Chicago Cubs Offseason

[anotheridiot]

I hope Olt and Lake make this team out of spring training. Most are thinking Vitters might be a platoon partner in left field with someone. I thought they would deal both of them by now as well, because protecting them on the 40 man roster costs too.

 

[ChicagoIrish]

Glad to hear Ron Coomer will be in the booth with Pat.

I guess it's going to be the Pat and Ron show once again.

 

[anotheridiot]

Hughes and Coomer? wonder how they will try to keep it from being pat and ron again.

anything will be an upgrade over moreland.

 

[Johnny Sleeper]

Now that Tanaka is officially on the market they need to go all out and land him. Outside of that there is much else they need to work on right now other then moving Samardzija. Between Baez, Alcantara, Castro, Bryant, Olt, Rizzo, Castillo, Valbuena, Candelario, Barney, Amaya, Villanueva, Vogelbach and Watkins the infield is going to be very crowded soon; mid-2015. This is probably the last year of Barney and if he starts off hitting decent he could be flipped. I wouldn't be surprised to see Amaya or Alcantara packaged off with Vogelbach for a young pitcher the front office likes.

The OF has a lot of bodies right now with Vitters, Soler, Szczur, Almora and Ha coming up and Schierholtz, Lake, Sweeney and Ruiggiano fighting for current playing time. A lot of bodies to throw out and see what sticks. Then you have some guys in the low minors like Gretzky, Dunston, etc who have the tools to have break out years and get people's attention.

The pitching doesn't seem as deep, but with Hendricks and Neil Ramirez starting the year in AAA and C.J. Edwards in AA they have some arms coming up. Throw in Pierce Johnson, Blackburn, Maples, etc and they could have some quality in-house pitching options in 2015 to battle with Arrieta, Wood, Grimm, EJax and whoever else for rotation spots. Hendricks could be one of those guys who was never a big time prospect due to lack of outstanding stuff, but has good enough stuff to go with superior control to become a very good pitcher; similar to James Shields. I'm not even going to go through the potential bullpen arms which is a very long list. The Cubs are just lacking that pitcher that projects to be an ace which is why I expect them to go hard after Tanaka. You put Tanaka at the top of the rotation then trade Samardzija to the Royals (Zimmer/Ventura/Almonte/Manaea) or Jays (Sanchez/Stroman/Osuna/Nolin/Norris) for a pair of pitching prospects that project as #1/2 types and suddenly that staff could be full of upside in 2015.

I'd love to send Samardzija to the Royals for Ventura, Almonte and Manaea (as a PTBNL due to rules on trading drafted players). Zimmer is their best pitching prospect, but I'd rather have that quantity as I think one of those three ends up as a top of the rotation arm and the others are at worst elite bullpen arms and most likely no worse then #3 types. I'm really high on Manaea as I expect him to recover just fine from the hip surgery.

 

[ChicagoIrish]

Each day that passes, we get closer to pitchers and catchers.

I can't wait for Spring ball to get started up.

 

[ChicagoIrish]

Jesus, board completely died out

 

[Johnny Sleeper]

It's the dead part of the off-season. We have 10-12 days before the Tanaka situation is sorted out and then there will be a rash of posts either excited about it or upset. After that it'll be dead until Spring Training unless Tanaka coming off the board gets the Samardzija trade talks heating up again. It's pretty much what was expected going in. The only big moves that could happen this off-season were signing Tanaka and trading Samardzija as we continue to wait on Baez, Alcantara, Bryant, Soler, Almora, Hendricks, Edwards, Amaya, Candelario, etc to work their way on up and hopefully provide us with some young home grown talent that this team hasn't had since the days of Wood, Prior, Zambrano, etc.

 

[anotheridiot]

I am glad there are not a bunch of veterans being brought in at least. At least it shows there might be a chance for Junior Lake to be a full time option. Everyone seems to push Junior aside, but he was a higher prospect than Castro, got almost double the money castro did to sign, he just had some injuries and a slower learning of english that put him behind. I want BJax, Szczur, Vitters and Olt have a shot of making this team out of spring training and not watch Sweeney and Nate start every game. I think they almost need to go that route, even if they do not play that well, but these are all guys that were high prospects that are not hardly even brought up anymore, waiting for the theo kids.

I see the Yankees DFA's Wells, that might be the type of player Theo would try to get to sell at the deadline next year.

 

[Johnny Sleeper]

Lake was never considered a top prospect. Castro was a top 20 prospect. There is a HUGE difference between the two. I'd like to see Lake play everyday this year because of where the team is. However, I also expect that extended playing time to show that Lake is a 4th OF or utility guy and not a guy you want as an everyday player. I'd love to be proven wrong on that. I believe Lake's best attribute is his defensive flexibility and not his offense. Similar to DeRosa where he was a good enough offensive player to be a back-up at several positions and fill in for injuries but was really only good enough to be a starter for a 3-4 year stretch.

BJax is done. His contract rates are way too low and he was failing in AA last year. There is no way Schierholtz isn't the primary RF until he is traded. At that time I have no problem throwing Szczur out there, who I view as more of a 4th/5th OF type. However, the same with Lake as long as he is a Cub I'd love for him to prove me wrong. Vitters will probably at least some platoon time in LF this year and might play a little 3B and 1B in a back-up role as well. I would like to see Vitters get a bigger shot as his numbers over the last two years in AAA have been good, when healthy, but I don't see him getting thrown out there everyday this year.

