The Cubs’ deadline trajectory has been an oft-discussed topic over the course of the past few weeks, with the team sitting at or near the bottom of the NL Central but also within striking distance of the final NL Wild Card spot. They’ve ostensibly explored possibilities on both ends of the buy/sell spectrum, showing interest in Toronto catcher Danny Jansen while also reportedly talking with both the Yankees and Red Sox about the potential of a Jameson Taillon trade. The Cubs dropped their first two games coming out of the All-Star break to a D-backs team that’s now tied for the final Wild Card spot, though they dodged a sweep in an extra-inning win Sunday.
While the Cubs are 3.5 games out in the Wild Card hunt, the latest report from Patrick Mooney, Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon of The Athletic indicates that the Cubs aren’t planning to be buyers at next week’s trade deadline. That’s not an indication there’ll be any kind of prominent fire sale for the Cubs either, however. Chicago hopes to contend next year and isn’t likely to move players who are under control unless they receive big league-ready talent in return.
As for the Cubs’ slate of rental players, there’s simply not much to peddle to other clubs. Drew Smyly is sitting on an impressive 2.92 ERA in 37 relief innings, but he’s also walked 10.2% of his opponents and is playing on a contract other teams will want to avoid. Smyly is owed the balance of an $8.5MM salary for the current season (about $3.2MM) in addition to a $2.5MM buyout on a $10MM mutual option for the 2025 season.
Righty Kyle Hendricks is a free agent at season’s end but isn’t going to draw any interest with a $16MM salary and a 6.69 ERA (unless the Cubs eat the entirety of his contract, perhaps). Hector Neris has a 3.74 ERA and 24.2% strikeout rate in 33 2/3 innings — but he’s also walked a career-worst 16.1% of opponents. Neris is playing on a $9MM salary, and his $9MM club option will convert to a player option if he appears in 24 more games this season (60 total). That’s going to turn off any potentially interested parties. Cody Bellinger can become a free agent at season’s end, but he’s on the injured list with a fractured finger and the two opt-out provisions on his three-year deal would’ve made trading him extraordinarily difficult anyhow.
The Athletic’s report at least raises the speculative possibility of listening to offers for starter Justin Steele, though with three-plus seasons of club control remaining, the price would presumably be as high or even higher than the asks for crosstown ace Garrett Crochet (two years of club control remaining) and AL Cy Young front-runner Tarik Skubal (the latter of whom is not expected to be traded). There’s no reason to think the Cubs would outwardly shop Steele, but listening to see if someone steps up with a Juan Soto-esque haul for last year’s fifth-place NL Cy Young finisher is sensible enough.
With regard to Taillon, there’d be some sense to moving him even if the team doesn’t envision a broad-reaching sell-off. In signing any free agent to a long-term deal, a team is most interested in the first couple years of said contract. The 2025-26 seasons will be Taillon’s age-33 and age-34 campaigns. He’ll earn $18MM in each season on his slightly backloaded $68MM deal. Moving him would free up some money to potentially spend on a younger pitcher this offseason — or perhaps on another area of need entirely.
The Cubs control Steele, Shota Imanaga, Javier Assad, Ben Brown, Hayden Wesneski and Jordan Wicks through at least the 2027 season. Prospects Cade Horton and Brandon Birdsell are rising quickly through the system. There’s some depth from which to deal, and a Taillon trade could bring in talent, shed future payroll and reduce future luxury tax obligations. Taillon wouldn’t command nearly the same type of haul as Steele for a number of reasons (age, salary, general talent level), but there aren’t many arms available so the Cubs could conceivably take advantage of that shortage and see what the market bears.
It’s worth emphasizing, too, that most teams’ plans remain pretty fluid this time of year. While teams facing a gaps of eight, nine, ten or more games in their respective postseason pursuits are sure to focus on selling (just as clubs in the opposite position will primarily focus on adding), nearly half the teams in baseball exist in a relative purgatory between those two ends of the spectrum. There’s currently a three-team tie for the third NL Wild Card spot (Mets, D-backs, Padres), and another five teams are within four games of that final spot — the Cubs among them. In the American League, there are four teams within six games of the final Wild Card spot.
