Bellinger and Snell would be epic.
Bellinger and Hader works too.
(Add Hoskins to either would be the cherry on top)
***Official 2023 Chicago Cubs Thread***
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Bellinger and Snell would be epic.
Bellinger and Hader works too.
(Add Hoskins to either would be the cherry on top)
TIN FOIL HAT THEORY
They just announced just about everyone who has played with the Cubs the last 40 years, the coaching staff, all prospects, and then anyone who's had a cup of coffee at Wrigley.
Interestingly enough, they announced everyone in alphabetical order by last name. They went Mastrobouni, then announced Palencia, then realized they had an error, and Merryweather was next.
Why was there an error? Because Mervis and Morel were highlighted and deleted, and the guy who printed it deleted one extra name, Merryweather, on accident.
They just announced just about everyone who has played with the Cubs the last 40 years, the coaching staff, all prospects, and then anyone who's had a cup of coffee at Wrigley.
Interestingly enough, they announced everyone in alphabetical order by last name. They went Mastrobouni, then announced Palencia, then realized they had an error, and Merryweather was next.
Why was there an error? Because Mervis and Morel were highlighted and deleted, and the guy who printed it deleted one extra name, Merryweather, on accident.
I'm probably only watching the Jed/Carter portion of CubsCon today unless I find time for others. Counsell is at 11:00 and I'm hoping he gives some insight of his philosophies. Key notes
- Cubs don't plan on deploying a 6 man rotation but do plan on toying with it in a way that can give extra rest. Almost sounded like occasionally starting a 6th man during long stretches.
- Hoyer says winning so many games in such a short stretch just led to too much usage of the top relievers. He did sidestep the question from Boogs on how he plans to address bullpen issues, other than saying in a perfect world you have 25-30 guys you can feel comfortable with coming up.
- Hoyer shut down Morel trade rumors; Carter says Morel has a MLB ready bat, compares Morels situation to Jose Ramirez in that he has a MLB bat but, like Ramirez, had nowhere to play but his bat forced the organization to find somewhere for him to play. And worst case scenario, he is DH.
- Hoyer isn't happy about how slow the offseason has been and would like to see some deadlines; acknowledges Boras wouldn't like this.
- Really great fan question; in the FO world, how do you know if a guy is available, given that Busch seemed under the radar? Hawkins says we reached out early to see if Busch would be available. Says that there are a ton of players they reach out about, most make it nowhere, Dodgers seemed open to the idea. Hoyer says 99/100 trade discussions are immediately shut down after the first conversation, and rarely does the 1/100 even make it to the redzone.
- Cubs don't plan on deploying a 6 man rotation but do plan on toying with it in a way that can give extra rest. Almost sounded like occasionally starting a 6th man during long stretches.
- Hoyer says winning so many games in such a short stretch just led to too much usage of the top relievers. He did sidestep the question from Boogs on how he plans to address bullpen issues, other than saying in a perfect world you have 25-30 guys you can feel comfortable with coming up.
- Hoyer shut down Morel trade rumors; Carter says Morel has a MLB ready bat, compares Morels situation to Jose Ramirez in that he has a MLB bat but, like Ramirez, had nowhere to play but his bat forced the organization to find somewhere for him to play. And worst case scenario, he is DH.
- Hoyer isn't happy about how slow the offseason has been and would like to see some deadlines; acknowledges Boras wouldn't like this.
- Really great fan question; in the FO world, how do you know if a guy is available, given that Busch seemed under the radar? Hawkins says we reached out early to see if Busch would be available. Says that there are a ton of players they reach out about, most make it nowhere, Dodgers seemed open to the idea. Hoyer says 99/100 trade discussions are immediately shut down after the first conversation, and rarely does the 1/100 even make it to the redzone.
That doesn't sound good. Does he look that different than he did last season?
Craig Counsell takeaways
- Unprompted, talked about how excited he is to see Wesneski in Mesa because he was always interesting to watch from the other side.
- Best players should play; regarding young players, baseball has a lot of numbers and sometimes young players don't have enough data to show how well they will do. His job as a manager is to take a leap and hope they can come through. (it felt like this was Rossy's issue. "well, Canario has never got a hit off this guy, so we can't play him")
- Tough thing about the bullpen is you likely won't get it right coming out of Spring Training.
- Asked if for fun he's created a lineup yet, he jokingly said he was going to but then Jed told him they're only in the 4th inning. Then said as an exercise he had every coach write a lineup to get an idea with where everybody's at.
- 6 year old asks Craig if he'll sign Cody as the last question. Had the place laughing
- Unprompted, talked about how excited he is to see Wesneski in Mesa because he was always interesting to watch from the other side.
