The Cardinals are hopeful that Steven Matz will return from his stint on the injured list soon, but when he does, it will be as a reliever, per MLB.com’s John Denton (via Twitter). There simply isn’t time remaining in the season to build him back up as a starter. The switch is partly because of Matz, but also due to the expectation that Jack Flaherty will return to the rotation potentially next Wednesday or the following weekend, writes Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Not to mention, deadline acquisitions Jose Quintana and Jordan Montgomery have excelled in the rotation since their arrival. In the bullpen, Matz can provide manager Oliver Marmol with another weapon from the left side to augment current southpaws Genesis Cabrera and JoJo Romero. Elsewhere in the NL Central…
- Deadline acquisition Trevor Rosenthal left his latest appearance in Triple-A with lat soreness, per MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy (via Twitter). Picking up Rosenthal was certainly a bit of a lottery ticket for the Brewers, given that Rosenthal hasn’t pitched since 2020. Rosenthal had begun to show shades of his former self, posting a 1.90 ERA over 23 2/3 innings with the Royals and Padres. The hits keep coming for Rosenthal, who suffered a hamstring strain before the lat injury, which all came while recovering from thoracic outlet surgery.
- The Cubs will be looking to add power this offseason, writes Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune. That certainly tracks for a team with a middle infield consisting of Nico Hoerner and Nick Madrigal, both of whom boast contact-first profiles at the dish. Hoerner has stepped up this season, both on the field and from a leadership perspective, making himself a key part of the Cubs’ future. Madrigal has had a less memorable campaign, but he may yet establish himself as the second baseman of the future. The power will have to come from somewhere, however, especially with Willson Contreras slated for free agency. Contreras’ 20 home runs rank second on the team behind Patrick Wisdom’s 22, and the long-time catcher is the team leader in isolated power with a .222 ISO.
The ineffectiveness of Cabrera as of late may cause him to be left off of the post-season roster in the event Matz recovers to the point of being able to join the team.
In fact, it seems likely that Cabrera will be sent down to Memphis to get back on track.
That was already done.
Madrigal will not have a starting position in the Cubs lineup next year. And I don’t believe he has much value as a player coming off the bench. Perhaps a trade back to the Chisox would be good for his future.
I’m sure they’d happily take him back.
He’s coming back from a major injury and he’s been pretty good the last month or so… He needs a bit of a longer leash.
Really? Disagree. This was the best trade the Cubs made last year, with an eye for the future; he has been strong lately, he’ll be penciled in at least for next year. Unless u are a sox fan simply longing to go back and delete that trade…
Although Madrigal has struggled this year, ever since coming back from injury, he’s been pretty solid. I don’t think the Cubs will cut bait yet. I still think they see him as a potential Paul Molitor-esque bat, although I think he’ll be more Chuck Knoblauch or Ron Coomer, if they’re lucky. My guess is they’re still planning on him being the starting 2B for 2023.
The Cubs should follow Atlanta’s lead and make an effort to lock up Happ and Hoerner. They probably don’t contend for a playoff spot til ’24, but it’s a place to start.
Because they didn’t trade Happ, I suspect they will.
Happ is not a free agent yet, I doubt they lock up Happ with all the OF prospects coming up soon.
The nice thing about Happ is his versatility. He can be plugged in — anywhere. Too many OF prospects? Happ could always go back to 2B, 3B, 1B or DH. Happ gives them options.
Happy isn’t going back to second or third, first could be an option, cf and DH but there is a reason he hasn’t played 3rd or 2nd in a while.
You apparently don’t follow the Cubs. Happ can not play 2b or 3b. No way. 1b, maybe. Center is an adventure. He’s pretty much a left fielder or DH.
The cubs may want power but where are they going to get it from?
Martinez? He isn’t the hitter he once was. Haniger assuming the mariners do not slap a QO on him? Bogaerts if he is willing to slide to third? Gallo? Bell? Are they really going to outbid everyone for judge?
We can want power all day long but I don’t see it. Almost better off moving happ back to center field and seeing if Canario can hit ml pitching.
Agreed, they need to take their chances with Canario and Matt Mervis.
What about Matt Murton?
(Sorry, couldn’t resist…)
Still too early for Canario and Mervis but they’re on the way. Maybe by next year but probably ’24.. Along with Armstrong and Davis.
