CrewFanBrewMan69

Don’t get why Yelich responded like he did, overall it’s much ado about nothing. Darvish was simply replying to someone asking him why he stepped off the mound in an AB vs Yelich, and he said he saw Yelich look away so he stepped off. Darvish’s literal next tweet in reply to the tweet Yelich quotes was that he wasn’t implicating and Brewer on sign stealing and then he said the same thing when he quote tweeted Yelich’s response. Don’t really care, but was kinda a weird response by Yelich. Darvish also was interviewed about the Astros sign stealing in the 2017 WS today and he basically took the high road. He said he was bad regardless and he failed and hopes to learn from it. He didn’t throw the Astros under the bus or blame them at all.

Sterns came from there, so not surprising we’re one of a few teams linked to doing similar stuff.

Hirua ran a 30% K-Rate with a 65% contact rate (not good) and a .400+ BABIP last year, I’m guessing that factored in to projecting a ~100 point drop in OPS. It’s hard to be overly successful with that K and contact rate.

The Cubs gave up one of the top prospects in baseball to get less than a year of Chapman. They also gave up 3 other below average players in the deal. Imo Hader could bring something like that to the Crew, depending on how desperate the receiving team is for him. Every trade since then for RPs has resulted in far lesser returns and it was an admitted overpay by Theo at the time but they bit the bullet and did it because they needed the elite relief option to win a WS. Torres also has hit his like 99th percentile outcome, he was in the high teens/20s of top prospects in baseball at the time and was hitting .250 with only 9 HRs in A ball. He wasn’t killing it down there. There’s no doubt we’d get a great return for Hader but I don’t think we can expect a better outcome than what Torres has become for him or really all that much larger of a return. Top ~20 prospect in baseball, top 100 prospect and a major league pitcher was the return. Torres, McKinney and Warren. Maybe we get another prospect who isn’t top 75 or so or another major league bullpen piece that is a project or something. But that seems like the rough framework when you factor in Hader’s salary moving forward, relief pitcher volatility, etc.

Abreu got the QO, I see that as a pretty big road block in us pursuing him

He made Braun look playable at 3B when he played there. I’d have doubts he can handle 1B. He’s an awful OF’er too. I agree that for all his appeal with the bat he likely costs less than he should because of the defense deficiencies and whatever contract he gets we should be able to afford, I’m thinking he gets 4/55 or 5/65 or so. But him at 1B could be a disaster and it’s certainly a risk.

Jason Castro would be a nice platoon partner with Pina if we go the “cheap” route. He’s an excellent framer and handles RHP decently. OBP in the 330s vs them and wRC+ in the 110s. I doubt he’d cost more than 2 years and $4-7 mil a year.

I don’t think we’d have enough to get Seager but we certainly should be all over him if he becomes available.

I was thinking the same thing. Heard Loretta on Chicago radio a few weeks ago around the time he was being interviewed for Cubs manager job. He's astute, articulate and knows baseball inside and out. Glad the Cubs didn't hire him. Isn’t he still under contract with the Cubs as their bench coach? I know he interviewed for their HC job and one or two others (Padres and maybe Pirates I think).

Exactly. The comments have been, "they have lots of money and can spend to be competitive." That's only somewhat true. That means not only do superstar players have to become available, the Cubs have to win the extremely high bidding or take on a risk by absorbing a contract in trade. So in 2 years, who are the Cubs going to sign to improve their 75 win team on paper to a 90+ win team? They can either go all-in again on Rizzo, Bryant, etc. or the main crop of guys available is like Kenley Jansen and Kluber in their mid/late 30s. And for 2020 and 2021, they have a little bit of room to spend but they have a lot of holes and, once again, no farm system. I'm actually predicting a fairly drastic offseason for them where somebody like Rizzo or Baez or Bryant are dealt. If not, they are inevitably going to collapse. So are the Brewers in 2022 but they are slightly better than the current Cubs and we know this is coming as a small market team anyways. I think Bryant is very likely to get traded, that could help extend a window if they hit on the trade. He’s going to command a good return, multiple top 100 prospects (probably at least 1 top 20-30) and/or good and longer controlled MLB pieces. Their offseason/plan I think will be very much like the 2016 Yankees where they do buying and selling. I also think they’ll very much be in play for Mookie next offseason, Theo drafted him in Boston and he excelled at all their neuro science testing stuff they do. I think whatever moves they make this offseason they’ll make sure there’s money to make a run at him next offseason.

