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Chicago Cubs Thread - Playoff Push Pending

I'm somewhat surprised that Happ and Contreras remain Cubs. The front office seems to value them more than the rest of the major leagues.

The bullpen was decimated. Martin, Givens and Robertson don't surprise me. That was the plan. The Effross trade is a head scratcher. He has developed more than anticipated and had years of control. Hayden Wesneski best be the real deal.

There were 11 pitchers on tonight's team. There are 11 pitchers on the major or minor league IL. Kevin Castro and Caleb Kilian are the only healthy pitchers remaining on the 40 man roster. This should prove interesting.
 
Definitely was surprising - but Jed said there were no offers that matched the value of Willy or Happ, so it's fine. But, preference would be that they actually try to resign Willy - because that puts him a really bad spot - since the Cubs will almost assuredly QO him and potentially limit the teams that will want to sign him. And word from Willy's side is there has been no contract extensions talk with him since 2017.

Giving up the pen pieces is fine - even Effross, he was controllable, but the Cubs got back a guy they think could be in the rotation next year. Not easy to get MLB-ready starters for a reliever. And, they have Leeper, Mekkes, Newcomb and ManRod down at AAA who could add to the pen - as well as the guys that are currently up like Uelman and Hughes. And the Cubs have been able to scour the bargain bin for relievers in the past few years.

I just hope with Happ still here they do something to either keep Willy or try to be competitive for 2023 - they aren't that far off, and the money they have to spend could actually get them in the running for a wild card. The Cubs offense is actually above average for the year - they need more consistency out of the starters. Thompson, Steele, Stroman should have 3 spots locked down - you need at least 1 more topline pitcher (probably 2) to even sniff .500 - and 2022 Hendricks is not that. Also, a bump in offense would be nice - 1B is a gaping hole, catcher will be too if Willy is not resigned. Could probably use another power hitting MIF with Madrigal being a huge question mark (or CF if you move Morel to 2B more often). Nico, Wisdom, Seiya, Morel and Happ should likely be locked into starting next year. Its possible to upgrade 3B, but its not as urgent.
 
Hayden Wesneski is rated the best of the prospects the Cubs received in the trades and seems ready to make the step up to the bigs. Good deal.

Now is the time to bring up prospects for middle relief. Maybe a couple will stick. The front office has shown they can assemble a decent bullpen in the off season so I trust it will be improved next year. Late game leads could disappear with frequency the balance of this season.

I hope Contreras and Happ sign contracts this off season. They have shown they would prefer to remain Cubs and both have responded positively to a structured approach.
 
BlackjackMc said:
Hayden Wesneski is rated the best of the prospects the Cubs received in the trades and seems ready to make the step up to the bigs. Good deal.

Now is the time to bring up prospects for middle relief. Maybe a couple will stick. The front office has shown they can assemble a decent bullpen in the off season so I trust it will be improved next year. Late game leads could disappear with frequency the balance of this season.

I hope Contreras and Happ sign contracts this off season. They have shown they would prefer to remain Cubs and both have responded positively to a structured approach.
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Happ has another arb year, so he is back barring a trade or the Cubs decide to not offer him anything a la Schwarber. The latter wont happen, but its still insane Jed just decided to not give kyle a contract and he signed for the same amount on a 1 year deal with the Nats.

The QO for Willy hurts him - teams dont want to give up the 1st rounder, even for a stud catcher. I mean, someone will, and he is the caliber of player to forgo the pick for that, but wouldn't be surprised if his market moves super slow until a few teams sign some big players and then he only costs a 2nd rounder or something. He's gonna ask for Realmuto money, won't get it, but someone will pay him and the Cubs, even with literally no replacement options, aren't willing to go 5/$80 or something for him.
 
Buttermaker said:
Pretty harsh assessment on NBC Sports Chicago Cubs podcast of how Cubs have handled the Contreras situation. Both Kaplan and Gordon. They are bullish on the Effros trade, however. Good, short listen. https://open.spotify.com/episode/0tfhShWSiWySwffuLjPgPZ?si=ObER79BAScSGvaV0qTcZFQ
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Eh, part of the problem is Willy is a super emotional guy, so he shared a lot of that frustration in the media even though it wasn't a guarantee he would be trade - it was very likely, but not a guarantee and he handled it by being honest, which I think is fine. As long as the team was upfront and honest with him, I dont think its that bad. The qualifying offer thing is the worst part. I didnt listen to the podcast though, but dont have much time for gordo - he annoys me.
 
Now that the Cubs tried to trade him and were unable/unwilling to, why would you not try to sign him? Other than the fact you have made absolutely no effort to until now. He has above average offense on a team lacking arguably any other real offensive stars, and his defense is serviceable. Ok he's apparently not a great framer - deal him!!! He knows all the pitchers well. He is a great leader and is a well- respected, good clubhouse guy. He loves the team despite its ownership. Money shouldn't be an issue here, right? So what is it? Other than a policy of letting almost every expensive to be free agent walk or trade them away in favor of different/cheaper players. Meanwhile Schwarber and Rizzo are having tremendous HR/RBI seasons elsewhere (albeit hitting in the .230s), and there remains a gaping hole at first base.
 