Mervis is already hitting at AAA, there is no reason he would be sitting there all of next year. There is no reason he won’t be called up to see what he can do next year. They honestly have no reason not to call him up in September and see how he adjusts. They did it for Rivas and he doesn’t have the ceiling Mervis does.
Chicago’s gifted, fake news writers are once again trying to peddle the Cubs will be “in” on major FA’s. This has been untrue since Darvish. The Cubs absolutely need Judge. If just for the bat. But there’s no way they pay what he’s looking for. It’d require a contract north of $400M at least. My guess is they target a SS (depending on price), and bet on their OF prospects filling the gaps sooner, rather than later, specifically Davis & Crow-Armstrong.
While I agree that theybwon’t make the splash Judge would require, I can’t see them going after one of the shortstops. They love Nico and he has certainly proven he can play the position defensively at a high level. I think Dawson will come out of the ivy again.
I saw PCA Thursday night for the first time… here’s the real deal… carries himself like a major leaguer already at 20. Had 3 hits including a rope dinger…. Every AB was solid. He’s got some serious scoots too… I’m excited to see him in CF hopefully in ‘24
drasco036;
I thought Franmil Reyes was gong to be the power hitting guy. Cubs fans here were sure excited about getting him.
He hasn’t hit badly with the Cubs. Still only 27 years-old.
Cleveland gave up on Yandy Diaz 4 years ago. The Rays couldn’t be happier.
Reyes has hit pretty well for the cubs. If he can maintain an ops + 117, I am sure the cubs are thrilled with the waiver claim.
You cannot count on him though. Nice find but he’s only a lottery ticket.
Agreed. I think the cubs roll with Reyes next season as DH and see if he cannot re-tap into his power.
I think it’s safe bet that: Wisdom, Reyes, Gomes, Higgins, Hoerner, Happ, Suzuki, Madrigal, Morel all have slots on the Cubs roster in 2023 but where any of them play aside from Gomes, Suzuki and Reyes are question marks. Little Nicky can only play second but will the cubs hand him the starting spot.
I’m not that sure about Wisdom and Reyes. Remember Frank the Tank? I rest my case. The Cubs really need LH bats and a LH DH would be a way to get that done. Wisdom whiffs way too much which is too bad because the rest of his game is solid.
I seriously doubt a trade between Cubs/Brewers, however a framework of Tellez for Madrigal would help both teams…
The Cubs need to do whatever they can to sign Arrenado when he opts out, though it doesn’t seem likely he’ll reach FA.
Why? That doesn’t make them a contender and Nolan is going to turn 32. Surely there is a team that can take advantage of the early years of that contract that’ll outbid them.
He’s gone on record that he won’t be opting out.
Arenado will be in Card red & victory blue for a while. He loves being on the Cards, has a nice deal… he’s happy.
Ok, I thought he indicated his desire to stay but didn’t know he stated no to the opt-out. Just salivated at the thought of the infield with Nolan at 3rd and his bat to match in the 2 or 3 hole.
This Winters Free Agent class is pretty weak after the SS and Judge-
If Cubs were smart
They will sign Correa or Turner and Drury to play 3b
And see where they sit after next season
If they were smart they’d sign a massive free agent contract for the one position they actually seem to have someone at? Much of Nico’s value comes from his ability to play a pretty decent SS, so moving him down the defensive spectrum doesn’t make a ton of sense. The Cubs have lots of holes, spending a bunch of money to fill a non-existent one would not be what I’d consider, “smart”.
The Cubs dont really have as many holes as people think… Next year they have a strong 4 for the rotation in Steele, Stroman, Thompson and Hendricks… They need bullpen help but that can be said for every team in baseball.
Offensively is where they have the most holes at 1B/3B, CF and C (considering Contreras walks away)… But they shouldn’t fill them all since guys like Canario, Mervis and Brennen Davis will be coming up soon. Maybe even Jake Slaughter.
