adambr2

Hand is going to cost an arm and a leg. (Rimshot). Seriously though, he's going to cost too much. Relievers can fetch insane deadline prices, pretty much every contender could use one, and Hand has multiple years of cheap control that make him even more valuable. Padres can probably extract Hiura + type value from someone. Can't justify giving up our best prospects for a luxury add that we don't really need.

Well, the first thing I look at are recent comparable trades. In the case of Archer you actually have a very close comparable from this time last year in terms of production, age, and control -- Jose Quintana. Now that doesn't mean it'll be the same -- every market is different. But with the high demand for starting pitching and the low number of sellers, I would anticipate a seller's market. The significant part of the return for Quintana included Eloy Jimenez (#8 at the time) and Dylan Cease (#63). Cease is very comparable to Corbin Burnes in present value. The only thing we have close to Jimenez is Hiura, and he's still not that valuable. So you're going to likely need a 3rd major piece, probably Freddy Peralta or Corey Ray. So if that's your offer, Hiura+Burnes+ one of Peralta/Ray, I'd say you have a shot at it being accepted, but that's still assuming someone doesn't come along and offer a better headliner. Seems like a lot, and it is, but realistically, I don't see him going for much less. I wouldn't pay that price. You can sure try to headline something on Burnes or Peralta, but that's probably about as far as it's going to go. Archer will bring the Rays back whatever the market bears for him, and there are plenty of contenders who can leave us in the dust with our offer if we aren't willing to part with Hiura. First off, there aren't that many contenders that can and are likely to be seriously involved in a trade for Archer. The Phillies, the Yankees, and maybe the Dodgers depending on their SP health...those are the 3 contenders I see with the potential need and prospect capital to contend with a Hiura/Burnes offer. But would they? Archer hasn't posted a sub 4 era since 2015 and he's hurt. He also throws a ton of sliders and those type of pitchers tend not to age well. I think you are also underestimating Hiura's value and how high he'll likely shoot up ranking boards. He won't get up to Jimenez at 8, but top 20 is reasonably likely. He also plays a premium position, and you have to factor in bias to the rankings. Hiura on the Cubs would probably be a top 10 player, Jimenez on the Brewers might not have been top 50 at the time of trade. Like it or not, it's an absolute fact that the club a prospect plays for affects his ranking. I also think you are valuing either Peralta or Ray incorrectly, as their values aren't all that close. Peralta's is much higher, heck he might be rated higher by many teams than Burnes right now. I think the max package that I would consider a reasonable offer is Burnes, Peralta, Phillips. That's a ton to give up and I have no interest in making that offer, but that's the highest I'd go...and I doubt anybody beats it. If someone was willing to beat that offer, Archer probably would have been traded in the offseason. His value has only gone down since the offseason. I think we can and should avoid trading Hiura and use other pieces to get deals done. Disagree with you on most counts here. First off the market for Archer you mentioned, is it possible it's just those teams, sure. Is it possible other teams we aren't even really looking at right now are in the mix for pitching in a month, yes. Also, even if we have the best offer our for Archer, it doesn't mean we'll get him, and it doesn't mean we can use other pieces besides Hiura to get it done. The Rays have already turned down much better than a Burnes/Peralta/Phillips package a little over a year ago and I doubt they intend to settle for pennies on the dollar now with still a lot of cheap control left. I believe I'm valuing Hiura correctly, I also have him around #20, probably similar to what Brinson was worth this time last year. As I said, not quite what Jimenez was worth. While I agree somewhat that team makes a difference for prospect ranking I think you're making way too much of it to say Jimenez might not have been a top 50 on ours. Arcia peaked very high on lists -- well within the top 10 if I'm not mistaken, despite never being a crazy good offensive prospect. I have little doubt Jimenez would be a top 10 prospect in our system. Also don't agree that Peralta and Ray have significantly different value. If you want to say Peralta is worth more I can get on board and I probably agree, but I wouldn't say the difference is much. Ray was a top 30 prospect who is having a nice rebound season and has the pedigree of being a recent top 5 pick. That certainly counts for something.

Well, the first thing I look at are recent comparable trades. In the case of Archer you actually have a very close comparable from this time last year in terms of production, age, and control -- Jose Quintana. Now that doesn't mean it'll be the same -- every market is different. But with the high demand for starting pitching and the low number of sellers, I would anticipate a seller's market. The significant part of the return for Quintana included Eloy Jimenez (#8 at the time) and Dylan Cease (#63). Cease is very comparable to Corbin Burnes in present value. The only thing we have close to Jimenez is Hiura, and he's still not that valuable. So you're going to likely need a 3rd major piece, probably Freddy Peralta or Corey Ray. So if that's your offer, Hiura+Burnes+ one of Peralta/Ray, I'd say you have a shot at it being accepted, but that's still assuming someone doesn't come along and offer a better headliner. Seems like a lot, and it is, but realistically, I don't see him going for much less. I wouldn't pay that price. You can sure try to headline something on Burnes or Peralta, but that's probably about as far as it's going to go. Archer will bring the Rays back whatever the market bears for him, and there are plenty of contenders who can leave us in the dust with our offer if we aren't willing to part with Hiura.

I cannot believe the Cubs gave up Gleyber Torres (and spare parts) to rent Aroldis Chapman for 2 months. I know they won the World Series that year, but my goodness would this look like a retrospective nightmare if they hadn't. Torres is so good. And he's 21. Soler is finally looking decent too. IMO the Cubs really gave up a chance to have a dynasty type team right now to make sure they left no stone unturned to win the WS in 2016. Which, after 100+ years I guess you can argue the merit of that, but wow. I'm really glad we aren't facing the prospect of going up against a lineup that includes Bryant, Rizzo, Torres, Jimenez, Almora and Contreras in a year or two.

