DaDeacs, it appears that Javy and Rizzo have enjoyed their debuts in NYC. Any excitement where you live?
Hendricks pitches like the Ace. The little guys manufacture enough runs for a much needed win. A shell shocked dugout finally exhales.
Everything I read says yes - but I am not in NYC right now. I usually spend summer in Georgia, I'm in Tampa right now visiting family. But, I'm definitely grabbing a couple of Yanks day game tickets when I get back to go watch Riz - defs wearing a Cubbie shirt too. I might go out to Citi, but that is such a haul to get out to Flushing/Queens - Citi Field is great though, one of the better ballparks I've been to. New yankee stadium stinks, but its only a 20 minute subway ride.
Hoyer was on the radio this morning and just said none of Baez, Rizzo or Bryant countered the Cubs extension offers. On one hand, its likely because the extensions were super low, but on the other, its a negotiating table. I do feel like there is no real reason to get out in front of this, though, and it might alienate any of those dudes from coming back - versus the way they handled Jake, which was to make him the same offer as Yu and let him turn it down before signing Darvish. Jed also said he is not sure if this is going to be a full rebuild or just a partial teardown - which stinks, but hopefully they figure it out soon. The have plenty of money and some core pieces to make a run if the FA's are there and some of these pitchers develop.
If Steele and Keegan Thompson can be decent SP options, the Cubs only have a few gaps to fill to be competitive. Looking at the FA market, not sure there are pieces to fill the gaps all this year, but as I've been stumping for, if Nick opts out - and Cubs can lure Rizzo back and he doesn't play himself into a massive contract in NY, that will put the offense in a decent place and still leave $30-$40 million to get them back to the 2021 payroll to fill out the remaining starter and RP gaps. If Rizzo is too expensive, not a lot of 1B on the market (still not expecting Freddie to hit the market, and he likely gets close to double what Riz gets anyway). My gut says 2022 and 2023 are a wash, the Cubs move on from Happ and Willy, JHeys contract ends, replace them with Davis and Amaya and Hendricks, Madrigal, Hoerner, Steele and Thompson will still have 2-3 years of control and you can spend more freely on a lot of the younger guys coming out of contracts then - and by that time can see if Marquez still has it, along with some of the other questionable AA+ talent (Strumpf, Deichmann, Morel).