I'm not sure what all the angst about Wilson is about. They traded debris to get him; Candelario would have been outrighted off the 40-man right about now, and Paredes isn't exactly Addison Russell.

If they want to pick through an AL team's minor leaguers and pick up a guy who was a good starter at AA with solid upside, let's drive Wilson to the airport.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

Isn't Arrieta 31 or 32 years old? If so, why is his future performance so hard to predict? If you sign him to a multi-year deal, chances are that the last 2-3 years of the the deal will not be to the club's benefit, even if he is still solid. If he performs at a high level, it'll be for 1-2 years. After that, if you even get that much at a high level, his performance will begin to worsen.

Not much new here except "a source" saying Brian Duensing probably won't be resigned. Assuming he's affordable on a 1-2 year deal, kind of surprising they wouldn't want him back:

Cubs Fans‏ @CubsFanClub
20m20 minutes ago

Cubs try to stretch pitching dollars to pursue free agents — like Shohei Ohtani? http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/ba ... story.html …

I thought we shouldn't be concerned about the Cubs budget since they can spend whatever they want.

Said by nobody ever

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Not sure the reasoning behind not wanting to sign Duensing.

Except it has been said MANY times in this section by several different posters.

Your giant gaps in between quotes suck as hard as you.

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and Ricketts promised Theo that he got to bank all that payroll he didn't spend in the first few years

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

MONEY AND ESPECIALLY THE HEYWARD CONTRACT WILL NOT BE A CONCERN GOING FORWARD!

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Elections have consequences.

Sox fans polluting another Cubs thread.

Were we not told that by a certain short 70 years old looking radio host?

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Elections have consequences.

You mean White Sox fan Dan Bernstein?


Any Cub fans on the board say that?

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Elections have consequences.

Sorry, we're not taking on Bernstein if he cant even admit fandom and claims to be a fan of the crosstown team.


If you want to put something on Cub fans, better find someone else.

I'm not sure I invest heavily in Lance Lynn...

Cubs have cast a wide net on starting pitching options. they've been in touch with cobb, arrieta, lynn and others. looking at trades but may be resigned to having to sign at least 1 free agent. @FanRagMLB

https://www.fanragsports.com/heyman-cub ... ng-market/

The Chicago Cubs met at the GM meetings on Jake Arrieta, and while they are interested, there’s still said to be a gap on the years – he wants long (six or seven years), they want shorter — and the sides aren’t believed to have spoken since the meetings.

While Arrieta hasn’t been seen as likely to return to the Cubs, considering the obvious needs of the team, it can’t be ruled out. They also have interest in Alex Cobb – there are strong ties there with both manager Joe Maddon and pitching coach Jim Hickey having been in Tampa, and them having a close relationship with the pitcher – and presumably all the other decent available starters, including also Yu Darvish and Lance Lynn.

The Cubs, who may need two starters since John Lackey is a free agent in addition to Arrieta, have succeeded wildly in the Theo Epstein-Jed Hoyer years, but if there’s one area where they’ve been a bit hit-or-miss in their careers, it’s free agency (they are far from alone there), which has led to some gallows humor.

One Cubs person was overheard to say on their way to a meeting on a pitcher, “Time to overspend on a pitcher.”

In any case, they don’t love to go long for a pitcher (they made an exception for Jon Lester, and hit a home run on that one with a $165 million, six-year deal), so perhaps Darvish is in the same category with Arrieta. However, Lynn makes sense, as the Cubs and Cards have done what amounts to trading free agents in recent years (Jason Heyward, Dexter Fowler, Jon Jay).

Cobb, who recently turned 30, is the youngest of the top four pitchers, and as a bonus, has thrown only 700 total innings (yes, exactly 700!). And while the Cubs have been everyone’s guess on Cobb since Hickey signed on, word is that nobody should assume anything about his priority list; he and his wife have moved several times as they have enjoyed a sampling of places (though the last couple years they have been in the Phoenix area).

As for Arrieta, some believe Darvish will beat him in terms of total contract (we thought so here). But one competing GM called it a “toss-up.”

