MLB: ***Official Cubs Offseason Thread***
- Thread starter Bret44
- Start date
Hit the nail on the head. Get me Cobb, Bucholz, and Davis and sell your mediocres for what you can. I want a leadoff guy and another middle of the order 3/4 guy. Hate that our cleanup hitter is hunting for hits in the NLCS.
Arrieta is gone. No major analysts think he'll be back from what I've seen, which is fine. He's still great but has slowly been declining and will demand money for 2015 Arrieta. That being said, he deserves to get paid I just don't think it'll be by the Cubs
I'm intrigued with Almora. Jay was consistent for us this year, but part of the downfall of his one year contract was not seeing how Albert would be as an everyday player.
Im fine with Bosio staying, but Lester Strode needs to go. The Bullpen actually did pretty good this season, but their confidence has gone down fast in both the last two postseasons, and that on the bullpen coach, IMO. I'd actually be ok keeping our current Bullpen, with a new coach. I'd also be good with John Mallee going to.
Agree on the leadoff hitter, but he needs to play a corner outfield. I doubt we keep Jake, but we need to try. Go after a solid #1/2 starter. If we can get 2 great, but I'm OK with Montgomery being our 5th starter.
They just can't (shouldn't) pay him what he will be asking for. That money can be better spent elsewhere.
I wondered that too as I was typing that out. Do they have a bunch of money coming off the books? Eithier was being paid big money this year.
I'm not sure what the they have coming off, but they've shown for years they will take on multiple big contracts and not blink. It will be between Jake and Darvish for the Dodgers, and I think they will want Jake and give him exactly what he asks for.
Definitely need to splurge on pitching this offseason. Would like to bring Davis back if they can. Would be fine if the don't bring in any new from a position player standpoint. Caratini replaces Avila, make Happ and Almora every day starters in the OF, move Zobrist and Heyward to bench roles. Schwarber had a .253/.335/.559 line the second half of the season, that's great production from any position. Have a decent start to the bullpen with Montgomery, Strop, Edwards and Wilson coming back, assuming they bounce back to how they all pitched earlier this season. Grimm is probably gone, Rondon might be too. If you can get a couple elite relievers next year and push every one down a slot in the pen, that could be a strength next year.
I think the Dodgers first target will be Masahiro Tanaka if he opts out (who knows with how up and down his season was).
I won't be shocked if the Dodgers got Arrieta, but I don't think I think happens - they have a lot of money coming off the shelf but they will still be over the luxury tax. They owe the MLB $25 million this year
Would like to see Almora become an everyday guy and be the leadoff. Jay was fine this year but was not as good when he was consistently starting. He is better as a spot start or a bench guy. I'd like to bring back Davis and find a couple other solid relievers. Uehara was not the answer so go and try to find a different setup man. Also, they could take it light this year in spending in hopes of going after Harper next year.
- I like Almora being the every day guy and would love him as our 6/7 batter.
- Would love Jay to be our 4th outfielder and for management to find a legit corner outfielder instead of platooning all three spots. Just doesn't work having 5 mediocre outfielders.
- Keep infield the exact same, even the bench
- I would love to try and find a leadoff guy and a cleanup/2 hitter guy. I think they planned on Heyward being the 2 hitter when they signed him and that went down the shitter. Like I said yesterday, Contreras is not a cleanup guy. He's good in the 5 spot but teams aren't afraid to pitch to him and he's so inconsistent he tried bunting for a hit the other night.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sport...stions-offseason-spt-1022-20171021-story.html
Interesting little tidbit from the Chicago Tribune this morning.
- See's the Cubs most likely trading for a starting pitcher at the expense of our outfielders, doesn't see Montgomery as a starter so we could try and find a cheap pitcher
- Doesn't see Theo spending much on relief other than a veteran closer because historically Theo doesn't overpay relievers. Theo is high on Edwards, Wilson, and Maples, which leads me to believe we see more of a personnel change more than a pitching change
- We finished 10th out of 15 teams in the NL in leadoff batters getting on base so a leadoff man is something Theo should look into, but believes Almora could take that role.
- Possibly look into a new utility guy to keep Baez strictly at second since Zobrist is getting old. I disagree with this - if we find one corner outfielder worth a lick, we can keep Baez/Russell as our middle tandem with Zobrist and Happ as middle infield and corner outfield backups.
- Need a backup catcher. Pitchers liked Rene Rivera.
Interesting little tidbit from the Chicago Tribune this morning.
- See's the Cubs most likely trading for a starting pitcher at the expense of our outfielders, doesn't see Montgomery as a starter so we could try and find a cheap pitcher
- Doesn't see Theo spending much on relief other than a veteran closer because historically Theo doesn't overpay relievers. Theo is high on Edwards, Wilson, and Maples, which leads me to believe we see more of a personnel change more than a pitching change
- We finished 10th out of 15 teams in the NL in leadoff batters getting on base so a leadoff man is something Theo should look into, but believes Almora could take that role.
- Possibly look into a new utility guy to keep Baez strictly at second since Zobrist is getting old. I disagree with this - if we find one corner outfielder worth a lick, we can keep Baez/Russell as our middle tandem with Zobrist and Happ as middle infield and corner outfield backups.
- Need a backup catcher. Pitchers liked Rene Rivera.
