Left-hander Drew Smyly threw a 25-pitch live batting practice session over the weekend and feels that he’s getting close to the end of his rehab from Tommy John surgery, writes Patrick Mooney of The Athletic (subscription link). General manager Jed Hoyer and president of baseball ops Theo Epstein watched the session, and Hoyer tells Mooney that Smyly looked “free and easy” in his first throwing session against live hitters. “He is going to be in the back of our mind as we think through the rest of our season and how we approach both deadlines in July and August,” says Hoyer of Smyly, who is coming up on the one-year anniversary of his TJ surgery later this month. Mooney speaks with both Hoyer and manager Joe Maddon about the struggles of Yu Darvish and Tyler Chatwood thus far. Both expressed optimism that the righties can turn things around, though Hoyer acknowledged the importance of eventually getting into “sustained turn-after-turn consistency” in the starting rotation in order to best position the team to win the division and embark on a deep playoff run.
Here’s more out of the North Side of Chicago…
- Offseason pickups Brandon Morrow and Steve Cishek have been outstanding for the Cubs, writes Bruce Levine of CBS Chicago/670 The Score, but the team will need to eventually receive more innings out of its rotation if it is to sustain its current pace. Cishek is on pace for 80 appearances, while the trio of Brian Duensing, Pedro Strop and Justin Wilson are all on pace for 72 to 75 games pitched. Levine speculates that both Kelvin Herrera and Brad Hand will be deadline targets for the Cubs, writing that Chicago tried to pry Hand away from the Padres last summer but balked when San Diego asked for Javier Baez in return. Levine chatted with an NL East scout to get an opinion on both Herrera and Hand, each of whom is off to a brilliant start in 2018.
- Epstein spoke with Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times about his team’s approach to the 2018 trade deadline, noting that it’s still too early to assess just what type of players the Cubs will pursue. Epstein noted that in some seasons, it’s clear what areas of need a team will need to address for months in advance, but he doesn’t feel that to be the case with his 2018 club. “[A]s talented and as deep as we are in most areas, it’s more about observation and maintenance and trying to stay ahead of the depth areas,” said the Cubs president. Epstein noted that maintaining starting pitching depth is especially important but characterized that as more of a “contingency” than a need, adding that the team isn’t looking to supplant any of its starters. Wittenmyer writes that the Cubs plan to check in with the Orioles on Manny Machado once he’s more aggressively being shopped. However, the left side of the infield isn’t a need for the Cubs like it is for other teams, and Wittenmyer feels it’s “doubtful” that Chicago will be among the most aggressive suitors.
So if the Padres asked for Baez last year, what makes the writer think that the asking price will be any lower this year? Hand is probably the best reliever on the market and has do e nothing but boost his value for the Padres.
19 saves so far and a 1.89 ERA. Hand looks to be a lock for the All Star team, and he deserves it. Many of those saves have been of the 5-6 out variety, so Baez alone may not even be enough to land him this year.
20 saves now.
Too funny!!!
Besides one less year of control?
Or 2 more
Same for Baez
Yes. Brad Hand comes with 2-1/2 years of cheap elite closer control with the likelihood that his 2021 team option gets picked up. His price tag will be significant in comparison to a rental like Kelvin Herrera. The Cubs would likely have to fork over more than one from among Javier Baez, Addison Russell, Ian Happ, Albert Almora or Kyle Schwarber to get the Padres talking.
Ummmmm what???????? Baez alone is more valuable than Brad Hand. There isn’t a GM out there that values Hand more than Baez.
It seems the Cubs have a front office that valued an elite rental closer like Aroldis Chapman for one of the top prospects in MLB who less than two years later is yet another budding star on the powerhouse Yankees. The Bronx bombers also received a pretty penny from the Indians for a more controllable Andrew Miller that same trade deadline.
Many organizations value elite prospects even over established young players who come with less team control. The still rebuilding Padres could certainly be such an organization but the Cubs best trade currency is on the MLB active roster with a now depleted farm system thanks in good measure to the deals they made at the last two summer trade deadlines.
If you seriously think Hand has more value than Baez you should check yourself into the looney bin.
There is one, and his name is AJ Preller, and it doesn’t matter what other GMs value. The asking price for Hand is rising by the day, and he’s under no pressure to trade him. Gonna take a significant overpay to land an elite closer with 2.5 years of control.
