Cubs hire David Ross as new manager

[bill hAll Star]

Yu Darvish (35 years old, 2 years left)

Doesn't Darvish have four years left? Thought he signed a six-year contract.

 

Their roster after 2021 is:

Jason Heyward (32 years old, 2 years left)

Yu Darvish (35 years old, 2 years left)

Kyle Hendricks (32 years old, 2 years left)

Willson Contreras (30 years old, 1 year left)

David Bote (who cares)

 

Right, thanks for the clarification.

 

So that is their core in 2 years with zero farm system coming up behind it. You could potentially add Rizzo to like a 3 year, $60 million deal or Baez to a 5/$130 deal and a few overpriced pitchers to that group and it looks a lot like the Giants roster ~2 years ago.

[MrTPlush]

I hope they extend Rizzo. A 1B who doesn't hit for 30 homers under 30 sounds like a bad plan to have for their mid 30s.

[bill hAll Star]

I hope they extend Rizzo. A 1B who doesn't hit for 30 homers under 30 sounds like a bad plan to have for their mid 30s.

 

Exactly. The comments have been, "they have lots of money and can spend to be competitive."

 

That's only somewhat true. That means not only do superstar players have to become available, the Cubs have to win the extremely high bidding or take on a risk by absorbing a contract in trade.

 

So in 2 years, who are the Cubs going to sign to improve their 75 win team on paper to a 90+ win team? They can either go all-in again on Rizzo, Bryant, etc. or the main crop of guys available is like Kenley Jansen and Kluber in their mid/late 30s.

 

And for 2020 and 2021, they have a little bit of room to spend but they have a lot of holes and, once again, no farm system.

 

I'm actually predicting a fairly drastic offseason for them where somebody like Rizzo or Baez or Bryant are dealt. If not, they are inevitably going to collapse. So are the Brewers in 2022 but they are slightly better than the current Cubs and we know this is coming as a small market team anyways.

[MrTPlush]

I hope they extend Rizzo. A 1B who doesn't hit for 30 homers under 30 sounds like a bad plan to have for their mid 30s.

 

Exactly. The comments have been, "they have lots of money and can spend to be competitive."

 

That's only somewhat true. That means not only do superstar players have to become available, the Cubs have to win the extremely high bidding or take on a risk by absorbing a contract in trade.

 

So in 2 years, who are the Cubs going to sign to improve their 75 win team on paper to a 90+ win team? They can either go all-in again on Rizzo, Bryant, etc. or the main crop of guys available is like Kenley Jansen and Kluber in their mid/late 30s.

 

And for 2020 and 2021, they have a little bit of room to spend but they have a lot of holes and, once again, no farm system.

 

I'm actually predicting a fairly drastic offseason for them where somebody like Rizzo or Baez or Bryant are dealt. If not, they are inevitably going to collapse. So are the Brewers in 2022 but they are slightly better than the current Cubs and we know this is coming as a small market team anyways.

 

It will be interesting to see what they do if they once again miss the postseason. Bryant/Baez/Rizzo are all a year from FA after next year. They will either rebuild at that exact moment or I think their team will slowly dwindle into another massive rebuild. The pitching is ancient with little to no reinforcements coming any time soon and the offensive side isn't crazy young either. Contreras/Happ are good, but what else?

[bill hAll Star]

It doesn't always work this way but the Brewers had a better team and...

 

Yelich missed the end of the year

Knebel was out

Hiura wasn't up all year

Burnes was a dud, he could turn it around with some adjustments

They will have to decide whether or how to replace Mous/Grandal

 

But the Brewers could run the same team out there with a similar payroll (maybe some long-term commitments to Mous/Grandal) and they could win 95 games next year. That's in the realm of possibility

 

The Cubs:

Bryant was a bit beat up and Contreras missed some time

Hamels was helpful and he's a FA

Lester is older

The only good bullpen pieces are all FAs (Kintzler/Cishek)

Castellanos saved them last year, he'll command a big payday to return

 

This is kinda why I think they may do something unexpected this offseason (and they've hinted at it) and trade one of their prized core pieces. They could run everyone back out there and make a big signing on top of it and still only win 88 games. I think they may try to shuffle the deck this offseason because I think it's inevitable already that they are inferior to the Brewers and Cards and the Reds may even get in the mix this coming season.

 

The only way I see this fixed is if they bring back Castellanos AND are creative and basically bring in 6 or 7 new low-mid priced pitchers with the remaining money to basically cover for the departure of Hamels and rework the bullpen with a bunch of solid long/matchup guys somewhat similar to the Brewers.

[CrewFanBrewMan69]

I hope they extend Rizzo. A 1B who doesn't hit for 30 homers under 30 sounds like a bad plan to have for their mid 30s.

 

Exactly. The comments have been, "they have lots of money and can spend to be competitive."

 

That's only somewhat true. That means not only do superstar players have to become available, the Cubs have to win the extremely high bidding or take on a risk by absorbing a contract in trade.

 

So in 2 years, who are the Cubs going to sign to improve their 75 win team on paper to a 90+ win team? They can either go all-in again on Rizzo, Bryant, etc. or the main crop of guys available is like Kenley Jansen and Kluber in their mid/late 30s.

 

And for 2020 and 2021, they have a little bit of room to spend but they have a lot of holes and, once again, no farm system.

 

I'm actually predicting a fairly drastic offseason for them where somebody like Rizzo or Baez or Bryant are dealt. If not, they are inevitably going to collapse. So are the Brewers in 2022 but they are slightly better than the current Cubs and we know this is coming as a small market team anyways.

I think Bryant is very likely to get traded, that could help extend a window if they hit on the trade. He’s going to command a good return, multiple top 100 prospects (probably at least 1 top 20-30) and/or good and longer controlled MLB pieces. Their offseason/plan I think will be very much like the 2016 Yankees where they do buying and selling. I also think they’ll very much be in play for Mookie next offseason, Theo drafted him in Boston and he excelled at all their neuro science testing stuff they do. I think whatever moves they make this offseason they’ll make sure there’s money to make a run at him next offseason.

[Jopal78]

Esptein must be a hard guy to please/work for. Ross is his 4th manager in 8 years at the helm in Chicago. Ross received a three year contract however, Epstein's deal only runs through 2021. This means after the 2021 season when Bryant, Rizzo, Schwarber and Baez all hit free agency Epstein likely rides off into the sunset. A new GM most likely brings in a new manager for 2022, so absent a deep title run, Ross is likely a stop gap manager for the Cubs as the Epstein regime concludes and new leadership emerges.

 

Keep in mind the Cubs are owned by the TD Ameritrade folks. With that background, and having been beyond the luxury tax threshold in 2019 I don't see them infusing a bunch of cash into the team payroll. I think it is likely they'll shuffle the roster a bit and maybe trade one of their horses not named Rizzo or Bryant for some younger/cheaper talent.