Bleacher Bums Forum

Offseason predictions...

David Kaplan
1. Cubs are going to take a page out of the Yankees' book and retool on the fly rather than go all-in to contend in 2020.
2. Jose Quintana has thrown his last pitch as a Cub.
3. This will be the second-to-last offseason for Theo Epstein as the Cubs president of baseball operations.

Kelly Crull
1. Cubs re-sign Nick Castellanos and trade away Kyle Schwarber.
2. Tyler Chatwood will be in the 2020 rotation.
3. John Lackey will be named quality assurance coach on David Ross's coaching staff. (Kidding, but only kind of...)

Tony Andracki
1. Before the Cubs play a Spring Training game, Javy Baez will sign an extension that will keep him in Chicago through at least 2023.
2. Willson Contreras will be traded this winter and the Cubs will get some much-needed pitching help in return.
3. Cubs sign Howie Kendrick this winter as the professional bat and lefty-masher they craved in 2019.
4. Ben Zobrist will return on a one-year deal and finish his playing career in a Cubs uniform.
5. David Bote, Albert Almora Jr. and Addison Russell will all be traded or non-tendered this winter as the Cubs remake their bench/depth.

Jeff Nelson
1. Willson Contreras will sign a contract extension.
2. Ben Zobrist will return as a player/coach.
3. Jose Quintana will be traded for minor league depth.
4. Terrance Gore will be signed to be the 26th man on the roster under the new rules.

Bryant.

....Think the question is what teams would be in on Bryant and what would they be willing to give up. Small market teams would only have him two seasons so not sure they'd be in play. Would a big-market contender give up a lot for him not knowing if they could re-sign him? Just not sure of his trade market value.

Yeah, I wonder the same thing and feel the same uncertainty.  Just not sure how much talent teams are going to push for a 2-year rental.  Don't think you're going to get close to equal talent value, unless you're basically trading him for other comparable guy, as in short-control and non-trivial contract. 


This is why I so strongly suspect that once Nowacrat Theo actually sees what the offers are, he'll elect to stick with Nowacrat Bryant over some not-nearly-as-good-for-2020 and not-really-that-great long-term-Buildican either.

Zobrist will sign with the Angels.

Lamet is good.

Arizona Phil's trade of Bryant for Lamet, Urias and Patino doesn't do it for me.  Even if you bring in Rendon to replace Bryant the pitching staff is good enough and you won't have the money to fix it.  Would anybody really feel confident in Darvish, Hendricks, Lamet, Lester, Quintana?  Urias seems like a lesser version of Hoerner and Patino, while he has a great raw stuff, has a bit of Dylan Cease walk problem.  Even if you replaced Gore with Patino I'm not sure it is worth it for the Cubs.

I think it would take a 3rd team. Prospects to KC for Merrifield, Bryant to padres, Merrifield and some combo of  Lament or Munoz to the cubs.

Would likely also cost the Cubs a Marquez or Amaya.

Gordo says it’s down to Ross and Espada for the Cubs FWIW, with Ross as the favorite. Sign me up for Espada if thats the case.

Wittenmyer may have the least access to the front office of any of the local guys, so it would be surprising if had more knowledge of the status of the search than anybody else.

But who knows?

Mooney kinda implied those 2 guys were in the lead as well.  Espada is really interesting, but the FO will now exactly what they are getting in Ross. 

Interesting. I did not read it that way. They were the first two players discussed, but other than that, how did you conclude that Mooney implied they were "in the lead?"