WhiteSox2023

While this is true, his strikeouts were way down and his command was still not good. He walked far too many batters and threw quite a few absolute meatballs.

It’s early, so while people are joking, I don’t think he has maxed out at 84-85. But 84-85 max velocity ain’t working for anyone these days, pitcher or thrower.

Liam Hendriks throwing 93-94…

I don’t see the Cubs trading Hoerner. He’s a 4 to 5 WAR player making $11.5 million this season and $12.5 million in 2026 for his age 28 and 29 seasons. Definitely worth his contract with the price of players these days. Also, wouldn’t the Padres prefer younger cheaper players with several years of control for Cease rather than 2 years of Hoerner? They would probably ask for Shaw first. The Cubs would have to at least throw a package of prospects (Horton, Caissie, etc.) at the Padres for Cease if they want to keep Shaw.

Nah, he’ll be up to late career Maddux velocities in a few weeks — 88/89.

Yep. If you are in the west burbs, try Johnnie’s Beef sometime as well.

Bregman has played 9 games at 2B in his career. I guess it’s a good problem to have if you think he can play there. But we might see it happen since Devers is saying that 3B is his position.

Hinted and inferred work just fine as well. Check your dictionary again. But keep putting words in other’s mouths. History has proven Jerry to be cheap. It has nothing to do with anything else. But keep telling me how this means I don’t want to acknowledge that racism exists. And with that, I will bow out of this discussion because the absolute stupidity of it will probably get the thread closed.

I disagree with this. The Sox need Colson to pan out like the majority of their prospects for this rebuild to have a chance. I agree with the rest of what you said, but not every team is going to spend like the Dodgers, even the Cubs. However, rather than acquiring Bregman, what if they trade for Cease instead? That’s what fathom thinks is going to happen.

I heard this on sports radio last week — the Cubs definitely don’t like deferred money after the Lester and Heyward signings, so that makes sense. I still wouldn’t be all that surprised if the Cubs look wise for not upping their offer to Bregman with Shaw killing the ball by later this season. We would all be a lot more excited about Colson this season if he hit like Shaw did in the minors.

Sure, and that’s reasonable. But while we are talking about Colson Montgomery playing this year in the majors, he’s actually a few months younger than Shaw and Shaw has totally out produced Colson with the bat to the tune of a .906 lifetime OPS in the minors. None of us would be looking to sign Bregman if the Sox were in the very same position with a prospect like Shaw basically major league ready.

I called Berti a mediocre backup vet 3B and compared him to Madrigal. I see your point. The Cubs definitely aren’t as good with Tucker and Shaw/Turner rather than Tucker and Bregman. But I think if they had signed Bregman for 3/$120 and would have already been paying him $40 million a season, they would have zero shot at resigning Tucker next offseason. It will still be difficult but I think they actually have a chance to re-sign him. With Bregman’s additional salary, not a chance.

Now that I read this article, it comes across a bit like Getz is making excuses for the Sox currently low payroll by throwing Hahn under the bus by inferring that his early extensions were questionable. I realize the Sox currently low payroll is by design but let’s not act like Getz had absolutely nothing to do with the development of Moncada, Eloy, and Robert. Perhaps he should have known that those guys wouldn’t be the best players to stay motivated after receiving early contract extensions and been in Hahn’s ear about it?

They also have Jon Berti as additional mediocre veteran depth at 3B. Not that impressive but with Turner, they do have some fallback options. Better than Madrigal at least. Regardless, Shaw is rated #19 in MLB’s top 100 and #13 recently by FanGraphs. At some point, it doesn’t make sense to give a free agent 3B $40 million a year when you have a guy like that. Would you hold the Sox to these same expectations when and if they are good again? Because they wouldn’t sign Bregman either if they were in the same situation as the Cubs with Shaw waiting in the wings.

When your top prospect is a 3B, it also doesn’t make much sense to give Bregman 3-years and $120 million dollars. They just added veteran coverage and a good bench bat in case Matt Shaw falters as a rookie.

Texas steaks and baked potatoes couldn’t have been much better, haha.

Point taken. I guess I was thinking about players that he was directly responsible for drafting since he was promoted to GM.

He was also pitching in the PCL so that probably didn’t help his numbers any, right? Or is that not as much of a thing these days? He’s right around the age of Thorpe, Cannon, and Burke. This may be my favorite pickup of the offseason. Can’t beat basically free. He should get major league starts this season.

But your point remains. Getz still needs to develop a prospect that is actually worthy of an early extension. Time will tell.

I can’t read the full article but it seems like a direct shot at Hahn’s old strategy.

I’m not painting it in any way. I just posted the facts.

Flexen wasn’t great last season but he was better than he was in 2023. Strange that he would have to take less money this offseason than last offseason. Or perhaps the Cubs gave him what he is worth and Getz just overpaid the guy last offseason.