2015 Chicago Cubs

[zippy2212]

Re: 2015 Chicago Cubs

What do you guys think the chances are that we sign both David Price and Jordan Zimmerman?

Zero! Part of me would really love it but I just don't think it will happen. I really think they will sign one of those 2 and then trade for a prospect who is really close in AAA.
A rotation of Arietta, Lester, Zimmerman/Price/Greinke, a healthy Hammel and Hendricks is pretty good. Hammel was arguably their best pitcher until he had the hamstring issue around the ASB.

[Figment]

Re: 2015 Chicago Cubs

Zero! Part of me would really love it but I just don't think it will happen. I really think they will sign one of those 2 and then trade for a prospect who is really close in AAA.
A rotation of Arietta, Lester, Zimmerman/Price/Greinke, a healthy Hammel and Hendricks is pretty good. Hammel was arguably their best pitcher until he had the hamstring issue around the ASB.

Samardzija is another good possibility to sign instead of Zimmerman. He would be way cheaper. He would probably only sign a one year deal though, or one of those Greinke deals that he can opt out of if he pitches well.

[Lisac]

Re: 2015 Chicago Cubs

I haven't looked a ton, but I've been using Tulo with stride 2. I'm really hoping that the devs can capture the faster/quick bat flicks that many players employ in their swings nowadays. The bat flicks/waggles they have in the game are just way too slow and the bat head drops too far.

Josh Hamilton's stance has an okay bat flick. Last year that stance had the bat higher and just a bit open. I used it for Baez just because the bat flick.

This year Bogaerts' bat flick isn't bad, bit Baez has closed his stance up a lot lately.

I just switched Baez stance to Braves C Christian Bentencourt's

[Lisac]

Re: 2015 Chicago Cubs

So I have been looking in to what to do at center field in my franchise, and I wanted to run an idea across all the Cubs fans. Fowler is an obvious choice to keep; however, he will be very expensive to keep, so it may not be worth trying to keep him. Alcantara and Almora both need more time to improve in the Minors, so that rules them out, at least early in the year. What do you guys think of moving Kris Bryant to the everyday center field spot and utilizing the young infielders of Addison Russell, Starlin Castro, Javier Baez, and Tommy La Stella to fill the second base, third base, and short stop positions? Bryant has a 68 Speed with a 71 fielding rating, 67 arm strength, and 68 arm accuracy (Fowler has 63 SPD, 64 FLD, 78 AST, 59 AAC). What do you guys think of this as a solution?

Cubs have discussed moving Baez to CF. Anyone have a good Scwarber stance?

[Figment]

Re: 2015 Chicago Cubs

Both Price and Zimmerman are gone, who do you guys think the Cubs still might sign?
I think the rumors of Jorge Soler to Atlanta for Shelby Miller make a lot of sense, I would love to see this happen as he is a decent pitcher who is just starting his first year of arbitration.
I think everyone would love to see Jason Heyward, although he would be a huge contract, but he is young, a good hitter, and a great defender. I would love to see him come to Chicago for the foreseeable future.
Last, I would still like to see Samardzija come back. I know there are rumors that he is getting $100M contract offers, but I am not buying it. I can see him going in the range of 5 years for $80M-$90M. If he does get the big expensive contract he wants, I expect the team to have an option after two or three years. He could also do the Greinke deal and "sell low" with a player option, so if he does play better he can just opt out like Greinke just did.

The rotation would be:
Arrieta
Lester
Samardzija
Miller
Hendricks/Hammel

I think that is a tremendous upgrade without mortgaging the future to achieve it, and also increasing our lineup with Heyward. We would still need a new center fielder and leadoff hitter though. I could see Bryant playing in center field, and the rumor of moving to Baez to center isn't too far fetched, kid is super athletic and reacts to the ball well, but neither of those take care of our needs for a leadoff, unless they believe Addison Russell is ready.

Thoughts?

[Figment]

Re: 2015 Chicago Cubs

Starting to feel like we may have too many "swing men" in the bullpen with acquiring Adam Warren from the Yankees. Add him to Travis Wood, Clayton Richard and Trevor Cahill and that seems like a lot. Even Justin Grimm is a converted starter. With Hector Rondon, Pedro Strop, Neil Ramirez, Justin Grimm, and Rex Brothers the bullpen is getting crowded. I anticipate Clayton Richard and Trevor Cahill stretching out and starting in AAA in case we need to call up a starter, unless we trade Travis Wood

[MrOldboy]

Re: 2015 Chicago Cubs

Just checking in on The Show again. Been busy with moving to a new job and in a month or so actually moving. Hoping to work on OSFM again this year, but planning something a bit different and attempt to crowdsource some info from Cubs fans. That will probably just be a google doc that anyone invited can edit.

With that in mind I'll create an OSFM Cubs 2016 thread once the time is right so I can put info in the OP.

Starting to feel like we may have too many "swing men" in the bullpen with acquiring Adam Warren from the Yankees. Add him to Travis Wood, Clayton Richard and Trevor Cahill and that seems like a lot. Even Justin Grimm is a converted starter. With Hector Rondon, Pedro Strop, Neil Ramirez, Justin Grimm, and Rex Brothers the bullpen is getting crowded. I anticipate Clayton Richard and Trevor Cahill stretching out and starting in AAA in case we need to call up a starter, unless we trade Travis Wood

They will all be stretched out in ST, that is the plan. Wood was valuable in his role from last year (.577 OPS as a reliever) and saw a bump in velocity in relief. I'd expect the Cubs to want to use Cahill in relief as well and Maddon seemed to latch onto him down the stretch. Although Cahill expressed he wanted to start I think the Cubs were always planning on him being a bullpen piece and are "stretching" him out. Injuries change things of course so nice to have deptch, but Cahill looked impressive in relief and I'd guess that the Cubs resigned him not as a depth option, but as one of their 7-8 main bullpen arms.