I hope the Cubs come out of it with Arrieta and Cobb. I truly do. Arrieta is a competitor and really learned to pitch with his new "stuff" as the season went on.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

312

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

completely unbiased article

I assume the writer has never either applied for a job with Theo in the past or present.

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

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/

Cubs Sign Dario Alvarez To Major League Deal
By Steve Adams | December 1, 2017 at 11:36am CDT

The Cubs announced that they’ve signed left-handed reliever Dario Alvarez to a Major League contract. Alvarez was designated for assignment and outrighted by the Rangers back in September and hit the open market at season’s end.

Alvarez, 29 in January, has seen Major League time in each of the past four seasons, tossing a combined 48 innings with the Mets, Braves and Rangers. In that time, he’s logged an unsightly 5.06 ERA with a more-promising 11.4 K/9 mark against 4.1 BB/9. He’s coming off a season in which he posted a sub-3.00 in the Majors (albeit with 14 walks in 16 1/3 innings) as well as in Triple-A and has a lengthy track record of intriguing strikeout rates at the minor league level.

Alvarez is out of minor league options, so he’ll have to either break camp with the big league roster or be exposed to waivers in order to be sent to Triple-A. Of course, it shouldn’t simply be assumed that he’ll be handed a job in the Chicago bullpen. Left-handed relief is an area of need for the Cubs (particularly after Justin Wilson’s struggles in Chicago), and it seems likely that they’ll pursue higher-profile options than Alvarez over the remainder of the season. Even if they don’t pick up additional lefties, though, Alvarez would likely compete with Rob Zastryzny for a spot as a third lefty in the bullpen next spring.

Due to his limited big league track record, Alvarez has only amassed one year and 66 days of Major League service time to this point in his career. If he ends up making a strong impression for the Cubs, Alvarez can potentially be controlled all the way through the 2022 season, and he won’t even be eligible for arbitration until the conclusion of the 2019 campaign at the very earliest.

For the Cubs, the signing of Alvarez isn’t entirely dissimilar to last winter’s acquisition of Brian Duensing. It was somewhat surprising to see Duensing land a 40-man roster spot coming off a down season with the Orioles, but the Cubs locked him up fairly early with a modest big league deal and were handsomely rewarded for their show of faith. While Alvarez comes with a considerably more limited track record than Duensing had, he’s a similarly surprising recipient of a 40-man roster spot.

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Sherman remarked, "Well, Grant, we've had the devil's own day, haven't we?" Grant looked up. "Yes," he replied, followed by a puff. "Yes. Lick 'em tomorrow, though."

There's no fucking way Jake is going to get 6 or 7 years is there ? That's lunacy.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

Probably not at the level he wants. He'll have to give in a smidge on one or the other.

Darvish's performance in the WS sent the Arietta market into the unknown.

Fake news!

I never wanted Jhey, i hate bad contracts. I get pissed when i hear these dopes on the radio say " what do you care? It's not your money" bad contracts hamper a ream.

Now to the cubs money- They made 70 million in TV revenue last year, 3-4% jump every year(roughly) til the deal expires.

The gate- 81 home games plus 5 or 6 playoff games is about 3.5 million tickets sold.

3.5 million x 40$ a person( concessions) is about 140ish million.

Merchandise, Advertising etc..this team turned a nice profit, they bought the club for 850 million and it's almost tripled in value..they have money to spend..we can afford a 300 mill payroll, so can NY, Boston, SF, LA.

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Hector Rondon is now a Free Ajent.

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

He'll be good again.


Too bad Chris Mangino Bosio couldn't get him straightened out

I think he will be good again also.

at Mangino Bosio

They let Rondon go and kept Grimm. How the fuck do you keep Grimm. He was one of the worst relievers in baseball. Somebody likes staring at his wife in the stands it appears.

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

I know I do!

viewtopic.php?f=74&t=102089

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

That's just a stupid decision.

Rondon was set to make $7M+. Grimm will only earn $2.5M or $3M and has more upside.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

I liked Rondon. He was a value arm. Underrated.

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You know me like that.