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

[J. Walter Weatherman]

I'm not even sure what I had for lunch yesterday.

Jackson's uneaten mac and cheese?

[Bort]

I'm not even sure what I had for lunch yesterday.

Jackson's uneaten mac and cheese?

That was my dinner.

[Tonker]

I'm not even sure what I had for lunch yesterday.

Jackson's uneaten mac and cheese?

That was my dinner.

No shit: for about the first four years after HTonk was born, a good 30-40% of my diet was scraps and leftovers.

[World's #1 Astros Fan]

I'm not even sure what I had for lunch yesterday.

Jackson's uneaten mac and cheese?

That was my dinner.

No shit: for about the first four years after HTonk was born, a good 30-40% of my diet was scraps and leftovers.

I'm still Hoovering my kid's leftovers

[Quality Start Machine]

I'm not even sure what I had for lunch yesterday.

Jackson's uneaten mac and cheese?

That was my dinner.

No shit: for about the first four years after HTonk was born, a good 30-40% of my diet was scraps and leftovers.

I'm still Hoovering my kid's leftovers

Only because you can't go up to people on the Metra and ask, "are you gonna finish that?" any more.

[World's #1 Astros Fan]

I'm not even sure what I had for lunch yesterday.

Jackson's uneaten mac and cheese?

That was my dinner.

No shit: for about the first four years after HTonk was born, a good 30-40% of my diet was scraps and leftovers.

I'm still Hoovering my kid's leftovers

Only because you can't go up to people on the Metra and ask, "are you gonna finish that?" any more.

My kids don't drink beer.

[Quality Start Machine]

I'm not even sure what I had for lunch yesterday.

Jackson's uneaten mac and cheese?

That was my dinner.

No shit: for about the first four years after HTonk was born, a good 30-40% of my diet was scraps and leftovers.

I'm still Hoovering my kid's leftovers

Only because you can't go up to people on the Metra and ask, "are you gonna finish that?" any more.

My kids don't drink beer.

I call bullshit.

[Saul Goodman]

The Padres trading everything that isn't nailed down and even some things that are is pretty fun to watch. Wonder if that's what the Cubs might be doing had they not spent all this time collecting bats.

[Eli]

So, David Ross on a 2-year deal?

Other than the Lester signing, I do not understand anything they're doing this offseason.

[SKO]

So, David Ross on a 2-year deal?

Other than the Lester signing, I do not understand anything they're doing this offseason.

Hoping Ross means Castillo is going to be a part of a somewhat significant trade acquisition but who knows.

[Eli]

So, David Ross on a 2-year deal?

Other than the Lester signing, I do not understand anything they're doing this offseason.

Hoping Ross means Castillo is going to be a part of a somewhat significant trade acquisition but who knows.

I'm sure something will happen, since they have as many catchers (5!) on their 40-man as outfielders right now. We'll have to see the return on Castillo, but I'm skeptical it'll make up for the downgrade from Castillo to Ross. The front office must be really, really into pitch-framing for this to make any sense.

[R-V]

So, David Ross on a 2-year deal?

Other than the Lester signing, I do not understand anything they're doing this offseason.

Really? You don't understand the Montero, Hammel and Motte acquisitions?

[Slaky]

So, David Ross on a 2-year deal?

Other than the Lester signing, I do not understand anything they're doing this offseason.

Really? You don't understand the Montero, Hammel and Motte acquisitions?

Those all make sense to me. With the Ross signing it almost seems like they're placating Lester a little (which is a little strange) but also putting a lot of chips in the Natural Leader pot. Ross seems like a guy they want to have around.

I'm with Eli in that I don't get the 2 years and I certainly would have been happy to see Castillo stick around. I feel the Ross thing has the high potential to bite them in the ass as soon as spring training. He's so old.

And when Gomes signs it'll be basically the same thing. He sucks and Ruggiano is a better hitter. But you know...leadership or something.

[Eli]

So, David Ross on a 2-year deal?

Other than the Lester signing, I do not understand anything they're doing this offseason.

Really? You don't understand the Montero, Hammel and Motte acquisitions?

I did overlook Hammel. Fair point. And I probably could have phrased things with a little more nuance. Anyway.

I'm torn on Montero. How you feel about it is dependent on how you feel about pitch framing. If you don't buy into it very much, they've basically spent $50 million to not really upgrade the catcher position. Then again, the framing stuff might just be an area where we're stuck in the dark as fans. I've been trying to read about it and there are reasonable people who say it's totally overrated and reasonable people who have formulated that Yadier Molina is about as valuable as 2001 Barry Bonds.

And no, I don't understand the Motte signing. He's nothing without his fastball, which is gone after TJS. They seem to be stockpiling bullpen arms for some reason, even though the bullpen was a big strength last year. But then they let Wright, their only good lefty, go for nothing.

Swapping Ruggiano for Inevitable Jonny Gomes shouldn't make sense to anyone.

That said, it's still December and I think it's entirely possible there's some big move(s) coming that brings all of this into focus.

[R-V]

So, David Ross on a 2-year deal?

Other than the Lester signing, I do not understand anything they're doing this offseason.

Really? You don't understand the Montero, Hammel and Motte acquisitions?

I did overlook Hammel. Fair point. And I probably could have phrased things with a little more nuance. Anyway.

I'm torn on Montero. How you feel about it is dependent on how you feel about pitch framing. If you don't buy into it very much, they've basically spent $50 million to not really upgrade the catcher position. Then again, the framing stuff might just be an area where we're stuck in the dark as fans. I've been trying to read about it and there are reasonable people who say it's totally overrated and reasonable people who have formulated that Yadier Molina is about as valuable as 2001 Barry Bonds.

And no, I don't understand the Motte signing. He's nothing without his fastball, which is gone after TJS. They seem to be stockpiling bullpen arms for some reason, even though the bullpen was a big strength last year. But then they let Wright, their only good lefty, go for nothing.

Swapping Ruggiano for Inevitable Jonny Gomes shouldn't make sense to anyone.

That said, it's still December and I think it's entirely possible there's some big move(s) coming that brings all of this into focus.

Those are all reasonable concerns. I lean more towards the "pitch framing does have significant value" argument, at least until we have robot umpires, but I still have doubts about the Montero acquisition because the Cubs were 6th in pitching WAR last year - pitching (and pitch framing) weren't a weakness for them, even after trading Samardzija and Hammel midseason. If you assume that some regression from Arrieta and Hendricks will be offset by (a) bringing in Lester and Hammel and (b) actually keeping them for a full season, then it's reasonable to expect them to have pretty damn good run prevention again. So why use finite financial/prospect resources on run prevention, when offense was the primary weakness last year? I worry about counting on progression from prospects to get the offense to at least a league-average level, especially in today's pitcher-friendly version of MLB.

As for Motte, he pitched all of 25 innings post-TJS last year. It's probably too early to declare that his fastball is gone. I'm fine with a one-year flier on someone like that.

But yeah the Gomes-Ruggiano swap makes absolutely no sense.