The question isn’t does Hand or Baez have more value the question is does Hand or Baez have more value to the cubs and their hopes of winning another championship.
The cubs could easily replace Baez at 2B with Zobrist or Happ in the event they trade Baez for whatever reason.
Cub fans value there players more than real baseball people value them. And Hand is much more valuable than Baez.
yep, sure do. Javy is awesome on defense and shows flashes of brilliance from time to time at the plate. But let’s face it, he has no plate discipline. Since April 12th (2 months ago) he has walked exactly 2 times and struck out 51 times. He needs to improve that if he wants to reach his full potential.
Exactly! Well said. Baez is an elite defensive player with electric but inconsistent moments of brilliance at the plate.
He would for sure need to be included in a Hand trade if these two teams did business together.
I could see something like:
Padres send Brad Hand, Corey Spangenberg to Chicago for Javier Baez, Brendon Little and Duane Underwood Jr.
Jed Hoyer gets back his 2011 first round pick in Cory Spangenberg, to platoon with Zobrist at 2B with Baez being gone. And obviously get Hand who would solidify the back end of that bullpen.
Joe Kerr: Speaking of potential I recall Javier Baez the prospect being compared to a young Gary Sheffield by many scouts, particularly on offense with his bat speed and stance.
Even just considering the offensive aspect of his game this turned out to be an awful comp. Sheffield finished his 22 year MLB career with triple slash of .292/.393/.514, 509 HR’s and an even more impressive 1475/1171 BB/SO ratio resulting in an 80.8 oWAR. When also factoring in defense, this comparison was even more ludicrous. Baez is an elite defender as a middle infielder while Sheffield could never produce anything even approaching league average defense at any position with a career -27.7 dWAR.
All this being said, Sheffield still earned a very respectable 60.5 overall WAR metric, something that Javier Baez will only dream about achieving even with outstanding defense unless he can drastically improve his plate discipline as we both hope.
You’re a troll commenter that ads negative value to MLBTraderumors.
That was one magical all in year for Cubs. 108 year drought and goat curse , Bartman blunder ,1969 and black cats . Now they Cubs have won one they will never give up that much again. Next year throw money at kimbrel. Baez makes a difference 162 games a year and every playoff game. Hand only when rested. With tommy johns issues on daily bases would you trade Baez for a pitcher? With draft every year and international signings each year I’m sure the next Torres is around corner for Cubs. That championship banner 2016 flies at Wrigley every day.
What’s Cubs record in regular season and World Series with Baez and what’s Padres with hand? Baez nlds mvp in 2016. Cubs bullpen is fine without Hand as of now. Injuries happen though . So in a baseball draft then next Baez and next hand is there mlb gm’s take hand over Baez? No way
Zobrist is gone in one more year. Baez has 10+ years left.
Can Baez take steroids? Then he can be compared to Sheffield and his vitamins
elite defensive player with electric but inconsistent moments of brilliance at the plate…..Bryce Harper comes to mind also.
“Baez makes a difference 162 games a year and every playoff game. Hand only when rested.“
Based on Joe’s track record, Hand won’t need to be tested.
Not true if you think that adding Hand is the missing piece to your playoff puzzle!
I’m a fan of Baez but Hand is more valuable. To say someone’s “looney” for thinking that is wrong
Once again you’re clueless.
You do realize Zobrist at 37 is nearing the end of his career. Happ is not nearly as good as Baez.
Lol no. One maybe, two not a chance.
Baez and his .270 OBP? Laughable
So more than one of Almora, Happ, Baez, Russell, Schwarber……for a freaken reliever!!!!! Seriously!!!!!!
The five mentioned are all position players which automatically makes them more valuable, and all are controllable contract-wise. TWO OF THEM for a freaken reliever!!!!! Maybe Cubs should add a throw-in like Contreras to sweeten the deal too. I wouldn’t trade one of them straight up for a reliever. And no knock on Hand he’s good. But relievers are a dime a dozen these days. Just scan the stats of every team. Even the terrible teams have at least one of two bullpen arms that are putting up great stats.
Theo and Hoyer must laugh their asses off when reading this stuff.
