I really think PCA, Shaw and Alcantara can be special. Having guy like that on the cheap allows even cheap ass Tom to chase a couple stars.
*** Official 2025 Chicago Cubs Thread***
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Not panicked, but a few concerns through the first series:
1) Expressed concern at the beginning of the offseason and will continue to do so through 2 games - Michael Busch is not a cleanup hitter. Has looked like absolute dog **** so far and has to be pinch hit for to end games. I still would've traded him and got value in return over trading Bellinger for a ******* pitcher and saving money that I won't spend.
2) 15 walks in 2 games - I don't care if it's the White Sox or the best team ever, it's unacceptable
3) A 3-0 fly out down 3 runs with no one on base is not what a player worth $500M does
1) Expressed concern at the beginning of the offseason and will continue to do so through 2 games - Michael Busch is not a cleanup hitter. Has looked like absolute dog **** so far and has to be pinch hit for to end games. I still would've traded him and got value in return over trading Bellinger for a ******* pitcher and saving money that I won't spend.
2) 15 walks in 2 games - I don't care if it's the White Sox or the best team ever, it's unacceptable
3) A 3-0 fly out down 3 runs with no one on base is not what a player worth $500M does
I can rationalize the 15 walks based on it being early in the season. And playing in Japan was a huge disruption to the normal spring training routine.
But what is concerning is no HR's and only 3 extra base hits. Hopeful that PCA earns the ability to lead off within the next month. Also hopeful that Swanson was dealing with an injury last year and his bat suffered. Would be great if the lineup would evolve to look something like:
PCA
Hoerner
Suzuki
Tucker
Swanson
Happ
Turner/Busch
Shaw
Amaya/Kelly
Just watched the replay (lots of fast forwarding)….basically….seen this before…ultra-small sample size, but same **** different year.
Players gotta earn their spot in the order. IMO it's the wrong approach to throw Shaw in the top of the order day 1. Better to take some spotlight off his early season and let him grow into his role as a Cubs everyday player.
I liked the approach the Cubs took with PCA last year. They brought him up, he struggled hitting less than .200 his first 60 games and then around .290 in Aug/Sep.
Last year's top prospect Jackson Holliday started the season in Baltimore and hit .059 to start the season. His big leg kick (sound familiar), which wasn't a hindrance during his minor league career became a liability in the majors. The Orioles sent him down. He worked on his swing in the minors, got called back up in Aug/Sep and hit .220.
I'd feel better with Hoerner, Happ, Suzuki, Tucker, Swanson and even PCA batting top of the order in April. Using a pitching analogy- bring Shaw along as a low-leverage guy.
Will know more about the roster by Thursday. My guess is Keller gets added to the 26 man and gets a shot in the bullpen as he likely opts out of his minor league deal if he doesn't. If he works out great if he doesn't then nothing lost and you cut him. Brown probably has the edge on Rea for the 5th rotation spot after Rea got lit up the other day. The only other roster spot to watch is if Nico is ready to go Brujan might not make the roster if they want to keep Workman. They would need to work out a trade to be able to option Workman which is a possibility too.
It's a long season. Personally, I would put Hoerner on the 10 day to start the season. Doesn't seem like 1 week of game action is enough to be ready & thrive.
It also buys time for Cubs to evaluate Shaw vs. Workman vs. Brujan over the longer term against major league pitchers.
It’s my understanding Hoerner played yesterday in a minor league game. I’d expect him to be a full go for Thursday.
The move for me is to keep Workman and DFA Brujan and hope Brujan clears waivers.
It was a stupid ass move to trade Mervis and cash for Brujan when he was already DFA’d but making stupid ass moves is kind of Jed’s MO. I get Mervis wasn’t going to get a shot here, but you can’t just gift a starter to an opponent.
I would like Brujan to stay with the club as a depth piece, but Workman has the potential to make an impact and it would really suck to give him back and see him become an impactful player.
It was a stupid ass move to trade Mervis and cash for Brujan when he was already DFA’d but making stupid ass moves is kind of Jed’s MO. I get Mervis wasn’t going to get a shot here, but you can’t just gift a starter to an opponent.
I would like Brujan to stay with the club as a depth piece, but Workman has the potential to make an impact and it would really suck to give him back and see him become an impactful player.
I see that Workman played LF yesterday which I think is telling on which way they are leaning with the decision between him and Brujan. I would like to see the Cubs just figure out what they can trade to get Workman's full rights so they can option him later if needed. He hasn't played any higher than AA in the minors so if he were to hit a wall at some point would be nice to be able to option him to Iowa to let him work it out there instead of wasting a roster spot all season on him if he were to struggle. Seems like what we have seen of him so far he'd be a nice piece to keep around as he can play multiple positions and has some upside with the bat. I don't see much upside with Brujan, this roster needs guys that can hit including the bench and he hasn't shown that he's anything more than a pinch runner and defensive replacement. We have guys with minor league options that can fill that role if needed. I would guess there is a good chance he clears waivers if they do DFA him as he hasn't shown anything in ST to make you thing other teams are going to make him a priority add.
I would love to work out a deal with the Tigers, but I saw this a while back. It seems its not just that easy.
There have been suggestions that the Cubs offer the Tigers something in trade for Workman so that they can keep him and send him down to the minors. That might be possible, but there are two problems with that. First, before the Tigers could do that, every other team would have to pass on him. Any other team could claim Workman, subject to the same Rule 5 roster rules that apply to the Cubs. If Workman looked good enough that the Cubs wanted to keep him, then other teams might want him too. Often such moves are done right at the end of Spring Training when most teams’ 40-man rosters are set, but there is still the possibility that some other team claims him.
The other issue is that the Tigers have no incentive to trade Workman back to the Cubs. The Cubs would have to make it worth the Tigers while to trade him to the Cubs and the Cubs would have to offer a prospect of better value to Workman to complete the deal.
The 2nd issue could probably be worked around imo.
From BleedCubbieBlue.
Edit. I admit I'm not fully up on Rule 5 rules, so I'm assuming they know what they are talking about haha.
