Morel batting 7th behind Barnhart is a fucking joke. Meanwhile Suzuki continues to hit at the top of the order.
I've watched an embarrassing amount of shitty Cubs teams in my life I'm not sure why I'm so apathetic towards them now. Maybe it's because they won a WS, maybe it's because I miss Len and JD, because Boog is a terrible fit for this job, but either way... I just don't care nowadays
I watch on the days Steele and Stroman pitch. That’s it for right now. It sucks that we’re going to lose Bellinger and Stroman. Both have been very good and very likable. Fortunately we should have a ton of money to spend this off-season with their contracts and Hendricks and Heywards contracts off the books. Unfortunately, if Taillion and Suzuki can’t be better than this I don’t think it matters what we spend next year. Too much money tied up in those two for what we’ve gotten.
hoyer has shown at 2 places now he’s not a good GM. He should be gone after this season also Taillion and Suzuki make $32 mil combined. That amount of money should never be a hinderance for one of the richest teams in the sport.
Next year it’ll be $40 million. And with how we spend that’ll account for about 20% of our payroll. When 20% of your payroll is contributing only about 1 WAR then yeah it’s going to be an issue for your chances to compete.
I think it's reasonable to expect our payroll to be higher in the very near future... we are a very profitable team and the ownership owns a fuckload of assets around the stadium. Seeing us outside the top 10 in spending isn't acceptable when we're not in tank mode
Law came out with a post draft top 60 prospect rankings. Alcantara 14 PCA 18 Horton 53 Shaw 55 Triantos Honorable Mention I didn’t realize how well Alcantara has bounced back. His May was abysmal but he has a .950+ OPS over his last thirty games.
The chances of him falling off a cliff next year are just as good as him retaining this form . People acting like he's rehabilitated because he's had a good 60 game stretch are crazy.
His k rate was sky high at the the start of the season. It’s been dropping all year. He’s super young for the level he’s playing at. I’m very excited about him. He should 100% be a top 100 prospect in baseball.
Whoever sign him this off season is going to end up regretting it. I'm calling it. I know it's only 8 innings, and I haven't seen if he's still hitting 99-100, but Brailyn Marquez's outings are pretty encouraging that he could still become a late inning guy.
he’s around 92-93, shorter delivery has helped. my guy Moises is on fire at high-A. Cubs think he will stick at C. Huge. I’m comfortable either way on Bellinger. I don’t think he’s going to crash and burn; he was a perennial top prospect and has the pedigree. He’s above average defender at 1B and the OF. I think I’d prefer keeping him as he’s only 28. If the return is a bunch of low A lottery tickets like Canario im not excited.
we could get a failed first round pick like we did when kimbrel was the best reliever on the market. Does that float your boat?
I’m all for signing Bellinger on a 3-4 year deal for an over average money. I don’t think he will completely fall off a cliff but he will come back down at some point
In a vacuum that’s fine and all but this team is clearly more than a year away from competing and probably longer than that from serious consideration. Whatever Bellinger is able to offer in ‘25 or ‘26 is considerably less than what they should be able to flip him for over the next week
He’s a year younger than Happ who signed a 3 year extension. If he got a similar deal I’d be thrilled. Not sure we can expect anyone they get back to post 3.5-4 war season that soon. Happy to be wrong though.
Couple things on Belli… 1) he’s been the best hitter in baseball for the month of July. So this is great for selling at his highest value. And I do believe we will be getting a high quality prospect for him. 2) long term I would imagine he’s not signing for a three year deal. Given his injury history and how he’s looked to have rebounded I think 5-7 is going to be the length on his next contract. If 1 turns out to happen then I’ll be happy to give 5 in the offseason for him to return. I don’t worry about blocking PCA because till you prove it… it’s always a unknown. And you can always have Belli play first
I think they’ll have to sweep the Sox and take at least three out of four with the cards next weekend to be buyers.
Nah, Stro’s numbers are terrible since the London series. We won’t get much for him with how he’s pitched as of late. Either keep both or trade both because we’re not likely getting much for just Stroman that’ll put us over the hump the next couple years for him.
I see a lot of "we wont get much for stro" but most national media outlets look at Stro as an ace and thats the narrative around him. Will be interesting to see what the return will be. Hoyer should be selling both. This team isn't very good and beating the bottom of the basement of MLB doesn't change that. If I thought we would bring both back this off-season IF we kept them I would be against trading. But it's clear Hoyer has zero plans on bringing either back.
I think with what’s happened the last 10 days that there’s no way we’ll sell. They need butts in this seats and even though we’re not that good, we should be able to compete for the division until the end of the season.
I get why people want to be buyers but I think it's incredibly short sighted in terms of the rebuild. What's the point of buying when your ceiling is a 1 game wild card play in or first round exit?
I haven’t seen anyone say we should be buyers. I just think people want us to stand pat, maybe add an under the radar reliever and that’s it. I don’t feel strongly either way other than don’t half ass it if you’re going to sell. Trade Bellinger, Stro, and Hendricks.
I don’t think on this board people have said we should be buying. But that narrative on talk radio, in print, on podcasts is very much alive.
I think the only way stroman gets dealt is if the cubs lose today and tomorrow and are 5.5 out of the wildcard
god motherfucking damnit these 4 series against 3 of the 4 worst teams in the league are gonna set the rebuild back
I am, I had an incredibly fun time watching the games this weekend. It’s nice watching the cubs playing meaningful games for the first time in 5 years. I fully acknowledge they could be 7 out by this time next week