Cubs offseason needs/ Talk

[knoxville7]

They arent resigning Contreras. They are riding with Gomes and Amaya when he returns from ankle surgery. Contreras isnt in the Cubs future unless the market wants nothing to do with him.

Mervis bats left handed.

The Cubs would plug in lefties but the whole notion of rightie leftie lineup is way overrated especially now that bullpen guys have to ptch to 3 batters no matter what

That doesn’t mean having a balanced Right/Left hitting lineup is less important.

imagine if we had an all right handed lineup, the other team wouldnt have to plan their bullpen moves at all. Having balanced lineups guarantees you get a lefty on righty or righty on lefty matchup. Having an unbalanced lineup guarantees you no such thing

 

[CSF77]

That doesn’t make having a balanced Right/Left hitting lineup is less important.

imagine if we had an all right handed lineup, the other team wouldnt have to plan their bullpen moves at all. Having balanced lineups guarantees you get a lefty on righty or righty on lefty matchup. Having an unbalanced lineup guarantees you no such thing

2008 vs Dodgers. Line up was RH heavy. Got smoked.

Mervis makes sense for sure. Happ also helps to split up the RH sticks. Crow-Armstrong could end up in CF in 24 and they move on from Happ pushing Davis to left field.

Right now the DH is good being a rotational spot that gives more PA's to Contreras and Gomes. If they let Willy walk then there is no justification for a DH rotation anymore. At that point you want a pure hitter that gives line up balance. Bell becomes ideal at that point.

 

[Diehardfan]

He came back to AA in July. You dont know what you are talking about

Maybe. But I do know an arrogant prick when I hear one.

 

[TL1961]

It wasnt worth more than his compensation. Contreras only comes back if its a real deal for the Cubs. You dont put a guy through what they put him through just tot urn around and go we were just playing. Here is the contract ya want.

As for C, you dont need an offensive juggernaut at catcher. You need a pitch framer. Amaya and Gomes check that box. Willy really doesnt.

The Cubs have invested a lot of time and money into Amaya. He is also on the 40 man. There is no way he isnt with the team with the next year or so barring injuries.

He was going to the AFL to start catching again. He was smoking the ball when he came back.

It will figure itself out, but I feel this Contreras resigning is just not realistic.

I couldn’t agree more.

We all love Contreras but the handwriting is on the wall.

They are going to bring up a lot of young pitchers and hope to attract a free agent pitcher and they are going to need guys who can frame and make pitchers better.

As much as I’ve loved Contreras overall, he simply does not do that. It was easy to bash on Miguel Montero and they jettisoned him for saying something bad about Jake Arrieta but the bottom line was the cub pitching was far far better when he was catching then it was once Contreras took over.

I know there are other factors and it’s not 100% on the catcher but it’s noticeable. I mentioned before if Contreras was going to stick around I would’ve preferred as DH which gives you security as a backup C. Or left field or 1B even.

But I don’t see them offering big bucks to try him at new positions. (He played a little LF but speed would be a concern)

Framers are the way to go at C.

 

[TL1961]

That doesn’t mean having a balanced Right/Left hitting lineup is less important.

imagine if we had an all right handed lineup, the other team wouldnt have to plan their bullpen moves at all. Having balanced lineups guarantees you get a lefty on righty or righty on lefty matchup. Having an unbalanced lineup guarantees you no such thing

Not to mention the first 5-7 innings with the wrong starter matchup.

 

[SilenceS]

That doesn’t mean having a balanced Right/Left hitting lineup is less important.

imagine if we had an all right handed lineup, the other team wouldnt have to plan their bullpen moves at all. Having balanced lineups guarantees you get a lefty on righty or righty on lefty matchup. Having an unbalanced lineup guarantees you no such thing

Im not talking having all one way. I am talking the notion of righty/lefty/righty/lefty etc. It became popular because of bullpens. Now, its not that big

 

[knoxville7]

Im not talking having all one way. I am talking the notion of righty/lefty/righty/lefty etc. It became popular because of bullpens. Now, its not that big

And I just explained to you how going right/left/right thru the lineup still is advantageous when dealing with bullpens

 

[SilenceS]

And I just explained to you how going right/left/right thru the lineup still is advantageous when dealing with bullpens

Its not advantageous if you plugging in lefty or righty just to plug them in.

The top offensive teams put their best hitters in spots and they dont care what side they hit from. You want a balance. We agree here.

Thanks though.

 

[SilenceS]

Another thing we havent talked about is shifts, they are gone next year. This is going to help some guys. Im sure the Cubs qre going to dig into the analytics.

Schwarber may hit .280 now.

 

[knoxville7]

Its not advantageous if you plugging in lefty or righty just to plug them in.

The top offensive teams put their best hitters in spots and they dont care what side they hit from. You want a balance. We agree here.

Thanks though.

Ummm what?

