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*** Official 2025 Chicago Cubs Thread***

Walden4Prez said:
I’ll believe it when I see it. Kapp says his sources aren’t thinking anything big is going to go down.
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Yup! How many times in the past several offseasons have we heard this same line and it just turns out to be nothing but lip service. Even last offseason they made the big splash of a trade for Tucker then basically did nothing but shop from the bargain bin again and offset the cost of Tucker by trading away Bellinger. They did pretty well for the most part with the bargain bin guys especially with Keller, Boyd, Theilbar, Rea, Kelly but those are good complimentary guys not star power that will make a significant upgrade in the talent level of the roster that will take you from a good team to a team that can make a deep postseason run.

I'm not sold that we have the guys within the minor leagues right now either that will become nothing more than the same type of guys we already have. Wiggins possibly has a chance to be the next Horton but for positions players the jury is still out if Caissie, Alcantara, and Ballesteros can be more than just average or depth pieces. We probably traded away the 1 guy that had the biggest upside in Cam Smith for basically 1/2 season of a productive Tucker.
 
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Clonefan32 said:
If you guys want an offseason spoiler I'm glad to give it to you. Jed and Tom will talk about how aggressive they will plan to be. They'll then sign about the 7th best player at a few different position groups and kick the tires on a few reclamation projects. They'll then do the media circuit about how crazy prices were and how they tried to be responsible.

It's the same **** every year.
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I'm looking forward to 'finishing 2nd' on Bregman and Cease.
 
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CYdTracked said:
Yup! How many times in the past several offseasons have we heard this same line and it just turns out to be nothing but lip service. Even last offseason they made the big splash of a trade for Tucker then basically did nothing but shop from the bargain bin again and offset the cost of Tucker by trading away Bellinger. They did pretty well for the most part with the bargain bin guys especially with Keller, Boyd, Theilbar, Rea, Kelly but those are good complimentary guys not star power that will make a significant upgrade in the talent level of the roster that will take you from a good team to a team that can make a deep postseason run.

I'm not sold that we have the guys within the minor leagues right now either that will become nothing more than the same type of guys we already have. Wiggins possibly has a chance to be the next Horton but for positions players the jury is still out if Caissie, Alcantara, and Ballesteros can be more than just average or depth pieces. We probably traded away the 1 guy that had the biggest upside in Cam Smith for basically 1/2 season of a productive Tucker.
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Caissie strikes out at a 30% clip and Alcantara looks like he's never seen right handed pitching before but they're totally a Tucker replacement baby!!!!

I believe in Mo's bat but there's never going to be a ton of slug there. He's Miguel Cabrera that doesn't hit home runs. Valuable but not elite.
 
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1UNI2ISU said:
Caissie strikes out at a 30% clip and Alcantara looks like he's never seen right handed pitching before but they're totally a Tucker replacement baby!!!!

I believe in Mo's bat but there's never going to be a ton of slug there. He's Miguel Cabrera that doesn't hit home runs. Valuable but not elite.
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The thing about Mo too is he's likely destined to be a DH so do you tie up that spot with 1 guy when they have had the strategy to use the DH for positional flexibility and giving guys partial days off? Unless he makes some significant strides defensively as a catcher I don't view him as an untouchable prospect in a trade negotiation.

I'm leary that Caissie and Alcantara may be nothing more than the next Alexander Canario or Nelson Velazquez who were kind of in the same mold. The Cubs waited too long to trade both of them when they were tearing up AAA pitching and have some value and I get this same kind of feeling with Caissie and Alcantara now too.
 
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I’ve been on the more pessimistic side of things historically with this FO but I’ll be a part of the minority who believes this will be a special offseason.

I’ll take Jon Heyman, Bob Nightengale, and Patrick Mooney saying the Cubs will be active at the top of the talent pool this offseason over Kap.

I don’t necessarily think they get a big bat, but I think we’re going to have a top 3 pitching staff in the NL by the start of the year.