Unlike some clubs (Pirates, Reds, Brewers, Royals, etc...) the Cubs have the money to buy just about any FA they want. Plus they have the cash to re-sign their own players if they so choose and to take on huge contracts for players rebuilding teams are trying to get off the books. I don't see them being in the dumpster fire catagory. Cubs have money. They will buy whatever. With all that money, and new money coming in, they have a big advantage each season before anything begins. Yeah and they have a lot of money available the next 3 years with contracts expiring (obviously talent needs to be replaced). I read they probably have $30 mil to spend this offseason, probably that or more next year then potentially a ton of money in 3 years. They also start their new TV Network this year which may push their available money higher and I’m sure they’ll hit on some prospects soon to at least be role players. I mean Hoerner was intriguing and was up already this year as a first round pick 2 years ago and they have 2-4 other (depending on publication) top 100 prospects. They needle is getting harder to thread than it was for them from 2015-2017 but I don’t think a complete bottom out is imminent. We can talk about pitching but who can really project any teams pitching more than 1-2 years out? It’s so volatile and they seem fine for another year or two with some marginal adds.

He allegedly was the hard ass in the room on the 2015 and 16 teams and balanced Maddon’s care free culture. I think he commands more respect and responsibility out of guys than it comes off on the surface of being buddies with these dudes. I think he’ll also likely be an extension of the FO and just manage by the numbers/what they tell him. He’ll probably be fine.

There’s no way the Dodgers do this trade

Are we at all worried about Hirua’s high K-rate (30%) and low contact percentage (65%)? Looking at guys who have K rates of 30%+ and contact rates of 65% or less it isn’t pretty or overly sustainable to be successful. He seems like a guy who will improve, but he almost has to. I don’t think he can sustain success with those rates, especially if they unjuice the ball and the low levels of contact he is making suffers. I’d be open to moving him for the right package, this also doesn’t take in to account the defense.

Don’t know how Schwarbers slide caused Hiura to hurt his hamstring, but okay. Hiura was clearly running fine the first few dozen feet out of the box and then the hammy went on him.

The Cubs lineup today (no Bryant, Rizzo, Contreras, Heyward or Zobrist), yikes. If we can’t beat that just call it a season.

Fangraphs has it at 80% Cubs, 9% Cardinals and us each, 2% Reds. So I’ll say 65% Cubs, 20% us, 15% Cardinals. The Reds and Pirates don’t count.

Of course he goes 3-5 in his first game and also has a near miss HR.

Lucroy has been horrible for a few years now, maybe he’s better than whatever AAAA depth they have but this doesn’t move a needle at all.

Haha, no kidding. Looking at their schedule too they needed a 5th starter this weekend, they were able to go the last 1-2 times through with 4 based on off days. It’s not like he’s shuffling guys around just to start Hamels tomorrow (who we probably should be happy to face since he hasn’t pitched a major league game in 2 months or so).

He’s a “professional bat.” They needed another bat, they’ve been giving a ton of ABs to Almora, Descalso, Bote and other bad players. He kills lefties. Awful defender but you can hide that. Him and Kemp are nice depth and margin moves for them.

He’s coming off TJ, and only pitched like 12 innings. Velo has been ticking up last few outings. He’s not missing bats so far this year though. Seems like a risky move for them for this year. He is controlled for cheap for next year though, which maybe it’s more about next year than this year. He has like a $1-$3 million team option.

Ummm, he’s been really bad for almost two months now. Like almost pitching through an injury bad. ERA of almost 10, FIP in the 7s.

Haha, I'm not a big believer in the whole run differential crap It’s one of the better predictors of success and Win/Losses. There’s sometimes outliers, but usually by years end teams with positive RDs have winning records and teams with negative RDs have losing records,+/-.

This year I think we are still closer to a contender, even with a minor move or two. After this year I think we are closer to a rebuild.