Buttermaker said:
Now that the Cubs tried to trade him and were unable/unwilling to, why would you not try to sign him? Other than the fact you have made absolutely no effort to until now. He has above average offense on a team lacking arguably any other real offensive stars, and his defense is serviceable. Ok he's apparently not a great framer - deal him!!! He knows all the pitchers well. He is a great leader and is a well- respected, good clubhouse guy. He loves the team despite its ownership. Money shouldn't be an issue here, right? So what is it? Other than a policy of letting almost every expensive to be free agent walk or trade them away in favor of different/cheaper players. Meanwhile Schwarber and Rizzo are having tremendous HR/RBI seasons elsewhere (albeit hitting in the .230s), and there remains a gaping hole at first base.
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Purely my guess, but for a few years there it looked like Amaya was going to be up and take over Willys job when he left, so no big need to overpay - but that is a big question mark now (his SSS in AA right now is interesting, but nothing to bank on). Even if he does pan out, Amaya is still at least a couple of years away after the injury, and if you let Willy walk, basically punting 2023 again because you can't look someone in the face and say you want to compete with Yan Gomes as your starting catcher.

Looks like Wisdom is going to be tested out at 1B off and on for the rest of this year - moving him there would be fine, give you a chance to move Nico or Morel to 3B and still sign a big time SS like they planned on.
 
I watched some of Ben Brown's first AA start last night. Sample size of one but color me impressed. 9 Ks. Hits 98 at times. Needs to work on a third offering. But the FB absolutely plays and whatever that off speed offering is looks big at times too.
 
Jhey going on an inactive list and gonna be cut in the off-season. Probably one off-season too late. Gonna be some dead money next year, but better to have the roster spot.

Hope they keep Jhey around in some capacity, great clubhouse guy.
 
Despite the gratuitous attempts at overselling the event, last night was still pretty cool.
 
Cubs are 11-9 in their last 20 games - now most of that has come against bottom dweller teams, but at least they have proven they can beat the bad teams.

Not sure McKinstry is going to make it, but worth testing him out the rest of the way to see if he can stick, since he can play almost every position. Franmil Reyes not looking half bad in his first few games as a Cub - and he's controllable for 3 more years. If the Cubs can get him back to his 2021 self, could be a cheap option for the DH position if they miss on some other bats. Kinda shocked to see Cleveland give up on him altogether - guessing he was out of options - but he was also the main return in the Trevor Bauer trade only a couple of years ago. His 40% K-rate is a lot, and he is a guy who will be at or above 30% even in good years - he needs to keep hitting all those HRs to find a place in a lineup that already has a few swing and miss hitters.
 
Reyes is worth a shot. A legit power guy at a good price.

McKinstry has defensive flexibility and he hits lefthanded. If he hit from the right side I doubt he gets an opportunity.

Cubs need a couple good bats from the left side. Happ and Ortega are it. It probably explains why Matt Mervis and Darius Hill made the rapid rise to Iowa. Mervis (.309/.370/,966) has produced 133 runs in 100 games over three levels. Hill (.325/.366/.846) has shown better power to go along with a .301 lifetime minor league average.
 
Sometimes it's about opportunity and role.

When the Cubs traded Robertson, Effross, Martin and Givens, they lost the four relievers Ross trusted to hold and finish a lead. Who would replace them? Every pitcher in the organization had an opportunity to change their role and their future. I expected the worst.

To my surprise, three pitchers who were on the ropes and a rookie have stepped up. Rowan Wick, Michael Rucker, Mark Leiter and Brandon Hughes have stepped up. In 35 combined appearances, 29 have been scoreless. 43.2 innings with 10 earned runs. That's a 2.08 ERA. 27 hits, 10 walks and 43 strikeouts. It may not last, but their efforts have the trust of their manager.
 
Thompson had a couple of mediocre starts recently. Hopefully he can put together some good outings before season's end. Stro and Steele were great Sat and Sun but the bullpen let them down. Taking 2/3 from the Brewers is a quality weekend. Nice to see Contreras producing with the bat again and others come through with some key hits.
 
One out there report suggesting the Cubs trade for Ohtani in the offseason. I am guessing there is definitely a call made, but not sure the Cubs give up what is needed to get there.

Thoughts on what it would take? You think something like Keegan Thompson, Kevin Alcantara, Jordan Wicks and Alexander Canario gets it done? Not sure it would get done without one of PCA or Davis and probably replacing Keegan with Steele because of how many teams will be fighting for him, but thinking an MLB starter, top 100 guy in Alcantara, an almost MLB ready OF in Canario and the Cubs top pitching prospect might get close since its only 1 year of Ohtani.
 
DaDeacs said:
One out there report suggesting the Cubs trade for Ohtani in the offseason. I am guessing there is definitely a call made, but not sure the Cubs give up what is needed to get there.

Thoughts on what it would take? You think something like Keegan Thompson, Kevin Alcantara, Jordan Wicks and Alexander Canario gets it done? Not sure it would get done without one of PCA or Davis and probably replacing Keegan with Steele because of how many teams will be fighting for him, but thinking an MLB starter, top 100 guy in Alcantara, an almost MLB ready OF in Canario and the Cubs top pitching prospect might get close since its only 1 year of Ohtani.
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This makes such a trade very unattractive, IMO. I agree the ask likely would include Steele, whom the Cubs should avoid dealing absent a great return.
 
Cubs give away a game against Toronto. Five runners thrown out on the base paths is infuriating.

The past three games, Ross gave an early hook to all three starters. Smyly relieved after 80 pitches and 6 shutout innings. Sampson got the hook after 61 pitches, 3.1 innings and 1 earned run. Assad yanked tonight after 80 pitches and 5 shutout innings. The relief promptly blew the lead on all three occasions. It's hard to develop starters if you are unwilling trust them, especially if they are putting up zeros.

One year of Ohtani is not worth purging the team of four prospects. Multiple years would be a different matter.
 
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