For instance, if the Cubs snapped off six or seven straight wins beginning today, they’d presumably be far more open to the idea of adding some pieces. That’s particularly true because their next three games come against the division-leading Brewers. But a win streak of that nature is always a long shot, and it’s plenty notable that for the time being, Chicago isn’t viewing itself as a team that will trade even lower-caliber minor league talent in exchange for some marginal rental upgrades. Time will tell whether the players on the field can push the front office to take a more aggressive stance, but right now it seems likely the Cubs are in for a relatively quiet deadline.
How about Happ? Love to see Pirates trade for him. Don’t want know contract details. How much control.
Happ is signed through 2026 with a full NMC. Good Luck with that.
I would expect Happ to waive his no trade if he could go to a contender. Philly was rumored to be interested in him.
He’s also from Pittsburgh, so I think he’d waive it to go to the Pirates. Don’t know his family situation, though, so who knows.
Cubs would have to send a decent chunk of money to help offset his salary in order to get good prospects for him. If they don’t they’d probably only get prospects in the 15-30 range of a teams farm system since the team acquiring him would be on the hook for his remaining salary this season and $40 million the next two.
Yet the Cubs plan to contend next year (and likely the year after). Wouldn’t Happ find that acceptable enough to stay with the Cubs?
The Cubs wouldn’t trade him within the division even if they were interested in trading him and if Happ does waive his NTC.
I agree with both of your points. I think it’s unlikely they trade him, but I was pointing out that he’s from Pittsburgh and it’s probably a place he would waive his NTC.
I think the Cubs think they’ll contend next year, but I don’t think they’re set up to do that. They probably need a slight tear down and quick rebuild utilizing their vast amounts of cash at their disposal (would only take 2 or 3 years).
I was thinking the same..
Ben has a history of spending so I don’t think the Cubs would need to throw much back in the way of cash. But certainly would be nice if it doesn’t add much cost in talent.
I”ve been wanting the pirates to snap him up for a while.
Happ has said he has zero intention to waive his no trade protection.
That’s good to know. He’s probably happy there, but I wonder if that would change if the Cubs continue to struggle moving forward.
What you guys don’t know is that Happ owns a coffee business with Cubs ownership and it’s sold in Wrigley Field and all over the neighborhood. he also has a successful podcast that he does with the teams blessing., So He gets more than 20 million from being a Cub so he’s not ” Going Home” To Pittsburgh or anywhere else.until after 2026. Hopefully and I mean hopefully the Cubs can get enough offense going with their Prospect OF to make him a roving DH and OFer while young guys come up and play which is why I would like to see them trade Morel and Tauchman and bring up some youth for a change. It worked for the D Backs last year. Let’s try that huh?
@Unckle: didn’t know that. yeah hes probably not waiving it unless the cubs tell him they’re going to tank the next couple years.
As a Cubs fan you dont want Happ. Hes not a 20mill a yr player
Except when he plays against the Cardinals.
Or the Reds
or the Pirates
I agree he’s not worth his salary, but if the Cubs pick up a good chunk of his remaining salary they could get legitimate prospects for him. I think if they did that the Pirates would be willing to include one of Ashcraft, Barco, Harrington, etc. in a trade for him (plus additional pieces).
Ashcraft and Harrington will both be MLB ready next season, which would make a ton of sense for the Cubs. Both appear on various top 100 lists and have pretty safe/high floors at this point.
Don’t think the Cubs will trade him since they aren’t rebuilding, but he would make perfect sense for the Pirates. He fills their glaring Corner Outfield hole for this year and the next couple.
Cubs are in a tough spot where they don’t have a roster built for a rebuild, but they don’t look like they’re ready to compete either. They remind me a lot of the Pirates in 2018/2019. The Pirates decided to just tear it down and do a full scale rebuild because they’re small market without the resources to patch together a contender. With the Cubs money they could probably do it quicker than 5 years and it’s probably the route they should take, but I don’t think they will.
But he is worth his salary. Would you agree he is a 3 WAR player? That’s about $56 million in future value for $47 million in salary.
I wouldn’t agree with that. He’s only been worth 3+ WAR twice in his career over 8 seasons (possible for a third time this year, which would be three in a row). Most seasons he’s been between 1-2 WAR.
