Going to be an interesting offseason to see what Jed and Crew do. How much influence will Counsel have in things?

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

Better not expect a lot of spending, but that horse may have left the barn.

_________________
2018
#ExtendLafleur
10 More Wins

Same record as last year and further behind the Brewers. Counsell has been a bust.

_________________

Too many veteran position players that have "occasional All-Star" as their ceiling and none who have "perennial All-Star." The position player youth is mostly coming along, PCA and Amaya made big improvements after the All-Star break, Busch is solid at 1B, and Morel turned back into a pumpkin.

Hoerner is the most obvious trade candidate, with Shaw and Smith as their last two #1 picks at AAA and AA. But they need a true #3 hitter who opposing teams will always want to pitch around, and they need to realize that Wrigley is becoming more of a neutral/pitchers park (example: this last series) and they have built the roster for a wind blowing out.

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

Sìgn Soto or GTFO

Jed has got to go. Maybe replace him with Counsell.

Armstrong bum slayed during their long run against teams that had sold off their players at the trade deadline.

You give a guy 400 AB at each level before really judging him so, like the Cubs always say, wait till next year

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

the cubbies were 21st out of 30 in terms of batting average with RISP. i have a few players that come to mind that can't hit in the clutch, it's up to the front office to identify them. will they get rid of them or do the marquee thing and pick advantageous time parameters for stats...and blame the goat, the cat or the weather for not making the playoffs?

boog was telling us yesterday that nico's WAR is 2nd only to k. marte's WAR, for all 2nd basemen. yeah, ok. that particular analytical stat must be fundamentally flawed.

I don't believe that PCA will be an offensive force, and teams will adjust against him next year. But if he can be a 90 OPS+ #9 hitter with near-Gold Glove defense, he will give them six very good years of production before some other team massively overpays for his free agent years. For the last two good months of Javier Baez' career, that's still great return.

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

I’d call the Twins and see if they want to get out from Correa’s contract. He could DH 100 games and split the rest between SS and 3b. Might keep that guy healthy.

need tons of bullpen and a new C. They're stuck with some of the bad money they're paying but they could still contend if they want to spend like the Dodgers and the division isn't running away from them.

_________________
Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

though i believe pca to be too hyped up, a spring-loaded spasm...i feel as though his natural talent is just too good.

sure, i agree that he needs to cut down on the Ks. pca made the necessary adjustments on certain pitches - nailed inside and especially low (lefties better with low pitches) fastballs and breaking pitches, still vulnerable to high fastballs. feel as though he's comfortable and familiar enough with mlb pitching to lead off next season. in my opinion, needs to attempt/get a few bunt singles a week, until the 3rd/1st basemen play him 70 feet away. don't want to even guess the amount of stolen bases if he leads off, gets 600+ ABs and hits .270.

if bellinger opts out, pca needs to bat leadoff and move happ down the order a bit.

Hard to envision a situation where Bellinger opts out of the last two years of the deal.

mlb came out with it's all-mlb team nominees and seven 2nd basemen were nominated. nico not on the list, despite his outstanding WAR. 10 first basemen nominated, busch not amongst them. happ and suzuki the only cub non-pitchers nominated.

kudos to mlb.

Weren't they supposed to spend like the Dodgers and Yankees in exchange for turning a classic chicago neighborhood into rosemont?

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

Cubs replacing first base coach Mike Napoli, assistant hitting coach Jim Adduci, and bullpen coach Darren Holmes

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

what kind of fucking world are we living in where a .243 batting average and 25 home runs gets you nominated for the all-MLB team?

_________________
Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

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

yeah...the kind of world that pat hughes reminds us of all the time; "former all-star ron coom...".

i agree, not a 2024 all-star. guilty as charged as being one of many asleep during may (.217)-june (.229) team batting swoon that basically eliminated them from even the wild card race. the nomination is nice, a feather in the cap.

If your assertion is that the Ricketts have been underwhelming owners at best and flat out bad owners at worst, I think you will get a lot of agreement in this Cubs section of the board.

Cubs have as many WS championships as the Dodgers and Yankees last 20 years despite the Ricketts horrible ownership and the Yankees and Dodgers great ownership.

_________________
Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

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

I mean the Nationals have as many WS titles as the Dodgers in the last 20 years. You think those ownership groups are interchangeable?

Because 2nd base in MLB is Just a Guy.

Maybe the questions to ask are these: How many times in the last 20 years have the teams mentioned above won their division? Or made the playoffs?

Willie Harris gone as 3rd base coach

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

It's kind of crazy that Soto is being mentioned as a possibility for the Dodgers, Yankees and Mets, but the Cubs don't appear to be in any conversations that I have heard.

If Bellinger opts out (seems to be uncertain), but even if he stays, they should be all over this. Trade Suzuki....find ways to add an elite bat and if you need to free up other money....are they even looking at that?

Stealing another Brewers coach to join Benedict.

_________________
2018
#ExtendLafleur
10 More Wins

Bellinger staying with Cubs for next year.

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

He wasn’t getting that money anywhere else.

_________________
2018
#ExtendLafleur
10 More Wins

"The Bellinger contract was a fair deal for both sides," said every Cub fan.

Boras talking about Bellinger's big ops dropoff at Wrigley in '24 was due to adverse hitting weather. The team home ops was down from the previous year. And Cubs home era was way down

There's probably something to it. But, I vaguely remember Wrigley having years like this in the past. Boras didn't bring up the benefit of the shift ban. An article from 2017 Northwestern found the wind blows in twice as much as it blows out at Wrigley even under normal circumstances.