- Best players should play; regarding young players, baseball has a lot of numbers and sometimes young players don't have enough data to show how well they will do. His job as a manager is to take a leap and hope they can come through. (it felt like this was Rossy's issue. "well, Canario has never got a hit off this guy, so we can't play him")
- Tough thing about the bullpen is you likely won't get it right coming out of Spring Training.
- Asked if for fun he's created a lineup yet, he jokingly said he was going to but then Jed told him they're only in the 4th inning. Then said as an exercise he had every coach write a lineup to get an idea with where everybody's at.
- 6 year old asks Craig if he'll sign Cody as the last question. Had the place laughing
It’s been brutal. Marquee Network is and always has been terrible. My hope was by opening it up to subscribers that they would improve on the technological side but they have not.
- Nightengale says it's hard to see Chapman signing anywhere other than San Francisco with the Cubs being the lone possible exception.
- He also believes the Cubs will be the most aggressive team to end the offseason.
- Levine wouldn't be surprised if Bellinger is a Cub in the next week or two.
I still think Hoskins is who we end up with and the Busch talk is strictly to get Hoskins price down, but I'd much rather pay $5 MM more AAV for a guy who is in the top 1% in hard hits and exit velocity and plays GG defense over Hoskins who is a below-average defender and offers the same traits as Happ at the plate.
- He also believes the Cubs will be the most aggressive team to end the offseason.
- Levine wouldn't be surprised if Bellinger is a Cub in the next week or two.
I still think Hoskins is who we end up with and the Busch talk is strictly to get Hoskins price down, but I'd much rather pay $5 MM more AAV for a guy who is in the top 1% in hard hits and exit velocity and plays GG defense over Hoskins who is a below-average defender and offers the same traits as Happ at the plate.
There is not really a Chicago Bulls thread on CF but assume some here probably were/are Bulls fans. I guess i could post in the NBA thread possibly. What the crowd did when they unveiled the Ring of Honor when they got to Jerry Krause was just pathetic. Like him or not he built a team that won 6 championships and his widow deserved better as she was clearly shaken by the boos. Krause also has some ties in the baseball world too as a scout. I grew up as a Bulls fan during that era and even I wouldn't boo a deceased man that built possibly the greatest NBA team ever even if he did break it up eventually.
3. Cody Bellinger, 1B/OF
Best match: Cubs
A return to the Cubs is the best option for Bellinger, who has generated interest in free agency from the Blue Jays, Giants and Angels, among others. His ability to play first base, right field, center field and left field has helped his market. His asking price is high, but that reflects his ability to impact a game in so many ways. When the staredown between Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer and agent Scott Boras ends, I believe Bellinger will get his best offer from Chicago, where he had his NL Comeback Player of the Year season last year.
I think Hoyer is going to let Boras wait it out until the last minute and he's back on another prove it type deal. Think of a type of deal Carlos Correa signed before the 2022 season when he was kind of in the same boat. He got a 3 year 105 mil deal with the Twins with an opt out after each season. That allowed him at least some multi-year financial insurance while also having the ability to opt out again to find a better deal. Maybe Bellinger gets something like a 5 year with some kind of mix of mutal and/or team options in it for certain years or maybe he just flat out does another 1 year+ type of deal he did last year. The asking price, the market for him, or both obviously are not matching up what Boras wants so there is no rush for the Cubs to sign him until Boras is finally ready to come to the table with a deal that makes sense.
If it weren't for those bad seasons between his MVP year and this past year he would have been locked up by now and I think the analytics about his hard contact rate paired with recent history teams are skeptical to lock him into an expensive long term deal then have a Jason Heyward situation on their hands. The Cubs have plenty of OF prospects in the system so he's really more of a luxury at this point than a necessity to sign. Yes he can play 1B too which is a bonus but the Cubs have options there as well too. If it's not Belli it's probably Hoskins on a deal like Belli had last year.
If it weren't for those bad seasons between his MVP year and this past year he would have been locked up by now and I think the analytics about his hard contact rate paired with recent history teams are skeptical to lock him into an expensive long term deal then have a Jason Heyward situation on their hands. The Cubs have plenty of OF prospects in the system so he's really more of a luxury at this point than a necessity to sign. Yes he can play 1B too which is a bonus but the Cubs have options there as well too. If it's not Belli it's probably Hoskins on a deal like Belli had last year.
I think the numbers end up $175mil over 7 years. I doubt Suzuki and/or Happ get extended so Bellinger can move to right in 2027. Hopefully one of our corner prospects lives up the hype. My guess is the Jaguar. Caissie is definitely a possibility as well.