Kolek planning to go pro
The offseason will be extremely interesting for the Cubs. I assume they pick up Hamels' option and go into 2019 with a rotation of Hamels, Lester, Hendricks, Quintana, and Darvish with Smyly, Montgomery, and maybe Chatwood as depth.
Zobrist will be back in a utility role in the last year of his contract and I can't see Heyward opting out. Can the Cubs eat enough of Heyward's deal for another team to trade for him? Doubtful but I assume they'll try.
I assume Russell will be let go. I'd also be surprised if all of Schwarber, Happ, and Almora will be back.
The Cubs will be in on Harper and Machado. It won't surprise me if they get one or neither. Aside from the core 4 of Bryant, Rizzo, Baez, and Contreras there will definitely be some changes.
The offseason will be extremely interesting for the Cubs. I assume they pick up Hamels' option and go into 2019 with a rotation of Hamels, Lester, Hendricks, Quintana, and Darvish with Smyly, Montgomery, and maybe Chatwood as depth. In terms of the pen, you can't count on Morrow to be healthy so they'll need to add someone else that can potentially close. They'll also need to add a very good lefty. Morrow, Strop, Cishek and Edwards should be back so there's a solid base there for a good pen but some work needs to be done. What happens on offense will be the most fascinating. The key is getting Bryant health and back to his usual love of production. Rizzo, Baez and Contreras will be back. Getting Contreras back on track will be key. Zobrist will be back in a utility role in the last year of his contract and I can't see Heyward opting out. Can the Cubs eat enough of Heyward's deal for another team to trade for him? Doubtful but I assume they'll try. I assume Russell will be let go. I'd also be surprised if all of Schwarber, Happ, and Almora will be back. The Cubs will be in on Harper and Machado. It won't surprise me if they get one or neither. Aside from the core 4 of Bryant, Rizzo, Baez, and Contreras there will definitely be some changes.
Aren't we stuck with Schoop next year? I thought he had one more year on his deal. Is there a solid trade market for him?
I wouldn't be surprised to see him non-tendered. He is projected to make somewhere around 10 mil in arbitration.
Money not an issue with new television deal.
Machado is dirty and would be difficult to cheer for as I do not care for his antics.
If you believe that, well, you probably don't have a good understanding of humanity.Also it may cost more than money. Let's say the Cubs eat 56 Million on Heyward. That leaves 50. That is still a significant risk. The Cubs may have to throw in a fairly decent prospect to make it more alluring.
Interesting. In a different thread (that had nothing to do with baseball), you said:Retool a few areas, slot Machado at short, avoid the injury bug and we are right there.You didn't seem the least bit distressed about the possibility of slotting the dirty douche at short so "we" could be "right there."
Agree with all of this.If the Cubs were to end up with Machado, I think Bryant becomes the everyday left fielder with Baez at third.
I’d keep Javy at short and play Machado at 3B. If it wasn’t for the Almora connection, I don’t see the Cubs FO going for Machado. The comments after he didn’t run out the grounder were interesting, “that’s just me” or something to that effect. Contrast that to the reaction within the team after Willson didn’t run out the 400 foot fly ball, big difference.
Manny has said he wants to play short, so I assume wherever he lands, that's where he will play. I would much rather have Javy at short as you say but I don't know if Manny will play third.I think the connection also comes from the Cubs needing an infielder with Addy likely on the way out.
I also said this (below) before I said what you quoted me on. They are called continuous comments, in multiple responses. Feel free to put them together to understand a person's complete thought process, rather than isolating them as if they are sound bytes. Thank you.We are not signing Harper, he will go to the Yankees. Get rid of Russell. Machado would do nicely, but it is easy to hate him. With the Cubs new TV deal coming, a lot of money to spend on the horizon. Resign Hamels. Fix Chatwood, get him consistent. Pray Darvish does something.https://www.muscoop.com/index.php?topic=56700.msg1047636#msg1047636
If the team that will pay him the most wants him at 3rd, he will play 3rd. I think playing SS this year was a move to show teams that he can play either to increase his market and value.Also with Bryant, Baez, Zobrist, Happ and Bote, it is interesting to see you say the Cubs need an infielder.
Zobrist turns 38 next season, will be in the last year of his contract, and is not a full-time player any longer. Bote struggled mightily after the league adjusted to him and is probably best served in a utility role. Happ primarily played OF. He started 12 games at 3rd, primarily due to Bryant's injury. He started two games at 1B and zero at 2nd. Assuming Bryant at 3rd, Baez at SS, and Russell gone the team definitely needs another IF.
Moose couldn’t find a long term deal after last season. He might not be able to this offseason either. $15M wouldn’t be a bad thing for him for next year, and for the Brewers they can eat big money for a single year.I think Schoop will be just fine. He was awful no doubt, but he’s a very good player. Give him an offseason and have him coming into the organization at the start of the year and he’ll produce.I’d be cool with having Moose the everyday 3B and Shaw playing some days at 1B and some days at 2B.But my guess would be Moose does sign elsewhere and Shaw moves back to 3B.Brewers will need to add some bench players. Santana, Keon, Hernan. Will be interesting to see who the rookies are next year. And if Stearns can find any castoffs this year that can break into the everyday lineup.
The Cubs need a leadoff man. It's either play Almora everyday or trade him. They also need a veteran back-up catcher.
Almora does best when Joe plays him in certain matchups. As a everyday player he starts to decline.
Makes a ton of sense for the Cubs to find a good everyday SS or 2B and move Javy to the other. While he can certainly play it, Titan's suggestion of moving to Javy to 3B really minimizes his defensive prowess IMO.
We are not signing Harper, he will go to the Yankees. Get rid of Russell. Machado would do nicely, but it is easy to hate him. With the Cubs new TV deal coming, a lot of money to spend on the horizon. Resign Hamels. Fix Chatwood, get him consistent. Pray Darvish does something.
Cubs currently have over 131 million committed for next season. That is not including arbitration numbers for Bryant, Baez, Hendricks, Montgomery and Schwarber (MLBTR projects the Cubs arbitration players to make 40.1 Million, thought that includes 4.3 for Russell.) It also does not include any pre-arb guys like Almora and Contreras who will likely get raises. It also only includes the buy out for Quintana, so another 9.5 for him puts the Cubs over 140. It doesn't include anything for Hamels, so 6 for the buyout (did Texas cover that?) or 20 for the option. Obviously that puts them over 160 if they take the option. That also factors in the 500K buyout for Strop, who seems like a no brainer at 6.25 so add in another 5.7. Factor in the arb guys, minus Russell and they are already over 200 in salary for next season where they stand right now. Trading guys like Happ or Schwarber would only move about 5 million. I have a hard time seeing anyone taking on Heyward without the Cubs taking on an insane amount of that deal. Guys like Darvish and Chatwood seem unmovable entirely.Maybe money is no issue, but signing Machado or Harper would certainly put them in the area of 240 without some significant moves. It seems like an onerous task, not impossible, but other teams have a much easier path. Especially if Machado and Harper sign early (the best players usually do) the Cubs have a lot to get done before then.
Oh, and don't sleep on the Phils for Bryce Harper. Big market team that really needs to make a splash and has plenty of money to spend.