The question you’d have to ask yourself as an organization is, is he likely to keep up the last three seasons pace into his 30’s? I think that answer would be no, but he’d still be a solid regular. If the Cubs find a team willing to take on his entire salary because that team values him as a 3+ WAR player, they could do that, but they could get a nice haul of prospects back if they pick up some of it.
Look I’m not Happ’s biggest fan but even I can’t say that ” He’s not worth his salary” , Because he is. My only beef with him is despite his salary we have other options that would be possibly better and cheaper for the next 5 years in Caissie, PCA and Alcantara and Canario and he’s in the way of payroll control because Hoyer was dumb enough to give him a Full Non Movement clause. That’s not his fault. It’s Hoyers. Plus now as I said above he has other money making interests tied to him being a Cub. So he’ll be here until 2026 like it or not. I’ve resigned myself to that, It’s time to move along.
Happ is a very solid player, 10 years ago, that was worth about 15 million. Now it’s worth over 20.
People who claim Happ isn’t worth the money are stuck in this dated mentality regarding the game. Think that corner outfielders should be lumbering oafs who hit 30 home runs a year and cannot play defense. Now days corner outfielders hit around 20 and need to play solid defense.
I’ve always been of the opinion you don’t pay for “solid” unless you’re in your competitive window but the Cubs did. They paid for a solid Happ, a solid Suzuki, a solid Hoerner, a solid Taillon, a (typically) solid Swanson. None of those guys are guys you can build around. They are guys you fill around your core.
I’d never pay $20 million for Happ. He’s a solid player, but he’s not worth that. The Pirates aren’t even paying Bryan Reynolds that much and he’s the superior player. The Pirates are accurately paying Reynolds around $15 million per year for his free agent years.
That’s why I said if the Cubs were to ever try to trade Happ they would have to pick up some salary in order to get good prospects back in the trade. The Pirates could trade Reynolds for top prospects tomorrow because he isn’t overpaid. I’m not knocking Happ, I like him as a player. The Cubs just overpaid and gave him a NTC, and that’s coming back to bite them a bit now (bad management).
So like most Pirates fans/ Ownership you want him but you want him for free or as long as someone else pays him. That’s what I always figured. Cheap organization thinking is why you’ll never win. Handing out NMC’s is why the Cubs won’t in the near future. And obviously you can’t read well because Happ makes way more than 20 million with the Cubs through off the field ventures so he’s not going to Pittsburgh to be treated like a saddle tramp. He’s a GG, All Star, SH OF who you say isn’t worth 20 million. That explains more than you know.
Typical message board nonsense. When did I ever say any of that?
I don’t want him for free, I’d be okay with the Pirates trading a top prospect (Harrington, Ashcraft, etc.) plus another prospect in the 15-30 range for Happ in order for the Cubs to pick up a chunk of his salary. If the Cubs don’t pick up salary no team would give them more than a couple of prospects ranked in the 15-30 range (maybe one around 10 with a lottery ticket thrown in).
The Pirates are a small market team, they don’t have the money to spend on players that the Cubs do. It’s the economics of baseball. But, I can tell you one thing, he’d be treated like royalty in Pittsburgh. If Bryan Reynolds isn’t worth $20 million, Happ surely isn’t since Reynolds is a fairly substantially superior player. Don’t take your anger out on me that the Cubs overpaid. Just be glad they have him because they won’t be able to trade him for anything significant unless they pick up salary.
Happ isn’t an All-Star caliber player consistently, he had one All-Star caliber season. Let’s not conflate things. Let’s also not pretend like GG awards mean anything. He’s a solid fielder at a non-defensive premium position, but he’s not even elite defensively as a LF. Pirates fans have seen what an elite LF looks like (Starling Marte) and neither Happ or Reynolds is that despite both being GG finalists. Both are solid defensively, with Happ being a little better.
I’ve never in my life heard anybody call Starling Marte an elite anything. Or Reynolds for that matter. Agent or Brother? Sister? Mom, Got it. Marte is an elite drug user. I’ll give you that.
Wait, you don’t think Marte was elite defensively when he was with the Pirates? Is that really your take?
