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Cubs maybe after GoGo

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• By signing John Lackey rather than a higher-priced ace, the Cubs will use some of those savings to pursue Jason Heyward, Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times writes. If Heyward can't be signed, the Cubs' backup options would be to sign Alex Gordon or try to acquire Carlos Gomez from the Astros.

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I know I may be in the minority on this one but I think Carlos is big piece of what we want to do next year and I'm not in favor of dealing him, especially for young prospects. That seems like a step back.

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Agreed. I think k gogo bounces back and has a big year.

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He definitely started coming on at the end, but then kept getting hamstrung by that intercostal strain.

Hopefully he's healthy and productive this season, because he is fun to watch.

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Well I fully expect him to lose it. And until then with valbuena playing everyday our corner infielders suck. I feel our lineup is worse than it was when the season ended.

Awesome...

Wow Dbacks give up dansby swansen

Wow.... Stupid decision. But then again the organization is going to be paying a 36 year old 35 million dollars

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Wow Dbacks give up dansby swansen

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Swansen and 2 others for Shelby Miller and a MiLBer.

That's nuts

No way valbuena and singleton are an upgrade at those positions

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No way valbuena and singleton are an upgrade at those positions

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So you're saying Valbuena and Singleton is not an upgrade to Valbuena and Carter?

I would argue that it can't be any worse. The numbers to beat are a combined .212 batting average with 49 home runs and 120 RBIs.

Dbacks with Greinke and Shelby Miller.

Although remember what the Padres did last offseason, everybody thought they were all of a sudden contenders

Valbuena/Lowrie & Carter >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Valbuena & Singleton

Corner infield of Valbuena and Singleton is probably worst in the AL.

I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that this means we are planning to give Reed a shot very early on. And possibly Moran?

The Braves crushed the DBacks in this deal. Shelby Miller is a good young SP but statistically, he benefitted from playing in the NL East. I also love Dansby Swanson and wouldn't have traded him straight up for Miller.

Yeah why is Luhnow so obsessed with Valbuena? Guy is a worse version of Carter. Worse eye, worse patience, and worse power. Wtf? Why not spend a few bucks for a real 3rd basemen??

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Yeah why is Luhnow so obsessed with Valbuena? Guy is a worse version of Carter. Worse eye, worse patience, and worse power. Wtf? Why not spend a few bucks for a real 3rd basemen??

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There are no third basemen out there.

We should have moved Correa to third and traded for Castro or Simmons. With Correa, Simmons, Altuve, and whoever at first we would have had one of the best defensive infields of all time and decent enough hitting. Combine that with an outfield of GoGo, Springer, and Marisnick/Tucker. Better yet, bring on Alex Gordon in left field for 5/80 (probably wouldn't get it done, might take 5/100) and have the best defensive outfield in the majors as well.
Castro is one of the best defensive catchers in he league.

That lineup would have been devastating. We were so close to being the best team in baseball.

Altuve
Gordon
Correa
Springer
Gogo
First (Valbuena, Singleton/Reed)
Castro
Simmons
P

I wish we would give Gordon a hard look. He just completes the team. That outfield of Springer, Gogo, and Gordon would be so stinking good. Simmons would have been great while waiting for Bregstrom to arrive. Castro not quite as much, but still would have been better than our third base options. There just aren't any third basemen out there while there were a bunch of SS's on the market.

Valbuena works at 3B if you have plus production from 1B. It's when you have the combo of Luis and Singleton that it hurts. They should've gone all out for the best corner infielder they thought they could get at a reasonable price/package. Either 1B or 3B it didn't matter, but anything to avoid fielding the Valbuena/Singleton crap.

My thought is that Singleton loses the job to Reed who comes up and mashes. However, based on the patience they showed with Carter I have a feeling we'll be going through the doldrums of having two corner infielders batting at or below .200 and striking out at an alarming rate until at least the ASB. This is why I thought it was as high a priority to get a corner infielder as it was a closer. Hurray for us!!!

Gordon is going to get paid and there's talk that lots of teams can't up with the money he's commanding. Combine that with Colby's salary and that was never an option. Colby is here and making enough money that he's our everyday LFer. I'm not at all worried about the OF.

