Bleacher Bums Forum

Is it time to say farewell to Franmil Reyes?  Or are we so desperate for any sort of power that we have no choice but to keep him?  Discuss.

Well, BN has already anointed him a core piece, as they do any scrub who has a good week, so hasn’t the decision already been made?

I think the guy has enough of a track record to where you keep him around next season and see if he can produce enough to be a platoon DH at least.  If he gets back to taking walks at the rate he did before this season I think there’s a decent chance he can OPS in the 800’s in that role.

Newcomb to Iowa

I’m still holding out hope…

Dave, don't be a dope.  No offense to you personally.

Is it time to say farewell to Franmil Reyes?  Or are we so desperate for any sort of power that we have no choice but to keep him?  Discuss.

I don’t see it as a tough decision.

Reyes is a replacement level player. 0 bWAR/-0.2 fWAR this season, as a Cub.

And, he’ll be arb eligible again in 2023.

You take the $5-6 Reyes would get in arb and use that to help pay a portion for, say, Josh Bell at 1B and replace Reyes at DH with Matt Mervis. You just added two lefty bats with power. Re-sign Contreras to take righty DH bats.

Reyes as a Cub .718 OPS wRC+ 98
Bell as a Padre  .614 OPS wRC+ 83

The only thing that is attractive about Reyes is he doesn’t require a multi year commitment.

For the season:

Bell    126 wRC+
Reyes  79 wRC+

Obviously, no comparison.

Not really a big fan of Bell, but Cubs 1B performance in 2022 is worse than replacement level at Minus 0.8 fWAR and 84 wRC+ (#26 in majors). Badly needs upgrade. Even league average or a bit better performance would be a big upgrade.

Bell’s tenure as a Padre has been a bust but that’s probably going to bring down his market value to the point of being palatable for a club badly in need of a 1B upgrade, like the Cubs.

Sure, Mervis figures to be a factor but might fit best as a DH (or Bell as a DH), as AZ Phil suggests. In any case, Cubs need more than one power bat from the left side.

There will be other lefty bats out there for 2023 in addition to Bell but the point is that Reyes is a bad fit for Cubs, especially at an arb salary.

One top pitcher.  One top hitter.  Other odds and ends.

Non-tendering Heuer and Madrigal would be a pretty bad look.

Very poetic.

Maddie Lee

Seiya Suzuki isn’t expected back this series. He and his wife are still waiting on the birth of their child. Recently the Cubs moved him from the paternity list to the restricted list as a procedural move to give him a longer paternity leave.