Official 2023 Chicago Cubs Season Thread Vol: (17-17)

[Chester McFloppy]

Cubbies season can't come soon enough. 117 wins or bust!

 

[CP1708]

Javier Baez getting work in LF today.

And Chris Coghlan has played OF, 3B, 2B, and 1B so far this spring.

Rizzo, Ross and Montero are pretty much the only players on the roster that can't play more than one position.

Maddon can platoon the entire diamond this year with all the depth and versatility he has. No one should have to play 155+ games at 9 innings per. Plenty of rest should be given to everyone this season, hopefully will help keep injuries at bay.

 

[CP1708]

Heyward is also an awesome dude, as he’s paying for a road suite this year for David Ross all season long (Cubs.com). Ross is retiring after this season, and the two players were lockermates in Atlanta when Heyward first broke into the league.

 

[Chester McFloppy]

Heyward already embracing what it means to be a Cubbie.

 

[CP1708]

Dexter Fowler signs a 3 year 35 million dollar deal with Baltimore, so the Cubs now get their 2nd round pick back.

 

[CP1708]

MESA Ariz. – Cubs team president Theo Epstein isn’t the biggest fan of the term “tanking,” especially as it worms its way into the baseball lexicon after decades of mostly being used as a dirty word in the NBA.

“I prefer ‘long-term planning,’ ” Epstein said. “Or ‘medium-term planning.’ ”


But there’s no denying the success his Cubs and Jeff Luhnow’s Houston Astros have had in recent years employing the general rebuilding strategy traditionally reserved for small-market teams to eventually reach the playoffs last season.

If anything, they proved so good at strip mining their big-league rosters and tanking multiple seasons to gain high draft picks and large signing-bonus pools for amateurs that teams all over the baseball map are starting to follow their lead, regardless of market size and revenue streams.

The immediate added benefit, for the Cubs in particular, is that as many as six of 15 National League teams enter the season with no realistic plans of winning – at least four run by front offices with no intention of trying.


With five NL playoff berths and a ready-to-win roster, the Cubs’ path to the postseason has never looked so gilded.

“I don’t know about that. I know how tough it is to get to the playoffs and how tough it is to win your division,” Epstein said, noting the contenders all play similar schedule strengths. “It becomes a meritocracy at the end, and there’s a lot of hard work ahead and a lot of difficult teams to beat to get where we want to go, regardless of where they are in the long-term planning phase.

“You can’t take anything for granted.”

That doesn’t mean the tanking issue hasn’t become a real concern for major league baseball.

It’s one of the most discussed problems in the game in a year of looming union negotiations to replace the expiring collective bargaining agreement that, by the way, laid much of the groundwork that created the incentive in the first place.

“I don’t personalize it in any way. Rebuilding is as old as baseball itself,” said Epstein, whose 2012-14 Cubs became the first large-revenue MLB team (sans Ponzi scheme) since the advent of free agency to intentionally sacrifice full seasons for the sake of a future competitive window.

“We didn’t set out to lose. That’s not the goal,” he said. “But I think we were accepting of where we were in the success cycle. We recognized the massive talent deficit that we had in the organization, and we understood the different avenues that we could take to fill that void.”

Never mind the competitive-integrity issues for a league in which such practices might become common (the NBA has long battled the issue, resulting in its lottery draft system).

In the sport without salary caps, the incentive isn’t supposed to exist for teams with big resources and — often by definition — demanding fan bases.

But strict spending limits on bonuses for the draft and international amateurs, backed with draconian penalties for overspending, came in with a new CBA in 2012. That created a natural course for aggressive front offices when combined with the already growing acceptance of replacement-level metrics for players that have pushed the value of young talent higher industry-wide than perhaps any other time in history.

“The way the CBA is set up now, it’s not just about the pick anymore, picking up high,” said Jason McLeod, the Cubs’ top player development executive. “It’s really about the pool money they get, and it comes with picking high. … As an organization you certainly always try to take the long view, and then it’s always about acquiring as much young talent as possible.”

In fact, when Kyle Schwarber agreed to sign for less than the assigned value of his No. 4 draft position in 2014, the Cubs were able to spread that money deeper in the draft to select high-value, tougher-to-sign players.

“To develop a strategy you have to understand the landscape,” Epstein said. “And so the next CBA will be a part of that. All teams do long-term planning, and once there’s a collective bargaining agreement, that will certainly define the landscape in which you develop and execute your long-term plan.”

Still, there’s a major part to this whole process that’s easy to overlook after watching the Cubs and Astros.

