Barring a miracle, this gutless team will not make the playoffs or if they do somehow get in, they'll do nothing.

So how does the shake up go? Bye bye Maddon as the first order of business? If so, who gets hired?

Put Bryant on the market?

Say bye bye to Cole Hammels?

Re-sign Castellanos and put Heyward in CF or trade Schwarber and put Castellanos in LF and get another CF who maybe can lead off?

Is Russell toast given he'll command at least 6M in arbitration?

Russell is gone. Maddon more than likely. I can't see them tendering Cole a contract.

See if anyone will give you any value for Schwarber.

See what Bryant will get you. And Contreras.

I'm curious what Castellano's price tag will be. Another Boras client.

This team is in desperate need of pitching.

As awful as things have gone for the big league team.....the worst thing this organization has done is not develop any pitching. The only thing they have to show for all Theo, Jed and Jason's pitching draft picks are the trade deadline players they have acquired for some of them. There is absolutely nothing coming down the pipe. Adbert might be able to audition for a 5th starter spot but he is constantly hurt.

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

Yep.

The Astros and the Dodgers are the premier franchises for developing talent.

Hopefully Theo hires someone who can get the job done because McLeod certainly did not.

Agreed.

To me, Bryant needs to go in return for some good young pitching and some payroll flexibility. Of course if Theo blows all that $$ it won't matter anyway.

To say this offseason is crucial is the understatement of the year.

I really dont see why people want to jettison Bryant.

No one wants to pay him 300 mil to be average. How many times does he get intentionally walked? How many times did Yelich get intentionally walked the last 2 years.

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

He's probably good enough for $300m. I'd surely rather have him than Machado.

Just too bad the tribe couldn't close them out. Imagine if they choked this all away.

Uhrlacher MN got it right. Bryant is greedy and will want 300M and he is just not worth any where near that amount of money. This will be the offseason to move him.

Doesn't SD have a great farm system? Sounds like a good fit me. That's where he played his college ball.

What position? Machado and Tatis on the left side of the infield, and Hosmer at 1B. He would have to go to RF or maybe CF, and he is not worth it then.

Contreras might be a good fit in San Diego, but I think Houston is a better fit.

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

Stick him in LF is SD. I don't care where he goes as long as we get impact young talent which both SD and HOU have. It is a limited market. SD also has money to spend...

He's the first guy I'd move, he's a good soft ball player . he'd return a couple nice pieces, I'd move Rizzo next..build around BAEZ N willy.

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Houston is loaded, they aint lookin for bats.

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The Astros entire staff are guys from other organizations - they don’t have that great of a developmental pitching track record when it comes to draft and develop.

The Angels would make a logical trading partner for a Bryant deal. You likely aren’t getting Adell, but maybe you get 4 of their top 15 prospects. Similar to the Greinke deal.

If you are making a deal with Anaheim, might as well try to include Q. He gives them a healthy #5 starter and he isn’t coming back to the north side after the current contract expires.

Why would you trust Theo to trade Bryant for prospects with his talent evaluation track record?

Isn't that the weird thing? I know the beginning of the plan was draft position players and buy some pitching. Then draft and develop pitching. As mentioned its been no good. But they were supposed to have put a zillion bucks into the spring training facility, minor leagues as well and all the coaches and staff to develop the Cub way from top to bottom. No results.

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Elections have consequences.

There was a pretty big result in 2016.

But yeah, definitely no pitching results.

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I might start a new thread about it but there was expectation to much more than 2016.

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Elections have consequences.

There def was.

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first move of the off season

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

Priority one is moving Heyward. He has some value, sure the Cubs will have to pick up 17 mil or so a year on the deal, but it is a sunk cost. The Cubs aren’t winning a WS anytime soon with this OF.

Schwarber is gone next.

Get a Rick Vaughn for each of them. Contending teams don’t get a combined 5 WAR from their whole OF. You theoretically should have one starting OF with a WAR of 5+ if you are a contending team.

Super old fuck Brett Gardner would be the best OF on this team by a mile.

The big question is will the Cubs try to contend in 2020?

Realistically they should not, a team trending downward with lots of holes to fill. That said with the Cubs network starting next year it will be a hard sell if you have a franchise retooling. Would like to see a retool, shed some money, keep some core, grab some FAs in 2021.

Hamels - gone
Lester - eat money and trade (although he will have veto rights)
Quintana - trade
Heyward - eat money and trade
Schwarber - trade
Bryant - key player to trade, must get future cornerstones in this deal
Almora - DFA
Russell - DFA
Castellanos - do not resign, guy is a DH
Kimbrell - eat money and trade

Build around Javy, Rizzo, Contreras, Horner in the lineup.
Build around Yu and Hendricks in the rotation.

They now also have a manager opening...hmmm

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“Mr. Trump is unfit for our nation’s highest office.”- JD Vance
“My god, what an !diot.”- JD Vance tweet on Trump
“I’m a ‘Never Trump’ guy”- JD Vance

Kimbrel & Heyward are untradeable unless 75% of their money is eaten. I'd resign Castellanos. Doubtful Lester waives his no trade.

All other moves postulated should be on the table...

Eat some shit and trade Heyward. His decent season should open the door for some kind of deal where they eat a ton of money or take a shit contract back. Kimbrel might be ok if he is healthy so I guess they hang on to him but he is not the closer until he earns it.

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

Hold on to Lester and hope he is pitching well enough to get something at the deadline.

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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."

Cueto, Samardzija, or Upton interest you?

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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."

I just saw this Stat...sums up this season.

19-26 in 1-run games.

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