Jon Heyman tweets that the Astros are still trying to pry away Ken Giles from the Phillies and if the deal gets done will include some better prospects.

Forgot all about Rasmus. I bet the front office was pi$$ed when he accepted the qualifying offer. Even so, the offense/defense of Rasmus, GoGo and Springer is one of the best in the league. Defense is not a problem with that group, so get rid of Marisnick for whatever you can get back. Would rather have Gordon at 20mm than Rasmus at 15.4mm though.

So assuming Chris Davis is too high for the team...there aren't many options out there. I still would have gone after the Castro or Simmons thing pretty hard and shifted Correa to third. Aside from that we probably have our team pretty well set. We just need some growth from the players and to find a first base solution somewhere.

Is Tucker going to be the primary DH? Terrible glove so I guess it makes sense.

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Forgot all about Rasmus. I bet the front office was pi$$ed when he accepted the qualifying offer. Even so, the offense/defense of Rasmus, GoGo and Springer is one of the best in the league. Defense is not a problem with that group, so get rid of Marisnick for whatever you can get back. Would rather have Gordon at 20mm than Rasmus at 15.4mm though.

So assuming Chris Davis is too high for the team...there aren't many options out there. I still would have gone after the Castro or Simmons thing pretty hard and shifted Correa to third. Aside from that we probably have our team pretty well set. We just need some growth from the players and to find a first base solution somewhere.

Is Tucker going to be the primary DH? Terrible glove so I guess it makes sense.

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Knox, with all due respect I think those are some terrible ideas. Why would management be mad about Rasmus. We needed a LF and didn't want to break the bank when we have guys like Cameron, Tucker, Fisher, & Kemp are moving through the system. Do you really want to lock into Gordon for 4 years at 18 M (I don't think he gets 20) a year when he'll be 33 next year.

I think going after a SS that would have cost some serious prospects when we already have Correa is a little nuts too. I know this if your way of improving 3rd base, but it seems like the most expensive way of doing it.

Correa will move to 3B once Bregman is ready

No use in giving up prospects for a SS when we've got one waiting in the wings. Plus I think it's a bad idea to move Correa this early. The guy is just 21 and came off a 3/4 season in which he won the ROY so let's move him to 3B.

Nope. Not now. A couple more years and a MLB ready Bregman and I say do it but not now.

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Correa will move to 3B once Bregman is ready

No use in giving up prospects for a SS when we've got one waiting in the wings. Plus I think it's a bad idea to move Correa this early. The guy is just 21 and came off a 3/4 season in which he won the ROY so let's move him to 3B.

Nope. Not now. A couple more years and a MLB ready Bregman and I say do it but not now.

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Couple things wrong with your theory...

First, no telling if Bregman will ever be ready. About a 30% chance he ever develops into a MLB SS, given historic rates. Bregman has a MAJOR swing flaw that must be rebuilt for MLB baseball. He has about 60 games of rookie ball and you are going to have a team wait for him for 3-4 years? Never count on a rookie ball guy, no matter where he was picked.

Second, by the time Bregman is ready, the salaries on this team will be astronomical and we will be dumping talent. Time to win is now, not 3-4 years from now. Springer, Correa, Keuchel, Gogo, Altuve will all be making huge money with others right behind. Heck, if McHugh repeats last year he becomes an 18mm a year guy! Then you have McCullars right behind getting whatever money he wants. Astros must win before the payroll gets bloated and we start getting rid of talent.

Third, this off season was littered with MLB shortstops being moved, there are just no third basemen out there. You could have gotten SS talent, nothing out there at third.

Fourth, while I absolutely love Correa, his defense was a little below average last year. His defense at third would be above average. Simmons is arguably the best defensive SS ever. Your defense up the middle would be Gogo, Simmons and Castro. That wins a LOT of games by itself.

I admit I was wrong about Gordon. Once Rasmus took the offer, Gordon was off the table, but I think we dropped the ball on moving Correa to third.

I think too much is being put into what Luhnow said. It sounds like GM speak to me. Singleton will only be the opening day first baseman if we can't upgrade the position and he has a good Spring Training. He'll have a couple of guys on his tail capable of beating him out, which is likely to happen.