Cubs won’t do a Baez for Hand deal as it would pretty much offset the current team and weaken the future team. If Padres would take Happ & Russell then it would make more sense as Zobrist could play 2b and Baez ss. Youv’e seen Baez’s floor and it is pretty high but not sure how high the ceiling is but maybe Machado high. Hand is outstanding but there are others who could do almost as well that won’t cost so much. Let a desperate team (Nats, Indians, Dodgers) pay to get a Hand job
With what the Cubs spent on SPs last winter it’s hard to fathom that they’ll need to acquire another one at the deadline. Before anyone suggests Chris Archer again, please check his 2018 stats before making a case that he’s the answer.
Chatwood’s been much worse than anyone anticipated, but when you consider what might have been if CHC had landed Alex Cobb, they got the lesser of two evils.
Ha ha I wanted Cobb. Missed that one
Yeah Archer hasn’t been good in 3 years.
Gee, I guess I’m not the only one who feels that the Cubs bullpen is overworked and the starters need to pitch more than their typical low pitch counts or innings before Joe Maddon yanks them. Waiting for all those real Cub fans to crap all over my comment once again.
A-Sap, when you make slights at specific people with no provocation, you should expect recourse…..
Have the cubs used bullpen much more than any other team? Rays start their relievers. Every game I watch not cubs one team starter only goes 6 and bullpen comes in. Orioles have had how many extra inning games? More innings more pitchers. Maddon is there to win the game he is playing and worrying about bullpen later . Strop closed this week and so did duensing morrow got two straight days off.
Morrow got two days off because he was “fatigued” as reported on the broadcast. I agree that with Aaron that, at least, there is a trend to be watched. For all the hoopla of Chapman in 2016–Hector Rondon was doing just fine (not that he could have been the anchor for a playoff run). If you look closely, Rondon pitched five out of six games just before the break and when Chapman was acquired and then four out of five just after the break and into early August. He was soon on the DL and was never the same. Then, Strop had a freak groin injury fielding a ball and neither was trusted, nor counted on in the playoffs (see WS game 7). Neither was up or probably even considered in extra innings. Maddon rode Chapman as long as he could and turned to Edwards and Montgomery in an inning to win a championship.
It’s not the now that they me overused, it’s the later when they can’t be overused is where the trend could lead and where Aaron is spot on.
The best case scenario for the Cubs has the Colorado Rockies dropping out of contention in the NL West where they become sellers and put impending free agent 2B DJ LeMahieu on the market leading up to the summer trade deadline. If the Cubs are lucky, maybe the Rockies would like to have Tyler Chatwood back in a package deal for a 2-3 month rental for LeMahieu. If not, maybe another deal could be worked out but the bottom line is that LeMahieu would fill a real need as the Cubs leadoff hitter while playing Gold Glove caliber 2B.
Lemahieu would also be a heck of a lot cheaper to extend or eventually sign as a FA than rumored SS Manny Machado would be. If a deal with the Rockies for LeMahieu could be worked out without involving SS Addison Russell (the Rockies #1 prospect is future SS Brendan Rodgers) perhaps he could be used as bait to acquire a closer like Brad Hand or Kelvin Herrera with Javier Baez then shifting over to his natural SS position.
Cubs have no need for DJ
Technically speaking, the Cubs have a lesser “need’ for impending FA’s Manny Machado and Bryce Harper with quality and cheaper existing options at 3B, SS and in the OF other than overpriced and unmovable Jason Heyward. That doesn’t seem to keep most Cub fans from dreaming on both as future Cubs. Lemahieu would actually fill a needed role on the Cubs as leadoff hitter or an ideal #2 grunt which most young sabermetric crazed fans don’t seem to value anymore. He would also come at a fraction of the cost of the other two once he hits free agency.
Why the hell would Chicago want him back???
Yeah, why the hell would the Cubs have a need for an All-Star, Gold Glove second baseman who can hit, run and get on base while filing the important leadoff role that has been missing since the departure of Dexter Fowler. What the hell was I thinking?
Perfect^
Almora could easily be a regular leadoff hitter. I’m not trying to be mean, but you consistently make comments that just don’t make any sense.
Pitching and defense win championships. This team can hit. That isn’t really a concern. Pitching is the main concern they need to address.
