They didn’t have anybody in their lineup with an OPS better than Tucker’s.
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They didn’t have anybody in their lineup with an OPS better than Tucker’s.
I'm not a cubs fan. That was just a in general congratulations.
Before anyone gets carried away with how the roster may look make sure you review where the payroll stands for 2026 as there are guys with options or eligible for arbitration
That being said this is what I would like to see happen:
1. Sign Nico to an extension. Honestly he may be the best position player on the roster and could use a couple more players like him with his plate approach in the lineup. Sign him now before he hits free agency as a gold glove 2B with his bat is probably going to command some good money.
2. Sign or trade for a front half of the rotation starter. I don't care who we currently have in house, the last few years proved you can never have enough quality starting pitching and even if Steele and Horton can stay healthy and productive you just made the rotation even that much better and deeper. We were so hard up for starting pitching at 2 point we were doing bullpen games every 5th time through the rotation a few times in July. A contending team shouldn't be struggling to have such little starting pitching depth in the middle of the season regardless how hard up for injuries they may be.
3. Have a philosophy on what you want the offense to be. It became very apparently in the 2nd half of the season that the roster construction was not good and it got exposed in the playoffs especially when the bottom of the order were almost automatic outs. How they go about working this out I am not certain but like I stated in #1 we need another Nico or 2 not another all or nothing free swinging HR hitter. Maybe get a true leadoff guy so Busch can hit in the middle of the lineup where he belongs.
As far as roster decisions go:
Tucker - not interested in bringing him back on a long expensive contract. Will be interesting to see what his market is after how bad he finished the season.
Shota - I think the body of his work is too good to not take on his $20 mil option. You could do a lot worse for starting pitching at that price. Plus if you ever want to dip back into the Japan market in the future have to be careful how you handle situations like this. If the option is picked up you hope they can work with correcting the issues that plagued him late in the season because when he is right his stuff is pretty good.
Kittredge - won't care either way what they do with his option. They don't have any $ other than arbitration players committed to the bullpen for 2026 and they spent more than his option on some crummy options that did a lot worse.
Rea - no brainer you pick up his option. He's at worst a multiple inning reliever and good insurance for the rotation if there is an injury
Would like to see Keller, Pomeranz, and Thielbar back but all pitched well that they probably will price themselves out of what the Cubs are willing to spend
Happ - Man it would be nice to talk him into waiving his NTC so they can open another roster spot to upgrade at. Have to assume Caissie and Alcantara will already be in the mix if Tucker is not resigned. Seiya is in the last year of his contract and if you want Mo to be a part of the big league roster you kinda have to play Seiya in RF to open up DH for him.
Probably have more thoughts and ideas as the offseason sets in and we start to see what the front office intentions are with the roster. But there are enough good pieces in place that they have to go out and do something to upgrade the roster to make a run in 2026. If the prospects are not part of that plan then need to look at using them in a trade to acquire another impact player that can as they are all about at the peek of their trade value with having little left to prove in AAA.
That being said this is what I would like to see happen:
1. Sign Nico to an extension. Honestly he may be the best position player on the roster and could use a couple more players like him with his plate approach in the lineup. Sign him now before he hits free agency as a gold glove 2B with his bat is probably going to command some good money.
2. Sign or trade for a front half of the rotation starter. I don't care who we currently have in house, the last few years proved you can never have enough quality starting pitching and even if Steele and Horton can stay healthy and productive you just made the rotation even that much better and deeper. We were so hard up for starting pitching at 2 point we were doing bullpen games every 5th time through the rotation a few times in July. A contending team shouldn't be struggling to have such little starting pitching depth in the middle of the season regardless how hard up for injuries they may be.
3. Have a philosophy on what you want the offense to be. It became very apparently in the 2nd half of the season that the roster construction was not good and it got exposed in the playoffs especially when the bottom of the order were almost automatic outs. How they go about working this out I am not certain but like I stated in #1 we need another Nico or 2 not another all or nothing free swinging HR hitter. Maybe get a true leadoff guy so Busch can hit in the middle of the lineup where he belongs.
As far as roster decisions go:
Tucker - not interested in bringing him back on a long expensive contract. Will be interesting to see what his market is after how bad he finished the season.
Shota - I think the body of his work is too good to not take on his $20 mil option. You could do a lot worse for starting pitching at that price. Plus if you ever want to dip back into the Japan market in the future have to be careful how you handle situations like this. If the option is picked up you hope they can work with correcting the issues that plagued him late in the season because when he is right his stuff is pretty good.