You clearly didn’t comprehend what I said regarding bullpen pitcher having to face min of 3 hitters and having an alternating lineup vs not having one

I’ll break it down again for you…

If you have a righty, then a lefty, then a righty hitting in the inning, and the other team brings in a reliever, it doesn’t matter if they pick a lefty or righty pitcher…you’ll get an opposite matchup you like no matter what. Whereas, if you have 3 righties coming up, then the other team can bring in a righty and not have to face a lefty hitter

Thus, it still matters if you have a balanced right to left lineup when handling relief pitching. The fact they have to face 3 hitters doesn’t mean it no longer matters as you tried initially claiming

 

[MDB111™]

Amaya is a major reach. Not proven. Not back. And was falling in the rankings even before injury. He is not a guy to hang your hat on. Even Marquez has fallen out of favor due to his injury track record post COVID.

So ya this is a game of what have you done for me lately. Amaya is not the answer at catcher. He has to prove that he can be a answer. Sitting in Tenn on the DL is not getting it done.

That said. We never know. Jed could have sold and chose not to. So after that decision was made I wouldn't bank on anything.

It wasnt worth more than his compensation. Contreras only comes back if its a real deal for the Cubs. You dont put a guy through what they put him through just tot urn around and go we were just playing. Here is the contract ya want.

As for C, you dont need an offensive juggernaut at catcher. You need a pitch framer. Amaya and Gomes check that box. Willy really doesnt.

The Cubs have invested a lot of time and money into Amaya. He is also on the 40 man. There is no way he isnt with the team with the next year or so barring injuries.

He was going to the AFL to start catching again. He was smoking the ball when he came back.

It will figure itself out, but I feel this Contreras resigning is just not realistic.

Amaya is a turd. Not looking for a checked box. cubs have the money to re sign Contreras and if not, they should look elsewhere. Amaya is oft injured and hasn't shown he can even be a pro.

 

[SilenceS]

Amaya is a turd. Not looking for a checked box. cubs have the money to re sign Contreras and if not, they should look elsewhere. Amaya is oft injured and hasn't shown he can even be a pro.

Oft injured is still great.

 

[Castor76]

What do you guys think it would cost prospect wise to get Sean Murphy from Oakland? He's entering his arbitration years but won't become Oakland expensive for another 2 seasons. From what I could see at Savant, he's a very good pitch framer and good enough with the bat especially in the 5-7 area of the line up. I'm not saying Oakland would be in the market to move him, but you never know. It's baseball.

 

[CSF77]

Not to mention the first 5-7 innings with the wrong starter matchup.

Imagine a slider to the dirt to Javy 27 times. Ya not going to go over well.

 

[Probie2429]

Stay the course. I have to imagine the second half record is one of the best in baseball. No reason to go destroy all the flexibility the club currently has financially with another Heyward contract especially after they just got rid of it. Let's see what bubbles to the surface in the minors over the next two years and then that's when you start making a pivot.

 

[JP Hochbaum]

FA SS will want to stay at SS. In order to sign and move to 3rd you need someone willing.

Yeah I don't think so.... If someone comes here they will be sold on us winning next year. Not what position they play. Plus we still have a question mark at second base, so the SS we sign will get time at SS, and Hoerner can play second. Signing a SS just means adding another body that can play 3 positions in the infield.

 

[JP Hochbaum]

Let's say they got Bogaerts. Add Mervis. And resign Contreras. The line up would be RH heavy. That point you would want a DH that could balance the line up.

Regardless Jed has work to do. If the signs are showing spend he really needs to make a impactful addition

I wouldn't worry about left handed hitters as main off season signings. You can sign 4th and 5th outfielders to do that, and get utility guys that can be sprinkled in the lineup to give guys rest.

 

[Diehardfan]

I wouldn't worry about left handed hitters as main off season signings. You can sign 4th and 5th outfielders to do that, and get utility guys that can be sprinkled in the lineup to give guys rest.

I agree. You won't find a lot of teams with perfect hitting balance. Besides, regardless of what the one dufus on here had to say, Rossy does a pretty good job of mixing and matching both lineups and relievers. I'm interested to see how he does when he actually has major league talent to play.

 

[Raskolnikov]

Another thing we havent talked about is shifts, they are gone next year. This is going to help some guys. Im sure the Cubs qre going to dig into the analytics.

Schwarber may hit .280 now.

What?

That was like the last natural evolution of baseball.

They are going to dictate where your 9 defenders are allowed to stand?

If so they should have done that ten years ago so Blackmon could have been a career .375 hitter.

They better bring back pine tar and extend the pitching staffs by 2 or 3 men also.

 

[Raskolnikov]

So do you get to pick a spot to defend at the beginning of game and not allowed to start an at bat a certain distance from that zone?

I am a lefty so I’ve hated the shift for a while. Will shed no tears, but at the same time I liked the innovation and was curious if it would go anyplace else eventually…like 2 deep outfielders at times. Hayward and Hunter in their prime for instance…could you not have borrowed the left fielder for another middle infielder or very shallow outfielder?