Bleacher Bums Forum

You think Bryant has Boston on his mind or California?

What team is moving to Las Vegas?

Thanks for the link, brjones! 

Jordan Bastian writes really well and sure has the pedigree to do a GREAT job with MLB Cubs!

Levine confirming Bernstein that the Cubs are in on Harper.

Levine said the Cubs didn’t have to shed money to sign Harper and that they have always been in on him.

Somebody suggested a Heyward for Cano trade. Cano for 5 more years is scary without a DH in the NL, but he’d be an upgrade on offense.  I don’t think Russell or Edwards would have enough value to off set Heyward, plus Edwards despite being inconsistent would be a loss in the bullpen. He is one of the few guys that can strike out people.

Levine said the Cubs didn’t have to shed money to sign Harper and that they have always been in on him.

I am not inclined to take Bruce Levine as seriously on something like this as I might be if it came from, say Kaplan. But at the same time, it's not nothing.  It seems to me that it's always a mistake to take too seriously early pundit predictions about what specific teams, particularly the Cubs, are going to do over the winter.  If it does turn out that the Cubs are seriously pursuing Harper, it should be yet another example of this.

That said, I'm skeptical the Cubs are doing anything beyond keeping options open.

I wonder if the Cubs could dump Heyward if they ate half his contract and threw in somebody like Russell or Edwards.

I don't think Russell adds any value to most teams. He's a PR nightmare (especially for a team on the west coast like the Mariners--maybe the PR is easier to navigate in a more politically diverse or conservative area of the company). Plus, he's getting expensive and just isn't very good at anything but defense. He's a throw-in at best.

I'm sure this won't be a popular opinion on this board, but I think the Cubs should cash in on Edwards' value this offseason. He still seems to be perceived favorably...but he's not actually *that* young (27), and he melts down far too often in critical situations. Plus, his stuff was noticeably down after he came back from injury. With his command, he's not going to have a long career if he permanently loses anything off his pitches (see Carlos Marmol, for example). You also have to wonder if he might be a TJ candidate soon.

I think this is the last chance they have to get real value out of him. Next offseason, I don't think it's that much of a stretch to think he could be a non-tender candidate...or at least a dump-for-nothing guy who would've had value a year or two before (like Kyle Barraclough was for the Marlins earlier this offseason). That's assuming he's not recovering from TJ surgery.

Early relative to last year.