Dodgers

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Ok go get Justin Turner on a 1 year deal

Yes, please.

These type of signings remind me of Jeff Blauser, Todd Hundley, and Mel Rojas

Tom to Jed "Bellinger has what? Another guy with a defective swing? Didn't we just? Jed replied "Swanson's swing is sound Tom".

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rEQmSaHWnEU

https://youtu.be/giUJafPISbs

https://youtu.be/bEC-Wdvb1tg

Possibly, but who cares it is Rickett’s money? It’s not like bad contracts ever hamstring a franchise or impact who gets playing time. If Dansby sucks after year one or two, they will gladly bench him in favor of better talent. And the luxury tax is easily payable if/when the Cubs need to retain talent.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

3B is a real deficiency in the Cubs minor leagues. They are strong in the OF in the upper minors and at MI in the lower minors, but Morel was their top 3B and he's shakey there defensively. Only one 3B in their system had an OPS over .800 (Jake Slaughter at AA) but he was playing there at age 25 after coming out of LSU. Iowa had a cast of thousands playing 3B, mostly poorly.

James Triantos was drafted at 3B out of high school in the 2nd round in 2021 but while he had good BA/OBP at Myrtle Beach he had no power (only 7 HR, under .400 slug). He may slowly make it because he's young and may get stronger, but best case he is five years from being a major league regular.

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

The under the radar OF prospect I like is switch hitting RF Yonathan Perlaza, who for two straight years (high A and AA) has had an OBP on the .350-.360 range and a slug in the .475-.499 range, and more doubles than home runs. With Canario out for the first half of the year, he should get an opportunity to play every day in Iowa along with PCA, Brennan Davis and Darius Hill. He needs to cut his strikeouts down, but if he can he should be able to be a 4th OF going forward or be a trade piece.

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

95 OPS+. Did anybody on the Cubs notice this?

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The modern world is divided between those that would numb itself to its meaninglessness through various substances and various hedonisms and those that realize it and go crazy

This rebuild/retool period would've been a lot more fun if they'd have kept Schwarber. They knew the DH was just a year away.

Cubs still have the second best shortstop in chicago but they still lead the league in players with douchey first names

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

Whatever happened to Ed Howard? He was supposed the be the SS of the future.

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Possible career ending injury.

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The modern world is divided between those that would numb itself to its meaninglessness through various substances and various hedonisms and those that realize it and go crazy

He was bad before the injury. They have an interesting Latin X SS, but he is at least 4 years away

Did any of the other players from that Jackie Robinson team turn into legit prospects? Would be interesting to see what happened to each of them, maybe in a documentary.

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I think half of them are prospects for parole next year.

I like Swanson

Cubs, "Sorry Houston, we just can't include Schwarber in a trade for Verlander. DH is coming and we need him."

Cubs trade Schwarber the year the DH was added to the NL.

Ed Howard was picked 3 choices ahead of Pete Crow-Armstrong.

You mean like, Tanner, Dylan, Garrett, Lucas, Kendall, Reynalodo, Lance, Bennett, Seby, Romy, and don't forget CSMB favorite douchey name Leury!!!!

Fans of the Swanson signing, be like this at the Cubs convention.

Dance, dance dance for Dan Dan Dan and his hands at short!

I’d like him more if his name was Reynalodo.

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The Schwarber stuff is nonsense. The year the flubs let him go, anyone could have signed him for a cheap contract. He signed a cheap ass one year deal. He would have been a good fit for the White Sox, he'd easily hit 40 bombs a year with that homer friendly park. Looking at his stats he's worse than I thought. He hits 46 homers last year and his WAR is 2.2.

I would like to see them get one more CI for the 5 spot and push Bellinger ostensibly to the 9 and Morel to the bench. Because realistically someone is going to get a break each day - Mervis against tough lefties, for example, and so I'd like them to be able to use Morel as a true utility guy.

Drury at 3B or Mancini at DH/1B/LF would both work for me. Both of them together would work even better, get Wisdom to the bench and both McKinstry and Madrigal off the team.

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

Mancini is someone I think they will go after. Fills a couple needs.

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

78 wins

It will be interesting to see what effect the more balanced but larger interleague schedule has, as they are going to be playing some really bad AL teams such as Oakland and Kansas City. On the other hand, they could easily go 0-15 against the AL East, as could the Reds and Pirates.

I think they finish 9 games behind the Cardinals in the NL Central. The question will be whether the Brewers just fold up with a lack of offense and trade one or two of their starters. If they do, the Cubs and Brewers could both end up with 81 wins.

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

Swanson offense replaces (you hope) Contreras offense. Other than that I'm not seeing the added wins unless a rookie surprises

Pitcher health. They couldn't keep a starter healthy for the first half of last year after the lockout. Thompson and Leiter shouldn't be starting, and crap like Daniel Norris is gone.

That's basically the difference between your 78 and my 81.

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