The Friendly Confines: The Official Chicago Cubs Thread

[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: The Friendly Confines: The Official Chicago Cubs Thread

"Random Cub of the Day" is one of the funnest games to play

Random Cub of the Day on the eve of the World Series heading to Wrigley....Shawn Boskie.

[bcruise]

Re: The Friendly Confines: The Official Chicago Cubs Thread

So um, the past 12 hours or so has put a dent on my bank account. lol

Yeah. So far:

[bcruise]

Re: The Friendly Confines: The Official Chicago Cubs Thread

I've gotten the hat, t-shirt. The SI, both of the Chicago Papers. And im still on topps website looking at ****.


And I should probably grab the Blu Ray too

Where did you buy the Trib? Is it possible outside of Chicago?

[bcruise]

Re: The Friendly Confines: The Official Chicago Cubs Thread

https://store.chicagotribune.com/spo...2F%3FdssReturn

Thanks. Looking into it, but the site's getting absolutely hammered (as expected) right now.

[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: The Friendly Confines: The Official Chicago Cubs Thread

Cubs fans rolling deep on this parade route. Very, very impressive to see the entire metro area out there.

Going by the Aon Center right there, brings back some memories from when I interned on the 47th floor there.

[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: The Friendly Confines: The Official Chicago Cubs Thread

"It was way bigger than Boston."

-Theo Epstein, 11/4/2016

[fugazi]

Re: The Friendly Confines: The Official Chicago Cubs Thread

I haven't bought any memorabilia yet, but I don't have real TV at home...so I've watched almost every post-season game at a restaurant or bar...thank god it's over; I couldn't afford much more lol

Worth. Every. Penny.

(and every second...)

Hendricks is STILL the man; no one else I would've wanted starting that game. He was awesome this post-season. Toe-to-Toe with Kershaw and Kluber and didn't blink.

[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: The Friendly Confines: The Official Chicago Cubs Thread

Some cool pics here: http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/sto...ries-champions

[CBoller1331]

Re: The Friendly Confines: The Official Chicago Cubs Thread

"It was way bigger than Boston."

-Theo Epstein, 11/4/2016

Thats what she said!!!!!.....sorry

Also I haven't been on here since they won so.....HOLY COW IT HAPPENED

Heading into Free Agency, I'd love for the Cubs to get Fowler back cause we don't really have anyone who could replace him atop our order. I also understand that he will be aging and likely is destined for a corner outfield spot, and with Almora waiting it wouldn't be wise to throw too much money at him.

As far as the bullpen, I hear they're interested in Greg Holland which I don't mind. He was nasty for a few years before he got hurt, and we could probably get him fairly cheap. I also would like to see us go after Brett Cecil to add to the back end of the bullpen. He'll be cheaper than Chapman/Jansen/Melancon and with the way bullpen usage is headed it might not hurt to have a guy without a closer "ego" if you will.

Outside of a leadoff hitter and some bullpen help, this team is set....for a while. Probably need to address the rotation next offseason with Lackey likely retiring and Arrieta possibly leaving via FA....but we still have plenty of bats to deal for a young starter. This teams got plenty of options that's for sure

[fugazi]

Re: The Friendly Confines: The Official Chicago Cubs Thread

I'm surprised they let Hammel leave. They must really not like him or something. He was awesome this year, didn't fade down the stretch like he has before, and might have been a better choice for the postseason roster than Lackey.

Most teams would be happy to have a #4 started like Hammel, and here he's the Cubs #5.

Make no mistake, this WORLD SERIES was won (I can't believe I'm saying those words!) on the backs of one of the best starting rotations 1-5 in modern history.

[CBoller1331]

Re: The Friendly Confines: The Official Chicago Cubs Thread

I'm surprised they let Hammel leave. They must really not like him or something. He was awesome this year, didn't fade down the stretch like he has before, and might have been a better choice for the postseason roster than Lackey.

Most teams would be happy to have a #4 started like Hammel, and here he's the Cubs #5.

Make no mistake, this WORLD SERIES was won (I can't believe I'm saying those words!) on the backs of one of the best starting rotations 1-5 in modern history.

He definitely did fade down the stretch....in the last month of the season or so his ERA was in the 8.00's....that (along with the rest of the rotation really hitting their stride) was a big reason he didn't make the playoff roster. Definitely wish him the best. This opens the door for Montgomery to get a shot in the rotation, and with Hendricks the only incumbent under 30 it adds some needed youth

[fugazi]

Re: The Friendly Confines: The Official Chicago Cubs Thread

He definitely did fade down the stretch....in the last month of the season or so his ERA was in the 8.00's...

