Chicago Cubs 2019 Season

#101      

South Farms

near Ogden & Rt 83
They aren't trading Schwarber anyway.
They want to trade Heyward for sure due to money reasons, and Happ if they have to, to make the deal,
and have an outfield of Harper in RF, Almora in CF, and Schwarber/Zobrist in LF. All indications are they think the ceiling for Schwarbs is really much higher than that of Happ.
Part of that could be they think the DH is coming to the NL in the next bargaining agreement.
 
#102      
They aren't trading Schwarber anyway.
They want to trade Heyward for sure due to money reasons, and Happ if they have to, to make the deal,
and have an outfield of Harper in RF, Almora in CF, and Schwarber/Zobrist in LF. All indications are they think the ceiling for Schwarbs is really much higher than that of Happ.
Part of that could be they think the DH is coming to the NL in the next bargaining agreement.

Theo & Jed love Schwarber. I don't see him going anywhere. And while I agree with your point on Schwarber having a much higher ceiling than Happ, I believe the front office views Happ as a successor to Zobrist in that he can play 2B/OF with a little bit of pop.

I'm not financially savvy enough to get into the ins and outs of a Heyward trade/Harper signing, so I'll stay in the "wait-and-see" camp until something of substance occurs.
 
#103      

bdutts

Houston, Texas
That trade has the Giants taking on Heyward's $106MM and only getting rid of Melancon's $28MM. So they're net future commitments up $78MM at a time where they should be shedding bad contracts and rebuilding. They get prospects too, but the level of prospects that Schwarber is getting at this point isn't much. He's basically at 26 year old Jose Martinez with a better pedigree but worse MLB performance. Happ is just a guy, he's not netting much of anything.
They aren't trading Schwarber anyway.
They want to trade Heyward for sure due to money reasons, and Happ if they have to, to make the deal,
and have an outfield of Harper in RF, Almora in CF, and Schwarber/Zobrist in LF. All indications are they think the ceiling for Schwarbs is really much higher than that of Happ.
Part of that could be they think the DH is coming to the NL in the next bargaining agreement.

Per what the commissioner has said in the recent past, DH won’t be coming to the NL next bargaining session. Things could change of course, but I’m not holding out hope for that change. Quote below was from a November 2018 article.

“I think since I became involved, and this may give too much credit to my deal-making ability, I could have made a deal with the MLPBA on extending the DH to the National League,” Manfred said. “I think that’s been a pretty consistent position of the players since 1987, so I don’t think there’s a real headline there. The most likely outcome at this point would be the status quo.”

Manfred cited the NL fans’ love for how the game is currently played as a primary reason that he doesn’t want to see the rule changed. He further explained such a switch would mean the NL style of baseball becomes extinct.
 
#104      
Actually DH is dead everywhere but NL. Many pitchers still hit in high school because they’re athletes but it’s not required. More DH in travel ball and definitely college. Some guys get to NL and haven’t stood in the box since they were 14.

I was die hard to keep NL “pure” for a long time. I liked all the strategy but I now think it is just a bad look having a pitcher swing.
 
#105      

bdutts

Houston, Texas
Actually DH is dead everywhere but NL. Many pitchers still hit in high school because they’re athletes but it’s not required. More DH in travel ball and definitely college. Some guys get to NL and haven’t stood in the box since they were 14.

I was die hard to keep NL “pure” for a long time. I liked all the strategy but I now think it is just a bad look having a pitcher swing.

I think it’s dumb t have separate rules in the two leagues. And since the union won’t get rid of the DH, the NL needs to adopt the DH.
 
#106      
I suspect Manafort’s hardline stance on the NL DH is more a negotiating stance than anything. The owners are going to have to make some concessions to the players this time around and taking the DH to the NL would give the players something they want and be almost cost-free to the owners.
 
#107      

South Farms

near Ogden & Rt 83
I suspect Manafort’s hardline stance on the NL DH is more a negotiating stance than anything. The owners are going to have to make some concessions to the players this time around and taking the DH to the NL would give the players something they want and be almost cost-free to the owners.

this is my take on Manaforts stance. You NEVER show your cards on an issue like this until you have to.
Does someone really expect him to come out and say "We're really all in favor of the DH" and totally give away his leverage ???
the NL owners would fire him if he said that prior to the meetings.

with the continued trend downward in BA and offense, there is even more internal pressure to find ways to increase offense in games played in NL parks
 
#110      

bdutts

Houston, Texas
this is my take on Manaforts stance. You NEVER show your cards on an issue like this until you have to.
Does someone really expect him to come out and say "We're really all in favor of the DH" and totally give away his leverage ???
the NL owners would fire him if he said that prior to the meetings.

with the continued trend downward in BA and offense, there is even more internal pressure to find ways to increase offense in games played in NL parks

To me, seems like the perfect thing to say. We want the DH in both leagues but we have to negotiate it into the CBA. This is their concession to the union when they want to pass some dumb rule that changes the pace of the game or something else equally stupid. So when they make the proposal for the dumb rule change, he can go back and say, we gave the DH to the NL which opens up more spots for potentially high salaried roster players. Thanks for agreeing to our (dumb) rule change. Love, Rob.