If Shota isn’t here, I would say I’m 80% confident the cubs get Imai or Cease.
 
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History tells us the Cubs won't pay big or go long on free agents. So I don't expect the Cubs to land the top guys. But my hope is the Cubs identify guys in that 2nd tier and show them the love early to gain an advantage.

I'm not convinced the Cubs offense is basically set. My expectation is the Cubs will only bring in a utility OF and IF to give starters a rest and serve as PH. But maybe having Happ and Suzuki in contract years will benefit the Cubs.

But if the Cubs don't sign a hard-throwing #1/#2 starter and hard-throwing proven closer, then I will be disappointed.
 
Shota decision in the next 90 minutes.

I’m guessing we will see some very small trade today with 40 man decisions due at 5. No idea but guessing it’ll be rather insignificant but people will be angry nevertheless
 
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ISUCubswin said:
Shota decision in the next 90 minutes.

I’m guessing we will see some very small trade today with 40 man decisions due at 5. No idea but guessing it’ll be rather insignificant but people will be angry nevertheless
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Looking forward to announcements on the 40 man/Rule 5 draft.
 
Clark said:
basically pay him an extra 3-4 million to get out of paying him two additional years.
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And gets them out of paying an additional posting fee to his Japanese team. That saves about $9M.

Now Daddy will let Tommy keep the private jet.
 
Was hoping Shota would decline but with Bieber opting into his contract at $12 mil he probably was not going to do much better on a 1 year. Maybe would have got a multi year offer but after the Cubs declined there option I doubt he would have got that on the market either. Unfortunately probably means the FO will use this as an excuse when we fail to get another top end of the rotation SP this offseason. I can see it now "The $22 mil QO really limited our ability to be in on the top free agents on the market." Now we just have to hope Shota rebounds next season and doesn't continue to regress and get lit up like he did late in the season.

As for 40 man decisions I think Birdsell and Triantos may be the only 2 they add to the 40. Anyone else would either not be a huge loss or haven't progressed up through the minors enough to worry about someone selecting them and then actually keeping them on the 26 man the entire season. Just think of the Cubs and the Workman experiment this year. Guys that have not made it further than AA aren't going to stick in the majors if they haven't been able to master A and AA ball yet so I don't see a reason to roster any more than those 2 guys and I can even see Triantos possibly involved in a minor deal too.
 
Personally would’ve preferred not playing with fire and offering Shota the QO. Had a chance to get yourself 2 legit SPs and raise the ceiling of your staff. Now you’re limited to only being able to add one SP unless you trade a Steele or Taillon, which I certainly don’t see happening.

Go ahead and write out your offseason wants and expectations for 2026 and you’ll find you have the 2025 team with maybe one extra pitcher and no first half Tucker.

I have concerns this $22M deal will limit the ceiling we end up having.
 
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Maybe the potential work stoppage in 2027 is going to create a different FA market this off season. Other than the top tier guys, teams might look to sign FA's to 1 year deals at a slightly higher AAV than typically projected.

Will also be curious if Shota accepting his QO means a player like Taillon might be a trade piece over the winter. Obviously, the Cubs starting rotation depth is impacted by timing of Steele's expected return.

Current 40 Man Roster (excluding Shota & 3 MiLB Adds Today)

Cub Adds to 40 Man Roster Today
 
ISUCubswin said:
Personally would’ve preferred not playing with fire and offering Shota the QO. Had a chance to get yourself 2 legit SPs and raise the ceiling of your staff. Now you’re limited to only being able to add one SP unless you trade a Steele or Taillon, which I certainly don’t see happening.

Go ahead and write out your offseason wants and expectations for 2026 and you’ll find you have the 2025 team with maybe one extra pitcher and no first half Tucker.

I have concerns this $22M deal will limit the ceiling we end up having.
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Could we have gotten 2 Starting pitchers? We already had Horton Steele Boyd and Taillon coming back. Think we would've gone after 1 if Shota declined the offer. Still have Assad Rea etc for depth as well.
 
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