Cubs are set at catcher with Gomes and Higgins… wouldn’t be surprised to see the cubs offer contreras a deal but I don’t think it will be for very much.. 4/60
My personal opinion is the cubs will target someone who can play third, push wisdom to first to hold it down in the event mervis plays well enough to get promoted. Cubs, imo, will roll out morel at center if they can land a third baseman…
Rotation wise I think they are pretty set also with Steele, Thompson, Stroman, Hendricks and then Alzolay/Sampson/Kilian with with a couple more with minor league options. I’d be surprised to see a major pitching signing
You’re counting Hendricks as a “strong” member of the rotation coming off a bad season and still having the tear in his shoulder? Then further include Keegan Thompson who has a fip of 4.5?
Just because there are guys coming up, doesn’t mean they’ll successfully fill those holes. While I agree that it’s smart to leave openings for them to play, that mean those spots aren’t still holes on the team.
So yeah, if you’re a massive homer and assume prospects are gonna fill holes, bad players are gonna get better, good players are gonna continue to be good…then sure they have less holes than it appears to someone that looks at the team with even a bit of objectivity. if you just assume 0 regression that’s never proven to be foolish….
Yeah, I think Thompson might be better as a reliever, but they can afford to give him another shot in the rotation next season.
Much of Hoerner ‘s value comes at the plate as well. He also plays a solid second base so they can easily move him over if they sign one of the FAs.. They also have some power in their system that’s still a year or two away.
It may sound crazy, but I think Hoyer should go after Degrom. Or Ohtani. It would cost an arm and a leg but you could build around one of them the same way Theo did when he signed Lester.
He has a wRC+ of 107 (16th for SS), wtf are you talking about? That’d put him at the 29th best 2b by wRC+. Again, you could move him to 2b, but it’s stupid no matter how much you just pretend it’s not.
1984… I enjoy seeing a self appointed expert like you on here “bravely” spouting off with “WTFs”. It makes your case so much stronger.
You can take issue with what he said, but do you realize the irony in sarcastically talking about someone making their case stronger while providing exactly zero to rebut it?
I agree, but they could always try to see if Correra would be interested in a shift to 3B or Turner to 2B. Assuming they’d prefer one if their many suitors that want them at SS, but FA always leads to some surprises. Madrigal could be flipped for pitching, possibly Wisdom as well. PW would also be a nice bench player w power that can play multiple positions.
Why would you pay the premium in FA to sign a shortstop, just to move him to 3b?
As much as fans don’t like it, teams have budgets. Spending your money inefficiently puts the team in a spot where you’re unable to add the pieces you need later on to round out the contending team. The cubs ran into this problem…
The Padres signed the best shortstop in free agency and moved him to third. His name is Manny Machado, and it’s worked out pretty well. Idiot.
Haha, are you like 10? If you’re going to call someone an idiot, at least be correct. He had played almost 4x as many games at 3b as SS before ever signing in SD. Defensive metrics didn’t like him as a SS; I doubt many teams saw him as a viable SS free agent and if you’d taken 5 seconds to look into it at all before thinking you were clever, you’d have seen that.
Machado signed with the Padres in 2019.
Machado total games at 3b 1155 (731 pre SDP)
2015 – 156
2016 – 114
2017 – 156
2018 – 16
Machado total games at SS 229 ( 194 pre SDP)
2015 – 6
2016 – 43
2017 – 0
2018 – 145
Nico is better than “pretty decent” he ranks as the 3rd best defensive SS in MLB this season.
Cool story, single season samples for defensive metrics have shown to be unreliable, so yes I’ll hedge with, “pretty decent”.
Drury isn’t good. He’s had what, one good season?
The cubs could turn to Correa or Turner but Bogaerts is the only guy with the power they covet and if he would be open to a move to third, that would be my target.
Drury is a hard pass. I’d take wisdom over drury and its not that close.
Drury is a mirage. He’ll regress drastically going forward. I agree the Cubs will target a SS, one of which is gonna have to move to 3B. Or Madrigal. I think the Cubs starting 1B on Opening Day next year will be Wisdom.
Saw ‘Notes’ in the headline before seeing the rest of it and immediately figured it would be about Mike Trout going back on the IL. Fragile guy.
Imagine hating on Mike Trout. Why so eager for another injury? And why here?
Trout apparently cost this mark DraftKings money. He’s doing this Trout hate on every article now.
I get the Brewers trading away Hader even though it was odd timing, but I’ll never understand trading for an injured free agent pitcher in Rosenthal, one of the dumbest moves I’ve ever seen. Especially for a team trying to save money. The odds of him not pitching any innings for them has to be pretty high right now.