Kittredge - won't care either way what they do with his option. They don't have any $ other than arbitration players committed to the bullpen for 2026 and they spent more than his option on some crummy options that did a lot worse.
Rea - no brainer you pick up his option. He's at worst a multiple inning reliever and good insurance for the rotation if there is an injury
Would like to see Keller, Pomeranz, and Thielbar back but all pitched well that they probably will price themselves out of what the Cubs are willing to spend
Happ - Man it would be nice to talk him into waiving his NTC so they can open another roster spot to upgrade at. Have to assume Caissie and Alcantara will already be in the mix if Tucker is not resigned. Seiya is in the last year of his contract and if you want Mo to be a part of the big league roster you kinda have to play Seiya in RF to open up DH for him.
Probably have more thoughts and ideas as the offseason sets in and we start to see what the front office intentions are with the roster. But there are enough good pieces in place that they have to go out and do something to upgrade the roster to make a run in 2026. If the prospects are not part of that plan then need to look at using them in a trade to acquire another impact player that can as they are all about at the peek of their trade value with having little left to prove in AAA.
Think I made this exact post a couple weeks/months ago.
-Cubs will not sign Tucker due to the contract he is going to get, Cubs fans will celebrate not spending that money for a guy who had a down season. Cubs FO won’t spend that money elsewhere
-Tucker will have a fantastic year next year if he stays healthy
-Cubs fans will be upset at Tucker for not being better this year and be upset at the FO for not signing him
-Cubs will not sign Tucker due to the contract he is going to get, Cubs fans will celebrate not spending that money for a guy who had a down season. Cubs FO won’t spend that money elsewhere
-Tucker will have a fantastic year next year if he stays healthy
-Cubs fans will be upset at Tucker for not being better this year and be upset at the FO for not signing him
Alcantara's ceiling is 4th OF. He simply cannot hit right handed pitching and there are way too many moving parts to that swing to even assume he's going to consistently hit left handed pitching. Jed has also now held on him too long to make him a viable trade piece as well.
I think Caissie can be a fringe regular but the power is going to have to be more consistent because of the strikeout rate.
Mo can hit. Mo is always going to be able to hit and you hope the power comes as he gets older. He's the only one of those 3 that I would have concrete plans for next year.
I think Caissie can be a fringe regular but the power is going to have to be more consistent because of the strikeout rate.
Mo can hit. Mo is always going to be able to hit and you hope the power comes as he gets older. He's the only one of those 3 that I would have concrete plans for next year.
Rumors were that Mo was untouchable in any deadline deal. If the Cubs think that highly of him, he needs to be the every day DH and trade Suzuki.
There’s a Brewers thread? When did that get started? I can’t imagine it started before their 14 game winning streak, because that’s when most Brewers fans started to come out of the woodwork in Iowa.
Suzuki can just play RF.
CycloneErik
Well-Known Member
This is not a down year for Tucker. He was close to his career BA and HR. Don’t put him in this same tier as Otani , Judge, and other elite players. Tucker is a good but not an elite player. Someone like Tyler Soderstrom will put up similar or better numbers than Tucker.
The thing about Tucker was his 2nd half didn't even really feel like a slump. It looked like there was just a fundamental flaw in his swing ala Jason Heyward. Rolling over groundballs like it was impossible to life the baseball.
supposedly he altered his swing due to the injury and it completely messed up his swing.
I didn't really care for his attitude at times. There were a couple times where he didn't run out grounders that were bobbled and would have reached base.
With limited budget, we have to spend money wisely. I like Tucker but not for $400 million
Seiya may not be a great right fielder. But was he a liability when he played the last month? I guess it's a balancing act and for a player with Suzuki's bat, I'd be willing to take his limitations in the field to allow Ballesteros be the Cubs everyday DH.
Look around baseball, there are a lot of teams that start weak fielders if they make up for it with their bat. Castellanos with the Phillies and Santander with Toronto are guys that jump out to me on elite teams.
Is Suzuki so much worse than Tucker? I like Tucker’s offense but he is an average at best outfielder even though he somehow won a gold glove.
Suzuki isn’t a great outfielder but I don’t want him DH’ing if it means blocking Mo. cubs aren’t going to spend in Free agency so might as well develop young guys.
I can't take anything you say seriously if you continue to compare Kyle Tucker to Tyler Soderstrom.
