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By Tim Dierkes | at
Email a copy of 'Offseason In Review: Chicago Cubs' to a friend
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Mikel Grady
Very nice piece. Cueto, Darvish, Arrieta, Tanaka should be on Cubs radar . Trading for controllable arm as well. Would like to see underwood, cease, pierce Johnson a shot at #5 in rotation to see the future.
lowtalker1
Did you just listen to yourself?
Tiger_diesel92
1998 Yankees. The Yankees went to repeat 98-00. They lost in 2001.
Tim Dierkes
Hmm, I still consider the 1999 Yankees the last team to repeat, though.
chasfh 2
Tim, are you saying that because the 1999 Yankees repeated in 2000? Some people would argue that it’s the 2000 Yankees who did the repeating of the 1999 season.
I suppose if we wanted to be real technical about it, we’d recognize that the 1998 Yankees, 1999 Yankees and 2000 Yankees were all three different teams, with three different combinations of players. But, that aside, I’d refer to the last repeating team as being the 1999-2000 (or 1999-00) Yankees.
xwhyz
Left undone: acquiring Jose Q
donniebaseball
I would be shocked if there is a high profile trade between the Cubs and the white sox any time in the near future. They are competing for fans in the same city, and trading one of your biggest stars across town is an easy way to get casual fans to like one team over the other.
LADreamin
If the CWS won’t trade them Sale, doubt they suddenly change their mind and listen on Q.
chesteraarthur
Get paid your guaranteed salary to pitch out of the bullpen or try to be a starter somewhere else, that seems like a choice jason Perhaps you just didn’t like the options
donniebaseball
I’d give them an -A. Sometimes it’s not the moves that you make, but the moves you don’t make. While they could have made an upgrade for another TOR starter, they refrained given the prohibitive asking prices. I like that they are trying to trade for high upside arms (like Arrieta back in the day) such as Mills and Butler. By not making a move for a TOR and by taking high-upside fliers, they are letting other teams take on pitching risk as long as they can, while keeping flexibility in both prospect depth and currency- allowing them to acquire a TOR when they need one or, in the event one of their high-upside pitchers pan out, a high profile bat.
AndThisGameBelongsToMySanDiegoPadres
Rotation is hosed after this year. They do control Lester and Hendricks for a while and they should be able to plug Cease into their rotation in 2 or 3 years if they don’t trade him but that’s only 3 spots. Sooner or later, if they want to stay on top, the Cubs WILL have to overpay (in prospects or cash) for a starter.
jdgoat
You can probably chalk them up for one of the top free agent starters in next years class
lowtalker1
They and the windians are predicted to miss the show this year
Meh
Cubs fans are more annoying now
SamFuldsFive
All fans are annoying from every team if they arent the team you like. Get over it, dude.
ChiSoxCity
No, whiney, sensitve types are the most annoying.
That does include a large percentage of Cubs fans, so I guess you’re right.
petrie000
projected rotation losses after this year also free up around 40 million in salary
yeah, they’ll have to pay through the nose for somebody, but they don’t have to do it now and will be better able to afford it later.
crazysull
Dunsing isn’t making the opening day roster
downsr30
I think the Cubs will be in the trade market for starting pitching more than the free agent market. When the Cubs signed Lester, they were looking for a cornerstone – his contract has actually proven to be pretty good to this point. History shows long-term deals for pitchers don’t typically go over well. Having two pitchers on $20+ mil/year deals probably isn’t the recipe the Cubs front office is eyeing which is why I think they will let Arrieta walk with little to no fight over an extension.
I think the Cubs over names such as Odorizzi, Archer, Cobb, Tillman, Bundy, Gausman, Quintana, Corbin, Teheran, Shoemaker.. among others.. These seem like guys the Cubs will chase down if teams with these players start selling. They know they will have to pay the price. Cubs fans won’t be happy about giving up Happ, Baez or whoever it might take, but what a trade like this will do is make the Cubs a super team for 2017 while they still have Arrieta, Lester, Lackey and Hendricks.. and then in 2018 they’ll be back to having a replacement for Arrieta, an aging Lester, money to bring in an above average starter to replace Lackey and Hendricks under control yet.
The Cubs grand plan is solid as long as health holds up even to a decent degree. Be loaded on offense, spend big money on proven pitching sparingly, trade your abundance of prospects for your weaknesses and since you’re in a big market and have the $, spend the excess money to fill in the holes in the offseason. Repeat.
ChiSoxCity
Yeah, we’ll see how much the Cubs will spend. They’re not a club that’s comfortable spending on big contracts. The Heyward signing and the impending contracts of their young core might put them in a conservation mode.
Logjammer D"Baggagecling
Only losing Fowler wood and Hammel means much.
Chapman wasn’t ever gonna re-sign
Jon Jay and Brian Duensing and Brett Anderson are odd signings. The cubs have 7 players that can play the outfield they didn’t need to sign Jay. They traded Soler only to turn around and pick up Jay. Makes no sense. If you’re gonna get a backup for Almora Jr. Give Rajai Davis or Ben Revere a call.
I hope I’m wrong about Jon Jay but I can’t see him as more than a exclusive pinch hitter maybe pinch runner like Quentin Berry in 2015
petrie000
Soler’s a corner OF only, Jay’s an average CF. (faint praise i know, but he’s starting caliber for a lot of teams, so makes for an above average backup) When you need somebody to back up a rookie like Almora, Jay makes a lot more sense to spend a roster spot on that Soler, who had no real role left with the team.
He’s also younger than Davis and a considerably better hitter AND CFer than Revere, so i’m not sure why you’d consider those two better options (especially Revere, who posted a -1.2 WAR last year…)
AndThisGameBelongsToMySanDiegoPadres
LOL you said when the Yankees and Cubs were working out the Chapman trade that Chapman should take an extension for 4/70 (he got way more) and now you are sayng that Chapman was never going to re-sign? How’s that crow tasting?
Logjammer D"Baggagecling
Cubs fans don’t want sale and his terrible attitude. If he cuts up a jersey because he hated the look I doubt he’d be a positive pressance for the cubs.
petrie000
if you grew up in Chicago you’d be a lot more forgiving of Sale for that than most… because you’d know just how wretchedly awful some of those White Sox throwbacks really are….
Logjammer D"Baggagecling
Lol the cubs aren’t gonna give up Javy Baez unless it gets then Salazar carrasco or Kluber. And Miller. He’s not going anywhere. He’s the best 2nd baseman in the league on defense. He has 40+ Homer power. Theo is smart he hangs up on anyone that even says the name Javy.
petrie000
well, i mean, if it’s 1 Javy or multiple top prospects, Theo is probably smart enough to listen. 2b’s pretty well covered for the next few years between Zobrist and Happ, so if you can fill an immediate need without gutting the farm, i’d say the smart GM considers it
the Fans would riot, but from a purely business perspective it makes a certain amount of sense
RHova87
Baez needs an every day spot in the lineup. Make it happen Theo.