Bleacher Bums Forum

I think you and I have differed in view, in two fundamental ways, re the team and Hoyer.  (Sorry if I oversimplify or misrepresent...)
1.  Your view has been that the problem is Ricketts and the budget; that Hoyer is smart, within Ricketts constraints; that replacing Hoyer would have been unlikely to help, and might hurt.  The "problem" is not Hoyer, it's budget/Ricketts. 

2.  My view has been that Hoyer has not used his budget that well.  If budget is hypothetically determinative, then with $100M budget advantage over division teams, he should have regular division success.  Despite his budget advantage, that has not been true.  I think he has not optimized his budget usage, and that a smarter boss might do considerably better even within Ricketts budget. 

I think my view is: The Ricketts budget is a problem.  The way the money is deployed is a problem.  I also don't think Ricketts wants a high end free agents that will cost 8 years and $400 million even if you could fit them under the budget.  I guess that is were we disagree.  Firing Hoyer will just bring in another guy like Hoyer to try and do the Brewers/Rays model with a bigger budget. 

The farm isn't good enough to value prospects.  This isn't Bryant/Baez/Rizzo/Schwarber coming up.

Yahoo.jp quoting industry sources says "The Cubs have no chance of landing Imai in terms of financial power". It says the Yankees are "likely to win this time".

I guess everyone is trying to get their deals done before they take the rest of the year off.

Well you've got to give credit to Jed since he at least got a head start on the rest of MLB by taking the rest of the year off before everyone else. 

....Jesse Rogers
@JesseRogersESPN
In short, I think the market is weird for Imai. But I do not think they will sit on their hands. I do not know what they will do. They bowed out on King/Weaver/Keller. So your guess is as good as mine. Perhaps a feb short term thing if Imai does not happen?

Heh heh, the prospect of whiffing on everybody and then doing a "feb short term thing" is not a fun prospect.  They've tried the "feb short term thing" last two years, with Bellinger which didn't work that well; and with Bregman who they didn't even get.  So hanging out for that is an unappealing prospect.  Who knows if any guys better than Pressly types will even Feb available, or guys who fit the Cubs?  (Heh heh, it might be funny to do the "feb thing" and get Tucker or Bellinger!  .

The "short term" tuff doesn't appeal.  Hoyer likes operating so likes to remake the team every single winter.  But having guys on 1-year and 2-year deals, or with optouts, I think that's problematic.  Have a core that you know you're going to have for some year, makes planning and trades and stuff more logical. 

https://www.bleachernation.com/cubs/2025/12/20/relative-spending-luxury-tax-the-big-spenders-trade-values-and-other-cubs-bullets/

Brett at Bleacher Nation, on the prospect package Orioles gave for Baz.  Baz had a 4.87 ERA this past year, 3.06 the season before.  So there's for sure some upside, and he's got 3 years of control.  But kinda some perspective on the "sign Bregman, trade for a pitcher" concept.  Trading for Cabrera or Gore, will cost a LOT.  Lets use our budget and sign a pitcher for zero talent loss, please?  And sign him for more years of control than Gore's 2 years (minus lockout) please? 

"*I’ve tried to do a little one-to-one with the Cubs to figure out very roughly what the equivalent package would be, and although it’s HIGHLY imprecise, the parallel is something like Ethan Conrad, Kane Kepley, Josiah Hartshorn, Cole Mathis, and a really good breakout top-20 system pitching prospect of the type the Cubs don’t really have. Even that feels like it isn’t as good as the package the Orioles actually gave up. So, imagine the Cubs giving up even more than that for three years of Baz, betting that he’ll finally break out. Yikes. Do not do that, Cubs. Just freaking spend some money on a free agent …"

Mark Feinsand:

With the asking prices in trades already exorbitant and the cost of free-agent pitching as high as it has ever been, the pitching market could take several more weeks to develop [emphasis supplied]. “So many teams need pitching, so the sellers and the agents aren’t feeling a time crunch to get deals done,” an AL executive said. “Position players like [Kyle] Tucker, [Cody] Bellinger or [Bo] Bichette may all sign before any of the starting pitchers do.”

The lone exception is Imai, who turns 28 on May 9…….Imai’s situation will have to be resolved by Jan. 2, when his posting window ends, so he could be the next high-end free-agent pitcher to come off the board.

Agree.  If Imai is preferred target, having contingency fallbacks still available in case Hoyer misses is good. 

https://www.bleachernation.com/cubs/2025/12/20/relative-spending-luxury-tax-the-big-spenders-trade-values-and-other-cubs-bullets/

Brett at Bleacher Nation, on the prospect package Orioles gave for Baz.  Baz had a 4.87 ERA this past year, 3.06 the season before.  So there's for sure some upside, and he's got 3 years of control.  But kinda some perspective on the "sign Bregman, trade for a pitcher" concept.  Trading for Cabrera or Gore, will cost a LOT.  Lets use our budget and sign a pitcher for zero talent loss, please?  And sign him for more years of control than Gore's 2 years (minus lockout) please? 

"*I’ve tried to do a little one-to-one with the Cubs to figure out very roughly what the equivalent package would be, and although it’s HIGHLY imprecise, the parallel is something like Ethan Conrad, Kane Kepley, Josiah Hartshorn, Cole Mathis, and a really good breakout top-20 system pitching prospect of the type the Cubs don’t really have. Even that feels like it isn’t as good as the package the Orioles actually gave up. So, imagine the Cubs giving up even more than that for three years of Baz, betting that he’ll finally break out. Yikes. Do not do that, Cubs. Just freaking spend some money on a free agent …"

The funny thing is, when the Cubs trade Wiggins, Ballesteros, and Caissie for someone like Baz Bert will be the first one out there spinning it as a genius move.