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Chicago Cubs Thread - Playoff Push Pending

BlackjackMc said:
I have been anticipating Kimbrel, Bryant, Rizzo and Baez are gone. It would allow Ross to play the balance of the season with the remaining players on an everyday basis. Happ, Ortega and Heyward from left to right. Duffy, Hoerner, Bote and Wisdom from third to first. Contreras and Chirinos behind the plate. Alcantara and Hermosillo in reserve with a couple more AAA players. Need a new closer but there are candidates unless the Hoyer does a housecleaning there as well.

Time to move on. The lack of quality prospects at AAA and AA is alarming but it's the price paid for six years of a "win now" approach. Fortunately, there are always second tier free agents available to acquire depth. Hoyer will have a clean sheet and money to work with.

Spent some time yesterday combining the performance of the present players over the past two seasons. The numbers are ugly and reflective of the lack of offense. I'm ready for new and different.
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AA seems pretty loaded. Davis, Amaya, Marquez, Morel and Strumpf all at Tennesee have good shots of being solid pro players. AAA likely has some pitchers that could contribute - depending on what you qualify Steele, Abbott and Nance as. Also, Leeper and the other Cub in the Futures game, Rodriguez, will likely both have shots to be in the pen next year if not later this year.
 
Wish there were a way to quasi-collude, trade away all the FA's to be for a good prospect haul, and then just resign them all in the off-season.
 
HoosierDeac said:
Wish there were a way to quasi-collude, trade away all the FA's to be for a good prospect haul, and then just resign them all in the off-season.
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Oh, its definitely possible - but the talk coming out from the players to the media is that the front office is not willing to work with the players, so no reason to want to stay. I mean, outside of playing in front of a packed house every night with crazy fans, which you can only get in a few places in the bigs right now.

The thought is that it is Ricketts holding everything back because he got burned from spending big, now he refuses - but who knows. They could easily afford 2 of their 3 big FAs and have tons of money leftover, they just don't want to. And there are plenty of fans that are fine with it - although, if they had one more ace starter or maybe 2 above average ones, this team would only be a couple of games out. They haven't had a great staff performance since 2017 - 2018 looks ok on paper, but Lester flamed out in the second half and the only two starters that could win a game down the stretch were Hamels and Hendricks.
 
Chafin begins the exodus. I imagine the next few days will alter the roster. Deichmann might make an appearance this season if there are wholesale departures from the roster.

Kyle Ryan and Cory Abbott return from Iowa to replace Chafin and Keegan Thompson. Thompson goes to Iowa for a quick rest (monitor innings) and to stretch out for a starting role. Justin Steele has begun that process and has impressed. They both flashed well in a relief role. Let them start and pencil them in for next year.
 
One of the talking heads said the Cubs and Giants were exploring a KB trade and the return would be Joey Bart, which is surprising. I thought Bart was a top 10 guy, but apparently he has fallen a bit. Still kinda interesting that the Cubs are continuing to look for young Catchers - guess they aren't sold on Amaya being ready anytime soon.

Bart would be a good get for KB, if the trade is made - he is a guy with plenty of upside at a tough position.
 
Well, here we are. I assume all three and Kimbrel are done. Why wouldn't you just dump everyone (i.e., the Professor, who apparently drew some interest), and do a complete rebuild? What's the point of winning a 53rd game next year?

I don't know that it had to get "here" but there's no sense fighting it. If you had told me in 2014 that within 10 years the drought would be broken, they'd be competitive most years, fun to watch, but you'd have two years in the dumps a decade from now as the price, we'd have all taken that without hesitation. So it's time to pay the piper. No sense nibbling this turd. Pin your ears back, hold your nose and take that sucker down. There is no faster way to get good again.
 
I'm worried Jed is waiting too long. Lot of moves going on that are taking teams out of the running for Kimbrel - A's got Garcia from the Fish, the Nats sent Hand to the Blue Jays. I know there are still some big teams left that need RP help, but if he isn't careful, there will only be a few teams to bid against each other.

The Sox picking up Hernandez knocks another suitor off the MIF list, not that the Cubs were going to flip Javy there anyway, but would have been nice to see Story go to understand what the market is for Javy.

Also, Hendricks is cheap and effective and signed for 3 more years, no reason to move him unless there is a crazy good offer. Jed has stated he doesn't want to do a full rebuild, not sure how thats going to work when 3 of the 4 best players on the team are moved this week, but still.
 
No Bryant or Rizzo in the lineup today. I am assuming it’s because they are going to be playing somewhere else
 
ResilientDeac said:
No Bryant or Rizzo in the lineup today. I am assuming it’s because they are going to be playing somewhere else
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Also saw some reports that there were a bunch of Iowa Cubs at Wrigley today too, Abbott was sent down and Jake Jewell was called up, I dont even know who that is.

Also, if anyone has the Marquee network, they are showing the ICubs game tonight - can watch a Justin Steele start, and he is starting against Hunter Greene, who I havent heard much from in awhile, but he was some big shit a couple of years back that he was going to be like Shohei.
 
DaDeacs said:
Also saw some reports that there were a bunch of Iowa Cubs at Wrigley today too, Abbott was sent down and Jake Jewell was called up, I dont even know who that is.

Also, if anyone has the Marquee network, they are showing the ICubs game tonight - can watch a Justin Steele start, and he is starting against Hunter Greene, who I havent heard much from in awhile, but he was some big shit a couple of years back that he was going to be like Shohei.
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Hunter Greene's fastball has hit 104 this year in AAA.
 
Cubs flip Tepera to the White Sox Bailey Horn, a SP and 5th round pick from 2020. He is a 23 year old struggling mightily with command at High-A and is #23 in the White Sox prospect list. I dunno, seems fine, hopefully this guy can figure it out, his K-rate looks ok.

Hasta luego to the Cubs 2020 MVP vote leader.
 
It's a good return, but Ross not getting Rizzo or KB an at bat in their last Cubs home game is effing criminal.

Sounds like the whole Hosmer trade is on the table. That would take us out of resigning with Cubs, which would suck.
 
BlackjackMc said:
Details of any trade would be appreciated. Thanks.
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Cubs getting the 7th and 12th best Yanks prospect. A 19 year old 5 tool guy, Kevin Alcantara, who will likely fit in as our 3rd best prospect if you go by Fangraphs. The other player is a RP with a big fastball and the best change-up in the Yanks system, Vizcaino. Neither are close, Vizacaino might be a AA next year.
 
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