2015 MLB Season - Can the Cubs FINALLY win the World Series? (LOL NO)

[Timby]

Re: 2015 MLB Season - Can the Cubs FINALLY win the World Series? (No.)

Shields, I think, is in the lower tier of potentially available pitchers -- the biggest name is Hamels, but now that Gillick and MacPhail are running that show, Epstein isn't going to be able to fleece them, and neither Schwarber nor Vogelbach project well for their needs. Beyond that, I wouldn't be shocked to see them re-acquire Samardjiza a la Hammel, because the Sox need bats, and David Price is almost certainly going to be in play because Detroit is pretty much in need of a rebuild.

The other issue is how much money Tom Ricketts is willing to spend. This is clearly not the year for the Cubs to go all-in for a playoff run, and the only way he'd sign off on acquiring a Price or a Hamels is if there's some cost certainty involved, so it's entirely possible the team waits until the winter meetings to see where the market is. Jordan Zimmermann and Zach Greinke aren't going to be traded during the season but they don't appear to have any willingness to re-sign without testing the market, so they're winter possibilities.

 

[Corran Horn]

Re: 2015 MLB Season - Can the Cubs FINALLY win the World Series? (No.)

Left field it is!

Again, I feel that if Cubs management had the slightest hope that Schwarber could play an outfield spot, then this hilariously bad attempt at forcing him into catching -- something that he was really, really bad at in the minors -- doesn't happen.

It seems like you think Schwarber was basically tripping over the ball back there the other day. That's not quite what happened.

If they could get Shields, maybe. They were interested in him before the Padres swooped in.

They have to give up some trade pieces and basically pay Shields what they were unwilling to give him (and a heavily, heavily back-loaded contract) in February.

 

[Timby]

Re: 2015 MLB Season - Can the Cubs FINALLY win the World Series? (No.)

Edwin Jackson DFA'ed, Rafael Soriano called up.

No one's going to touch that contract, though.

 

[Corran Horn]

Re: 2015 MLB Season - Can the Cubs FINALLY win the World Series? (No.)

Edwin Jackson DFA'ed, Rafael Soriano called up.

No one's going to touch that contract, though.

Pure roster spot move.

Shows they don't care about the money and they think there's a run in this group.

Jackson had been dreadful in anything but pure mop-up work.

 

[Timby]

Re: 2015 MLB Season - Can the Cubs FINALLY win the World Series? (No.)

Edwin Jackson DFA'ed, Rafael Soriano called up.

No one's going to touch that contract, though.

Pure roster spot move.

Shows they don't care about the money and they think there's a run in this group.

There's a run in this group, but not this year. Right now with the bullpen issues, Castro being one of the five worst everyday players in baseball, and Russell and Fowler struggling badly, their most realistic possibility in 2015 is losing in the wildcard play-in round. This is not the year to trade assets for an imagined deep playoff run, because they just don't have the pieces to do it, not with both St. Louis and Pittsburgh ripping it up.

 

[Corran Horn]

Re: 2015 MLB Season - Can the Cubs FINALLY win the World Series? (No.)

By what measure has their bullpen been bad? It's actually been pretty good.

I'll give you Castro - he's having another 2013.

Just making the playoffs after last year is a run, I'd say.

 

[Timby]

Re: 2015 MLB Season - Can the Cubs FINALLY win the World Series? (No.)

I'll give you Castro - he's having another 2013.

He's not having another 2013 (he's actually worse this year by nearly an order of magnitude, and in 2013 you could actually make an argument that he was the worst everyday player in baseball), he's just been exposed, fully, for what he's always been -- a BABIP-dependent hitter with no tools for getting on base beyond praying for slap hits to get out of the infield and the occasional dinger. He possesses no strike zone awareness, no discipline and might actually be worse in the field than Manny Alexander and Jeff Blauser, which is ... well, really rather impressive.

The bullpen has been generally decent but spotty (they're walking too many guys), and Strop is just all over the place. Maaaaybe Soriano can plug that hole, but they really need two solid relievers who can get the game to Rondon. The bigger need is obviously a staff ace, because while I think Lester can get there, I'm not sure how long Bosio can keep pulling rabbits out of hats with Hammel and Arrieta, both of whom are throwing out of their minds and I'm not sure the performance is sustainable.

 

[Timby]

Re: 2015 MLB Season - Can the Cubs FINALLY win the World Series? (No.)

Also, paging Yanks: Shane Greene is one of the worst starters in the AL, while Didi Gregorius is grabbing everything in sight at short, which the Yankees desperately needed after years of "past a diving Jeter."

Just a little FYI.

 

[Yanks]

Re: 2015 MLB Season - Can the Cubs FINALLY win the World Series? (No.)

Also, paging Yanks: Shane Greene is one of the worst starters in the AL, while Didi Gregorius is grabbing everything in sight at short, which the Yankees desperately needed after years of "past a diving Jeter."

Just a little FYI.

I believe Shane would have done better with our pitching coach. He started strong but has tailed off. Still don't think we should have traded him. Evoldi has probably the best run support in the majors... the only reason he has a winning record.

As for Didi, I'm glad to see his hands of stone soften up a bit, but he sure needs to put Tex on his Christmas list, as he's saved many an bad throw. It's also nice to see him become somewhat of a hitter.... much improvement lately.

 

[Starbreaker]

Re: 2015 MLB Season - Can the Cubs FINALLY win the World Series? (No.)

