likely true.

I agree. That video is awesome.

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This makes me feel really good about this upcoming season!

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Neither was Seinfeld...

I'm sure there will be some regression somewhere in the Cubs lineup but I just don't see it being Schwarber because I think he is a special one.

The season itself will come down to how this team responds to injuries and if their depth can pick up the slack. After a very healthy season last year I think it's ok to assume that they won't get that lucky two years in row.

Right and it's a tough fucking National League

It's too early for this shit. I need another couple weeks to even start my warm ups

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

I share your thoughts about the 4. Russell showed the most improvement later in the season and has the most room for improvement. Schwarber was on pace for over 40 HR's if you extrapolate his numbers over a full season. Not easy for many to top 40 bombs. I expect over 30 though, with 85 RBI or more. The average may not be great, but that's common for many power hitters. Because of his ability to take walks, his OBP will still be good. Bryant with 99 RBI and 26 HR's showed just the tip of the iceberg. Get ready for 35 or more HR and 110 or more RBI. Soler is hard to read. He has lost over 25 pounds in the offseason in a new training regiment and has worked hard on his outfield defense reportedly. If he stays healthy, he may exceed expectations by a mile. I expect over 20 HR and 80 RBI.

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Go Cubs!!!!

If Stairs is your comp, the Cubs fans are going to be watching a lot of bombs fly off Schwarber's bat for the next decade plus. Stairs ended up with 265 career jacks. Not an overwhelming number, but a pretty impressive total when you realize he didn't receive 400+ plate appearances in the bigs until his age 29 season. Conventional wisdom is that a player peaks at 27 so Stairs played his best seasons in the minors.

Schwarber still has his 23-28 year old seasons to play with the Cubs, again, a few of those should be his best seasons. Schwarber banged out 16 bombs last year. Stairs hammered 27, 26, 38, and 21 jacks in his 29-32 seasons, probably the best proxy for Schwarbers mid twenty seasons. That's an average of 28 dingers per year. Lets just drop it to 25 for the fun of it. That gives Schwarber 166 jacks for his age 22-28 seasons, and when we tack on the 265 Staris jacks, you're looking at 431 career bombs.

Yeah, I'll take that. Also not for nothing Stairs also had a career .356 OBP, again, without the benefit of his peak seasons.

Granted Schwarber is going to give a bunch of value back in the field assuming he doesn't make some impressive strides.

The 431 bombs, puts him in Konerko territory, and I'd venture to say that is a better comp if Schwarber ever could make it to 1b, most likely his natural position.

Also, just looking at the numbers your Mitchell/Stairs comp is closer than you think. Mitchell had the advantage of playing all of his peak years in the majors, again, Stairs burned them up in the minors. From the ages of 29-32 Mitchell had a WAR of 9.3, Stairs, 6.9. So although Mitchell was better, it wasn't the chasm that you might think.

IMU:

Now we get to hear how this can "easily be replaced".

Ain't you heard? Cubs roll deep. Our 25th roster spot is an all-star with enough at-bats / innings.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.