“I think a little too much has been made of it, like all you have to do is pick in the top 10 or the top five a couple years in a row, and you can rebuild your organization,” Epstein said.

The Cubs’ playoff team, after all, had a $155 million free agent (Jon Lester), a Cy Young winner acquired in a trade (Jake Arrieta) and other key pieces in addition to 2013 No. 2 pick Kris Bryant and Schwarber.

“And then even if you have those picks you have to hit on those picks,” Epstein said. “It’s not a sure thing that you’re going to get a franchise-altering player just by picking in the top 10 in the draft.”

Epstein wasn’t in favor of the changes in the current CBA that helped create the landscape. And even after the changes, tanking wasn’t in the plans until the new baseball regime found out upon taking over that its promised resources were held up by spending restrictions influenced by bank covenants related to the 2009 purchase of the team.

Moving forward, one change for the new CBA Epstein suggests to reduce the incentive to tank is to dictate draft order by a “rolling, cumulative three-year standing so you can’t shoot for the No. 1 pick with one horrific season.”

“I think there’s a healthy recognition of the fact that it’s a fine line in the industry,” he said, “if you have too many teams truly shooting for the No. 1 overall pick. And there’s a chance that might be addressed in the new collective bargaining agreement.

“But I also think to sort of paint with too broad a brush and say that any type of long-term planning that incorporates a fair assessment of where you are as an organization as detrimental is unfair.”

 

[sportsjunkie]

Cubbies season can't come soon enough. 117 wins or bust!

117 wins? my goodness

 

[sportsjunkie]

Javier Baez getting work in LF today.

And Chris Coghlan has played OF, 3B, 2B, and 1B so far this spring.

Rizzo, Ross and Montero are pretty much the only players on the roster that can't play more than one position.

Maddon can platoon the entire diamond this year with all the depth and versatility he has. No one should have to play 155+ games at 9 innings per. Plenty of rest should be given to everyone this season, hopefully will help keep injuries at bay.

we have to monitor Jake innings. I think he got burned out in the playoff.

 

[eentegra]

Cubbies season can't come soon enough. 117 wins or bust!

i dont know....as long as they make the playoffs and win the whole thing....its all that matters. they can win 90 and win it all for all i care.

health is key

 

[Lake Shore Drive]

I still think we need 1or 2 more arms.

Dexter Fowler signs a 3 year 35 million dollar deal with Baltimore, so the Cubs now get their 2nd round pick back.

Bittersweet.
Wish Dex nothing but success out in BMore.
His time here was greatly appreciated.

 

[CP1708]

How's this for new era Cubs?

FOUR of the top 25 best contracts in baseball (4 of top 18 actually), and ZERO of the worst 25. (it used to be the exact opposite)

3. Kris Bryant, 3B
Pre-arbitration
Free agent after 2021 season
Surplus value: +23.5 wins

Coming into the 2015 season, ZiPS gave Bryant a 4.3 WAR projection, the best projection the computer has given a rookie since its debut season in 2004. Bryant was even better than that, putting up 5.9 WAR and winning the National League Rookie of the Year award. There was a bit of controversy at the start of the year based on the Cubs starting Bryant in the minors so they could get an extra year of his services before free agency, and it's hard to argue that it didn't pay off, as they now get him for seven years rather than six. Bryant doesn't have the same massive upside that Correa has, so the Cubs will just have to settle for him being the best third baseman for the next decade or so.

9. Anthony Rizzo, 1B
7 years, $41 million (2013-19)
Guaranteed left: $32 million
Surplus value: +18.8 wins

GMs, don't let your babies grow up to be free agents. The benefits of keeping your best players past their arbitration years far outweigh the risk you take by guaranteeing them money rather than giving them $500,000 a year and hope arbitration isn't too nasty. The contract details above don't even reflect two club options (for 2020 and '21) at an affordable $14.5 million per year; ZiPS projects the Cubs will be motivated to pick those up.

Rizzo has been a top-five first baseman both of the past two seasons, and his contract keeps him in Chicago for most of his prime at the yearly cost of what the Arizona Diamondbacks will pay some random middle reliever.

17. Kyle Schwarber, OF/C
Pre-arbitration
Free agent after 2021 season
Surplus value: +14.4 wins

Like Sano, Schwarber is one of the most impressive young power hitters in all of baseball, ranking behind Sano here only because his defensive abilities are slightly more of an open question than Sano's. But that power, which led to writer Jonah Keri dubbing him "Super Nintendo Schwarber," is so prodigious that it has inspired a whole new genre of news story, the Kyle Schwarber's hits break stuff column. And for the Cubs, him breaking the bank is a long way off.

