Here's a summary of Bruce Levine's thoughts on the offseason (on Mully & Hanley):

1. Will not sign a $20-$30m per year pitcher
2. Samardzija a good possibility
3. Soler will be shopped to AL because of his defense and propensity for muscular injuries
4. Schwarber will be kept
5. Rizzo might be traded to make room for Schwarber

Here's a summary of Bruce Levine's thoughts on the offseason (on Mully & Hanley):

1. Will not sign a $20-$30m per year pitcher
2. Samardzija a good possibility
3. Soler will be shopped to AL because of his defense and propensity for muscular injuries
4. Schwarber will be kept
5. Rizzo might be traded to make room for Schwarber

Everybody wants Heyward now. I told you last year how great he was.

I suspect the Heyward "leaks" are just tough talk or gamesmanship from Theo to drive up the FA price for a rival. Which is smart. That being said, the Cubs could clearly use an upgrade in OF defense, which may be cheaper to buy than front-line pitching.

I have MANY years of experience in trying to appreciate steaming piles of dogshit.

If you can get the right deal then by all means you trade Rizzo. I don't see Theo doing that, but I agree with JORR he is not sentimental and if it helps the team he will do it in a heartbeat.

I can also see Soler, Baez, and/or Castro being traded.

I am torn on the Heyward situation. He is good but he is going to get a ton of money. Not sure he is worth that investment. The Cardinal fans I know think they will do whatever they have to keep him this offseason. I am not really sure why they would put that much money in him. Piscotty and Grichuk are going to be good players for quite awhile at a much lower cost.

Mully and Hanley had some stats today showing that since the expanded wild card, no team that got swept in a CS returned to the playoffs the following year

Laurence Holmes is a fucking weirdo, a nerd in denial, and a wannabe. Not a very good radio host either.

Why would they do that? He's likely to be the must overpriced guy on the market. The reason Atlanta moved him was because they didn't know how to price him. He's a guy the size of a mountain who has no power. Yeah, his defense on the outfield corners is great, for what that's worth.

The future holds the possibility to be great or terrible, and since it has not yet occurred it remains simultaneously both.

Mully and Hanley had some stats today showing that since the expanded wild card, no team that got swept in a CS returned to the playoffs the following year

Laurence Holmes is a fucking weirdo, a nerd in denial, and a wannabe. Not a very good radio host either.

Heyward really seemed like he was going to be a franchise player for the Braves. I thought it was going to be great for Atlanta to have a black guy who was that good. Shame it didn't work out. I don't think they even got that much for him.

Cespedes would be a great fit here..he's what ya hope Soler can grow into.

I don't think so. He's not an Epstein type guy. He doesn't walk enough. There's rumors out there that that's why the Mets won't try too hard to keep him.

(CBS) Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein’s season-ending press conference Thursday afternoon didn’t produce any surprises, and it reiterated what the top offseason priority is.

Adding another top-of-the-line starting pitcher.

“The topic sentence is we would like to add more quality pitching,” Epstein said a day after the Cubs were swept out of the NLCS by the Mets. “Anybody who follows the team knows that. We’ve been open and transparent about it, that we’re really building a foundation of young position players and that we’re going to trust ourselves to add pitching along the way and build really effective pitching staffs each year and over time add impact pitching.”

The big-name pitchers who will be available include David Price, Johnny Cueto and Jordan Zimmermann — and perhaps Zack Greinke if he chooses to exercise an opt-out clause. The Cubs’ payroll hasn’t yet been set for 2016, Epstein said, but the Cubs are expected to be big players on the free-agent market.

“We want to continue to add impact pitching,” Epstein said. “We want to continue to add starting pitching depth at the big league level.

“We have to continue to be aggressive and add like we did last winter.”

Chicago got quality pitching from ace Jake Arrieta and No. 2 starter Jon Lester. After that, Jason Hammel and Kyle Hendricks were inconsistent, while the No. 5 spot was a rotating cast of characters at time.

Epstein lauded the team for having baseball’s third-best team ERA but still wants more depth.

“Free agent pitching is a necessary evil a lot of times, and it’s only evil because it’s inherently risky,” Epstein said. “But it’s necessary because you can make such an impact with your starting staff right away by fishing in those waters. We did it last year (with Lester). We’re glad we did. We’ll certainly take a hard look at all the free-agent starters this year.”

In other areas of offseason focus, Epstein pointed out the Cubs need to improve defensively in the outfield and get better at situational hitting, as the Cubs were one of the worst team in the majors at driving home runners from third base with less than two outs.

Position-wise, Epstein stressed that he likes the young players’ versatility to play multiple spots defensively. No long-term, set-in-stone decisions have been made for where players like Kris Bryant, Javier Baez and Kyle Schwarber will play. The “presumption” entering the offseason is that Schwarber will again get reps at catcher and in the outfield next year, until the Cubs are more certain of his best long-term fit for the team, Epstein said.

The entire Cubs coaching staff under the direction of manager Joe Maddon has been invited back. To date, the assistant coaches haven’t been approached by other teams, Epstein said, though that could change.

“Opening day can’t get here soon enough,” Epstein said, looking forward.

I have MANY years of experience in trying to appreciate steaming piles of dogshit.

Laurence Holmes is a fucking weirdo, a nerd in denial, and a wannabe. Not a very good radio host either.

Wilson Contreras looks to be the next catcher up, Schwarber and Baez and Alcantara for Sonny Gray.

Unless you're overwhelmed, there's no reason to trade Schwarber. Left handed power is in short supply, so why on earth would you want to get rid of it? He had a couple of rough defensive games against the Mets and all of a sudden there's a push to move on from him. I don't get it. Even if he sucks in the OF, the possibility of 40 bombs alleviates any concern I have about his glove. And you can always throw a Denorfia type out there in the last two innings to shore up your defense anyway.