They will trade Bellinger

2yr/29 mil

I guess this is fine as a back of rotation starter and you can never have enough, but still makes no sense that they wouldn't be in on Soto.

Because Soto wants to play for a winner.

cheapo's signing tier 4 players

hasn't thrown 100 innings in five years, so even if he is good he will have to be managed in the second half of the year

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

It's a signal that Cade Horton is going to spend all of 2025 at Iowa after last year's injury. Horton needs to pitch 4 innings every Saturday in an environment where he can work on his endurance and his mistakes won't matter. And most importantly, his service time clock won't start.

Boyd will give them the 110 IP they had planned on from Horton before he got hurt. Some 5 inning starts in the first half of the year and then the bullpen as a 2-inning guy.

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

Jed and his giant fucking starched collar needs to do something to shake up this .500 tired as veteran group he has assembled. They clearly aren't good enough to make the playoffs but everyone on the roster is too good to be replaced. If Shaw doesn't start on opening day in Japan Jed should walk home from Japan.

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

There is no reason that Shaw, Paredes, and Hoerner should not be fighting to job-share 2B/3B. They can play matchups based on their own starting pitcher (Hoerner sits if fly ball Imanaga and Taillon are starting), the ballpark (Paredes sits if the wind is blowing in), and the opposing starter (maybe ease Shaw in against true top-50 starters and let him beat up on #4/#5 starters to get confidence).

There are 1200 PA between 2B/3B, and another 100 for giving Swanson and Busch days off (Hoerner to SS or Paredes to 1B). So that's 300 PA for the worst of the three, and 500 PA for the other two. And it means not seeing Miles Mastrobuoni on the bench unless one of the five infielders is hurt.

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

He will not be good.

If he's their 5th starter, he just has to give them 5 IP and 2 ER most starts.

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

He's thrown 110 over the last TWO years.

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

He's probably a #4 or #5 type starter. I don't mind it if it's now a given that a team will need to have 7 or 8 starters to get through a season, but this can't/shouldn't be one of your major moves, especially given the lack of star power on this team.

That's a huge ask out of this bum.

I'm sadly disappointed none of the loyal Cub fans have predicted a Cy Young for this dope pitcher.

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