Finish this sentence, “if the Angels are worth $4 billion, the Cubs are worth…”
Chicago Cubs 2026
Illiniaaron
- Geneseo, IL
A gazillion?
5 runs off Misiorowski. 53 pitches in 2 innings. 92 degrees. He will not go 5 tonight. Hope the bull pen can hang in.
one would think about twice that
Illiniaaron
- Geneseo, IL
So much for my idea of Peterson starting a playoff game.
bdutts
- Houston, Texas
Peterson got lit up today. It’s one thing when guys hit you but he had four walks in 3.2.
I trust no one on the pitching staff these days…
Illiniaaron
- Geneseo, IL
Home plate ump having a rough night.
The problem is the starter couldn't hang in. This staff is in shambles right now.
If we can just get someone on the staff who can pitch like Assad.
Rough night. Bullpen’s awful. Starting pitching is hit-or-mess.
Making the playoffs via wildcard looks scary with our above average difficult September schedule.
Pitching wins ships. I miss Lester, Hendricks, and prime Arrieta.
Making the playoffs via wildcard looks scary with our above average difficult September schedule.
Pitching wins ships. I miss Lester, Hendricks, and prime Arrieta.
Illiniaaron
- Geneseo, IL
They act like they don’t like his pitching or something. How many times has he been sent down, like six? And then they send him down in a time frame that he can’t be brought up until Sept. 5 when they desperately need arms NOW. If I was Assad when the cubs call him up he should tell them to eff off.
How I feel watching the team the last 2 weeks
As a tribute to Dolly Parton's passing, he should have played "Losing 9 to 5"
Spend some money in the offseason (assuming they play next year) and get some frontline starters and some guys in the bullpen. I get it. They are not cheap. But, you need an ace and you need guys that can close games out and the Cubs have neither again with a really good offense and great defense. So frustrating.
Illiniaaron
- Geneseo, IL
If there is baseball, there won't be many holdovers from this year's staff.
They have a lot of positions without a body in it because of expiring contracts.
LF
RF
C
1B(Busch arbitration)
4 starters(only Cabrera under contract)
The entire bullpen
There is absolutely no chance that they have money to fill all of those needs unless the price point for players drops due to a work stoppage.
When you can't develop your own people(ala Milwaukee), this is the corner you get painted into.
I don't think there will be a hard salary cap but what has to be stopped is what the Dodgers are doing with deferred contracts. 10 guys on their roster have contracts that won't be ending until the 2040's.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they tried to re-sign Kelly. He’s a good fit for the team. They could also just roll with Amaya and Ayers. Under the old rules with unlimited Sept call ups, Ayers would already be on the team.
The infield is set with everyone under team control. Busch won’t be THAT expensive in his first year of arbitration. Ramirez and Shaw is a more than solid bench.
PCA will be back in Center. The corners are up for grabs. I’d bet they try to re-sign Seiya, but I think Happ’s days as a Cub will be done. In any case, I think they try to fill one corner slot internally and get the other one off the market.
The rotation starts with Steele, Brown, Horton and Cabrera all coming off injury-plagued seasons. I’d assume Horton won’t be ready until mid-season. Assad will also be back. I wouldn’t be surprised if they tried to re-sign Holmes and Boyd. They’ll probably need to acquire at least two starters unless they have some really positive injury news in the next month or two.
The pen has Rolison, Palencia and Zeferjahn, all pre-arb. Webb had a relatively cheap team option. He’ll be back. Shelby Miller is signed for next year and whether he ever actually contributes this season, they’ve been happy with his injury progress this year. That’s thin, but way more than they had on the books this time last season.
I should add, with Suzuki, Happ, Boyd, Imanaga, Maton, Kelly, Harvey, Austin and Taillon all off the books next year that’s over $100 million of payroll. ($13 million this year for Maton, Harvey and Austin. Ugh!) They should be able to acquire a starting outfielder and two starting pitchers for $70-something million and have enough left over for a veteran catcher, a right-handed bench bat and 3 or 4 arms in Hoyer’s annual relief pitcher dumpster-dive-a-palooza.
Also, in my previous post I forgot Braxton Garrett as another starting pitcher trying to come back from injury next year.
Also, in my previous post I forgot Braxton Garrett as another starting pitcher trying to come back from injury next year.
bdutts
- Houston, Texas
This will be taken care of in the next CBA.