:D
 
#111      

Ryllini

Lombard
Your anti-Cubs bias is showing through here. Schwarber was a 3.2 WAR player last year which, in comparison, was only 0.3 less than Bryce Harper. To think that Schwarber is not attracting heavy interest is just wrong. Jose Martinez has never been a 3+ WAR player.

Schwarber and Martinez arent even in the same ballpark. Schwarber gets heavy interest, because he is flat out a better player. Martinez, while still a weapon offensively, you simply can't play him in the field. I dont have the statistics to back me up, but I challenge anyone to find a worse defensive 1b and I will double down, find me a worse defensive player. With that said, no AL team will take JM just to Dh, KS can still play in the outfield.
I'm sorry to my felow Cards fan, but I agree with the Cubs fand here, as much as that pains me.
 
#112      
So back on October 30th, I said this...

Overall, I could honestly see Theo & Co go a lot of different directions. They could easily stand pat, bring a couple hole-filling free agents and call it a day. That would be the easy/cheap/safe thing to do...

I then went on to say that I didn’t think that was Theo’s or the organization’s style and said that I thought there’d be a big time roster shake up including the possible addition of one of the two big free agents.

Starting to look like I was right in the first case and wrong in the second. We’re about 4 weeks from Spring Training and there’s not even a whiff of a rumor that the Cubs are going to make a move. They’ll add a dirt cheap depth reliever and a AAAA backup catcher and that’s going to be it.

And from the optimist’s point of view, I can come up with some some valid reasoning to this approach. Add a half season of healthy Bryant and a full season of healthy Darvish to last year’s 95-win team and it should be really good.

But honestly I can’t think of a team in the dead middle of its competitive window standing completely pat like this and having it work out.
 
#113      

South Farms

near Ogden & Rt 83
I tend to believe at this point they are okay going to Mesa with the roster they have.

That said , NO ONE is going to be told of any current behind the scenes discussions of a major deal, which is what would be needed to do to get Harper on the roster. Harper wants Machado to sign first, and probably doesn't care if he's unsigned right up until spring training starts , giving all interested teams time to make it work for him to be the highest paid player, even if its just for a little while.

A healthy Darvish, Morrow, and Bryant will make for a much improved team. Just have to hope no one else gets the bug .
 
#114      
A healthy Darvish, Morrow, and Bryant will make for a much improved team. Just have to hope no one else gets the bug .

Or any major regressions. Hoping the Baez we fans saw in 2018 is the one we see going forward in 2019. I also think Willson coming back strong will make a major impact. That said, a AAAA catcher needs to be signed for this to become a reality.

I'm still holding out hope for a notable bullpen arm to be added. Not Kimbrel, obviously, but someone who in a pinch doesn't make me watch the game through my fingers.
 
#116      
Actually DH is dead everywhere but NL. Many pitchers still hit in high school because they’re athletes but it’s not required. More DH in travel ball and definitely college. Some guys get to NL and haven’t stood in the box since they were 14.

I was die hard to keep NL “pure” for a long time. I liked all the strategy but I now think it is just a bad look having a pitcher swing.

I too have resisted the NL giving into the DH. It's sure seems inevitable they will. I don't think MLB, Inc will do so without getting their pound of flesh from the MLBPA or at least trying to get some kind of concession in return.

BTW- the Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League is the other professional league without the DH. I thought there was a 3rd league but I can't remember who that would be. The Pacific Coast League allows for NL teams to let the pitcher hit but that is not something ever team has to do every game.
 
#117      

KBLEE

Montgomery, IL
Last week's Bryant vs Yadi battle of words was fairly dumb. But, this is an example of capitalism at its best:

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#119      

South Farms

near Ogden & Rt 83
funny

those St Louis Is Boring shirts will be selling like hotcakes at a lumberjack convention around Wrigley whenever the Cards are in town this season
 
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#121      
Who puts periods on t-shirt sayings?


IKR?
A couple of years ago I had a local shop make me a t-shirt for a workout class that I participate in. When I got it and saw they added a period to what I told them I wanted I was a bit surprised. I decided they really don't imprint very many t-shirts.
 
#124      

South Farms

near Ogden & Rt 83
man, I'm loving me some Brach's Milk Chocolate Stars or Milk Chocolate covered Peanuts right about now
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#125      
It's been a late night working on my dissertation, and I wound down with two of my favorite moments from Kyle Schwarber from the 2015 playoffs. The bat flip from the HR in the wild card game off of Cole is one of my favorite Cub memories. And of course he followed it up with a legendary moonshot at Wrigley against the Cardinals in the NLDS.

That 2015 team will forever remain my favorite Cub team of my lifetime.

(0:40-0:50 for essential slow-mo viewing)

(0:40-0:54 for essential schadenfreude)
 
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