I totally agree with the last 2 posters about Hamels. There are red flags everywhere with this guy. His BABIP allowed is 30 points below his career average. He's giving up more line drives than anytime in his career, he's become an extreme flyball pitcher, and he's giving up quite a few walks this year. Hamels has disaster acquisition written all over him for someone, and I think DS is too wise to advanced stats to let it be us.

I don't get this. It's not like they lost because of that, they lost because they didn't score. His maneuvering did exactly what they wanted it to do. Said after the game he did that in the 8th to try to preserve the pen in case it went to extras which made a lot of sense.

I remember a few years back when many of the same posters that are roasting Arcia in this thread were also convinced and outspoken about how bad Jean Segura was at baseball. Let history be a lesson here. Arcia is 23, yes twenty freaking three. While he's struggling at the moment and not necessarily the answer this year, let's not act like there's not plenty of time for him to turn things around and be a plus player for the Crew down the road. Again, don't care about Arcia's age, I care how long we'll actually benefit from a good Arcia. We're in year 3 of 7 years of control over him, if it takes 6 for him to become a quality hitter that is probably not a very good time investment in our part. Also that history lesson brought us Chase Anderson and a major piece of the Yelich trade. So as nice as it would be to have Segura right now I'm not going to get too shook up about it given what we ended up with in return.

At some point the 40 man roster is going to play a role. Who DS sees as sustaining the run and who he sees as movable as either depth or smaller parts of a bigger trade for more talent. We need to start talking about the 40 if you are going to speculate on aggression and trades. I don't see it as a major issue. There are five players on that list that I would put on the "need to keep list." 1. Bubba Derby - pitching well at CS. 2. Nate Griep - Another solid season, likely a future bullpen arm. 3. Luis Ortiz - Star has faded but I'm not ready to give up on him yet. I think he could become a future bullpen arm. 4. Cody Ponce - Bad in 2018 but there is potential here. 5. Kodi Medieros - Ugly numbers as a pro but still only 22. 2018 has been solid so far. In looking at the current 40 man here are guys I would jettison in a heartbeat: 1. Alec Asher 2. Boone Logan 3. Wade Miley 4. Aaron Wilkerson 5. Steven Vogt 6. Nick Franklin 7. Hernan Perez 8. Eric Sogard 9. Keon Broxton (I think he could be traded for a lottery ticket at a minimum). And I'm certain Stearns will trade a least 2 or 3 guys this summer to improve the club. You are leaving an awful lot of talent unprotected. Gatewood is the biggest name probably, but also Stokes, Perrin, Torres-Costa, Bickford, Kirby and Lara. Some of these names you'll just have to leave unprotected if you don't trade them and see what happens, you can't protect everyone. But it's hard not to see them not wanting to definitely find room for Gatewood, probably Stokes and one of Perrin or Torres-Costa. And Vogt and Miley are not on the 40 man roster.

I think you're going to be really disappointed when Miller comes up. Likely the whole purpose he's even going down is to get work again at SS (where he hasn't been as bad as you're making it sound, by the way). Miller will never shine defensively but if they get anything close to a 30 HR player that he's been at a pitcher's park, that's quite an asset at SS. The writing is on the wall for Arcia to lose significant time at SS this year and possibly see another demotion. I think people are trying to talk themselves out of this being bad news for Arcia.

I totally forgot Nick Franklin is on the 10 day DL also. I don't know why he isn't on the 60. Not that an injury is ever a lucky break, but you go from a non roster, AA ball guy one day, somehow get a call up and get hurt the second you step out there, then end up with an MLB salary and benefits indefinitely.

His source says something is a-Brewin with Santana, Peralta, and a team with a bird as a logo. That's all I can say.

I get that there are different types of fandom, but I agree with the posters calling out the pessimists. It gets really, really old game after game. It is a cop out, like "Yay, I'm glad I'm wrong, go team!" No, you expected them to lose. You don't get to pass go. He can't enjoy the win unless he expected to win the entire time? Seems a little harsh.

Wow did Knebel ever make that look easy. Would have felt better these last few innings with some insurance, but one was enough. Great job pitching. We owed em a couple shutouts.

Maddon managed that inning brilliantly. Don't know why anyone here is mad. Does anyone actually know that they aren't supposed to get warmup pitches again, or just don't feel like he should?

I really don't get why teams don't do what Maddon just did more often.

Live I thought it was a terrible call that we benefitted from, but it appears to have been correct.

Sorry Rizzo, Gameday had it catching the corner. Amazing pitch.

It's so deflating how big of a dropoff it is from the top of our order to the bottom. We can get guys on and most of the time it just does not matter if you've got the bottom of the order coming up. Miller can't get here soon enough. Kratz has been a great find, but let's be honest, its temporary. Realmuto would make a tremendous difference.

We almost never bunt with position players. This isn't the Ron Roenicke era. Don't know why anyone is surprised.

This team really needs to figure out how to start scoring some runs when they play the Cubs. Averaging 1 run and change doesn't cut it.

Great job Chacin. I was wrong. Didn't think there was any way Counsell would have him go 6 and triple digit pitches.

Great job Chacin. After the 2 walks I thought that was destined to be a bad inning.

He's not going to get through the 6th. He won't get through the 5th if his next AB looks anything like the last two.

Chacin losing it...everything away...back to back walks.

Last two outs for us have been sharp liners and the Cubs get a dribbler single up the middle and a nubber infield single to Shaw.