Chicago Cubs 2024

#1,002      
Grandpa
So we need a SP and a closer. The current closer has been good, but do we trust that?
If Beli comes back I can live with the position players.

What do you think?
 
#1,003      
champaignchris
Grandpa said:
So we need a SP and a closer. The current closer has been good, but do we trust that?
If Beli comes back I can live with the position players.

What do you think?
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With the contracts as they are, there’s not a whole lot they can do on the position player side. They’ll do some tinkering on the margins - bring in something off the bench better than Mastrobuoni and Wisdom, maybe get a backup catcher.

I’d like to see them make a play for Vlad Jr. They definitely have the trade chips to get him. But besides him or the unlikely event of a Soto signing, I just don’t see anything available that moves the needle on the offensive side of things.

I think the Cubs will definitely be in the market for one of the top starters in FA. I’m betting they end up with Burnes.

As for relievers, as allergic as Hoyer seems to be with spending real money on relievers, there will be some interesting ones available in FA - Clay Holmes, Tanner Scott, Devin Williams if the Brewers don’t pick up his option, AJ Minter. I’m sure I’m missing someone. If they can’t come up with a move on the offensive side of things, i think they’ll have to grab a pricey reliever.
 
#1,004      
EyeoftheIllini
Grandpa said:
So we need a SP and a closer. The current closer has been good, but do we trust that?
If Beli comes back I can live with the position players.

What do you think?
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I think that’s right. I wouldn’t mind a top starter and then a mid- or back end of rotation guy. And a closer.

Like Chris above, I don’t see them doing that much on the offensive side what with the prospects we have that are getting close. Not that much in the way of pitching prospects near ready, so need to go outside the organization for that.
 
#1,015      
Lee
Illiniaaron said:
So now that the season is over, there is still one burning question I need the answer to. On the radio broadcast, why does North Shore Adult Diapers sponsor walks rather than runs?
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Cheyenne Jackson Drinking GIF by CallMeKatFOX
 
#1,017      
champaignchris
I guess it’s hard to call a season where the team did exactly what it was expected to do “disappointing.”

The real disappointment was the off season in which the front office clearly didn’t do enough to turn an 80-something-win team into a 90-something-win team.

Going into next year, I don’t see where the external improvement to the position side of things is going to come from barring the unlikely event of signing Soto or making a trade for Vlad Jr.

I think there’s a lot of free agent help available on the pitching side, and I expect that’s a where the Cubs concentrate. Cubs can probably count on about 600 innings from Steele, Imanega, Taillon and Assad. You need to get about 850 from your starters and the Cubs can’t count on getting 250 from Brown, Killian, Wicks and Horton when all four are coming off of injury shortened seasons. So they need to get a starter.

As much as I’d like to see them make a play for Burnes, their reticence to give up draft picks probably keeps them out of the running. Neither Flaherty nor Snell will cost a draft pick to sign. So I expect one of those two to be the Cubs’ top starting pitching targets. One of those two can pick up 150-ish innings with the remaining 100-ish coming from the prospects.
 
#1,019      
champaignchris
bdutts said:
And I'd like to see them pick up a closer.
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If the Brewers don’t pick up Devin Williams’ option, he becomes absolute top free agent priority for the Cubs. But they’ll probably pick up the option.

If not, I like Tanner Scott more than Carlos Estevez and Clay Holmes, but none are sure things.

I don’t like the idea of signing any of Jansen, Chapman or Kimbrel - all of whom are likely to give you a 3.50 ERA over 55 innings for way too much money.
 
#1,020      
Grandpa
champaignchris said:
If the Brewers don’t pick up Devin Williams’ option, he becomes absolute top free agent priority for the Cubs. But they’ll probably pick up the option.

If not, I like Tanner Scott more than Carlos Estevez and Clay Holmes, but none are sure things.

I don’t like the idea of signing any of Jansen, Chapman or Kimbrel - all of whom are likely to give you a 3.50 ERA over 55 innings for way too much money.
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If there's a girl who yells F NO! this would be a great place for her
 
#1,023      
champaignchris
illinibbcz said:
How much money comes off the books this year?
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$40-45 million. But about $10 million of that will be eaten up in arbitration increases - even after some pretty obvious non-tenders in Madrigal, Wisdom, and others - due to Steele and Paredes hitting arbitration.

Bellinger opting out would take off another $27.5 millions, which is why I think it won’t happen.
 
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