Official Offseason Thread
- Thread starter Hudson2
- Start date
The Cubs are in a really rough spot. They mortgaged too much of their future on win now moves, and are currently paying the price.
The first step is to fire the manager. The next step is to fire the GM. Theo can’t rebuild because he will be fired, and he has no cash to help the current roster.
Oh well, flags fly forever. Epstein can tell himself that over and over if he gets canned in 1-2 years if the Cubs continue to miss the playoffs.
The first step is to fire the manager. The next step is to fire the GM. Theo can’t rebuild because he will be fired, and he has no cash to help the current roster.
Oh well, flags fly forever. Epstein can tell himself that over and over if he gets canned in 1-2 years if the Cubs continue to miss the playoffs.
They are already super old too, with Soto and Robles being the only impact players they have under the age of 26. Obviously Soto extends their window a bit, and certainly they have the money to make improvements though FA, but yeah their future is looking pretty bleak. That farm system is super weak after Kieboom and Garcia.
This is the reason I suggested that AA ought to jump out there and get Ozuna/Shaw/Hechavarria right away. Our roster would be set NOW with no holes. Let everybody else be the ones left when the options start to dry up. If he were to add those guys before coming home, he could simply sit back and wait for people to come to him with offers with no "needs", plenty of depth, and absolutely no reason to overpay for anything.
bravesfanMatt
Steve Harvey'd
But can neck play shortstop. I mean we know twit has to play neck everyday.
Heyward
<B>Voted Worst Poster <br>'13, '14, '15 (Co-Winner
They have a ton of bad deals, man.
Darvish isnt bad, just the length of it, backend can be bad. Heyward is bad, Chatwood, Kimbrel, Lester is nearing the end of his deal. They probably shouldnt deal Bryant but he's one of the few players who can bring back in some cheap, controllable talent. Contreras too.
Another added benefit would be that filling our holes early would put additional pressure on the teams we hope overpay the most - the teams in our division.
If the Dodgers land Rendon, the Gnats have to get into a bidding war with the Rangers for Donaldson AND still need to add pen pieces. The Phillies would then almost have no choice other than to pony up for Didi AND overpay for someone from the second or third tier of SPs to fill out their rotation if they want to keep up with the other rotations. It also pushes the Mutts to overpay for some of the lesser RPs to try to beef up their pen if they don't want to continue blowing the leads deGrom and Syndergaard might hand them again all year.
The reset play for the Cubs is to flip Bryant for someone like Riley and Anderson to clear $18M in payroll. Use that payroll to sign guys like Shaw as insurance for Riley, Pillar to patch up the OF, and someone like Teheran to bridge the gap to Anderson. Then hope they can continue to compete until the new young guys are ready...before Theo loses his job.
Tearing a team down and building a contender is pretty easy...any professional sports GM can do it. Maintaining a contender is extremely hard, and so far the Cubs have failed at the maintenance phase.
Southcack77
Well-known member
I don't know. I just saw someone suggest he was part of the ask.
Now I'm seeing reporting from Jim Bowden that the Braves aren't in on Bryant.
Jim Bowden is...not worth listening to.
The Cubs would be foolish to trade Bryant before at least Rendon signs.
Freshmaker
Arbitration Eligible
Ah-hah! Our impact bat has arrived
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Heyward
<B>Voted Worst Poster <br>'13, '14, '15 (Co-Winner
Rendon and JD are the only legit options with Moose off the board.
tululush
New member
If we know we’re not going to trade for KB, and we know we can’t afford Rendon, we might as well jump in and sign Donaldson before his already high price gets higher when other teams miss out on Rendon. No sense in waiting anymore.
If you're JD, why in the world would you sign early with the Braves knowing a bidding war will erupt the moment Rendon signs?
Horsehide Harry
<B>Mr. Free Trade</B>
The Lester deal has largely worked out for the Cubs. The Darvish deal looks bad given his recent injury history. It likely WILL be bad but the jury is still out. The Heyward deal is horrible, always was horrible and will always be horrible. Many in here were blinded by his defense, his GG and were willing to overlook his largely mediocre RF offense. The Cubs paid him like one of the top players in the league when he really hasn't been that since he was 22. I might give you his one year in St. Louis if you're willing to live with a limited RF bat to get everything else (I'm not). Heyward is a CF in a RF body and if he could play CF the way he plays RF and keep the same offense, then you might have something. Kimbrel was probably a bad signing - we will have to see how a ST helps him, if any. Rizzo is a great deal. Chatwood's deal isn't horrible if they use him as a #4 or #5 SP. As a reliever, it's bad. The Hendricks deal isn't a backbreaker as long as you get #3-#5 production out of him. The Quintana contract was great.
The backbreakers for the Cubs was the talent given up for fixes (especially Torres). Their drafting has been mostly poor over the last few years. Their international signings have been mostly meh. They are finishing off a classic tidal wave window and should begin a massive rebuild today instead of slowly rotting away over time.
The backbreakers for the Cubs was the talent given up for fixes (especially Torres). Their drafting has been mostly poor over the last few years. Their international signings have been mostly meh. They are finishing off a classic tidal wave window and should begin a massive rebuild today instead of slowly rotting away over time.
Shaw is a decent back-up plan if we can find an impact OF bat. Otherwise you're scrapping the bottom of the barrel with Frazier types. Kyle Seager still seems like a good option, imo. Especially if we could dump Melancon on them in the process and pick up another piece with the money saved.
bravesfanMatt
Steve Harvey'd
You mean free agents don’t have a buy now button like ebay
Southcack77
Well-known member
Quintana is a Cub that might make sense for Atlanta as a back of the rotation type. I don't know how that would work out exactly, but if they're shedding cash...