Marte’s Defensive WAR as a LF with the Pirates:
2013 – 1.5
2014 – (-).02
2015 – 1.7 (Gold Glove) << since you mentioned them
2016 – 1.2 (Gold Glove)
2017 – 0.4 (in 56 games)
Defensive Runs Saved:
2013 – 16
2014 – 5
2015 – 22
2016 – 17
2017 – 6 (in 56 games)
I never called Reynolds elite at anything because he's not. I just said he was better than Happ. Stop lying and making stuff up. You sound silly.
Marte was the best defensive LF in baseball outside of Alex Gordon when he was with the Pirates (he was better at the end as Gordon declined). Marte was so good they moved him to CF after Cutch was traded and he was solid there as well for the next few years.
Just say you were mistaken or didn’t know. It’s okay.
With all that and you still want a pitiful player like Happ? Are you confused? Odd? Rode the short bus? All of the above?. Just wish for something else because he ain’t going there. Probably ever. As far as Pittsburgh is concerned, I hear it’s a good place to be FROM. As far as him ever going back I’m sure with you and your teams attitude he’s not going there after here. So you can stop hoping.
Again, you’re probably trolling at this point, but it’s clear I never called him pitiful. I called Happ a solid/good player.
None of the above. I don’t care if Happ goes to Pittsburgh or not. He’d be a solid add, but not a needle mover as many on here have mentioned (including Cubs fans).
I’m quite content where the Pirates stand. They are a better team currently than the Cubs and are one of the youngest teams in the league. They also have a top 5 starting pitching staff in baseball with most under team control for several more years. Oh, and they also have three top 100 pitchers in AA/AAA. They ain’t going anywhere but up. Good luck hitting Skenes/Keller/Jones/Ortiz./Chandler/Ashcraft/Harrington/Falter/Priester for the next several years. Happ will probably be interested in jumping aboard the ship in a couple years because he’ll want to go to a contender.
🙂
Who knows, maybe Happ will want to jump aboard the Pirates’ ship in a couple years because he’ll want to be a veteran mentor on a contender.
Troll you’re the one in the Cubs article spouting nonsense. Every once in awhile I like to try and educate the unfortunate. This is considered a failure because you still think it’s possible. But it is getting boring so I’m out.
Lmao one person is acting like a troll, and it ain’t me. I’m a baseball fan, I post on articles for all teams.
You’ve literally added nothing to the discussion. I also don’t think he’ll waive his NTC to come to Pittsburgh (I’ve said that multiple times). It’s a failure that you have terrible reading comprehension and can’t hold your own with an actual educated baseball fan.
Sometimes it’s better to take the “L’ and acknowledge that you didn’t know what you were talking about. Have fun “educating” (aka getting owned) by others. I’m sure you’ll run away from them as well.
Agreed. Happ is insanely unlikely to be traded. He is easily worth $20 mil/year in todays market. And I do hate that Jed gave him the NTC, making him a blocker for near future OF talent.
“He’s only been a 3+ WAR twice… in 8 years… this would be his third straight year, in 2019 and 2020 he had a 3+ WAR pace as well so that would be 5 times out of the past 6 years.
Great now get some talent in trades
Trade Counsell
Yeesh! Counsell was being hailed as the Messiah back in March.
And Hoyer.
I’m down. Tough sell though. This is the same team, plus Imanaga and Busch, and it plays CONSIDERABLY worse under Counsell than it did under Ross.
They shouldn’t be hard sellers either. Maybe a trade or two. Nothing major.
That sucks to hear simply because their needs lined up very well with what the Rockies have to offer. Take away one buyer and the price likely goes down.
This team has seriously miscalculated on several “Top Prospects” and mis-spent on FA. How can anyone believe the hype of the farm system? Morel, PCA, Amaya, Happ are all busts, Swanson has failed, and Bellinger played this team in his FA year, not worth the $ he’s paid and add on $40 mil for a mgr. to make Ross the scapegoat. A complete failure by the front office but ownership doesn’t have the stones to do what is necessary moving forward. Keep showing up Cub fans because nothing is going to change as long as the seats are full.
PCA has played how many games out the mlb level? I clearly wouldnt want you running my team if your jumping ship after what 50-60 games. Usually an adjustment period needed, rizzo struggled his first time up.
He’s was dumped by the Mets for a reason, he is so overmatched and completely lost at the plate. I’m sick of the excuses, great teams like the Dodgers cut bait on garbage because they always have another guy in line. The Cubs don’t and that equals last place. It must be fun for you.
