There are no such things as bad 1 yr deals

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

I tend to agree, though it boggles the mind that a guy who posted an OPS+ of 44 and 78 over the last two seasons can get $17.5 million.

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The free agent CF market is Nimmo (unlikely to give a long term deal to another OF), Bellinger, Kiermaier, and Engel. Unless they wanted Ortega back.

My guess is that Ortega goes to Cincinnati and Engel goes to Colorado.

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

Cubs fans reaction who are thrilled to have Bellinger because "it's only one year" of one of MLB's worst slashlines.

This will probably not look very good four years from now. Besides Cole not too many great pitchers started in Pittsburgh in recent years.

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If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.

Well PM, fours years from now, the contract will be completed, so it won’t look like anything.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

Taillon fits the mold they seem to be targeting, not a lot of walks and being willing to accept the solo homers in exchange for the control.

I agree that his fourth year will likely be painful, but that's the price of playing to actually win something.

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

Apparently, he had multiple year offers but wanted free agency after 2023. He will regret that decision when he puts up another clunker of a season.

Assuming they sign a SS and either unload Madrigal or bury him in Iowa with Bote, the hitters look like this:

OF: Happ, Bellinger, Suzuki, Mastrobouni, Velasquez
IF: Mervis, Hoerner, FA SS, Wisdom, Morel, McKinstry
C: Gomes, Higgins or TBD FA

Iowa players in case of injury: Bote, Madrigal, Amaya, Darius Hill (OF).

I'd like to see them go after a 4th OF/1B in the $3-5M range and send Velasquez back to Iowa for a year of steady playing time. It looks like they are talking to Dom Smith, but I would think they could do better than that.

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

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If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.

Not even an 80 win team (unless Bellinger magically rebounds)

Taillon is basically a league average pitcher. They money is acceptable for a league average pitcher who is consistently healthy.

Taillon already has two TJ pelts on his wall. If you put the over under on 350 total innings for his Cubs career, I'd probably take the under.

Multiple big name high production stars propel teams into and deep into postseason. You can shuffle the current Cubs roster, call-ups, and lineups all you want. They have some good players but don't have one great player on the roster.

They were a 78 win team last year with most of their starting pitching hurt. If they actually do get Boegarts or Swanson (with Judge going back to NY, the Giants will sign Correa) that should make them an 82 win 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

I was reminded that the Cubs are corporate partners to the Score when, on Parkins and Spiegel, one of the Score guys said, in reference to the Bellinger acquisition "he's represented by Scott Boras, who is known to pick the spot that is best for his client as a person", as a praise for the Cubs.

It was retro day on the Score as they were back to "he took less to play for the Cubs" euphoria.

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

If there’s one thing Scott Boras is known for, it’s prioritizing fit over dollars.

And not for nothing, but what a weirdly paternalistic view of the player-agent relationship.

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Well if they assume that most of the players are undereducated morons, or worse yet, Republicans, it makes some sort of sense.

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

Contreras to Cardinals.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/12/ ... reras.html

I am just pissed that bum is still in the division, God I don't care for him.

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2018
#ExtendLafleur
10 More Wins

I should know this but Ive been ignoring the Cubs for a few years now, do they have a bunch of hot shot prospects like they did in the Theo era or are they trying to buy a world series?

I don't think their minor leagues are very stocked at all.

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2018
#ExtendLafleur
10 More Wins

It didn't sound like they did. Trying to buy a world series through free agency never seems to work out.

82-84 seems reasonable. Likely more wins than the White Sox.

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If you take a look at his game logs the last couple years, boy oh boy. $17 million a season better not deter them from signing Correa or Xander.

Jose Quintana looks pretty good at 2 years for $26 million.

I think that given the bidding on Judge, the Padres and Giants are going to get into an arms race for the two of them. I don't see how the Giants don't just give Correa $350M because they want a face of the franchise.

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

I'm going to throw a fit if the Cubs end up with Swanson. Career .255 hitter. Hit .248 last year, .251 in 2019, .238 in 2018, and .232 the season prior.

Xander is .292 for his career and Correa .279

Both of their WARs are far far superior to Swanson. You're wasting money if you sign Swanson. I think you're wasting money on Taillion.

I think I'd rather have Segura at 2B for 3 years than just signing Swanson at SS and moving Hoerner over.

If Boegarts can be convinced to move to 3B then I'd want both Boegarts and Swanson, because then Swanson is hitting 7th and his defense is strong enough for that to work.

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

Bernstein played a clip of an ecstatic grandpa Rossy glowingly describing Bellinger as a player who can do it all and have an immediate huge positive impact. But Rossy honestly admitted (Bernstein later agreed) he can't hit. Grandpa was anxious for Bellinger to meet the Cubs hitting coaches for the unprecedented return to past form to start. Even with all the Cubs recent failures not fixing bad money and castoff reclamation projects Bellinger's hitting fix seems a certainty to the Cubs and the Score once he gets a whiff of Cubs cheap losing culture and out of that burdensome Dodgers winning culture.

Boegarts to the Padres, 11/280.

MLB owners have figured out the old NHL strategy - just throw three more years onto the contract to lower the AAV, consider that deferred money, and DFA the guy after year 8 if you have to.

But even then, 8/280 with a quarter deferred, that is nuts for Boegarts. I don't see where they Cubs can go with Correa, the Giants have to respond or they are admitting to their fan base that they are content as a third place team for the next five years because their minor league system is bad.

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