Cubs! I am very sad at you!

[madducks]

And Cubs sign Jake Marisnick. Seems they're letting higher cost players (Schwarber, Almora) go and replacing them with similar cheaper players (Joc, Marisnick).

Now we know why Theo Epstein left. He knew the spending party was over.

[chancellor]

And Cubs sign Jake Marisnick. Seems they're letting higher cost players (Schwarber, Almora) go and replacing them with similar cheaper players (Joc, Marisnick).

[Bene Futuis]

You're going to like Joc. Brings a lot of fire to the team. Hitting skill is admittedly not great, but tons of power and clutch postseason performance. Plays a decent OF. He just seems like a good guy, too.

[madducks]

Jesse Rogers of ESPN reports that the Cubs have agreed to a one-year, $2.5 million contract with right-hander Trevor Williams.

Crap!!

Some of his worst stats have come at Wrigley Field (7.09 era & 1.94 whip in 33 career ip).

I think PNC Park helped him a lot (3.90 era & 1.25 whip in 281.1 ip).

Things get a little rougher for him outside of Pittsburgh (5.01 era & 1.44 whip in 253.1 ip).

All that being said, Williams will probably pitch a no-hitter against the Pirates @ PNC Park this year. So, i would definitely recommend him for DFS on that day.

On the bright side, he's pretty durable and hardly ever gets injured. So, he could be an innings eater.

[Sour Masher]

Just keep focusing on how they got Joc, Schwarber with better defense. That is....something, right?!

[Gregg]

Jesse Rogers of ESPN reports that the Cubs have agreed to a one-year, $2.5 million contract with right-hander Trevor Williams.

Crap!!

[Gregg]

That two man rotation we have just might do the trick!

Samardzjia?!! NO NO NOOOOOOOOOOO!

[Gregg]

"we're going to have a really competitive team next year.... with the Pirates."

That two man rotation we have just might do the trick!

[Judge Jude]

"we're going to have a really competitive team next year.... with the Pirates."

[Gregg]

Cubs president Jed Hoyer said Wednesday that the rumors about Willson Contreras being shopped are "fictional."
This could be a game of semantics, as the Cubs have undoubtedly received calls about Contreras -- especially in the wake of the Yu Darvish/Victor Caratini trade -- and would almost certainly move the star catcher this winter given a sizable enough return. Hoyer also told reporters during Wednesday's press conference that he thinks "we're going to have a really competitive team next year," so take it all with a grain of salt.

SOURCE: Jordan Bastian on Twitter
Dec 30, 2020, 11:27 AM ET

Jed, competitive with who?!! Winning a wild card is not competitive for this team! You have done nothing to try to get competitive this year. All of it has been about the money! Your actions do not match up with your words.

The Cubs just signed Austin Romine to a one year deal.

Good back up to...wait are they still thinking about trading Contreras...hmm

[Teenwolf]

Big market entitlement.

Man, for all the years small market fans have to deal with constant failed contention windows and full scale rebuilds... I think its a little silly to pretend that your organization is so beyond reproach as to ever stoop to the level of the Marlins, Rays, Bucs, Astros, A's, etc. Also, the Astros popularized the big market team doing a full-scale teardown and it worked out pretty damn okay for them, and the current Cubs core only came together through a dedicated rebuild, so I fail to see the logic here... I watched my Jays payroll drop to like $60M during their rebuild. Its just the way of life with contention windows in the sport today.

The Cubs roster was so horribly constructed it would take the highest payroll in baseball to support the core and re-sign all the FA's, and still leave them with a bottom 5 farm... if you pay mediocrity like Jose Quintana, Jon Lester, Kimbrel, and Jason Heyward to be your albatross contracts... don't expect that team to carry the flexibility to avoid the repercussions of those bad deals. It wasn't constructed well enough to deserve supplemental support, and now that the core players all have 1-2 years to reach free agency, it was best to start the teardown early.

[chancellor]

I think we will see the full rebuild mode a few weeks before the 2021 trade deadline.

You're probably right, but what a colossal error that could be. Even without Schwarber and Darvish - let's assume no one else gets dumped at this point - the Cubs could still make a run at a wild card, especially if MLB shortens the season and expands the playoffs again. If they waive the white flag with an opportunity to win a playoff spot, it'll be even uglier than if they just dump now.

[Gregg]

I have no idea how the Darvish trade will work out long term but if you are going to trade your best starting pitcher for prospects that are 5 years away from potentially producing much...it doesn't make any sense to hand out big contracts to any bats that probably won't there by the time the pitching staff would ever be any good. The Cubs needed pitching and now have Hendriks, Davies and scraps. After the Darvish trade I would think they might as well do a full rebuild since most of the top bats are all heading to free agency.

Then how would they fool us to keep watching?

They had a competitive team that could have made noise this coming year if they made a few tweaks.

I think we will see the full rebuild mode a few weeks before the 2021 trade deadline.

[fuhrdog]

Perhaps they will use the savings to re sign their free agents to be.

I have no idea how the Darvish trade will work out long term but if you are going to trade your best starting pitcher for prospects that are 5 years away from potentially producing much...it doesn't make any sense to hand out big contracts to any bats that probably won't there by the time the pitching staff would ever be any good. The Cubs needed pitching and now have Hendriks, Davies and scraps. After the Darvish trade I would think they might as well do a full rebuild since most of the top bats are all heading to free agency.

[Gregg]

Perhaps they will use the savings to re sign their free agents to be.

That is little consolation as re-signing your own free agents is part of baseball. The Cubs are a big market team and they need to act like it.

They should have at least received one of the Pads Top rookie prospects in this deal.