BlackjackMc
Gil McGregor
Javier Baez ranked first among major league infielders by Outs Above Average with 19. Victor Robles ranked first among outfielders with 23.
The Rivas - Kemp trade gives the Cubs options. Kemp had none and Rivas has the max. Roster flexibility.
Cubs sign Steven Souza Jr. Nick Castellanos to the Red on a multi-year deal. Great.
Cubs sign Steven Souza Jr. Nick Castellanos to the Red on a multi-year deal. Great.
Souza's comming off a major knee knee injury that cost him the entire 2019 season and has been oft-injured in his career. What could possibly go wrong?
He was supposed to be really good, I think he was one of the major pieces coming back to Tampa for Wil Myers. Hes had 1 good year and a few average years - he brings right handed power, which would seem nice, and he is better against lefties, but only slightly. Gonna be a platoon kinda 4th OF, I hope.
Biggest issue so far is that unless they think Souza is a starter and we are gonna move JHey to CF, they seem to be fine with a Almora/Happ platoon in CF, which is scary. Scary enough that Kris Bryant starting CF sounds pretty good.
At this point, the Cubs are like $2-3 million over the cap. I think you find a way to move Chatwood for like $5 million of salary relief and just run with this team. Rizzo at first, Happ/Hoerner/Bote/Gennett? at 2B, Javy at SS, KB/Bote/Gennett? at 3B, Schwars/Souza in LF, Almora/Happ/Hoerner in CF and JHey in RF. If JHey can have a year like the first half of last year and everyone can stay healthy, they can compete. The pen is cobbled together, but there are some decent arms there - hate losing Kintzler and Strop, but Kimbrel, Wieck, Wick, Ryan, Jeffress, Megill, Sadler and Cotton can potentially be ok. Alzolay the 5th starter, I guess, behind Yu, Hendo, Q, Lester - with Rea and Mills as the other options.
I think signing Gennett to a minor league deal to see if there is anything left is good (assuming Asuaje and Perez are as garbage as expected), then finding some luck with a 5th starter since Alzlolay, Rea and Mills all still have options.
If this is the plan, why should Cub fans expect this year's team to be better than last year's? New manager? So far, I don't see much of an upgrade, and that's assuming KB stays.
Also, Cubs have 4 players in the top 100 prospects now - if they can show any kind of life early in the season, they may actually have talent depth to trade again. Money is gonna be a major issue though, at least for this year. If they stay under the cap this year, assume the blow through it next year when the penalty is much lighter.