07-19-2023, 05:55 AM
Nice to finally beat up on one of the worst teams in baseball. Hope they can take the series but won’t be surprised if they don’t.
Agree that the next great Cubs team is likely years away from developing. Leads the Cubs in terrible position. Cubs should trade away Stroman and Bellinger as both will likely walk at end of season but not expecting anything more than either a single top 150 prospect or several lottery type prospects for the both of them. Cubs development cycle is not able to replace their talent. That’s not a knock on development cycle, it’s simply you can’t expect to be to replace All Star quality talent with rookies.
The 2023 roster was not built to be a solid playoff contender even in the weak NL Central. Roster has too many holes and relied on too many questionable “fixes”. There have been pleasant surprises e.g. Swanson, Stroman, Bellinger, Alzolay, Tauchman. Unfortunately, 2 of those 5 aren’t likely to be on roster next season and one, Tauchman, seems more like the Bote type career year by journeyman.
It’s not like Cubs are going to go out and find power pitching and power corner infield and outfield bats in free agency for next season. Is it possible that minor league will provide more power coupled with trades/free agent signings? Sure as it’s baseball and anything could happen but not likely
There’s still a decent chance that Cubs will play out this season and not trade Stroman nor Bellinger as NL Central is weak and playoff hopes are likely better this season than next, and Ricketts needs to keep butts in seats and eyeballs remaining on Marquee. Unfortunately, that doesn’t hasten the development of the next Cub team but should make the team watchable for August / September
Agree that the next great Cubs team is likely years away from developing. Leads the Cubs in terrible position. Cubs should trade away Stroman and Bellinger as both will likely walk at end of season but not expecting anything more than either a single top 150 prospect or several lottery type prospects for the both of them. Cubs development cycle is not able to replace their talent. That’s not a knock on development cycle, it’s simply you can’t expect to be to replace All Star quality talent with rookies.
The 2023 roster was not built to be a solid playoff contender even in the weak NL Central. Roster has too many holes and relied on too many questionable “fixes”. There have been pleasant surprises e.g. Swanson, Stroman, Bellinger, Alzolay, Tauchman. Unfortunately, 2 of those 5 aren’t likely to be on roster next season and one, Tauchman, seems more like the Bote type career year by journeyman.
It’s not like Cubs are going to go out and find power pitching and power corner infield and outfield bats in free agency for next season. Is it possible that minor league will provide more power coupled with trades/free agent signings? Sure as it’s baseball and anything could happen but not likely
There’s still a decent chance that Cubs will play out this season and not trade Stroman nor Bellinger as NL Central is weak and playoff hopes are likely better this season than next, and Ricketts needs to keep butts in seats and eyeballs remaining on Marquee. Unfortunately, that doesn’t hasten the development of the next Cub team but should make the team watchable for August / September