Hopefully, Darvish and Chatwood come around, but if not, they will definitely need to make some moves at the All-Star break, to solidify the rotation, and they will probably need to add a bullpen arm or two, just as insurance policies.
If I was Theo or Jed, LeMahieu wouldn’t even be floating in my brain as a thought. Especially as just a rental.
well good thing lemahieu is a gold glover! and yes, i see them adding bullpen arms, but i feel they will be cautious with starter acquisitions, considering how their most recent ones have done so far. also, aaron is one of the few level-headed, reasonable commenters on this site and deserves more credit than you give him.
The only problem I see with LeMathieu is that you are aging up with the 30-year old infielder in hos free agent year. That is never a good thing.
They don’t need him. You said above that they can plug Zobrist in at 2nd. So why with Baez and Zobrist would they need him? You must be high. They need a starting pitcher!
I’m too old to be “high”, too young to be senile and never made the statement you claimed I did although I mostly agree with the “Pitches Love Velocity” comment except for his suggestion that Ian Happ would be a realistic possibility at 2B.
My preference as a Cub fan would be to keep Javier Baez, move him to his natural SS position and trade Addison Russell if it meant helping the Cubs secure another World Series title.
1) Rockies may be hesitant to take on $38 MM owed to a pitcher with more walks than strikeouts. 2) Javvy plays an elite 2B, but draws roughly average defensive marks at SS. 3) Almora/Zobrist (even Ian Happ) both have an OBP above .350, making them fine leadoff hitters.
Plus the Rox favored their younger starters over Chatwood last year shuttling him to the bullpen.
Check out his Coors Field stats. Like a lot of pitchers, he did not do well there. Why would Colorado want him back?
Cubs put themselves in a tough spot this July in terms a trading due to:
1. Thinning pipeline (Torres/McKinney for Chapman, Candelario/Paredes for a middle reliever and backup catcher rental, Jimenez/Cease for Quintana, non rostering Villanueva and losing for nothing
2. Inability to develop pitching – their strategy of drafting position players has worked well but they have had no success in developing young pitching
3. Big investments that haven’t panned out as well as expected: Heyward, Darvish and Chatwood
4. Pipeline they have is young and high risk – Ademan Albertos, Little etc are all in lower levels of minors, are several years away from bigs and therefore have a ton of risk
Due to all the above, teams are going to want something off the MLB roster. Schwarber, Baez and Russell all have 3 years left of control after this season. Almora will have 4 left and Happ 5. It will be interesting to see if Cubs move any of those pieces or try to convince teams to take a fistful of what is left in pipeline.
It would probably be Happ but I like the depth the Cubs have in position players. The pitching is decent, though it’s being propped up a little bit by the defense. They really don’t need to do anything drastic. Monty has filled in well as a spot/replacement starter and if Smyly comes back in August then he’s another option. The relief guys on the Iowa shuttle have been respectable, too. As you can tell, I’m not wringing my hands over the situation.
Looks like another year of Preller overplaying his Hand.
If the Cardinals want to win the Central Division, plus have a shot at the National League Pennant, one name takes care of the offensive and defense problems. That name is Manny Machado. That also gives the Cardinals the rest of the season to try and sign Machado long term or at least until opt years in his contract.
Cards have the farm to trade for him. They should go for it.
The Cardinals have a young short stop they signed to an extension. I’m not sure what the Cardinals are yet. Maybe they win the central maybe they don’t make it as a wild card. Not sure this is the year you throw down prospects to fill a position you already have a long term solution at to try to make a push.
I like Machado as a rental for both the Cardinals and the Brewers actually. I think STL needs a stud bat more than the Cards and I think the Crew needs a stud SP more than they need to feel their gaping hole at SS. Still, I think he fills more of a need for both the Cards and Brewers a lot more than he does for the Cubs.
That said, he is DEFINITELY hitting FA, he’s said as much and he’d be silly not to. You don’t see studs that age with that skill on the open market very often.
So stop the extension talks if ANY team trades for him… including the Cubs, I don’t care if he’s “best friends” with Almora or not, he will at least see what offers are out their. He may give a slight discount to a team he really wants to play with, but that will be after he sees the offers on the open market.
****** I think STL needs a stud bat more than MIL does