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Chicago Cubs Thread - The Ricketts are too poor to pay players


pwny

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Russell is back.

Can’t say I’m the least bit surprised, but I am disappointed.

And he admitted that he did it. If he didn’t hide behind a lie for months, I might have been willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for how this statement portrays his growth. But he’s already made it clear he cared more about the perception of him than he did the actual issue.

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8 hours ago, pwny said:

Russell is back.

Can’t say I’m the least bit surprised, but I am disappointed.

And he admitted that he did it. If he didn’t hide behind a lie for months, I might have been willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for how this statement portrays his growth. But he’s already made it clear he cared more about the perception of him than he did the actual issue.

Feel like if we had a decent backup option he'd be gone.

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On 11/30/2018 at 1:55 PM, pwny said:

Russell is back.

Can’t say I’m the least bit surprised, but I am disappointed.

And he admitted that he did it. If he didn’t hide behind a lie for months, I might have been willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for how this statement portrays his growth. But he’s already made it clear he cared more about the perception of him than he did the actual issue.

I still don't think he plays another game for the Cubs.  Or at least I hope he doesn't.

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Apparently the Cubs were trying to bring in Brian McCann as a backup C to bring an "edge" back that they haven't had since Grandpa Rossy retired.  Call me crazy, but self appointed "fun police" =/= "edge". Very happy that one didn't work out.

Now sign Bryce Harper, dammit!

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On 12/3/2018 at 10:48 AM, hrubes20 said:

I still don't think he plays another game for the Cubs.  Or at least I hope he doesn't.

Same, but I don't want to see a Zobrist/Bote combination at 2B. Much rather Baez get most of the time there. 

Galvis is a guy I'd like to sign.

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12 hours ago, Blazer026 said:

Same, but I don't want to see a Zobrist/Bote combination at 2B. Much rather Baez get most of the time there. 

Galvis is a guy I'd like to sign.

I still don't get this aversion to Zobrist playing 2B every day against RHPs.  He was really good last year; he's the best leadoff option the team has against RHPs; and by platooning him with a guy like Bote (who mashed LHPs in 2018 and plays good D) it should provide him with plenty of rest to keep him from wearing down while simultaneously maximizing the production at 2B.  Galvis would be a really good add, since he can play SS, but I'm not sure we could afford him if Bryce is brought in (which I absolutely will not give up on until he signs somewhere else).  

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8 hours ago, hrubes20 said:

I still don't get this aversion to Zobrist playing 2B every day against RHPs.  He was really good last year; he's the best leadoff option the team has against RHPs; and by platooning him with a guy like Bote (who mashed LHPs in 2018 and plays good D) it should provide him with plenty of rest to keep him from wearing down while simultaneously maximizing the production at 2B.  Galvis would be a really good add, since he can play SS, but I'm not sure we could afford him if Bryce is brought in (which I absolutely will not give up on until he signs somewhere else).  

I just worried about Zobrist playing 100+ games at 2B. He started looking worse out there as the season went on imo.

Bote is fine defensely, but he was really only good in July so I'm not 100% sold on him yet. 

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8 hours ago, hrubes20 said:

I still don't get this aversion to Zobrist playing 2B every day against RHPs.  He was really good last year; he's the best leadoff option the team has against RHPs; and by platooning him with a guy like Bote (who mashed LHPs in 2018 and plays good D) it should provide him with plenty of rest to keep him from wearing down while simultaneously maximizing the production at 2B.  Galvis would be a really good add, since he can play SS, but I'm not sure we could afford him if Bryce is brought in (which I absolutely will not give up on until he signs somewhere else).  

I just don’t really feel comfortable with Bote, Happ and Almora being every other day players. Having Zobrist be the guy who can fill in at any OF spot and at 2B when needed makes the line up a ton better than getting those guys an extra 100AB each. At least in my opinion.

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I also believe no matter how many arms we add, we’ll need reliever help at the deadline. So I’d rather be in a position that we can move a guy like Happ or Almora for the piece we need rather than having set ourself up so that we’re relying on them so we have to find some team who wants someone from our mediocre farm system instead. 

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14 hours ago, Blazer026 said:

I just worried about Zobrist playing 100+ games at 2B. He started looking worse out there as the season went on imo.

Bote is fine defensely, but he was really only good in July so I'm not 100% sold on him yet. 

He barely played there in the 2nd half after Murphy was acquired, so I'm not sure what you are basing that off of. 

It was a small sample, but Bote hit LHPs well the entire year.  He wasn't able to adjust against RHPs much though.  

14 hours ago, pwny said:

I just don’t really feel comfortable with Bote, Happ and Almora being every other day players. Having Zobrist be the guy who can fill in at any OF spot and at 2B when needed makes the line up a ton better than getting those guys an extra 100AB each. At least in my opinion.

I don't want Happ taking any kind of meaningful ABs, so he can be excluded.  But starting Almora and Bote every day against LHPs is maximizing the lineup, while simultaneously putting out a superior defensive squad to any one that includes Zobrist.  I think I saw somewhere that less than 1/3 of SPs are LH, so Bote/Almora would only be playing every 3rd day.  Assuming Russell is dealt and that we can somehow bring in Harper, I would go with the following vs LHPs:

1.  Zobrist - 2B

2.  Harper - RF

3.  KB - 3B

4.  Rizzo - 1B

5.  Javy - SS

6.  Schwarber - LF

7.  Contreras - C

8.  Heyward - CF

and the following vs LHPs:

1.  Almora - CF

2.  Harper - LF

3.  KB - 3B

4.  Rizzo - 1B

5.  Javy - SS

6.  Contreras - C

7.  Heyward - RF

8.  Bote - 2B

Schwarber and Heyward can play every other game against LHPs (depending on "hotness").  

13 hours ago, pwny said:

I also believe no matter how many arms we add, we’ll need reliever help at the deadline. So I’d rather be in a position that we can move a guy like Happ or Almora for the piece we need rather than having set ourself up so that we’re relying on them so we have to find some team who wants someone from our mediocre farm system instead. 

I would not be shocked at all to see both Russell and Happ dealt for relief help this offseason.  But yeah, the health of Morrow/Edwards/Cishek/Strop and whatever reliever they acquire between now and then will likely deterimine what happens at the deadline.

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On 12/6/2018 at 10:55 AM, hrubes20 said:

He barely played there in the 2nd half after Murphy was acquired, so I'm not sure what you are basing that off of. 

Still appeared in 20 games since August but I get the point.

I also don't want Happ playing much at all, strikes out way too much.

And I really wonder what will happen if we don't get Harper.

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