2021 Team

[Butcher]

The Braves released Edwards. Maybe we should take a flyer on him...

[funkster]

Man, I forgot about him lol.

[rok]

Hard pass.

[funkster]

Sounds like they offered Rizzo 5 years, 70 million.  Are the Ricketts' family TRYING to be hated?  I don't understand this strategy whatsoever.

[BigBoy]

Jesus Christ, the Bears and now Cubs are pissing some of the only good talent they have, Im at a loss.

[rok]

At first I cringed at the headline, but then started to do the math. What would be a reasonable deal for a 32 year old all-star 1B? 4-5 years @ $15-20 mil AAV? I'm honestly not sure anymore.

[1060Ivy]

At first I cringed at the headline, but then started to do the math. What would be a reasonable deal for a 32 year old all-star 1B? 4-5 years @ $15-20 mil AAV? I'm honestly not sure anymore.

 

Rizzo is and has been the face of the franchise.   Would guess that contract would be in similar range as Cardinal's Goldschmidt (5 year, $130 MM signed in 2019) 

 

Expected something around $100 MM with mutual options years.   

[Butcher]

He was severely underpaid the last 5 years and has been one of the most consistently great players in the game. And they just offered him half of what the Cardinals paid Goldschmidt.

[1060Ivy]

During the pandemic, the Cubs Front Office had to do so belt tightening. They’ve even shortened their mantra from ‘We don’t pay for past performance’ to ‘We don’t pay’

[funkster]

 

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="rok" data-cid="356801" data-time="1617067556">
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At first I cringed at the headline, but then started to do the math. What would be a reasonable deal for a 32 year old all-star 1B? 4-5 years @ $15-20 mil AAV? I'm honestly not sure anymore.

 

Rizzo is and has been the face of the franchise.   Would guess that contract would be in similar range as Cardinal's Goldschmidt (5 year, $130 MM signed in 2019) 

 

Expected something around $100 MM with mutual options years.   

 

</div>
</blockquote>
This is what I would think would probably be reasonable. I don't know, it's very hard to be happy being a Cubs fan right now.

[1060Ivy]

Keith Law predicts Cubs with 78 - 84 record in 4th place in today’s article for The Athletic.



Law points out that Cubs Hendricks is the only above average starter but holds out hope that offense could “bounce back”.



https://theathletic.com/2477098/2021/03/...son-picks/

[rok]

I like a lot of the content that Law pumps out, but he always comes off as a wet blanket when it comes to the Cubs.



That said, I do think the Cards and Brewers could be slightly better, but don't see how the Reds are after their mini selloff. The division is trash, but totally up for grabs.

[funkster]

Law is a turd.  I don't disagree on the prediction though.

[MrSheps]

I think the Cubs will do better than Law predicts because of the defense. Beyond the regular caveat of health, I feel like the key piece is Bryant. Rizzo will be Rizzo, I think Joc will be an upgrade over Schwarbs (and based on what he said re: the Dodgers kinda holding his approach back, I think he might be a significant upgrade). Bryant and Javy have looked lost at the plate this spring. We need one or both to really bounce back, but the ceiling is much higher for Bryant at the plate. If he's 2016 Bryant, and Javy is 2017 or 2019 Javy (don't even need him to do what he did in 2018) it's a really solid lineup.

[funkster]

Tony Wolters!