Armstrong is an absolute stud defensively. All he has to do is hit a little and he’s very very valuable.
If that were the case, why did everyone want Heyward gone so badly? The Cubs said his defense was the best in all of baseball. Cub fans didn’t buy it then, nor should they now.
Yeah, Sandy Anderson didn’t want to trade for Contreras in 2022, because he thought Eppler got fleeced in 2021.
Heyward did not hit as expected. He was paid $23 million per year. How much is PCA being paid?
The next Felix Pie and Corey Patterson
Hmm. That garbage named Busch that those genius Dodgers jettisoned seems to be doing OK.
LOL thanks for explaining why you are not involved in professional baseball.
PCA and Amaya are quite young, just getting their feet wet; following your logic, the Angels should have dumped Trout after his first taste of the majors (not saying either will have that type of impact, just criticizing your logic). Bellinger is injured and streaky–he could come back and rake. Happ is a bust? Sure. I was never a big fan of his, but look at the numbers. Morel is also young and needs more time, though I think he is closer to the bust side of the scale than the others. Swanson is the best defensive shortstop in the league–his numbers have been disappointing, but a year into a contract you are ready to call it a bust? Eek.
the Angels should have dumped Trout after his first taste of the majors
========================
Sure, some guys become Trout and some become Adell. It’s too early to give up on PCA, but not too early that his K/W was:
AA 82/31 in 298 ABs.
AAA 79/21 in 250 ABs
MLB 55/11 in 183 ABs
I doubt PCA ever makes a serious consistent offensive impact at the plate. In the best case scenario you get a Kevin Kiermaier type season. I think he’ll be inconsistent at the plate throughout his career.
Can still carve out a pretty solid one with that glove though.
Armstrong is a superstar defensively. Potential platinum glove award winner. He doesn’t have to hit to be valuable.
once your rookie contract is up, you do. ask billy hamilton, andrelton simmons, martin maldonado, harrison bader, etc etc. crow at this rate will be valuable about until his second season of ab
Simmons was a stud even when he couldn’t hit.
Bader is a good player his problem is health.
great point Dansby Swanson was a world beater last year. His first season with Cubs. He’s back to normal now. What happened?
What a ridiculously hater’s take on the Cubs prospects and farm system. So every sports outlet out there that has highly rated their farm system is wrong and you’re right. Dumb.
Last place. Dumb
Haters gotta hate. Dumber.
Been a Cub fan since 1967-not a hater just sick of a team taking advantage of fans for their $. Not all Cub fans buy into this awful franchise at this point. But you must love misery. Enjoy!
If you’re a Cub fan, you get numb to the misery. I just think that as disappointing as this season has been- and I’m no Hoyer fan- it’s not all doom and gloom. They have talent in the farm system. Just very few were actually ready to help THIS season. And they’ve had some horrible luck with injuries… Hoyer needs to go but I don’t think Ricketts has the sack to do it.
What I see are a lot of talented athletes with serious flaws in their game. That can fool those rating a system as they look at the upside.
Caissie is a perfect example. Good but not great power, with a huge K rate. Those guys fail more often than they succeed, and when they do succeed, they often top out at Jorge Soler level.
Triantos is another example. His defense is questionable at 2B, and talk of moving him to the OF puts more pressure on a bat that may not play there.
Ballesteros is another. If he stays at catcher, his bat plays, but a lot of scouts doubt his ability to stick there, and if he moves to 1B, then his prospect status plunges.
By MLB ratings, those are the 3,4, and 5 ranked prospects in this vaunted system. Sure, Horton and some others seem destined for success, but there are clear signs that many of the prospects everyone is raving about may not pan out.
Is that any different from any other team’s farm system? Regardless of draft position, they are ALL prospects until their not.
Ian Happ is a former All Star, two time Gold Glove winner, and has accumulated 16,1 WAR in his career.
Does that make about 90% of al MLB players in history, busts?
He hits well below the MLB avg. and only does well when nothing is on the line, but if being a 1 time All Star and a gold glove winner is criteria for a good baseball player, it must make you Happ-y. 1st rd pick that is a bust. Enjoy last place.
