Machado will be an age 31 season and giving up 5 years and 150M should he opt out. He's probably going to be looking for a 6-8 years at 35 M per. Ohtani could legit command a 45M AAV deal. Uris will only be 27 and if he has a year like he's been having, he could get 12 years and north of 500M.
At this point, I'd put a flyer out there for Bauer, but whatever team, if any, takes a shot on him, will have to be willing to put up with the media storms about a guy who was accused of horrible things but there was never enough evidence to prosecute.
Cubs need a 3B.
SP is not a huge issue. Hendricks most likely will be delayed so Hayden will have the chance to seal a rotation spot in Apr. Steele improved vastly after talking with Jon Lester and how to use his cutter effectively against RH hitters. The numbers went along with this change
So going in there is question marks as there are a few bounce back guys and a few pitchers that have not sealed the deal yet.
I believe that they are around 81 wins with no progression or break out involved.
Then looking into 2024. Cubs will have Brown, Hertz and Wicks all pushing for rotation slots.
They are in a good place right now and losing both Hendricks and Stroman just creates opportunity.
So I feel that if Bellenger rebounds Jed should try to extend. He has been at the top 1% of players and his fall happened during COVID and a injury. I see him as a solid core hitter that can help David with his ability to move around and shore up weakness.
Adding on. Machado makes sense. Cubs have nothing close for a 3B answer. Manny is also another core hitter that the farm can filter around
Pitching. I would be sorely tempted to hold the deck. Steele and Thompson were pure luck that their talent played out at the majors. Brown, Wicks, and Hertz are higher ceiling types. That doesn't even get into Hayden Kilian and the 2 from last draft that may end up ace caliber talent
This is a bit of a renaissance for the Cubs. The last time that CHC had potential was Wood Zambrano and Prior.
