Official Offseason Thread

Are the cubs rebuilding and I wasn’t informed.


The Cubs did a great job building a contender to open their window, and then an equally bad job maintaining the system to keep the window open. They are currently in the phase where the end is clearly in sight, and now there are rumblings about how they are going to transition between contention windows.

Selling a cheap catcher doesn’t seem like the best way to accomplish any goal, but maybe they have a master plan that’s so complex we simpletons can’t comprehend it.

The last part of my post is going to contain 900+ filler words, mostly rhetorical questions, “interesting thoughts”, and lists of players we already know are on the team.
 
Any appetite for a swap with the Cubs for Contreras that involves Max Fried? It seems they have more interest in controllable young starting pitching than say someone like Riley.
 
The Cubs didn't really do anything last offseason if i'm not mistaken because they were only $10m short of having to pay luxury tax...again I could be mistaken. I'd assume that the mid-season addition of Kimbrel added to that amount...

I wonder if they are in a position where they see the window closing within the next few years....They could put Contreras with a bad contract, like a Heyward (4 years/ $96m) or Kimbrel (2 years / $32m with a vesting option for an additional 1 year / $16m)

Lets say the Cubs approached the Braves and offered us Contreras, but by doing so, we would have to take back Kimbrel....what deal would you offer? Probably wouldn't make sense because they would want to maximize Contreras' value

Braves get: Contreras and Kimbrel
Cubs get: Mark Melancon (salary off set), Riley, Touki, Wright

I would probably do that deal.
 
In less than 900 words, my thoughts are as followed: make good moves.

I mean, can you imagine a better way to construct a good team? That is easily the most efficient way, and makes too much sense not to happen. It’s very interesting to think about, especially when you consider making more than one good move.

As I said in post #853 in paragraph 7 on line 17 when I was mentioning every single possible FA in the market in an attempt to be right a few months later, all those good moves would be perfect if you’re AA and you’re thinking about creating a competitive roster.

Since none of the Braves fans on this board know the current players...

A series of good moves sets the roster up as Soroka, Fried, Folty, a young arm, and a good move in the rotation. The starting position players would be Freeman, Albies, Swanson, a good move at 3b, a good move paired with Flowers at C, Acuna, Markakis platooned with a good move or Duvall, and Ender in CF. The BP is Melancon, Newk, ODay, Minter, Jackson, some young arms, and maybe a good move or two.

I didn’t present any convoluted payroll math where I try to keep a running total in some odd +/- tabulation, but you can head over to my failed blog where I paid to call myself a lifetime member of the Internet Baseball Writers Association in a hilariously pathetic attempt to legitimize my blog.

So after reading those 1000 rambling words, everyone can see how well I can regurgitate things I hear on XM radio to these boards. I am starting to use stats I mocked a year ago, and it helps me extend the length of my posts to the 1000+ word mark, but I still mock people who use spreadsheets.
 
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This is probably the first offseason I have literally no interest in what the Braves do. Everything I see rumored,hinted, or suggested looks like a horrific move to me. Honestly rather just do nothing at this point and hope for the best. I have absolutely zero confidence the Braves will win a playoff series in the foreseeable future. God help me if we sign Moosetacos and Cole Hamels I might go root for the Mets because atleast they have a chance.
 
This is probably the first offseason I have literally no interest in what the Braves do. Everything I see rumored,hinted, or suggested looks like a horrific move to me. Honestly rather just do nothing at this point and hope for the best. I have absolutely zero confidence the Braves will win a playoff series in the foreseeable future. God help me if we sign Moosetacos and Cole Hamels I might go root for the Mets because atleast they have a chance.

Why would we sign Hamels when we have Wright?
 
Any appetite for a swap with the Cubs for Contreras that involves Max Fried? It seems they have more interest in controllable young starting pitching than say someone like Riley.

You’re probably right, but it would be counterproductive to fill one hole on the roster while opening another.

Quick surplus value estimation for 3 years of Contreras is 8-9 wins at a cost of $25M, resulting in something in the neighborhood of $50M-$60M.

That’s probably Anderson ($35M) plus 1-2 other lesser pieces. If there truly are spin rate concerns with Anderson, cashing him in for a longish term answer at catcher is a great use of his value.
 
I mean, can you imagine a better way to construct a good team? That is easily the most efficient way, and makes too much sense not to happen. It’s very interesting to think about, especially when you consider making more than one good move.

As I said in post #853 in paragraph 7 on line 17 when I was mentioning every single possible FA in the market in an attempt to be right a few months later, all those good moves would be perfect if you’re AA and you’re thinking about creating a competitive roster.

Since none of the Braves fans on this board know the current players...

A series of good moves sets the roster up as Soroka, Fried, Folty, a young arm, and a good move in the rotation. The starting position players would be Freeman, Albies, Swanson, a good move at 3b, a good move paired with Flowers at C, Acuna, Markakis platooned with a good move or Duvall, and Ender in CF. The BP is Melancon, Newk, ODay, Minter, Jackson, some young arms, and maybe a good move or two.

I didn’t present any convoluted payroll math where I try to keep a running total in some odd +/- tabulation, but you can head over to my failed blog where I paid to call myself a lifetime member of the Internet Baseball Writers Association in a hilariously pathetic attempt to legitimize my blog.

So after reading those 1000 rambling words, everyone can see how well I can regurgitate things I hear on XM radio to these boards. I am starting to use stats I mocked a year ago, and it helps me extend the length of my posts to the 1000+ word mark, but I still mock people who use spreadsheets.

I snotted
 
The Cubs did a great job building a contender to open their window, and then an equally bad job maintaining the system to keep the window open. They are currently in the phase where the end is clearly in sight, and now there are rumblings about how they are going to transition between contention windows.

Selling a cheap catcher doesn’t seem like the best way to accomplish any goal, but maybe they have a master plan that’s so complex we simpletons can’t comprehend it.

The last part of my post is going to contain 900+ filler words, mostly rhetorical questions, “interesting thoughts”, and lists of players we already know are on the team.

From some cubs fans perspectives it’s a position of strength, with Caratini being a decent starter and one of their best prospects being a catcher. Seems unlikely either of those two end up as good as Contreras, but I’d love if the Braves were the ones who acquire him.
 
Contreras is a pretty bad receiver, and we have seen AA target good ones so far.

We also saw Realmuto go from being a poor receiver to a good one once he started focusing on it.
 
I would love to get Contreras. He would be perfect.

He’d me by top target if he’s really available. If they are concerned about Anderson at all that would be the way to maximize his value imo. It would solve a huge hole for us and leave us with pretty much all of our available money available to spend.
 
Trade for Lindor and Contreras somehow keeping Pache... sign Rendon and Hamels... profit. Absolute fantasy lineup. That's what I'd do with my monopoly money.
 
Interesting to see a per game revenue figure of $5M, which is probably a bit higher during a sellout postseason game.
 
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