Olt will have a chance to win the 3B job this spring and if his vision is right he should beat out Valbuena for the job. If Olt does not win the job in Chicago I think he ends up as a back-up in Iowa or rotting on the DL, because the issue will be health. Olt's career could very well be over due to that ball he took in the head last winter. The numbers crunch that is about to happen with the Cubs prospects is going to squeeze a guy like Szczur who is only 1/2 a season, if that, ahead of Soler and Bryant. Assuming Olt is healthy, wins the job and preforms like he was projected to before his injury the Cubs are going to have 1B, 3B, SS and C tied up. Baez, Szczur and Alcantara are all starting this year in AAA, where neither has played before. Baez should beat the level the fastest with Alcantara and Szczur a bit behind. If you have Lake in CF, Vitters in LF then Alcantara takes 2B and Baez RF then you have no where for Szczur. to make it "worse" you have Bryant and Soler who will be looking for spots next year which pushes Vitters out of LF, unless he magically turns into Ryan Braun. This also creates a problem in the infield as Baez, Bryant and Soler can't all play LF and RF so either Olt, Castro or Alcantara get traded/benched. Then in late 2015 or at the start of 2016 Almora pushes Lake to the bench as he takes over CF. This is assuming the prospects live up to optimistic expectations at the big league level, but unless one of the "big 4" get traded the guys like Vitters, Szczur, BJax, Ha, Villanueva, etc become largely irrelevant as they are not good enough prospects to have trade value as more then a throw-in and will either be bench players until they hit arbitration a time or two, will be throw-ins with better prospects, i.e. Amaya, Candelario, Volgebach, etc in trades to fill pitching needs, or they will be left to rot in the minors.

I don't see any way they pick up Wells with that contract. $21M for a guy you might be able to flip at the deadline. If they had that type of money, in addition to what they are going to throw at Tanaka, they would have gone after Cano. When Wells gets put on waivers he will clear them. If the Yankees release him then Wells will end up sitting at home this year getting his $21M. The last three years Wells has hit .218/.248/.412, .230/.279/.403 and .232/.282/.349. Those are terrible numbers for gold glove SS much less a bad fielding LF/DH. There is no upside in claiming Wells to try to flip him.

 

[ChicagoIrish]

Good chance that Olt is at 3rd for opening day.

As for Lake, I'm looking at him as a trade piece. We have multiple prospects that could very well end up in the Outfield. At best, like stated before, I think Lake is a 4th Outfielder/platoon/utility guy.

 

[RamCub]

Once Wells clears waivers, he can be signed by any team for the major league minimum. When the Jays traded him to the Angels, the Angels assumed his whole contract. When the Angels traded him to the Yankees, they assumed most of his contract -about $18m. The Yankees paid the remainder - about $4m. The Angels and Yankees will be responsible for the remainder of his contract!

We will not be picking up Wells at any price. He's done.

 

[ChicagoIrish]

Once Wells clears waivers, he can be signed by any team for the major league minimum. When the Jays traded him to the Angels, the Angels assumed his whole contract. When the Angels traded him to the Yankees, they assumed most of his contract -about $18m. The Yankees paid the remainder - about $4m. The Angels and Yankees will be responsible for the remainder of his contract!

We will not be picking up Wells at any price. He's done.

Another Cubs poster, thank God

That brings our total to what? 4 or 5? lol

 

[anotheridiot]

Lake was never considered a top prospect. Castro was a top 20 prospect. There is a HUGE difference between the two. I'd like to see Lake play everyday this year because of where the team is. However, I also expect that extended playing time to show that Lake is a 4th OF or utility guy and not a guy you want as an everyday player. I'd love to be proven wrong on that. I believe Lake's best attribute is his defensive flexibility and not his offense. Similar to DeRosa where he was a good enough offensive player to be a back-up at several positions and fill in for injuries but was really only good enough to be a starter for a 3-4 year stretch.

Out of the dominican, Lake was a better prospect, Castro signed for 60,000, Lake was signed for 125,000 because he was a true 5 tool prospect. Thats all I was referring to, flat out oneri fleita vision. I just cant understand why everyone is willing to sidestep lake. he raked, struggled, adjusted, raked, struggled, adjusted, thats all we can ask for is adjust to the game. All this when he was finally allowed to play outfield and had to learn how to play here in the majors. He has learned this winter and has made great strides in his defense, noticed by many scouts that would love to have him on their team.

 

[Johnny Sleeper]

The Cubs drafted Mark Pawelek over Ellsbury, Garza and Buchholtz so maybe we should bring him back into the organization and ignore all new information we have obtained on those players since they were drafted.

 

[anotheridiot]

Tanaka should make his announcement today so we can move on. You gotta wonder if the cubs somehow get him if they will start buying more players. They claimed it was down to the yankees and cubs, now seattle is apparently still in. Teams have til Friday to finish contracts and have physical finished. You gotta wonder.

 

[ChicagoIrish]

Latest on Cubs, White Sox Masahiro Tanaka rumors | CSN Chicago

Well by now, you all know that we're a serious player for Tanaka

 

[ChicagoIrish]

I still think it's a long shot. I think he'll be a Yankee

 

[ChicagoIrish]

Well, we didn't land Tanaka, I didn't think we would.

I kind of wanted him, so it would speed up the rebuild process. But also kind of didn't want him, I felt money could be spent better elsewhere. I'm glad it's over.

 

[anotheridiot]

Yeah, glad he is not here, just because I thought they would have gone out and started signing more betterans and get away from this wait for the kids to show up.

 

[Sportsmen]

I am a little worried about what we are doing. I love the idea of rebuilding through the draft, and then spending money to fill the holes on our team. I do not get why we are not giving a chance to some of the "decent" prospects who are 23-26. Especially on offense, I want to see Vitters, Olt, Jackson, Szczur get a chance to play. I honestly do not get why valbuena, ransom, or any of the other 28-40 year old's who cant hit are on the team. If Vitters is a bust and hits sub 200 over the coarse of the year then so be it.

I am hoping to see some promise this year..... I guess more like praying