Tim Dierkes just wrote his Cubs offseason outlook, and then he did a live Cubs chat. Click here to read the transcript!
By Tim Dierkes | at
Tim Dierkes just wrote his Cubs offseason outlook, and then he did a live Cubs chat. Click here to read the transcript!
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I wouldn’t mind if Hoyer spent big on Yammamoto. I know at the end of the year Hoyer himself was in Japan scouting somebody, Maybe a few somebodies. I sincerely hope the Cubs stay away from Chapman, Snell, Soto and Alonso. I think the price would be too high as it only makes sense if the Cubs extend Alonso and that’s not going to be cheap. A closer would be nice but they’re going to have to trade for one, And a short term 3B makes sense so Candelerio and Chapman would be out for me.
I’d love to see Yamamoto to pair with Steele at the top of the rotation.
A couple wild cards are Bauer, after spending a year in the Japan league purgatory and Urias, depending on what his situation is. I imagine either player would be willing to sign at a steep discount given their situations but can the Cubs swallow that pill?
If the Cubs can land Yamamoto, I’d like to see them trade both Hendricks and Stroman (I keep expecting him to exercise his option).
I still expect the Cubs to non-tender Wisdom. I still want them to figure out how to move Smyly.
Yamamoto, I imagine will be about a 20 million AAV. That would only give them Cubs 25 or so to spend, they can move that needle if they move Smyly. Cubs will have to absolutely find power in the free agent market. I’m not sure what that will look like, Hoskins would be a Bellinger-esque signing, maybe Turner, maybe Martinez? Bellinger would make sense on a deal similar to Nimmo but I think that deal has passed.
I would have loved to see Canario and/or PCA actually play to see if they can actually be a viable option in cf. maybe you roll that die and make a pick up via trade if needed? I don’t think Mervis is the future at first, I know he didn’t get much of a look but also the Alonso rumors and Young getting the call instead of Mervis makes me think the Cubs aren’t very high on his ability.
Rotation wise, if the Cubs are willing to fast track Horton, I would be fine with Wicks, Assad, Brown, Horton, maybe Thompson as a dark horse, filling the final two rotation slots. A deadline move can be made if needed.
The Cubs are a hard team to judge this offseason. Are they the team that surprised me to be right in the thick of it towards seasons end or the team that collapsed? I honestly don’t know some players surprised me and maybe they’re rebounding and trending upwards or maybe take a step back hard to say for me