Cubs in ‘26

[Dave23]

Let’s go!

[craig]

Jordan Wicks Developing New Curveball with Tread Athletics -

Tread Athletics burst onto the scene a few years ago and has quickly gained a reputation for developing pitchers at all levels of the game. Many of their instructors have been plucked away by MLB o...

cubsinsider.com

[JeffH]

Cubs avoid arbitration with Justin Steele.

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[Reb]

Cubs settle with all three of its arb-eligible players.

Turns out that the settlements, in the aggregate, add about $1 M more to team payroll than did the MLBTR estimates of those three players.

So, Cubs payroll now sits at $213.4 M, according to RR.

[brjones]

The Cubs are advertising that Addison Russell is going to be at the Cubs Convention next weekend.

Sammy Sosa was the face of the Cubs for nearly a decade. They pretended he didn't exist for 20 years after that because of PEDs (at a time when half the league was using PEDs). But six years after a domestic violence suspension, Russell is already welcomed back? That suspension made him such a pariah that he never played another game with any MLB-affiliated team. He was only 25 at the time, and no MLB organization ever thought he was worth even a minor league contract after that.

The Cubs organization is really hard to like sometimes.

[Playtwo]

For too many, abusing women is a man's right.

[JeffH]

If you're Counsell, what's your lineup?

[Reb]

If you're Counsell, what's your lineup?

Throughout the 2025  post-season, Counsell batted Busch leadoff and Hoerner #2.

Think that’s the default top of lineup until shown otherwise.

Bregman #3.

A lefty bat at #4——either Ballesteros or 1st half 2025 PCA.

Suzuki at #5.

#6- Happ

#7 is PCA or Ballesteros

Swanson at #8

Catcher at #9.

Different lineup w/out Shaw the automatic guy at #9.

[JeffH]

I'm wondering if he'll hit Bregman second.

[Reb]

Yeah, that’s possible.

If so, where do you hit Hoerner?

Up to leadoff or way down to bottom third of lineup?

[craig]

Yeah, Bregman is OBP-guy foremost, so 2nd would be a good spot. 

reb, I'm thinking he'd not want to stack lefties?  I'd probably want to space Moises and PCA apart somehow? 

[JeffH]

I'm wondering if he might move Happ up to third (temporarily) to give Ballesteros a somewhat soft landing at first.  At this stage of his career, Happ is not really qualified to hit third, but his productivity might not change much based on his spot in the lineup.

Busch
Bregman
Happ
Suzuki
Ballesteros
Hoerner
Crow-Armstrong
Swanson
Kelly/Amaya

[Reb]

Yeah, Jeff, like your lineup more than mine.

Only caveat is if PCA can force his way (hopefully) into a higher spot.

[JeffH]

Yeah, Jeff, like your lineup more than mine.

Only caveat is if PCA can force his way (hopefully) into a higher spot.

Agreed.  Some version of September Ballesteros at #3 and "good" PCA at #5 would be super.  Happ at #7 would be a nice placeholder for a rookie to debut in 2027.

[Dave23]

Hoerner
Bregman
Busch
Suzuki
Happ
PCA
Swanson
Ballesteros
Kelly/Amaya