spliff45
Well-Known Member
Good night...my eyes are bleeding
2017 Chicago Cubs Thread
- Thread starter bogeyman
- Start date
Good night...my eyes are bleeding
Well boys, tough way to end the season for sure. I can get used to this yearly playoff thing though. Baseball is so hard to repeat in, heck, even repeat as division champs afer winning the Series hasn't been done in like 9 years. Don't over evaluate our team based on one series that we just flat out got outplayed. The Dodgers happened to have all their guys hot at once and deserved it. The future is still bright, we have a great nucleus like the old yankee teams of Riz, Bryant, Russell, Javy, Wilson and Almora. And they are proven winners. Good rotation coming back. We have to fill 1 or two SP spots which is tough and obviously some bullpen help. But overall we should be very competitive for awhile. 3 Straight NLCS and 1 Title is darn impressive! Head up Everyone!
spliff45
Well-Known Member
Don't know if it's possible, but I would like to see Wade Davis and John Jay resigned.
Calculator
Well-Known Member
During that wooping last night I started to reflect on the season. Miggy pitching a 1-2-3 inning (and then getting DFAed a month later). Bullpen dancing. Ring ceremony. Addison taking out that guy's nachos. Javy at shortstop. My favorite memory from this season was Rizzo batting leadoff. That was a fun week. Gonna be a different team next year.
IMO, Wade Davis is almost an absolute must to resign at this point, based purely on the fact there isn't crap out there in the Free Agent market for top shelf relievers from what I'm hearing. Good chance we'll have to make a trade or two if we want bullpen help, but it could be difficult. It'll be interesting to see what they do with Jake, my gut feeling is he is gone. We need to restock our system a little bit as we are running out of trade bait. Won't be easy to restock a few spots but if anyone can do it it's Theo and Co. Jay was a nice pick up and had a nice year, but we may need a younger more athletic OFer and one that bats right handed.
judzeehawk
Well-Known Member
Would be nice to see some of the AAA pitchers to arrive and do well. They sure as heck can't do any worse than what we have. Davis is a must to hang onto. Start there and build around him. The pitcher from Detroit ( his name is eluding me ) was a huge bust! Hopefully Theo can work some kind of a trade.......doubtful. sigh
Yeah Wilson sucked after the trade, hoping he can rebound for us. It's not a great free agent market at all this year.
Hosmer might be the most intriguing guy out there but we don't need a 1B.
judzeehawk
Well-Known Member
I got to watch Hosmer, Mostakas and Perez play for the Bees here in Burlington. I really like Hosmer and I agree with you that there's not a spot for him on the Cubs roster.
I personally think the Cardinals are going to make a run at Hosmer, which makes sense they need a 1b like him.
judzeehawk
Well-Known Member
Don't like that idea but they do need a first baseman.......among others. Lol
MisterLucky
Well-Known Member
Actually thought that, given the fact that the Cubs never really seemed to be hitting on all cylinders this season, getting to the NLCS was a pretty decent accomplishment. Now we gotta hope that all the guys that had mediocre seasons this year can revert to form and maybe even exceed the norm and have great years in 2018. In any event, watching the Cubs in the playoffs is a million times better than not having them make it year after year. I trust Theo and the Ricketts to not accept mediocrity and strive for a championship every season.
mopkins
King Kong
Cubs are going to have an interesting offseason. They lose Lackey, Arrieta and Wade Davis. They have around $140M already committed to next year's team...and that amount varies wildly depending on how much you think Russel, Bryant and Hendricks will command in arbitration.
The luxury tax next year is $197M, and I assume the Cubs will avoid going over that if possible. So that leaves them with somewhere around $50-60M to come up with 2 starters, a closer, and bullpen help. I think you have to assume Montgomery will move into the rotation, as they won't be able to afford 2 top end starters and 1 top end closer.
The Cubs traded away or promoted all of their young talent and currently have ZERO prospects within the top 100. So there's no immediately help on the way from the minors.
Schwarber needs to be in the AL. He can't stay in the outfield. Not sure what his trade value might be.
Jayson Hayward provided less than 1 WAR this year. He will make over $28M in 2018 and was barely better than a triple A replacement player in 2017. That stings and suddenly looks like one of the worst contracts in baseball.
The Cubs should still be the heavy favorite to win the division next year, but their future is suddenly concerning. Lester and Zobrist are entering their decline years. These young guys are going to continue getting more and more expensive as they go through arbitration and eventually hit free agency. Their window is still wide wide wide open, but I think it may end up being a much shorter window than some people think. They might be lucky that the rest of the central sucks right now.
The luxury tax next year is $197M, and I assume the Cubs will avoid going over that if possible. So that leaves them with somewhere around $50-60M to come up with 2 starters, a closer, and bullpen help. I think you have to assume Montgomery will move into the rotation, as they won't be able to afford 2 top end starters and 1 top end closer.
The Cubs traded away or promoted all of their young talent and currently have ZERO prospects within the top 100. So there's no immediately help on the way from the minors.
Schwarber needs to be in the AL. He can't stay in the outfield. Not sure what his trade value might be.
Jayson Hayward provided less than 1 WAR this year. He will make over $28M in 2018 and was barely better than a triple A replacement player in 2017. That stings and suddenly looks like one of the worst contracts in baseball.
The Cubs should still be the heavy favorite to win the division next year, but their future is suddenly concerning. Lester and Zobrist are entering their decline years. These young guys are going to continue getting more and more expensive as they go through arbitration and eventually hit free agency. Their window is still wide wide wide open, but I think it may end up being a much shorter window than some people think. They might be lucky that the rest of the central sucks right now.
Not to mention we had a lot of injuries we didn't have last year. Still won over 90 games, a lot just due to the resiliency of the squad. I've said it before, they have a very good mental make up on this team which can't be overstated.
Lots to consider for sure, but pretty much every year there is anymore. One constant chess game. Don't underestimate Milwaukee, they were actually ahead of schedule this year and I could see them taking a step forward next year. And if the Cardinals grab a couple guys like Hosmer will be right there too.
Yes Heyward's contract right now is bad bad bad. A great defender and baserunner but boy he's struggled with the bat. He has to break more bats than any other hitter in the league, horrible swing path. If you don't just jam him every time you are very dumb he can't get through an inside pitch.
deanvogs
Well-Known Member
Dang, the Nats just got better.
mopkins
King Kong
The Brewers are very interesting to me. They either got really lucky or were really smart with Thames. I don't think anyone expected those numbers. They have an aging Braun, but a lot of young studs.
The Cardinals are in disarray. I say this as a Cardinals fan. Yadi is getting old, Wainwright is old and hurt. They have like 7 outfielders and only 3 spots to play them. They seem to hate Tommy Pham even though he was their best player. The rest of their "core" on offense is nothing special. All of their pitching outside of Martinez is a huge question mark. I expect a .500 record next year unless they make major moves this offseason.
Pirates - I think their window slammed shut in a hurry
Reds - LOL Reds
