2020 Chicago Cubs Offseason Thread

[chibears55]

https://twitter.com/BNightengale/sta...247931392?s=19

Sent from my SM-A505U using Tapatalk

[chibears55]

It's not out of the realm of possibilities. The division still sucks even with the Cardinals getting Arenado because the rest of their lineup sucks and their pitching is mediocre at best. The Cubs are predicted to win like 79 wins and the Cardinals sit at the top of the division at like 81.

It'll come down to avoiding long losing streaks for each teams and who makes the moves to help themselves at the deadline

Sent from my SM-A505U using Tapatalk

[Bluefire]

Bet the orioles are jealous...suckers 😂

Why would they be jealous, they had Cub legends Steve Clevinger (who turns out to be a terrible person) and Scott Feldman.

[cuzi]

It'll come down to avoiding long losing streaks for each teams and who makes the moves to help themselves at the deadline

Sent from my SM-A505U using Tapatalk

The deadline will probably be where the Cubs take their exit from competing, because they should be sellers.

[CubsRule08]

Beth Mowins, Chris Myers and PAT HUGHES to cover for Boog on Marquee broadcasts

[1908_Cubs]

Some of that? Awesome. Some of that? Is gross.

Sent from my SM-G981V using Tapatalk

[CubsRule08]

Some of that? Awesome. Some of that? Is gross.

Sent from my SM-G981V using Tapatalk

I’ve seen many games that Mowins has covered across all sports, and she’s pretty good IMO, so that’s considered a win in my book.

Pat Hughes is Pat Hughes so that’s an easy win in my book.

Chris Myers = meh.

[Stevemil505]

Anyone heard how much/long Jeffress is asking for?. Wonder if Cubs wallet has opened far enough to do that? If they can get him, Cubs might just be interesting after all.

[1908_Cubs]

I’ve seen many games that Mowins has covered across all sports, and she’s pretty good IMO, so that’s considered a win in my book.

Pat Hughes is Pat Hughes so that’s an easy win in my book.

Chris Myers = meh.

I don't like Meyers at all. Hard pass.

Mowins is good. Hughes is great.

Sent from my SM-G981V using Tapatalk

[1908_Cubs]

Anyone heard how much/long Jeffress is asking for?. Wonder if Cubs wallet has opened far enough to do that?

Jeffress should be avoided, at almost any cost. He's on his way to a major blow up. Yes, the ERA looked good, but everything under the hood screams "Don't". His velocity is down to career lows, his second lowest K%, second highest BB%, his exit velocity was a career high, the highest hard hit% he's ever given up...

Jeffress looks well on his way to being done. Ignore the ERA. His ERA was only a saving grace because his BABIP was .161 and his LOB was well over 80%. Those won't continue.

So I don't know what his ask is, but considering it'd have to be money, they should pass and go find someone else.

[Stratos]

It was a 500 foot home run. It was David Bote walking off the Nats.

It wasn't a fantastic signing, it wasn't a bad signing. I'd say it was a decent signing. His 2018 was horrendous. His 2019 was good. His 2020 was fantastic, though was only for 2.5 months. He under-performed his contract in 2018 because he was worthless, made about what he was worth in 2019, and he over-performed in 2020.

The return we got for him was lame considering Caratini was included in the deal and Davies is only with us for a year. If I were a Padres fan there's no reason not to be ecstatic about that trade since they gave up hardly anything.

[Stratos]

We have both Strop and Arrieta again!

But can they get guys out?

For me nostalgia is nice when retired guys come back to the ballpark but all I care about is winning. Are they signing these guys because they help us win at good value cost or because they want to distract from how crappy this team is?

I think they both have a decent shot to be ok players this year. Glad we're at least getting deeper in the pen.

[CP_414]

It wasn't a fantastic signing, it wasn't a bad signing. I'd say it was a decent signing. His 2018 was horrendous. His 2019 was good. His 2020 was fantastic, though was only for 2.5 months. He under-performed his contract in 2018 because he was worthless, made about what he was worth in 2019, and he over-performed in 2020.

The return we got for him was lame considering Caratini was included in the deal and Davies is only with us for a year. If I were a Padres fan there's no reason not to be ecstatic about that trade since they gave up hardly anything.

You guys are nuts if you don’t think it was a fantastic signing.

He got hurt in 2018. Over the next 2 years he was healthy and he was worth far more than he was paid. Over the last year and a half he’s been one of the very best pitchers in all of baseball. Then they traded him and they got a decent pitcher worthy of his 2021 contract and some significant upside prospects.

Evaluating the signing and the trade are different things. The value acquired for him in the trade goes towards the value the Cubs received out of the signing. The trade as a stand-alone was disappointing because it meant the Cubs were punting 2021 and probably 2022. The most valuable guys they received were all very young and far away. However there is still massive upside in those prospects as we saw in Fangraphs rankings this morning.

The signing was fantastic. He performed very well for the Cubs other than his injury season in 2018 and they moved him and added upside future value. That’s the definition of a great signing. There’s no bad money on the backend. They got high level performance and now they have prospects who turn into future value potentially for a decade plus.

I’m rarely amazed by anything here but the fact that we can’t agree that was a fantastic signing is amazing.

Caratini isn’t good. He’s entirely replaceable for very little money. Padres fans should be excited because their team is trying to win and Darvish is an excellent pitcher. He will help them win now. The guys the Cubs got will likely help them win later either by becoming Mlb players or by being trade assets in the future.

The value of trade is very debatable. The value of the signing isn’t debatable. Knowing how it went, the Cubs would do that signing 100 times out of 100.

[1908_Cubs]

It wasn't a fantastic signing, it wasn't a bad signing. I'd say it was a decent signing. His 2018 was horrendous. His 2019 was good. His 2020 was fantastic, though was only for 2.5 months. He under-performed his contract in 2018 because he was worthless, made about what he was worth in 2019, and he over-performed in 2020.

The return we got for him was lame considering Caratini was included in the deal and Davies is only with us for a year. If I were a Padres fan there's no reason not to be ecstatic about that trade since they gave up hardly anything.

If I was a Padres fan, I'd be ecstatic at what I gave up, but not because they "gave up hardly anything". They got a TORP, signed to a very team friendly deal without harming their upper minors in any way. They're a very good MLB team who kept their upper minors intact to continue to roll through talent. The Padres, did, however, give up pretty good prospects. Eric Longenhagen is probably the evaluator who has seen Preciado the most, and there's a reason that Reggie Preciago is the only under-18 prospect to get dropped on the top-100+ list. Yes, he's in at "#133" but as Longenhagen explains at the top, the difference between 90 and #133 is so marginal, it's not worth discussing. He's a 50 FV player and that's really all that matters there.

They also got 3 other high upside players. I would not discount this package. I've been saying it for weeks now, the Cubs got a good return here. People seem to have a really bad blind eye when it comes to prospect trades; if the player isn't in the "top X" or they're super young, the trade is almost immediately discounted. While these types of players have more volatility in them, there's more than enough upside. The same can be said for minor league systems; fans have been convinced for years the Cubs system was horrible. It wasn't...it was young. Young =/= "hardly anything". You give it two years, once these young players get through a full year of instructs, of coaching and then a full year of professional ball (Mena and Caissie probably are stashed in instructs all 2021), and I think there's going to be a very different tune being sung by Cubs fans on the Darvish trade.

[Stratos]

The good thing is it's almost impossible under the laws of physics and statistical averages for Brandon Workman to be worse than he was last year.