Chicago Cubs 2024

#51      

champaignchris

C
champaignchris
Well, we’re 2 months to pitchers and catchers reporting. I’m sure the Cubs will do something…. What and whether it will be impactful is an open question.

As it stands now, the 13 position players are pretty obvious, barring injuries:

C: Gomes/Amaya
1B: Wisdom/Mervis
2B: Hoerner
3B: Madrigal/Wisdom
SS: Swanson
LF: Happ
CF: Tauchman/PCA
RF: Suzuki
DH: Morel
UT: Mastrobuoni

Canario would probably be the first guy up if someone gets hurt.

Starting pitchers would likely be: Steele, Taillon, Hendricks, Assad and Wicks. Horton and Brown would start on the farm, but likely be the first called up to make starts when someone can’t go.

Relievers: Alzolay, Merryweather, Leiter, Cuas, Smyly, Wesneski and 2 more of Palencia, Thompson, Little, Rucker and others.

This is objectively a worse team than last year, but not by a huge margin. Adding a couple of decent bats at first and third (Hoskins and Chapman, for example) and a starting pitcher who could soak up about 150 innings with an ERA around 4 (Imanaga?) would probably let you replicate last year’s results. I’m sure we all want more than that, but I’m not sure that we can expect much more than that from this very conservative front office.
 
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#52      

champaignchris

C
champaignchris
And for what it’s worth, at about $170 million the Cubs are, per Sportrac, currently 7th in payroll, but 10th in Luxury Tax allocation, about $75 million below the first tax threshold, and about $16 million less than they spend last year. They have approximately $60 million falling off the payroll in 2025.

They have PLEN-TEE of money to spend.
 
#54      

Grandpa

G
Grandpa
champaignchris said:
Well, we’re 2 months to pitchers and catchers reporting. I’m sure the Cubs will do something…. What and whether it will be impactful is an open question.

As it stands now, the 13 position players are pretty obvious, barring injuries:

C: Gomes/Amaya
1B: Wisdom/Mervis
2B: Hoerner
3B: Madrigal/Wisdom
SS: Swanson
LF: Happ
CF: Tauchman/PCA
RF: Suzuki
DH: Morel
UT: Mastrobuoni

Canario would probably be the first guy up if someone gets hurt.

Starting pitchers would likely be: Steele, Taillon, Hendricks, Assad and Wicks. Horton and Brown would start on the farm, but likely be the first called up to make starts when someone can’t go.

Relievers: Alzolay, Merryweather, Leiter, Cuas, Smyly, Wesneski and 2 more of Palencia, Thompson, Little, Rucker and others.

This is objectively a worse team than last year, but not by a huge margin. Adding a couple of decent bats at first and third (Hoskins and Chapman, for example) and a starting pitcher who could soak up about 150 innings with an ERA around 4 (Imanaga?) would probably let you replicate last year’s results. I’m sure we all want more than that, but I’m not sure that we can expect much more than that from this very conservative front office.
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U Mad Reaction GIF
 
#55      

champaignchris

C
champaignchris
KBLEE said:
If Mastrobuoni gets serious ABs this year, I'll be shocked. He's an offensive black hole.
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He looked completely lost at the plate for the first half of the year and put up the miserable stat line to prove it. He was actually pretty solid during the second half, with a .324 BA and .780 OPS. He also OPSed .921 at AAA last year.
 
#56      

Warren Carter Fanclub

Warren Carter Fanclub
Warren Carter Fanclub
champaignchris said:
Well, we’re 2 months to pitchers and catchers reporting. I’m sure the Cubs will do something…. What and whether it will be impactful is an open question.

As it stands now, the 13 position players are pretty obvious, barring injuries:

C: Gomes/Amaya
1B: Wisdom/Mervis
2B: Hoerner
3B: Madrigal/Wisdom
SS: Swanson
LF: Happ
CF: Tauchman/PCA
RF: Suzuki
DH: Morel
UT: Mastrobuoni

Canario would probably be the first guy up if someone gets hurt.

Starting pitchers would likely be: Steele, Taillon, Hendricks, Assad and Wicks. Horton and Brown would start on the farm, but likely be the first called up to make starts when someone can’t go.

Relievers: Alzolay, Merryweather, Leiter, Cuas, Smyly, Wesneski and 2 more of Palencia, Thompson, Little, Rucker and others.

