See, I told you it was too early to set a lineup because just a few days after this post, the Cubs did a thing: The Cubs have agreed to sign Trey Mancini to a two-year contract, according to ESPN’s Jesse Rogers (Twitter link). Mancini, a client of the Frontline agency, can opt out of the deal following the 2023 season if …
Probably Too Early Pre-Convention Cubs Lineup Construction
One reason this is probably too early is because of the overall feeling that the Cubs are done tinkering with the position players after they reportedly agreed to a deal with Eric Hosmer (yay) and won’t be in the running for Carlos Correa anymore since he signed with the Twins (dying laughing) and will likely just look for ways to …
Eat at Arby’s: Or Just a Quick Look at the Cubs Arbitration Guys
This Friday is the Cubs Convention, and also happens to be the deadline for teams and arbitration-eligible players to submit their salary figures for 2023 (other key dates remain but this is probably the biggest one coming up). The gist is that if they can’t come to a compromise, the team submits one number, the player submits another, and then …
Diving Into the Bargain Bin
The Cubs have probably finished building their roster via free agency for the most part, and we covered the biggest signing plus the basic plan for 2023 in our last podcast. Based on the official signings and Cots Contracts, the Cubs still have about $20MM to spend (if they choose to) before they hit the first luxury tax threshold, but …
Where We Stand: Cubs Roster Reset
As you all saw the other day, the Cubs reportedly agreed to a contract with sort-of-consolation-prize shortshop Dansby Swanson, and now have a few more things they need to do if they want to at least pretend to contend. So let’s see what we’ve got! The 40-Man Roster If you look on the official website’s roster page, there are 38 …
Correa to the Giants
We didn’t need a banging garbage can to see this coming. Carlos Correa and the San Francisco Giants have agreed to a 13-year, $350 million deal with a full no-trade clause giving the free-agent shortstop and admitted baseball cheater an $8 million/year pay-cut from last season with the small-market Minnesota Twins. Sucks getting old, doesn’t it? Plenty of teams, including …
The Evolving Narrative
I will start by saying that social media is great for many things, despite the efforts by certain proprietors of websites to destroy it or make it totally not fun. It helps us connect with friends and fellow fans, it makes folks of authority and celebrities more accessible to us mere peasants, and it allows us to learn more about …
How to compete for the World Series in 2023
Even though the postseason format will be virtually unchanged, the 2023 MLB regular season is going to look a whole lot different, and the scheduling changes could make the postseason even fairer and more exciting. But the changes in scheduling, coupled with the way the 2022 postseason played out, will inevitably change the way teams from the A’s to the …
The Roster Check Before the Storm
The Cubs did make their transactions prior to the nontender deadline, and the 40-man roster is at 37 for the moment: As we said in prior posts and in the latest Dreamcast, there were some very obvious nontender candidates, and it wasn’t too surprising to see the three names on the announcement. As stated in Bastian’s rundown, Vizcaíno was on …
Quick Cubs Roster Check
By the time this publishes the Cubs might decide to finally designate Jason Heyward for assignment, but for now he’s safe on the 40-man roster, which will likely also be updated soon: Per the prior status check, the roster should be at 36, but for some reason I’m counting 37, and if we remove Esteban Quiroz and Jared Young as …