What player do you suggest that they should have picked in the 2016 draft that ended up better than Happ?
He has never been a below offensive player in any of his eight seasons.
Here’s your dunce cap. Go sit in a corner and paint 100 pictures of Ian in your lousy artistic style.
Um what? Maybe drinking and commenting are not a good mix for you,
Happ has a career WRC+ of 116,and currently sits 126. Did you rewrite what constitutes average?
I’m so glad the Braves didn’t resign Swanson. I was hearing about what a mistake that was from other Braves fans. Nope sure wasn’t. Good move by AA.
Ignorant comment on all accounts
Looks like more teams are giving up early on the season, despite being a few games out of the WC spot. So much for that expanded WC somehow making an incentive for teams to be more active at the trade deadline.
I miss the good ol’days where the top of the AL played the top of the NL and that was it. Best vs. Best. None of this mediocre vs. mediocre nonsense.
Bring back floppy disks!
@Vanilla Good
Unfortunately, the holdout country, Japan, has finally given up on the floppy. Japan has finally won the war on floppy disks.
bbc.com/news/articles/cx82407j1v3o
This is amazing haha thank you
Contract half the league bc the overall talent is too watered-down. Tape drives are where it’s at!
Bring back big floppy funbags!
That’s what she said..
It still represents the pictorial save command in many modern PC programs.
That still leaves 6 teams (Braves, Cardinals, Mets, Diamondbacks, Padres, and Pirates) who still look like buyers fighting for 3 Wild Card spots in the NL.
Well, until 1960 there were only 16 teams – and most of them sucked each year.
@Gator50
Most of the teams today suck as well and we have even more teams. 12 teams currently below .500 and 6 that are a few games above .500. The NL WC race is so bad that you have 1 team that is 1 game above .500 and only 1.5 games back. I don’t think much has changed since the 60s. I’d hope that teams that are below .500 are selling hard at the deadline and DFA’ing players as much as they can. If you’re not going to be competitive, might as well just bring up your AAA squad to get some experience.
“there’s simply not much to peddle to other clubs”
That about says it all. If other teams don’t want your guys, they’re not very good, overpaid or both.
Wrong. This piece, along with many others explains how the Cubs didn’t hedge their bets this season with “rental” players. Hoyer committed to a number of players. That hasn’t worked out for now. There may be untenable contracts, but that does not mean those players are “not very good”. It means that they’re difficult to trade because of their deals.
Teams would be salivating if the Cubs said Steele, Imanaga, Assad or Taillon were available. Same would be true if Happ and Suzuki said they were willing to waive their NTC and the Cubs were willing to move them.
The Cubs don’t need to make moves to compete for the rest of the season, they just need guys to get/stay healthy. I wish the Cubs would look at add an impact bat that is controllable for multiple years (Paredes from the Rays) while dumping some of their guys on expiring contracts for some wildcard prospects.
I would like to see the Cubs acquire a major league ready catcher. I am open to trading Taillon and Morel. I do think the contracts of Smyly and Happ are not movable. Even with two elite 3B prospects are the 1st round picks in 2023, and 2024, it seems they could cheaply acquire a 3B with more chops than Mastrobuoni.
Moncada and Jansen. You could get Moncada for just money and I don’t see anyone else looking at acquiring a catcher so the prices for one should be good. At least do that.
Taillon could net you something but is still owed 36 million for a pitcher having a good year but is preceded by three average or below seasons. Morel has zero trade value.
Morel has a ton of upside and has shown it. They won’t trade him now with his value down.
Guys in his third year. That upside is in the past. They wont trade him because they cant.
Why would they buy? They just drew a 120000 to watch a last place team that is happy with 1 championship in 115 years. Ownership is interested in $ not wins that’s why they have a self imposed cap. So come on down to Wrigley Field and spend fans spend !
Exactly!!! No reason for Ricketts to spend money. Fans show up anyway.
Trading Taillon and either Happ/Suzuki with the motivation of dumping mostly moveable salaries (not prospects) would at least be a little forward thinking. The $ will come in handy to pay for an impact bat next offseason. It’s not a bad roster if they redistribute the money better outside of Swanson and Bellinger’s opt-in deal.
You do realize both of them have NTC’s, right?
You do realize players are often willing to waive a NTC to go to a contending club, right?