This is objectively a worse team than last year, but not by a huge margin. Adding a couple of decent bats at first and third (Hoskins and Chapman, for example) and a starting pitcher who could soak up about 150 innings with an ERA around 4 (Imanaga?) would probably let you replicate last year’s results. I’m sure we all want more than that, but I’m not sure that we can expect much more than that from this very conservative front office.
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You forgot the highest paid manager in the majors. He's worth at least 10 wins.
 
#58      

Illiniaaron

I
Geneseo, IL
Illiniaaron
champaignchris said:
Well, we’re 2 months to pitchers and catchers reporting. I’m sure the Cubs will do something…. What and whether it will be impactful is an open question.

As it stands now, the 13 position players are pretty obvious, barring injuries:

C: Gomes/Amaya
1B: Wisdom/Mervis
2B: Hoerner
3B: Madrigal/Wisdom
SS: Swanson
LF: Happ
CF: Tauchman/PCA
RF: Suzuki
DH: Morel
UT: Mastrobuoni

Canario would probably be the first guy up if someone gets hurt.

Starting pitchers would likely be: Steele, Taillon, Hendricks, Assad and Wicks. Horton and Brown would start on the farm, but likely be the first called up to make starts when someone can’t go.

Relievers: Alzolay, Merryweather, Leiter, Cuas, Smyly, Wesneski and 2 more of Palencia, Thompson, Little, Rucker and others.

This is objectively a worse team than last year, but not by a huge margin. Adding a couple of decent bats at first and third (Hoskins and Chapman, for example) and a starting pitcher who could soak up about 150 innings with an ERA around 4 (Imanaga?) would probably let you replicate last year’s results. I’m sure we all want more than that, but I’m not sure that we can expect much more than that from this very conservative front office.
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I'm not sure I can make it through another year of Wisdom slumps. Does he have blackmail material on Hoyer or something?
 
#62      

Warren Carter Fanclub

Warren Carter Fanclub
Warren Carter Fanclub
Other than the money, I wonder what the Cubs told Counsell to convince him to come here, and whatever it was, have they already failed to fulfill those promises?

In the alternative did they not promise him anything except his bag of money?

If you listen to the aftermath, the Cubs NEVER had the slightest chance to get Ohtani.
 
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#63      

Illinoise

Illinoise
Illinoise
Warren Carter Fanclub said:
Other than the money, I wonder what the Cubs told Counsell to convince him to come here, and whatever it was, have they already failed to fulfill those promises?

In the alternative did they not promise him anything except his bag of money?

If you listen to the aftermath, the Cubs NEVER had the slightest chance to get Ohtani.
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They didn’t get Ohtani. $700 million? I can’t blame any team for not taking that on. Still lots of potential moves to be made. I’m not saying we will all be satisfied with the offseason moves they make, but they aren’t done yet.
 
#64      

Mr. Tibbs

Mr. Tibbs
southeast DuPage
Mr. Tibbs
Illinoise said:
They didn’t get Ohtani. $700 million? I can’t blame any team for not taking that on. Still lots of potential moves to be made. I’m not saying we will all be satisfied with the offseason moves they make, but they aren’t done yet.
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they really haven't started yet
 
#65      

Illiniaaron

I
Geneseo, IL
Illiniaaron
Warren Carter Fanclub said:
Other than the money, I wonder what the Cubs told Counsell to convince him to come here, and whatever it was, have they already failed to fulfill those promises?

In the alternative did they not promise him anything except his bag of money?

If you listen to the aftermath, the Cubs NEVER had the slightest chance to get Ohtani.
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It is a nice bag...
 
#66      

Second place is 1st loser

S
Second place is 1st loser
champaignchris said:
Well, we’re 2 months to pitchers and catchers reporting. I’m sure the Cubs will do something…. What and whether it will be impactful is an open question.

As it stands now, the 13 position players are pretty obvious, barring injuries:

C: Gomes/Amaya
1B: Wisdom/Mervis
2B: Hoerner
3B: Madrigal/Wisdom
SS: Swanson
LF: Happ
CF: Tauchman/PCA
RF: Suzuki
DH: Morel
UT: Mastrobuoni

Canario would probably be the first guy up if someone gets hurt.

