, Taillon, Boyd would be locks. 5th spot will be Rea/Assad, maybe Wicks or Brown.

Bullpen you still have to find an arm or two. Clearly they are looking to spend some money there given pursuit of Scott/Yates, we'll see what they add. I would think Hodge, Pearson, Morgan, Thielbar are locks. One of Rea/Assad will slide in there as a swing man. That leaves three spots, at least one more add to come. Tons of possible opitions for the remaining spots.. Brown (if you want to start him out in the pen), Wicks, Miller, Thompson, Merryweather, Poteet, etc. etc.

Starting lineup is pretty locked in assuming Shaw is your starting 3B. Happ/PCA/Tucker outfield. Busch/Hoerner/Swanson/Shaw infield. Amaya at catcher and Suzuki at DH.

Bench still needs some work. Kelly for sure as your other catcher. Berti as your super utility man. That leaves you looking at one spot for another outfielder and one for an infielder. Right now you'd be looking at Canario/Alcantara/Caissie for that outfield spot without another addition. For the infield spot it'd be Workman or Brujan, which I wouldnt feel great about. Still think you need at least a Moncada type. Dream world would be Bregman on a Bellinger type deal.
 
Set aside his salary for a minute. Ryan Pressly has been a very good late inning arm for many years now. The peripherals were a fair bit better than the stats last year, some bad BABIP luck in there too. Reasons to be concerned as hes getting older and losing a little of the fastball, but he's still been very good. If you're taking his whole salary you're probably giving up next to nothing and still not giving up a ton likely even if Houston were eating a good chunk of the salary.

This would be a welcome addition.
 
cycloneman003 said:
Set aside his salary for a minute. Ryan Pressly has been a very good late inning arm for many years now. The peripherals were a fair bit better than the stats last year, some bad BABIP luck in there too. Reasons to be concerned as hes getting older and losing a little of the fastball, but he's still been very good. If you're taking his whole salary you're probably giving up next to nothing and still not giving up a ton likely even if Houston were eating a good chunk of the salary.

This would be a welcome addition.
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When they traded Bellinger to save money Rea and Pressly were not the type of guys I hoped they'd spend that money on. Still going to need several guys to exceed expectations once again to get over that hump of being a mediocre team that can't make the playoffs. That strategy hasn't worked out too well so far.
 
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CYdTracked said:
When they traded Bellinger to save money Rea and Pressly were not the type of guys I hoped they'd spend that money on. Still going to need several guys to exceed expectations once again to get over that hump of being a mediocre team that can't make the playoffs. That strategy hasn't worked out too well so far.
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That's all fine. All I'm saying is none of that context dictates whether Pressly is good or not. He's a good late inning reliever and we need one (or more!) of those. So if they get a deal done that doesnt cost much, it'd be a good thing!
 
Heyman saying the Cubs are in on Bregman. Feels like Jed's going to replace the Bellinger contract with the exact same contract.

He does give you a legitimate top of the order at least and takes pressure off of Busch and Dansby offensively.

Happ LF
Tucker RF
Suzuki DH
Bregman 3B
Busch 1B
Swanson SS
PCA CF
Amaya C
Hoerner/Shaw 2B

That looks a lot better for Opening Day than Busch and Swanson in the 4/5 holes and really depending on Shaw.
 
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cycloneman003 said:
That's all fine. All I'm saying is none of that context dictates whether Pressly is good or not. He's a good late inning reliever and we need one (or more!) of those. So if they get a deal done that doesnt cost much, it'd be a good thing!
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If they pay close to $14 mil or give up any kind of decent prospect for him then it's a a very good deal IMO. If they can somehow get It's debatable about what kind of pitcher the Cubs would be getting based on his age and trends. I'm not arguing that he has been a very good pitcher throughout his career but the past year or 2 he's taken a noticeable dip. Batters his .264/.322/.718 off him last season and his ground ball rate was nearly 5% worse than the previous season and his walk rate was up slightly too. I realize they need bullpen arms and relief pitching can fluctuate from year to year but usually as pitchers age they gradually get worse not better. Just not the type of guys I thought they'd be targeting with the savings they got from getting Tucker and trading Bellinger
 
1UNI2ISU said:
Heyman saying the Cubs are in on Bregman. Feels like Jed's going to replace the Bellinger contract with the exact same contract.

He does give you a legitimate top of the order at least and takes pressure off of Busch and Dansby offensively.

Happ LF
Tucker RF
Suzuki DH
Bregman 3B
Busch 1B
Swanson SS
PCA CF
Amaya C
Hoerner/Shaw 2B

That looks a lot better for Opening Day than Busch and Swanson in the 4/5 holes and really depending on Shaw.
Click to expand...

I would love to have Bregman on a short deal with some options. Best for both sides as gives us a proven 3B option that can hit to pair with needing to improve the roster for what will likely be 1 year of Tucker. If Bregman has a good season then the Cubs probably are in the playoffs and he can opt out and try again next offseason. I have my doubts that Nico will be ready to start the season and will be on the IL so you start Shaw at 2B and see if he is ready for the big leagues and then deal with the roster crunch if he plays too well to be sent down. While I hope that Shaw is the long term 3B there I still worry about what happens if he just doesn't hit right away and we have to send him to Iowa for a bit to figure it out. Right now who plays 3B? It's not a given that Workman makes the opening day roster or even stays the full year as a Rule 5 pick with no AAA experience yet. Berti is not an everyday player nor is Brujan.

Still think the Bregman talk amounts to nothing in the end but the longer he is out there the more possibility it is that he has to take what I now call "the Boras special" for a contract where it's good AAV but short on years loaded with opt outs. That could play in the Cubs favor as they have the need and money to make it happen.
 
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Sounds like Pressly has approved the trade and finishing touches are happening.

My prediction

Pressly + $4M for Merryweather

Cubs end up with Pressly and $209 in luxury tax
 
ISUCubswin said:
Sounds like Pressly has approved the trade and finishing touches are happening.

My prediction

Pressly + $4M for Merryweather

Cubs end up with Pressly and $209 in luxury tax
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I hope they get more than $4mm back. For less than $10mm (which is essentially what they’d be paying Pressly) they could get Robertson, Estevez, etc. Each come with their risks, but so does Pressly. Robertson might be more reliable.
 
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