2022-2023 Cubs Offseason Free Agent & Trade Thread

[chibears55]

I think they will be in a lot of close games. Solid pitching and defense with not much offense means a lot of close games. The pen is very important. That said, they should pay a lot or trade assets for a closer. Another pen arm, preferrably a lefty, would be nice. But he doesn’t have to close.

Hendricks of the Sox, Bard of the Rockies and Soto of the Tigers were all top 10 in saves last year on average to bad teams. Even aberahe trams get a fair amount of save opportunities.

I'm not that high on their current SP, outside of Stroman.

Hendricks may not start the season and he on the downside of his career.

Taillon is ok, but I think he'll hover around a 4 ERA and give them an average 5+ innings per. Start.

Smyly nothing special and he'll probably hover around a 4+ ERA again

Steele, Thompson and whomever else they might use are unknown as it only their second full season, but hopefully they pitch well .

So, yea imo I think the offense will need to surprise us a bit and put up alot of 4-5+ runs a game to keep the score close late in most games.

Also, I think the current rotation the cubs have will have a tough time against most of the AL teams of the 15 they play now.

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[Stratos]

Chafin has 11 career saves in carefully curated conditions. Adding another arm is a good idea but acting like he does anything to ease concern about not having a closer is pretty much ******** to me.

I'd also be fine if we don't add another arm and we let the Iowa shuttle sort itself out.

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Chafin is a quality veteran reliever who excelled in high leverage late inning situations for us and others and has pretty even splits between RHB vs LHP.

Bullpens don't always magically sort themselves out. A few years ago, I think it might have been 2019, we didn't have a closer and we were terrible in 1-run games because the late-innings of the pen sucked. Then we got Kimbrel, he was horrible, and it buried the team even more. I'm hopeful that won't happen with our much improved pitching infrastructure and we can build another quality pen, but having arms is nice.

As someone else said, if this team is going to compete its probably going to be in a lot of close games because this offense isn't going to blow out a lot of teams. Hoyer didn't grab the handful of veteran MLB relievers he usually does. We just got Boxberger and a bunch of minor league contracts. Hopefully something comes from a couple of them. If there's an injury or 2 in the pen to key guys well i could see an issue. If there's injuries in the rotation guys like Thompson could leave the pen too.

[rcal10]

I'm not that high on their current SP, outside of Stroman.

Hendricks may not start the season and he on the downside of his career.

Taillon is ok, but I think he'll hover around a 4 ERA and give them an average 5+ innings per. Start.

Smyly nothing special and he'll probably hover around a 4+ ERA again

Steele, Thompson and whomever else they might use are unknown as it only their second full season, but hopefully they pitch well .

So, yea imo I think the offense will need to surprise us a bit and put up alot of 4-5+ runs a game to keep the score close late in most games.

Also, I think the current rotation the cubs have will have a tough time against most of the AL teams of the 15 they play now.

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I think you are selling Taillion a little short and lumping Steele with Thompson is definitely selling Steele short. Taillion pitched to an era under 4 last year in a hitters ballpark in a hitters division of the AL. He did average 5+ innings a start, as you indicated, but that is kind of the new normal. You posted it as if it is a bad thing. Look around at MOR starters and see how many averages more than 6 innings per start. You will find some, but you would be pretty hard pressed to find most who got even 3 more outs a game on average, than Tallion got. You know who else averaged right around the same innings per start as Taillon? Stroman.

As for Steele, he got better and better as the year went on. I expect him to be the best pitcher in the rotation this year. A solid pitcher, IMO. After those 3 you have a lot of other options. Maybe they even do a rotation spot with a piggyback situation. Smyly to start and Alzolay follows. They don’t have great pitching but they have depth of good options. I also like Wesnecki, if he is given a chance. And we might see Wickes this year, as well. Maybe later in the year.

There is also Hendricks (if he makes it back) Sampson and Thompson. I have doubts about Sampson, but the fact is since he came to the Cubs he has pitched well. I like Thompson as a multi inning,
Possibly piggyback option. I think the Cubs staff will be in the 8 to 12 range of staffs in MLB IF they can stabilize a pen.