Starting pitchers would likely be: Steele, Taillon, Hendricks, Assad and Wicks. Horton and Brown would start on the farm, but likely be the first called up to make starts when someone can’t go.

Relievers: Alzolay, Merryweather, Leiter, Cuas, Smyly, Wesneski and 2 more of Palencia, Thompson, Little, Rucker and others.

This is objectively a worse team than last year, but not by a huge margin. Adding a couple of decent bats at first and third (Hoskins and Chapman, for example) and a starting pitcher who could soak up about 150 innings with an ERA around 4 (Imanaga?) would probably let you replicate last year’s results. I’m sure we all want more than that, but I’m not sure that we can expect much more than that from this very conservative front office.
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This is enormously worse than last year's team. As outlined, removing Bellinger and Candelario....they don't have an everyday, major league caliber 1st or 3rd baseman on the roster and PCA, while his glove is off the charts.....his ability to hit is a complete unknown.

Strohman carried the starters in the first half of the season, but was awful the 2nd half of the year. Are we to expect Assad and Wicks to be as effective as they were last year?

Bellinger carried the entire team for more than 1/2 of the season. Where is that production going to come from?

If we went into the season, with the roster outlined, we'll be picked to finish 3rd or 4th with only Pittsburgh being a team that we'd be noticably better than.

Hopefully this changes shortly.
 
#68      

Bacon Butkus Swanson

B
Bacon Butkus Swanson
champaignchris said:
Well, we’re 2 months to pitchers and catchers reporting. I’m sure the Cubs will do something…. What and whether it will be impactful is an open question.

As it stands now, the 13 position players are pretty obvious, barring injuries:

C: Gomes/Amaya
1B: Wisdom/Mervis
2B: Hoerner
3B: Madrigal/Wisdom
SS: Swanson
LF: Happ
CF: Tauchman/PCA
RF: Suzuki
DH: Morel
UT: Mastrobuoni

Canario would probably be the first guy up if someone gets hurt.

Starting pitchers would likely be: Steele, Taillon, Hendricks, Assad and Wicks. Horton and Brown would start on the farm, but likely be the first called up to make starts when someone can’t go.

Relievers: Alzolay, Merryweather, Leiter, Cuas, Smyly, Wesneski and 2 more of Palencia, Thompson, Little, Rucker and others.

This is objectively a worse team than last year, but not by a huge margin. Adding a couple of decent bats at first and third (Hoskins and Chapman, for example) and a starting pitcher who could soak up about 150 innings with an ERA around 4 (Imanaga?) would probably let you replicate last year’s results. I’m sure we all want more than that, but I’m not sure that we can expect much more than that from this very conservative front office.
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Conservative front office my @$$. If Cubs upper management pays CC top dollars and then fields this lineup?? That's not frugal.....that's just plain STUPID!
1702589694709.png
 
#70      

jjv0004

J
Greenville, SC
jjv0004
I am at a loss at this point. This team needs at least 1 front line starter to have a shot and some bullpen help along with at least 2 big bats. If they are not going to accomplish that, which it clearly appears ain't happening, then play all the young guys this year and potentially really stink it up and end up with a draft haul like they did right before their run that began in 2015. All those losses between 2011-2013 got them Kris Bryant and Kyle Schwarber.
 
#71      

Grandpa

G
Grandpa
jjv0004 said:
I am at a loss at this point. This team needs at least 1 front line starter to have a shot and some bullpen help along with at least 2 big bats. If they are not going to accomplish that, which it clearly appears ain't happening, then play all the young guys this year and potentially really stink it up and end up with a draft haul like they did right before their run that began in 2015. All those losses between 2011-2013 got them Kris Bryant and Kyle Schwarber.
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I hated that. I don't want to go through that again
 
#72      

champaignchris

C
champaignchris
jjv0004 said:
I am at a loss at this point. This team needs at least 1 front line starter to have a shot and some bullpen help along with at least 2 big bats. If they are not going to accomplish that, which it clearly appears ain't happening, then play all the young guys this year and potentially really stink it up and end up with a draft haul like they did right before their run that began in 2015. All those losses between 2011-2013 got them Kris Bryant and Kyle Schwarber.
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This team won 84 games last year and missed the playoffs by a game and are returning 8 of their top 9 batters by plate appearances and 8 of their top 9 pitchers by innings pitched.