You do realize someone would have to want them that bad??
Huuuge surprise why would you be buyers in a down season
The 2024 is lost, but Hoyer better have a way better offseason. This team should have a much better record this year, and it is floundering badly…
Hoyer needs to go.
as a cardinal fan ross had a inferior lineup to this and won more than counsel wonder where the problem lies $10 mil manager
Counsell excelled in Milwaukee due to the great analytics team. I love Murphs approach (much more type b than counsells over the top type a—pacing, chewing nails in dugout, etc.). This year’s brewers are a prime example of what counsell was used to. Going into season brewers had Hoby Milner as their sure fire lefty out of the pen. He has really looked lost at times, as well as having horrible BABIP luck. Counsell, in Milwaukee, would have the luxury of staring at Bryan Hudson, Jared Koenig and Rob Zastrzny to fill in in that role. 3 viable lefty options if one struggles, at his disposal. He doesn’t have that luxury in Chicago. He’s been lost without having vast options. Players play, however when your paying a manager what the Cubs are paying counsell you have to envision He can find combos to minimize issues. He simply hasn’t. Furthermore, I don’t buy the players hurt excuse. Your a cards fan, brewers fan here. Each and every year both the cards and brewers make it work. Some years are better than others. Always options there. Cubs entire system has been a mess. Counsell, while not fully responsible, was brought in to sort some of the mess from a managerial standpoint. He simply doesn’t know how because he’s never had to. He always had Arnold or Stearns aiding him. It’s why Murph is a seamless transition. Good teams have managers as figureheads. The legwork is done at the analytical level. Cubs would have been better off with a non-analytics based manager. Someone who manages with personnel feel. Cubs aren’t advanced enough, analytically, to have a new age thought process manager.
Good analysis. I agree with everything you said.
This sounds like a lot of frustration from a fan suffering a lousy summer. My condolences. To me, this mess goes all the way back to Theo Epstien.
He spent the early 2010s tanking, urged ownership to save their money, did some solid drafting, made some stellar trades, and navigated the free agent market with shrewd prudence.
UNTIL!!
The coin flipped and they became obsessed with winning a World Series and not creating a sustainable model for winning. They essentially blew all their money in one trip to the market. Did it get them a World Series win? Yes. Has there been sustainability since? Very little I’m afraid.
Name me one team that is not “obsessed” with winning a WS? He broke a 100 year drought and it was worth every penny of it for Cub fans.
The Angels. The As… The Rockies…
I’d be ok with Happ going to the dodgers for a bad contract swap we could use a lefty/switch hitting left fielder
If winning in the short term was worth it to you then by all means. They had the talent to build around and create a culture of sustainable winning for much longer than they did.
I feel bad for the Cubs. I don’t know of another team that is getting less for what they paid for than them. I’m a Cardinal fan and I am by no means talking smack. We were in the cellar last year and it sucks. Especially when the team has so much invested financially.
Toronto
Toronto could do better, however, at least Toronto has movable assets. Even the expensive guys in Toronto aren’t having terrible years persay. The Cubs literally have cement boots on with Bellinger, Swanson, Hendricks and many others. These guys are playing way under expectations.
C’mon Cubs! Be buyers! Spend that farm and still miss the playoffs!
Steele is mentioned here.
Orioles have a 1 in Burnes, a 2/3 in Rodriguez and the rest of rotation is a bunch of 5/long relief types. Hope Os FO is looking for mid rotation help.
But if they are going for a 1 or 2, to me, Steele is the guy you give up a ton of young positional talent for; not a Skubal or Crochet.
I don’t think the Cubs give him up, but I totally agree with your thinking.
If I were the Cubs, I’d dangle Imanaga in front of both the O’s and Yankees.
Can the Cubs trade Counsell?
Steve Adams is an awful writer. This is completely grammatically wrong: “It’s worth emphasizing, too, that most teams’ plans remain pretty fluid this time of year.” No, that’s not how you use “too.” It has to come at the end of the sentence without any commas. You can’t just use it as a replacement for “also” whenever you like, you hack. The sentence should be: “It’s also worth emphasizing that most teams’ plans remain pretty fluid this time of year.” Way, way better.
What is this sentence even saying anyway? Something we already know.