I’ve been trying to hold onto at least a sliver of hope (optimism would be too generous) that the Brewers would claw back into it. After last night that’s gone too.
2 freaking hits and 4 runs allowed.
And the double play to end it..a new classic.
Likewise. I had hoped they would sweep the final two series before heading into Craigtember.
Instead. the A Bullpen blows a game in which the starter had a no hitter going.
Pathetic. Losing so many games that should have been wins. At least a half dozen since the hot start after the AS Break.
And now Rosenthal looks like he may not be able to help.
I didn’t think the Brewers even had to trade Hader, unless they were trying to get maximum value for him now. He seemed broken for a while anyway. But trading him also seemed to deflate the team who were at the top of the division at the time. Reminds me of the White Sox’ White Flag Trade from years back.
Yeah the Hader trade was a head scratcher. But the Brewers, and frankly the entire NL Central is weak sauce. The Cards & Brew Crew are not built to go past the division series.
Excellent defense, triple crown candidate, acceptable pitching,a do it all stud 3rd basemen, and a 42-45 year old thats pushed himself into the top 5 for power rankings all say differently
Yeah, that trade makes a LOT more sense over the offseason. Deflating to trade such a dominant reliever/ closer midseason. Real head-scratcher there…
I don’t think the cardinals have the pitching but I’ve been wrong before. I wouldn’t be banking on Pujols to continue this run. He’s been pretty bad for a while. Nice month of baseball
more faith in him than dejong.
Dominant?
Good thing the Brewers opted for a pitcher who has been hurt for years over a formerly top rated young pitcher who needed a change of scenery.
One thing I’d like to see the Cubs do is have a dedicated DH. Could help the offense, rather than using the position as a “rest slot” for catchers, which seems to be the Rossy way of using it.
That’s not the Rossy way of doing it. It’s Ross working with what he has. He has been putting Reyes in the spot and he is literally a DH only.
Look, The Cubs don’t need major FA deals this winter. And I’ve already said they won’t be. The SS big sign is a myth. The only one I’d even want would be Turner because he can play other positions, But since the Dodgers let Seager walk, they’re not going to let Turner walk. And if the Dodgers want you, You’re not going anywhere and honestly, why would he even want to leave? Pure Fantasy. Judge isn’t leaving the Yankees, same reason. Lest we get TOO excited about Reyes, Let me utter 3 words, Frank The Tank. Case closed. Cubs don’t need any OF outside the system, they have enough. The Cubs need 2 things, LH bats and an Ace. The 1B next year will be Mervis. A LH hitting 2B would be nice if one is available. My feelings on Madrigal are these: The way he has to play to be effective, basically scrappy, stealing bases, playing all out, Don’t seem to be good for his health so his long term prognosis to me is he can be replaced by a good LH bat. I think Happ will start the year with the Cubs, But if they’re not in contention he’ll go at the deadline. I hope Contreras comes back at a reasonable price. He knows the Cubs P’s and that can be valuable but if he goes he goes. they’ll get somebody else.
Rosenthal has got paid for two seasons to do absolutely nothing, might be time to hang ’em up
Don’t forget the trade route. They have multiple outfield prospects, and at SS they have guys like Cristian Hernandez. I see that as their avenue to acquire a power bat over FA, which is limited outside of Judge.
It won’t happen, but can you imagine Judge in RF @ Wrigley, mashing baseballs onto Waveland? What a sight that would be. But he will be too expensive, too old and too injury prone. If he was willing to take a short deal then sure, but he’s going to want 8 years.
Hopefully the Cubs sign Nico Hoerner to a long term contract. He’s not flashy but excels at all aspects at shortstop. As for Nick Madrigal, I thought the Cubs got taken until his return after his latest injury. I can see an elite contact hitter but needs his at bats in the majors.
I also see comments parroting baseball writers saying that the Cubs need a shortstop. It’s untrue and the Cubs should save their second round draft pick to FA players that won’t cost them that pick and international signing money. The Cubs are loaded with minor league talent and they shouldn’t block these kids from playing on the MLB Cubs. Have patience for having prospects is one thing but properly developing them is another. Which is why the Cubs farm system is ranked 10th.