FYI, I have been higher on Steele than most here for over a year now. So maybe my opinion of the staff is higher than most because of my optimistic outlook on Steele since the beginning of 2022.

[rcal10]

I'm not that high on their current SP, outside of Stroman.

Hendricks may not start the season and he on the downside of his career.

Taillon is ok, but I think he'll hover around a 4 ERA and give them an average 5+ innings per. Start.

Smyly nothing special and he'll probably hover around a 4+ ERA again

Steele, Thompson and whomever else they might use are unknown as it only their second full season, but hopefully they pitch well .

So, yea imo I think the offense will need to surprise us a bit and put up alot of 4-5+ runs a game to keep the score close late in most games.

Also, I think the current rotation the cubs have will have a tough time against most of the AL teams of the 15 they play now.

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Even if your assessment of the rotation is correct, I just posted 3 closers with 30 saves on teams that finished under .500. No matter the team, a closer will get enough opportunities to save games.

I definitely don’t want to trade young talent for one. But they could use a lefty pen arm. Doesn’t even need to be a closer, but IMO they can use another veteran. And whoever does end up closing will get enough opportunities.

[petrey10]

Do we really think the offense can put up 4-5 runs consistently? I sure don’t. A closer won’t really matter at that point IMO.

Rotation is ok. Maybe the defense first approach by the FO makes them lean slightly better than they really are. But I’m skeptical as heck on it.

[WOwolfOL]

Chafin is a quality veteran reliever who excelled in high leverage late inning situations for us and others and has pretty even splits between RHB vs LHP.

Bullpens don't always magically sort themselves out. A few years ago, I think it might have been 2019, we didn't have a closer and we were terrible in 1-run games because the late-innings of the pen sucked. Then we got Kimbrel, he was horrible, and it buried the team even more. I'm hopeful that won't happen with our much improved pitching infrastructure and we can build another quality pen, but having arms is nice.

As someone else said, if this team is going to compete its probably going to be in a lot of close games because this offense isn't going to blow out a lot of teams. Hoyer didn't grab the handful of veteran MLB relievers he usually does. We just got Boxberger and a bunch of minor league contracts. Hopefully something comes from a couple of them. If there's an injury or 2 in the pen to key guys well i could see an issue. If there's injuries in the rotation guys like Thompson could leave the pen too.

You're right that bullpens don't always sort their selves out, but established closers often suck also. Big meh.

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[chibears55]

17 days til a baseball game

https://twitter.com/BleacherNation/s...uAENmOgcQ&s=19

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[rcal10]

17 days til a baseball game

https://twitter.com/BleacherNation/s...uAENmOgcQ&s=19

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Can’t wait. Going to the first 3 games. A buddy is coming to visit. We are doing all baseball trip for him. He lands that Saturday morning and we are heading straight to the ballpark. Sunday driving to Glendale and Monday back at Sloan.

[rcal10]

Do we really think the offense can put up 4-5 runs consistently? I sure don’t. A closer won’t really matter at that point IMO.

Rotation is ok. Maybe the defense first approach by the FO makes them lean slightly better than they really are. But I’m skeptical as heck on it.

A closer matters, no matter how good or bad the team is. But the Cubs don’t need to sign or trade for a closer. They could use a veteran pen arm, IMO. Figure out who closes based on what they have. I would be more than happy with someone like Chafin on the team, and him not closing.

[chibears55]

A closer matters, no matter how good or bad the team is. But the Cubs don’t need to sign or trade for a closer. They could use a veteran pen arm, IMO. Figure out who closes based on what they have. I would be more than happy with someone like Chafin on the team, and him not closing.

I'm curious as to why he hasn't signed with anyone yet...

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[CP_414]

I'm curious as to why he hasn't signed with anyone yet...

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Could see a wave of smaller signings happen once ST opens and teams can start moving 40 man players to the 60-day IL again to clear roster spots without releasing players.

He might have a deal in place that won’t be finalized for a week or two for that reason.