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*** Official 2025 Chicago Cubs Thread***

Our front office will error on being cheap but they rarely make bad judgments on baseball decisions. Going all in trading your top prospect and signing the best possible upgrade to our lineup tells me they aren’t killing that vibe with trusting second base to an unproven player when you have a perfect fit currently on the roster. You have Shaw under control for six years. Why would you ever take that risk? Now if somebody comes in and offers the moon for Shaw you have to consider it.
 
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ClonesTwenty1 said:
Trading Nico for this season would be an awful decision after getting Bregman. Nico is our best for average hitter and a gold glove at 2nd. I still believe trying to turn Shaw into a 3rd/2nd/OF/DH utility man is the better option.
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I'd be surprised if the Cubs force Shaw to learn a new position in 2026. He can get enough at bats at 2B, 3B & DH if the Cubs are committed to spelling Hoerner, Swanson and Bregman from playing in the field 20-25 games. Since all those guys are RH bats, they can all serve as platoon DH with Ballesteros.
 
TClone99 said:
You think Keith Law is making that up? Is he known to have a political bias that he has a hard time hiding?

I believe Shaw overhauled his swing after being sent down last year didn't he? He really didn't have much of a choice in that case.

One more thing and I could be completely wrong on this one. I was getting the feeling from listening to Ron Coomer talk about Shaw last year that he was slow to make some adjustments that he was being encouraged to make. Again I was sort of reading between the lines there because Coom would never outright say such a thing so maybe I'm way off.
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This doesn’t necessarily mean anything, but I agree, I heard the same thing in those comments. Hard to know what’s real and what isn’t.
 
1UNI2ISU said:
Hopefully Craig can talk Bregman and Dansby into 145-150 games instead of 160.
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They are both 31+, Counsel needs to tell them they are going to play 135 games in the field and another 10-15 games at DH. Otherwise the Cubs should be aggressive in trading Hoerner or Shaw for a player who can significantly impact 2026. Because it's gonna be a lost season for Shaw if he only gets 200 plate appearances.

The Cubs could use the $12M saved by trading Hoerner to sign a top end reliever or solid RH batting utility OF.
 
isucy86 said:
They are both 31+, Counsel needs to tell them they are going to play 135 games in the field and another 10-15 games at DH. Otherwise the Cubs should be aggressive in trading Hoerner or Shaw for a player who can significantly impact 2026. Because it's gonna be a lost season for Shaw if he only gets 200 plate appearances.

The Cubs could use the $12M saved by trading Hoerner to sign a top end reliever or solid RH batting utility OF.
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If they traded Hoerner it would likely be to get back under the cap. So the return on such a trade would be for prospects. But I think they’d be crazy to deal him.
 
Cyforce said:
If they traded Hoerner it would likely be to get back under the cap. So the return on such a trade would be for prospects. But I think they’d be crazy to deal him.
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I'm not an expert on the cap (1st and 2nd level??) but I heard they are actually under the cap because of deferring some Bregman money. Is that not true?
 
RoseClone said:
I'm not an expert on the cap (1st and 2nd level??) but I heard they are actually under the cap because of deferring some Bregman money. Is that not true?
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I’m not either but if we aren’t already there isn’t enough left to make necessary additions in season. Stories I’ve read say we will go over. I hope we do but if they traded Hoerner cap will be part of the decision.

My face isn’t blue yet so I’ll just say it. If we do a salary dump to free space for the deadline I’d much rather it be Taillon.
 
RoseClone said:
I'm not an expert on the cap (1st and 2nd level??) but I heard they are actually under the cap because of deferring some Bregman money. Is that not true?
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Technically yes, but it's like ~500k. It also doesn't account for any performance bonuses, minor leaguers exceeding expectations and getting more major league money, or in season acquisitions, so it would be almost impossible to stay under without trades.

It's all just an estimate until after the season. And would only stay the same or be higher than projections in actuality.
 
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isucy86 said:
They are both 31+, Counsel needs to tell them they are going to play 135 games in the field and another 10-15 games at DH. Otherwise the Cubs should be aggressive in trading Hoerner or Shaw for a player who can significantly impact 2026. Because it's gonna be a lost season for Shaw if he only gets 200 plate appearances.

The Cubs could use the $12M saved by trading Hoerner to sign a top end reliever or solid RH batting utility OF.
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Or they could put that $12m in Tom’s pocket, ala Belli…
 
Hindsight 20-20 but how nice would it be to still have Cam Smith right now? Either in left or in a rotation with Happ, Suzuki and Ballestareos at the three positions. But I guess it’s possible we don’t get Bregman this year if we didn’t show the commitment to trade for Tucker last year.

Still how nice would this be?
Hoerner 2B
Bregman 3B
Busch 1B
Suzuki RF
PCA CF
Smith LF
Ballestareos DH
Kelly/Amaya C
Swanson SS

Yes Happ still get a lot of time in left but four guys three positions works well for matchups

With Shaw and Austin filling out the bench.

Four man rotation LF RF DH
Shaw super utility
Austin platoons at first till Busch shows he’s full time.
Catchers probably closer to 50-50 this year.
Strong bench all with defined roles.
 
I believe Shaw is much more likely to be traded than Hoerner in a move similar to what we did with the Dodgers and Busch in an attempt to either stack the farm or grab another big arm.

I’d guess the Nats and Pirates are players. I know we’ve liked some Pirates pitchers and at one point looked at Ashcraft.
 
ISUCubswin said:
I believe Shaw is much more likely to be traded than Hoerner in a move similar to what we did with the Dodgers and Busch in an attempt to either stack the farm or grab another big arm.

I’d guess the Nats and Pirates are players. I know we’ve liked some Pirates pitchers and at one point looked at Ashcraft.
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Shaw for Skenes. That works for me.
 
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