10/1: Game #163 - Milwaukee Brewers @ Chicago Cubs 12:09PM CT ESPN

Diehardfan said:

Too much money for too little reward = Bryce Harper

and who the hell is Greg Luwinzki?

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CSF77 said:

I think it is more real than you realize.

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CSF77 said:

Omg. 70-80’s Phillies

We don’t know what he will demand honestly. He put up a 9 WAR season but fell back to normal levels. So we are assuming that he will get the pay day. Now he is saying how he wants to be a Nat and I think that is due to his low value and Rizzo’s connection with Boras. Best return value right now.

I honestly think that he is worth 10/250 on the open market myself.

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beckdawg said:

For Heyward, I just don't see it. And he's not even the problem. He's one of the best situational hitters the cubs have which as I mentioned is their problem. In high leverage situations he's hitting .256/.348/.385(101 wRC+) which is 4th on the team if you assume Murphy is gone and better than the 98 Bryant has. If you have an issue with Heyward it's because you view him as a RF. You really shouldn't. IMO you should view him as the starting CF who moves to RF occasionally. Viewed through that lens you have a gold glove caliber OF who's an average hitter in CF. That's a pretty valuable player.

Those moves just don't make any sense to me. Hamilton is a career .245/.298/.333 hitter. He doesn't make the line up better. Harper might be better than a Almora/Schwarber platoon but it isn't as big a gap as you think it is. If you strictly view those two as a one player platoon they hit 85-352 with 11 doubles, 3 triples and 25 HRs to go along with 64 walks and 112 k's vs RHP and 39-132 with 9 doubles a triple and a home run to go along with 9 walks and 16 k's vs LHP. Combine the two and you get 124-484(.256) with 20 doubles, 4 triples and 26 HRs which is a .475 SLG and a .352 OBP. Harper hit .249/.393/.496 this year compared to that combined slash of .256/.352/.475 of Almora/Schwarber. Sure you probably take Harper all things being equal but they wont be. Schwarber/Almora are likely making under $2 mil and Harper is going to get like $25-30 mil.

Additionally, Machado makes far more sense if you assume Russell is getting suspended than harper would. Sure you can play Baez at SS but he's better at 2B and either way you have to have someone else on the roster who can back him up if he's hurt. Machado is perfect for that and his low K rate fits far better into the line up than would Harper's high walk rate higher K rate great power type bat. I mean if you have issues with Schwarber you're going to have the same issue with Harper. They are very similar hitters. IMO you want more hitters like Rizzo/Zobrist who put the ball into play with guys on base rather than walk or homer guys. Plus unlike Harper, Machado will not cost a draft pick to sign.

I think you're over thinking all of this and trying to blow it all up rather than addressing specific issues. Almora/Schwarber is a perfect example of a small change that costs you nothing to make but can have a big impact. Playing Heyward more in CF where his bat profile fits better is another that costs you nothing. Allowing Zobrist to play more is yet another whether that's in RF or at 2B with Baez at 3B and Bryant in RF. I just think the big move you make is replacing Russell as the starting SS with Machado. You're likely going to need a different MI anyways if he's suspended and if you're willing to spend the money on Harper then you're willing to spend it on Machado instead.

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Diehardfan said:

You mean Greg Luzinski? That's no typo, that's horrible spelling. Yeah, I know him...played for the White Sox as well. He was an All-Star a few times and actually garnered a few MVP votes over the years. I think Schwarbs would have to make a big step up to get into his class.

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Holy Cow said:

Memo to management..develop some key bullpen pieces..you’ve had years to address this organizational weakness

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beckdawg said:

Not really a fair complaint. 1) they didn't invest in pitching high in the draft. And while you can say they should have, if they do that then you're subtracting pieces from their core of hitters. 2) even if they had taken pitchers high, they take time to develop. For example, Trevor Clifton was drafted in their second year with the team. He's only now in AAA and he didn't get hurt at any point. 3) the players they had left over from the previous front office are non-existent pitching wise. You had Cashner and Shark at the major league level but they were 3-4 years too early for where the team was. Since then have they gotten anything from the previous regime? Maybe you argue Maples might turn into something but they've had to piece together their pen with cast off retreads like Duensing for multiple years.

We're only now starting to be in a position where there's half decent pitching at AA/AAA. In the next few years you're going to have arms like ODLC, Albertos if he can figure out his yips, Alzolay, Lange, and Little among others who are going to be useful to them. The good teams are teams that have that sort of depth throughout their organization and can pull guys in and out of the pen as they get redundancy. The previous front office didn't leave them in a position to do that. They had to build it all from scratch.

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Holy Cow said:

Seven years...still waiting

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Holy Cow said:

All Quiet on the Western Front

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