Forgot to mention my experience on Wednesday. I'm sitting in a Subway restaurant in Atlanta. I look up and see the only other people in the whole restaurant start to order. This guy has some decent biceps, an expensive gold watch, and some bright blue eyes. I think it's a Dan Uggla lookalike at first. Nope, it's actually Dan Uggla. He ordered some food for his kids, said "what's up man" to me, and left.

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

Re: 2015 MLB Season - Can the Cubs FINALLY win the World Series? (No.)

^That's cool.

--Sran

 

[1001001]

Re: 2015 MLB Season - Can the Cubs FINALLY win the World Series? (No.)

Dear Boston Red Sox,

Thank you for visiting. We hope you enjoyed your stay. Sorry about the rain.

Your Pals,

The Los Angeles Angels

 

[Scout101]

Re: 2015 MLB Season - Can the Cubs FINALLY win the World Series? (No.)

probably did the Sox a favor too, so it goes both ways. This should keep them from thinking they are still in the hunt, so hopefully it tanked them enough to consider being sellers and just sorting things out for next year.

Didn't want to see them wasting prospects or effort trying to make this year work, or holding onto anything that has trade value and might make the team better later on.

Not that there's a ton of useful stuff to trade, but they've got a few useful parts for contenders.

 

[1001001]

Re: 2015 MLB Season - Can the Cubs FINALLY win the World Series? (No.)

Well they certainly have some problems on offense. 4 runs in 4 games is not going to cut it.

-61 run differential so far this season.

They'll bounce back eventually. They always do.

 

[Scout101]

Re: 2015 MLB Season - Can the Cubs FINALLY win the World Series? (No.)

Not worried long-term, they've got a good base and a ton of promising young talent. Their 5 #3 pitchers plan just didn't work out, because somehow all of them managed to perform below expectations. Even there, some promising youngsters (despite you lighting one of them up yesterday afternoon), so if they just go get a #1 type in the offseason, it would bump everyone down into a better spot and things should go better. Some of these guys are too far below the norm for it to not correct itself somewhat.

Offense just went through a cold spell, not worried there. Pretty solid lineup in general. Plus Napoli and Vic will be gone after this year, so that alone should help.

 

[Tom Hendricks]

Re: 2015 MLB Season - Can the Cubs FINALLY win the World Series? (No.)

Can the Mets get a hitter? Only runs driven in last night were by the pitcher Harvey. I'll trade Harvey and someone off the farm for a decent hitting Left Fielder or 3rd Baseman. Anyone...anyone. Is this thing on?

 

[Scout101]

Re: 2015 MLB Season - Can the Cubs FINALLY win the World Series? (No.)

Do they have to field the position well? Only works for fantasy baseball, but I'd trade you Sandoval or Hanley for that package in a second.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Re: 2015 MLB Season - Can the Cubs FINALLY win the World Series? (No.)

Edwin Jackson DFA'ed, Rafael Soriano called up.

No one's going to touch that contract, though.

Pure roster spot move.

Shows they don't care about the money and they think there's a run in this group.

There's a run in this group, but not this year. Right now with the bullpen issues, Castro being one of the five worst everyday players in baseball, and Russell and Fowler struggling badly, their most realistic possibility in 2015 is losing in the wildcard play-in round. This is not the year to trade assets for an imagined deep playoff run, because they just don't have the pieces to do it, not with both St. Louis and Pittsburgh ripping it up.

If the Tigers really are sellers, what chance of getting Price? Schwarber would be a better fit as a DH as much as I'd hate to see him go.

 

[Corran Horn]

Re: 2015 MLB Season - Can the Cubs FINALLY win the World Series? (No.)

Pure roster spot move.

Shows they don't care about the money and they think there's a run in this group.

There's a run in this group, but not this year. Right now with the bullpen issues, Castro being one of the five worst everyday players in baseball, and Russell and Fowler struggling badly, their most realistic possibility in 2015 is losing in the wildcard play-in round. This is not the year to trade assets for an imagined deep playoff run, because they just don't have the pieces to do it, not with both St. Louis and Pittsburgh ripping it up.

If the Tigers really are sellers, what chance of getting Price? Schwarber would be a better fit as a DH as much as I'd hate to see him go.

It's too bad Vogelbach just got hurt.

I could see Schwarber because it'd basically be a rent-to-own. Cubs would have been interested in Price in the off season anyway. Too bad baseball deals preclude the "player promise to sign extension" move.

 

[Timby]

Re: 2015 MLB Season - Can the Cubs FINALLY win the World Series? (No.)

There's a run in this group, but not this year. Right now with the bullpen issues, Castro being one of the five worst everyday players in baseball, and Russell and Fowler struggling badly, their most realistic possibility in 2015 is losing in the wildcard play-in round. This is not the year to trade assets for an imagined deep playoff run, because they just don't have the pieces to do it, not with both St. Louis and Pittsburgh ripping it up.

If the Tigers really are sellers, what chance of getting Price? Schwarber would be a better fit as a DH as much as I'd hate to see him go.

It's too bad Vogelbach just got hurt.

I could see Schwarber because it'd basically be a rent-to-own. Cubs would have been interested in Price in the off season anyway. Too bad baseball deals preclude the "player promise to sign extension" move.

Eh, there's a lot of under-the-table stuff that happens -- the Reds' acquisition of Ken Griffey, Jr., was contingent upon him signing an extension, and I believe the Mets had a similar arrangement with Johan Santana when they picked him up a few years ago. I'd be wary of overpaying for Price, however, considering he's pitching out of his mind in his walk year. He's a very good pitcher, but I don't think he's elite, and I have a feeling Dave Dombrowski is going to be looking for an elite-level payday for Price.