They have a top 5-10 ranked farm system depending on who’s doing the ranking.

They’re about $70 million below the luxury tax threshold, have been below it the last couple years, have about $50 million more coming off the books next year, and so are nowhere near incurring any draft pick or international money penalties.

They have a grand total of 1, one, uno contract beyond 2026 in Dansby Swanson.

They’re in the weakest division in the NL, the Cardinals just brought in 3 so-so starting pitchers to be able to have enough warm bodies to field a rotation, and nobody else in the division has done jack squat this off season. The best team in the division last year lost its GM to the Mets and manager to the Cubs. 92 wins has been enough to get an NL Central team to the playoffs every year since 2016.

There is utterly no reason why this team should be tanking. They’re close to the playoffs, their farm is stocked, they have money to spend, they have no long term contracts, and no one in their division is any good.

If they replace Bellinger’s and Stroman’s production (which they could do by re-signing Bellinger and Stroman) and then add two more decent pieces, they’ll be favorites in the division.
 
#73      

Warren Carter Fanclub

Warren Carter Fanclub
Warren Carter Fanclub
champaignchris said:
This team won 84 games last year and missed the playoffs by a game and are returning 8 of their top 9 batters by plate appearances and 8 of their top 9 pitchers by innings pitched.

They have a top 5-10 ranked farm system depending on who’s doing the ranking.

They’re about $70 million below the luxury tax threshold, have been below it the last couple years, have about $50 million more coming off the books next year, and so are nowhere near incurring any draft pick or international money penalties.

They have a grand total of 1, one, uno contract beyond 2026 in Dansby Swanson.

They’re in the weakest division in the NL, the Cardinals just brought in 3 so-so starting pitchers to be able to have enough warm bodies to field a rotation, and nobody else in the division has done jack squat this off season. The best team in the division last year lost its GM to the Mets and manager to the Cubs. 92 wins has been enough to get an NL Central team to the playoffs every year since 2016.

There is utterly no reason why this team should be tanking. They’re close to the playoffs, their farm is stocked, they have money to spend, they have no long term contracts, and no one in their division is any good.

If they replace Bellinger’s and Stroman’s production (which they could do by re-signing Bellinger and Stroman) and then add two more decent pieces, they’ll be favorites in the division.
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I think Stroman's chances of coming back are zero after his mid-season calling out of Hoyer.....unless he is taking a pay cut which would be Hoyer saying "Told you so"
 
#74      

IanKEvans2

IanKEvans2
IanKEvans2
champaignchris said:
This team won 84 games last year and missed the playoffs by a game and are returning 8 of their top 9 batters by plate appearances and 8 of their top 9 pitchers by innings pitched.

They have a top 5-10 ranked farm system depending on who’s doing the ranking.

They’re about $70 million below the luxury tax threshold, have been below it the last couple years, have about $50 million more coming off the books next year, and so are nowhere near incurring any draft pick or international money penalties.

They have a grand total of 1, one, uno contract beyond 2026 in Dansby Swanson.

They’re in the weakest division in the NL, the Cardinals just brought in 3 so-so starting pitchers to be able to have enough warm bodies to field a rotation, and nobody else in the division has done jack squat this off season. The best team in the division last year lost its GM to the Mets and manager to the Cubs. 92 wins has been enough to get an NL Central team to the playoffs every year since 2016.

There is utterly no reason why this team should be tanking. They’re close to the playoffs, their farm is stocked, they have money to spend, they have no long term contracts, and no one in their division is any good.

If they replace Bellinger’s and Stroman’s production (which they could do by re-signing Bellinger and Stroman) and then add two more decent pieces, they’ll be favorites in the division.
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Bleacher Nation has brought up Cleveland as a potential trade partner several times this offseason. Names such as Bieber (SP), Clase (CL), and Naylor (1B) have come up which would address glaring weak spots on Chicago's roster. Perhaps this is a route they opt to take.
 
#75      

Warren Carter Fanclub

Warren Carter Fanclub
Warren Carter Fanclub
IanKEvans2 said:
Bleacher Nation has brought up Cleveland as a potential trade partner several times this offseason. Names such as Bieber (SP), Clase (CL), and Naylor (1B) have come up which would address glaring weak spots on Chicago's roster. Perhaps this is a route they opt to take.
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I saw that too but is Cleveland rebuilding?