2020 Team

[Kid]

He certainly was, but he also seems poised for some regression.  I mean, hell, his OPS dropped more than 200 points from August (1.098) to September (a still very respectable .887).  Castellanos is a better player than he showed in Detroit given that ginormous park, but he isn't the player that he was in August either.

[funkster]

I'm fine with it, I don't think there's really a spot for him in that OF with his tools.

[rok]

Yeah, if you sign him then Schwarber is likely dealt for a not very impressive return. That equates to an expensive lateral move that does little to extend the competitive window beyond 2021. Castellanos was fun to watch, but this team still went nowhere with him on it.

[rok]

Akiyama has many on Cubs Twitter excited. Can't be any worse than Almora, right?

https://twitter.com/pj_mooney/status/119...4100041729

[Kid]

Unfortunately, don't be too quick to assume that we will be rid of Almora.  This was from an article yesterday by Sharma in The Athletic:

Albert Almora Jr. won’t go into 2020 as the starter in center, but there is still a strong possibility he remains with the organization. After a dreadful 2019 that followed a brutal second half of 2018, Almora has little to no value on the trade market.
 

Almora’s offensive numbers have been among the worst in baseball over the last year and a half and in 2019, advanced metrics actually rated him as a below-average defender.

 

But the Cubs still view him as valuable enough to not dump in a trade or non-tender.

[rok]

Back when he used to destroy LHP and was a plus defender, he at least had some value. Still hard to imagine what his role is on this team going forward.

[funkster]

Akiyama doesn't particularly excite me, but if he can get on base and play solid defense I'm all in.

[rok]

Especially if he doesn't break the bank. Ricketts so broke.

[funkster]

Especially if he doesn't break the bank. Ricketts so broke.

Gave all his money to the orange.

[rok]

We'll see what happens.



https://twitter.com/GDubCub/status/1195394529219796993

[funkster]

I know he was good with the Brewers, but are people really pumped about a heavy push to sign Pomeranz?

[rok]

As anything other than a LH middle reliever, I don't see the point. He seems to be a hot commodity now around the league, and wouldn't be surprised if he ends up overpaid for a couple of really good months.

[funkster]

He just seems a prime candidate to be a quick tanking signing.  Seems like a significant risk that his good few months were a fluke.

[AlexV]

Not much you can do to the Cubs classic unis, but wonder when they'll be releasing the new Nike's.



Teams that have so far look pretty damn good.

[Kid]

I've not seen anything to suggest that anything is changing in the Cubs' uniforms except that there will be a Nike swoosh on the right side like these: