Cubs Offseason 2014: So, what did your team do this offseason? Isn't that cute.

[Eli]

So if this Rasmus thing happens I think I'm okay with that. Should I be okay? Is everyone else okay?

I think it's worth a shot. He's still in his prime years and has tons of power. He's been a 4-win player a couple of times, so there's definitely upside there. A lot of the knocks on him are that he's kind of quiet/sensitive (the horror!), and I've seen it speculated that Maddon might be the perfect fit for him as a manager.

I also don't want to just assume Alcantara is the everyday CF, so Rasmus could work nicely in a platoon partner there, since Alcantara is better from the right side. That'd also let Alcantara move around the diamond in a supersub type of role, if needed.

[SKO]

So if this Rasmus thing happens I think I'm okay with that. Should I be okay? Is everyone else okay?

I think it's worth a shot. He's still in his prime years and has tons of power. He's been a 4-win player a couple of times, so there's definitely upside there. A lot of the knocks on him are that he's kind of quiet/sensitive (the horror!), and I've seen it speculated that Maddon might be the perfect fit for him as a manager.

I also don't want to just assume Alcantara is the everyday CF, so Rasmus could work nicely in a platoon partner there, since Alcantara is better from the right side. That'd also let Alcantara move around the diamond in a supersub type of role, if needed.

So we're agreed Penis wrong?

[PenFoe]

So if this Rasmus thing happens I think I'm okay with that. Should I be okay? Is everyone else okay?

I think it's worth a shot. He's still in his prime years and has tons of power. He's been a 4-win player a couple of times, so there's definitely upside there. A lot of the knocks on him are that he's kind of quiet/sensitive (the horror!), and I've seen it speculated that Maddon might be the perfect fit for him as a manager.

I also don't want to just assume Alcantara is the everyday CF, so Rasmus could work nicely in a platoon partner there, since Alcantara is better from the right side. That'd also let Alcantara move around the diamond in a supersub type of role, if needed.

So we're agreed Penis wrong?

I'm wrong that I hope Alcantara is good? 

Seams reasonable.

[SKO]

So if this Rasmus thing happens I think I'm okay with that. Should I be okay? Is everyone else okay?

I think it's worth a shot. He's still in his prime years and has tons of power. He's been a 4-win player a couple of times, so there's definitely upside there. A lot of the knocks on him are that he's kind of quiet/sensitive (the horror!), and I've seen it speculated that Maddon might be the perfect fit for him as a manager.

I also don't want to just assume Alcantara is the everyday CF, so Rasmus could work nicely in a platoon partner there, since Alcantara is better from the right side. That'd also let Alcantara move around the diamond in a supersub type of role, if needed.

So we're agreed Penis wrong?

I'm wrong that I hope Alcantara is good? 

Seams reasonable.

Just wrong in that you only want him signed if he's automatically consigned to being a 4th OF behind a guy who has played all of like 50 games in his entire professional career in CF and who might also be bad at baseball.

Hoping Alcantara is good is not bad, hoping to win a lot of games in 2015 while just handing a guaranteed spot to Mendy when you're also going to be breaking in Baez and Bryant and Soler seems ill-advised.

[Eli]

I don't think an outfield consisting of Coghlan/Ruggiano/Rasmus/Alcantara/Soler is very exciting, but it's at least more stable than one without Rasmus. The platoon splits all make sense:

Career Splits (BA/OBP/SLG)
Coghlan vs. RH:  .282   .346   .425
Ruggiano vs. LH: .266   .329   .508

Rasmus vs. RH:   .257   .323   .465
Alcantara vs. LH: .244   .344   .410

That's all very back of the napkin stuff, but it seems like you'd have a good shot of above-average offensive production from both of those positions. And it's not a big commitment to anyone, which makes it easy for them to add an actual big OF bat next winter.

[InternetApex]

I don't think an outfield consisting of Coghlan/Ruggiano/Rasmus/Alcantara/Soler is very exciting, but it's at least more stable than one without Rasmus. The platoon splits all make sense:

Career Splits (BA/OBP/SLG)
Coghlan vs. RH:  .282   .346   .425
Ruggiano vs. LH: .266   .329   .508

Rasmus vs. RH:   .257   .323   .465
Alcantara vs. LH: .244   .344   .410

That's all very back of the napkin stuff, but it seems like you'd have a good shot of above-average offensive production from both of those positions. And it's not a big commitment to anyone, which makes it easy for them to add an actual big OF bat next winter.

I'm totally fine with this napkin.

[Oleg]

I ran into my BEST FRIEND EVER, Sahadev Sharma, while I was in Chicago and I asked him about the Lester vs Scherzer thing.  Basically, the front office was scared off by Scherzer's mechanics and didn't think he'd last the length of the contract.  Also, Lester's one blip on his career stats is when he was pitching for Bobby Valentine.  I think they sort of dismiss that year as the anomaly it seems to be.  Take that for what it's worth.

Furthermore, and this is my thinking, I don't particularly care if Mendy is bad in 2015 but drawing any conclusions on anything less than a full season's worth of PAs seems silly.  If they lose 85 games in 2015, does it really matter?  I would rather play the kids, let them succeed or fail or something in between and go for it all in 2016 when you can get even more pitching and have other guys (Russell and Schwarber) ready to add to the roster.

[InternetApex]

I ran into my BEST FRIEND EVER, Sahadev Sharma, while I was in Chicago and I asked him about the Lester vs Scherzer thing.  Basically, the front office was scared off by Scherzer's mechanics and didn't think he'd last the length of the contract.  Also, Lester's one blip on his career stats is when he was pitching for Bobby Valentine.  I think they sort of dismiss that year as the anomaly it seems to be.  Take that for what it's worth.

Furthermore, and this is my thinking, I don't particularly care if Mendy is bad in 2015 but drawing any conclusions on anything less than a full season's worth of PAs seems silly.  If they lose 85 games in 2015, does it really matter?  I would rather play the kids, let them succeed or fail or something in between and go for it all in 2016 when you can get even more pitching and have other guys (Russell and Schwarber) ready to add to the roster.

I just splooged into this napkin.

[Quality Start Machine]

I ran into my BEST FRIEND EVER, Sahadev Sharma, while I was in Chicago and I asked him about the Lester vs Scherzer thing.  Basically, the front office was scared off by Scherzer's mechanics and didn't think he'd last the length of the contract.  Also, Lester's one blip on his career stats is when he was pitching for Bobby Valentine.  I think they sort of dismiss that year as the anomaly it seems to be.  Take that for what it's worth.

Furthermore, and this is my thinking, I don't particularly care if Mendy is bad in 2015 but drawing any conclusions on anything less than a full season's worth of PAs seems silly.  If they lose 85 games in 2015, does it really matter?  I would rather play the kids, let them succeed or fail or something in between and go for it all in 2016 when you can get even more pitching and have other guys (Russell and Schwarber) ready to add to the roster.

This is the thing, right here. Whatever they do this season, they are still very much a work in progress.

And Jepstink also know that this time next year they will get another opportunity to loosen up the purse strings. Especially if they're still lugging Jackson's deal around this season, then next year he's got a year to go on his deal, so he'll be easier to move, even if the Cubs have to eat a significant portion...hell, eating the whole last year is only $13 million, not a lot in baseball dollars. And even with Lester and Jackson on board, their payroll really isn't that bad. So there's room for them to go shopping.

[SKO]

I ran into my BEST FRIEND EVER, Sahadev Sharma, while I was in Chicago and I asked him about the Lester vs Scherzer thing.  Basically, the front office was scared off by Scherzer's mechanics and didn't think he'd last the length of the contract.  Also, Lester's one blip on his career stats is when he was pitching for Bobby Valentine.  I think they sort of dismiss that year as the anomaly it seems to be.  Take that for what it's worth.

Furthermore, and this is my thinking, I don't particularly care if Mendy is bad in 2015 but drawing any conclusions on anything less than a full season's worth of PAs seems silly.  If they lose 85 games in 2015, does it really matter?  I would rather play the kids, let them succeed or fail or something in between and go for it all in 2016 when you can get even more pitching and have other guys (Russell and Schwarber) ready to add to the roster.

Yeah, I would say it matters. 2016 probably is THE year for the major push but I'd be very disappointed if they didn't have a winning season or at least hang around in wildcard contention. A 77 win season would be a disappointment that would bring all kinds of shit down on the heads of Epstoyer and it would honestly be a serious bit of under-achieving based on most of the projects I've seen (almost all of which include the variable of Mendy being terrible, at least Streamer does anyway), so I'd have to question what went wrong.

[Eli]

If they lose 85 games in 2015, does it really matter?

Hell, what does it matter if they don't have a winning record in 2016? Or 2017? Or 2018? The Sun is eventually going to burn out and life on Earth will cease to exist anyway, right?

But in a sports sense, sure it matters. We're all assuming that Lester probably only has 3-4 really good years left (hopefully not less) and you'd be wasting one of those. You'd also be wasting more cheap, prime years from Rizzo and Castro. And you'd be OK with the idea that it should take baseball's best and brightest collection of front-office minds FIVE FUCKING OFFSEASONS just to put together a major-league team with a winning record.

So yes, I think it matters.

[SKO]

If they lose 85 games in 2015, does it really matter?

Hell, what does it matter if they don't have a winning record in 2016? Or 2017? Or 2018? The Sun is eventually going to burn out and life on Earth will cease to exist anyway, right?

But in a sports sense, sure it matters. We're all assuming that Lester probably only has 3-4 really good years left (hopefully not less) and you'd be wasting one of those. You'd also be wasting more cheap, prime years from Rizzo and Castro. And you'd be OK with the idea that it should take baseball's best and brightest collection of front-office minds FIVE FUCKING OFFSEASONS just to put together a major-league team with a winning record.

So yes, I think it matters.

what he said

[SKO]

I get not wanting the Cubs to cripple their financial future by chasing mediocre free agents this offseason but if we're talking a modest deal with Colby Rasmus to make sure there's a better chance this team has a productive outfield this season so they can win games in 2015 vs. just not signing anyone so that Mendy gets 500 chances to succeed or suck no matter what, that's not really a sacrifice I am willing to make anymore. Win games. If one of the kids has to sit the bench at this point (especially when it's Mendy, who wasn't even really considered part of the plan before a hot start at Iowa this year) to make that happen, I say let him.

[Saul Goodman]

Cue all the stupid Cubs fans freaking the fuck out that Lester is going to wear #34, WHICH IS KERRY WOOD'S NUMBER AND I DON'T THINK I LIKE THE IDEA OF ANYONE ELSE EVER WEARING IT EVER AGAIN FOREVER!  We are the worst.

[Oleg]

I get not wanting the Cubs to cripple their financial future by chasing mediocre free agents this offseason but if we're talking a modest deal with Colby Rasmus to make sure there's a better chance this team has a productive outfield this season so they can win games in 2015 vs. just not signing anyone so that Mendy gets 500 chances to succeed or suck no matter what, that's not really a sacrifice I am willing to make anymore. Win games. If one of the kids has to sit the bench at this point (especially when it's Mendy, who wasn't even really considered part of the plan before a hot start at Iowa this year) to make that happen, I say let him.

Maybe I'm mis-remembering but Alcantra was always a top-100 prospect.

If they lose 85 games in 2015, does it really matter?

Hell, what does it matter if they don't have a winning record in 2016? Or 2017? Or 2018? The Sun is eventually going to burn out and life on Earth will cease to exist anyway, right?

But in a sports sense, sure it matters. We're all assuming that Lester probably only has 3-4 really good years left (hopefully not less) and you'd be wasting one of those. You'd also be wasting more cheap, prime years from Rizzo and Castro. And you'd be OK with the idea that it should take baseball's best and brightest collection of front-office minds FIVE FUCKING OFFSEASONS just to put together a major-league team with a winning record.

So yes, I think it matters.

Fine.  Point taken.  I just think there was always a plan in place and we're looking at year 1 of the turnaround.  In my mind, I was always expecting 2016 to be the year.  But, hey, if they want to go out and win next year, I guess I could live with that. But you don't have to make me like it!