18. Addison Russell, SS
Pre-arbitration
Free agent after 2021 season
Surplus value: +14.6 wins

Yup, another Cub. Having all this young talent is what enables the Cubs to be able to use so much of their payroll on free agents like Jon Lester and Jason Heyward. Russell's 2015 line of .242/.307/.389 didn't get much attention with Correa and Lindor going nuts, but these days, that's a solid performance for a shortstop, and not even one that is as competent defensively as Russell, one of the better defensive shortstops in the league.

 

[sportsjunkie]

My Goodness. Bryant, Russell, Schwarber aren't FAs until 2021 and Rizzo 2019. Give Theo a Lifetime deal.

 

[johnnyredstorm]

That Rizzo contract is disgusting Perennial MVP candidate being paid like a replacement player.

 

[af1nike]

Fowler back??

View media item 1926849

 

[johnnyredstorm]

How long till you can trade Fowler?

 

[arstyle27]

Dont think we'll trade him anytime soon. Got rid of Coghlan for him. Perhaps near the deadline though. Maybe Soler becomes expendable.

 

[CP1708]

Soler and Baez, coming off our bench.

****!!!!

Wow man.

Both could play LF lefty/right platoon with Schwarber when he's not catching.

Lineup of

Fowler
Schwarber
Bryant
Rizzo
Soler
Heyward
Zobrist
Russell

 

[JCMojica24]

That Cubbies lineup DEER GAWD.

 

[eentegra]

Soler and Baez, coming off our bench.

****!!!!

Wow man.

Both could play LF lefty/right platoon with Schwarber when he's not catching.

Lineup of

Fowler
Schwarber
Bryant
Rizzo
Soler
Heyward
Zobrist
Russell

that fowler signing came out of nowhere. which could mean that soler may be tradeable? or even schwarbs also a trade bait? i still dont understand why not just play schwarbs at catcher since its his natural pos. another thing is schwarbs/baez/ off the bench in some cases.

in theo we trust. maddon is going to have a field day setting up that line up on a daily.
i mean seriously, who is an automatic out in that lineup?

 

[CP1708]

Dexter Fowler signs a 3 year 35 million dollar deal with Baltimore, so the Cubs now get their 2nd round pick back.

SIKE!

 

[CP1708]

Soler and Baez, coming off our bench.

****!!!!

Wow man.

Both could play LF lefty/right platoon with Schwarber when he's not catching.

Lineup of

Fowler
Schwarber
Bryant
Rizzo
Soler
Heyward
Zobrist
Russell

that fowler signing came out of nowhere. which could mean that soler may be tradeable? or even schwarbs also a trade bait? i still dont understand why not just play schwarbs at catcher since its his natural pos. another thing is schwarbs/baez/ off the bench in some cases.

in theo we trust. maddon is going to have a field day setting up that line up on a daily.
i mean seriously, who is an automatic out in that lineup?

Schwarber can't be the everyday MLB catcher yet because of the pitch handling. Framing, knowing sequences, opposing hitters, etc. That's why Montero is one of the best, anything you get out of his bat is a bonus. It's why Lester loves working with Ross, etc.

 

[sportsjunkie]

Welcome Back Dex Fowler!!!!!!!

 

[CP1708]

Michael Cerami ‎@Michael_Cerami

2016 STEAMER:
Coghlan: .247/.328/.388 .5 WAR
Fowler: .253/.350/.395 1.8 WAR

They managed to get even better somehow after this already ridiculous offseason.

Defensively this team is almost as solid as it is offensively. Heyward and Russell are GG candidates. Bryant, Rizzo Fowler and Zobrist are all really good, as is Montero. LF is the weakest defensive position on the team, and probably the least important in all of baseball.


Depth
C Montero, Ross, Scwarber
1B Rizzo, Bryant
2B Zobrist, Baez, Russell
SS Russell, Baez
3B Bryant, Baez
LF Scwarber, Soler, Baez, Bryant
CF Fowler, Heyward, Bryant, Baez
RF Heyward, Soler, Bryant

And really, Zobrist can play ALL of them except catcher. Injury protection, rest protection, platoon protection, just flat out crazy depth, and this doesn't even count LaStella or Triple A.

My God :x

 

[eentegra]

Staying healthy will be key this season.

 

[Lake Shore Drive]

Happy they kept Dex!
Really felt like 3/35 wasn't that bad and a lil surprised the Cubs hadn't matched that.
Now JHey can stay in right.
Gotta feel for Soler though, this all but makes him the tradeable player before the deadline.