almagest

I can see why the A's didn't pitch Sean Manaea against us

A's look like complete trash in this game. They looked bad in game 1 against us too, so maybe they'll rebound.

Wendelken pulling a White Sox reliever - got 2 quick outs then gave up 3 runs.

Springer is more realistic than trading for Heyward. Joc can hit righties well + gets on base and Engel seems to be turning into a decent lefty-hitting side of the platoon. Other options are here: https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/free-agents/outfield/ Decent options to me are Castellanos if he opts out, Eaton, Ozuna, Brantley, Pederson, Canha, Springer, Bradley Jr.

They're 100% going to ask for a decent prospect in the deal if they're chipping in $5 - $6.3 million a year for a guy who would put up ~2 WAR. They'd be stupid not to.

Springer got $21 million this year, so yes his yearly contract value will likely be around the same as Heyward. Let's use Yu Darvish as a comparison for Bauer - both are oddball right-handed starters with consistency issues but have Cy Young quality stuff when going right. Darvish signed a 6 year $126 million contract ($21 mil/yr) in 2018 (his age 31 season). Bauer will be 30 in January. 3/72 is $24m per year, so Heyward's contract seems a good reference point for what Bauer (assuming he signs a longer term deal) and Springer get this offseason. If you're asking the Cubs to absorb a decent sized chunk of Heyward's contract you have to give up a decent prospect. Really doesn't seem worth it.

He gets on base too. Knows how to take a walk. He's not my first choice but a Pederson/Engel platoon in right is decent, especially if it means we pick up Bauer or Stroman

Cubs scored 1 run in two games.

LOL what is that "Miami Bottom Feeders" shirt?

ABC just cut into the game to show "Trump has COVID" coverage. They said the game was on ESPN but it's not yet.

Your ace goes 7 2/3rds giving up only 2 runs and you'd think you're in good shape. Too bad the Cubs can't hit.

He needs to figure it out. You know that cERA is highly variant and overall pretty unreliable, right?

If Gio can't work with another catcher then we might as well trade him to wherever McCann goes.

Giolito and Anderson have been this good for 2 years, so yeah I expect them to repeat. Abreu might not be as good but you should hopefully have a better Moncada, Vaughn and a RF to help take the pressure off. You'd also hope to not leave 87 runners in scoring position in a series.

No, 1 WAR is not worth $10 million/yr unless you take a naive average across baseball, otherwise Trout would be making 100 million/year and Machado would've signed for ~$50 million/year. You "over" pay up front for production and hopefully end up with a not-too-bad contract by the end of it as the player declines and the AAV of other contracts go up. Contracts have not gone up that much since Heyward signed and with the overall economic downturn from COVID we'd be foolish to take on the majority of that contract when we could go out and get someone like Springer or Bauer for the same money (or a bit more).

Yeah, you're right. I can't read. Still don't want to pay him $21-22 mil/yr for ~ 1.9 WAR/yr.

No way. He was good this year in a short season but otherwise hasn't been a good hitter since 2015, he's 31, and we'd be paying him through his age 35 season.

I would love to be able to count on Kopech but he hasn't pitched in 2 years. I don't think you can. Getting Bauer would put a lot less pressure on him.

The Mets should sell. They remind me so much of the Sox 2010-2015 - a couple stars and a bunch of scrubs. They should get a haul for Degrom and trade away anyone else they can get something for, tank for a while and build up.

He clearly loves TA, had McCann on his show, fits really well on our #ChangeTheGame culture, we have a big hole with starting pitching, he's probably gonna win the NL Cy Young especially after blowing through the Braves yesterday... it's really a fantastic fit.

Eh. They do, but hopefully they learned how you can't play in the playoffs. You can't make errors, you need to get big hits, you can't walk 8 guys in 5 innings.

Benintendi regressed last year and was absolutely putrid this year. I wouldn't touch him.

Bauer, Q and Springer. I'm also on board with Joc Pederson if you think Engel makes a good platoon (I do; Adam Engel FUCKS).

Bauer and Q

Let’s go get Bauer and Springer. Maybe another league average starter too. Bring up Vaughn. Last two (or one) spots are a battle between Kopech Dunning Steiver and Cease. Too many holes to overcome on this team. Inexperience bit us too. Rooting for the As against the Astros.