My bad...didn't notice. It just didn't seem like the same "hit the wall" kind of thing we'd seen before.

[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: The Friendly Confines: The Official Chicago Cubs Thread

Cubs fans, unite. I propose we start using this thread again for shop talk. I'm getting annoyed by starting a new thread each year and also enjoy basking in the afterglow of these posts from 3 years ago...man, that was a fun team.

Now that the offseason is nigh and the Cubs have gone from:

WS Champ (2016) --> rolled in NLCS (2017) --> bounced in wild card game (2018) --> not making playoffs at all? (2019)

I figure it's time to discuss how this team goes forward.

I was a pretty "early adopter" of the idea that Joe Maddon was not doing much for this team post-2016 and it seems like most of the rest of Cubdom is starting to come around to that idea. Maybe he's just good with instilling confidence in young, underdog teams? And absolutely trash at managing expectations and standards for established teams? That would explain what we've seen in his Cubs tenure.

Where should the Cubs go from here?

[Jr.]

Re: The Friendly Confines: The Official Chicago Cubs Thread

I'm almost becoming apathetic to this team. There needs to be an overhaul, but I kind of don't even care what they do. The ultimate Cubs thing would be to trade KB, then Rizzo leaves because his best friend is gone.

The pitching staff needs to be re-tooled along with the majority of the position players. I don't know what they should prioritize.

[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: The Friendly Confines: The Official Chicago Cubs Thread

Haven't really dug deeply into contracts or free agents this offseason, but my all-too-early offseason list of things to do:

(1) Happy trails, Joe Maddon! Thank you so much for 2015 and especially 2016. Even a little bit for 2017. A true Chicago legend.

(2) Kyle Schwarber: Thanks for your service and enjoy your time on an AL team. A fan favorite and icon to the legions of Hoosier Cub fans. We'll always have 2016. Trade value may have rebounded nicely this season.

(3) Willson Contreras: Love the bat and has carried the team at times, but we need a defensive catcher. A better game caller/pitch framer with Teflon-lined hamstrings. Let's see what we can get in a trade.

(4) Victor Caratini and Ian Happ: Trade bait. Some AL teams might want Caratini more than Schwarber. Not really a catcher. Not really a 1B and Rizzo-insurance not a good enough reason to keep him. Can't really play him anywhere else. SELL HIGH. Happ is not at all a replacement for Ben Zobrist. An exaggerated version of everything the Cubs do wrong and inconsistently on offense. A "guess what pitch is coming" type of hitter.

(5) Addison Russell: If he's still on the team in 2020, something is seriously not right with the front office.

(6) Jon Lester, Jose Quintana, Kyle Hendricks, Kyle Ryan, Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, and Javier Baez: Keep (pay decrease!), keep (still a bargain), keep, keep, keep, keep, and keep.

(7) Jason Heyward, Yu Darvish, and Craig Kimbrel: Also keep, keep, and keep (but, not like there's a choice here with these contracts).

(8) Daniel Descalso: Who?

(9) David Bote: Keep. Of course.

(10) Cole Hamels, Pedro Strop, Steve Cishek, Ben Zobrist, Brandon Morrow, Brandon Kintzler, Derek Holland, Jonathan Lucroy: Buh Bye! Strop and Zobrist will be missed.

(11) Albert Almora Jr.: Whatever. Keep him. Trade him. Play him at Iowa.

(12) Tyler Chatwood: Bounce back year has me not knowing how to feel. Dare we try him in the rotation again? Expensive for a long reliever, but he's pretty great in that role.

(13) Nick Castellanos: Deserves to be re-signed for big money, but it really depends on the opportunity cost. Not sure if I'm comfortable committing $20-25M per year to him for several years.

(14) Nico Hoerner: Start him at AAA and make him earn his way up one more time.

(15) Duane Underwood Jr.: Bigger role in bullpen is warranted.

(16) Tony Kemp, David Phelps, Xavier Cedeno, Alex Wilson, Tony Barnette: Don't care.

(17) Get a leadoff hitter just in case the [new] manager erroneously doesn't bat Rizzo leadoff.

(18) Bullpen, bullpen, bullpen.

(19) Aformentioned defensive catcher. I'm perfectly ok with a .220 hitter here if it means not being last in framing, not being bad at pitch sequencing, not losing 1 month each season due to injury, and getting more out of the pitchers.

(20) Get deGrom and Yelich. Duh.