As far as Valbuena is concerned, if he can return to the .250 hitter that hits 15-20 HRs, I'll take it over the .220 guy with 25-30. He had foot surgery this offseason, so perhaps a healthier Valbuena will produce better results at the plate.

What am I missing on correas defense being subpar? He made some errors but was a regular on the highlight reel as well. If he can tighten up his play even slightly on routine plays he is a top defender.

Are there some statistics that I'm missing?

All of the advanced statistics have him near the bottom of the league in defense at the position. I think mostly his range is what limits him. Some of his highlight plays are on balls that are routine grounders for Simmons or Lindor.

Lindor had about the same range as Carlos.

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First, no telling if Bregman will ever be ready.

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I'm going to take the front office on this one. He was drafted high for a reason and if they think he'll develop I'll take their word over yours. I would hope and expect that our 2nd overall pick develops into a solid MLB player.

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Second, by the time Bregman is ready, the salaries on this team will be astronomical and we will be dumping talent.

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Not sure what makes you think we'll be dumping talent. I fully expect Altuve and Correa to be Astros for a LONG time. Possibly Dallas as well. This is just an odd argument.

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Third, this off season was littered with MLB shortstops being moved, there are just no third basemen out there. You could have gotten SS talent, nothing out there at third.

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Agree here but I don't think the solution is moving Carlos. I think it'd be best to solve it by improving 1B. Valbuena is fine as long as you can make up that production at 1B. Reed, White, or an acquisition at 1B solves the problem. Singleton is crap.

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Fourth, while I absolutely love Correa, his defense was a little below average last year. His defense at third would be above average.

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Not sure how it ranks but a .967 fielding perct with 13 Es in 870.2 innings seems pretty good to me. Plus...









It's an interesting approach you pitch but I think moving the best SS in the league after 3/4 of a season is a bit of a reach. I think they should've pursued a 1B (Lind or Votto maybe) that could produce until we were comfortbale with Reed or White. I really don't get the love for Singleton. Dude has shown nothing so far.

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I think too much is being put into what Luhnow said. It sounds like GM speak to me. Singleton will only be the opening day first baseman if we can't upgrade the position and he has a good Spring Training.

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This. Everyone needs to chill out.

The defensive metrics are also made wonky by shifts. UZR completely throws out any plays where the team shifts, so on a team like the Astros, its going to substantially reduce the number of opportunities.

The shifts also mean that a team like Astros, probably dont need a Simmons at SS. They are saving hits via positioning, which is reducing the value of a high range defensive shortstop to them anyway.

Good points.

We just really need to get more pen help and pray the Reed or White work out at 1B and/or DH. That is where the biggest impact can be made.

Correa's problem isn't fielding percentage, his number of errors is fine. Problem is limited range. While the first gif shows his height, the other ones highlight his lack of range. Simmons and Lindor would have been camped under the blooper and would have picked up the grounder right at the bag.

I love Correa, but we all know the move is coming one day and this year the glut of available players was at SS.
I believe this team is very close and the opportunity for improvement was by getting a SS and moving Correa. Then Valbuena could hold first while waiting for the whole Singleton/Reed thing.

Sorry man, but no one in the front office is waiting on Bregman. That is years away and there is no guarantee he will ever make it at all. He has played 60 games of rookie ball and not all that well.

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Correa's problem isn't fielding percentage, his number of errors is fine. Problem is limited range. While the first gif shows his height, the other ones highlight his lack of range. Simmons and Lindor would have been camped under the blooper and would have picked up the grounder right at the bag.

I love Correa, but we all know the move is coming one day and this year the glut of available players was at SS.
I believe this team is very close and the opportunity for improvement was by getting a SS and moving Correa. Then Valbuena could hold first while waiting for the whole Singleton/Reed thing.

Sorry man, but no one in the front office is waiting on Bregman. That is years away and there is no guarantee he will ever make it at all. He has played 60 games of rookie ball and not all that well.

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What? No. I mean, there might be a possibility of it happening.....but what are you smoking?

Can we put the Correa to 3rd debate to rest until something significant changes?

In other news, per MLB trade rumors, we are still trying to get Ken Giles from the Phillies. We'd likely have to give up some significant prospects to get a deal done. Giles fastball is usually around 95. Although, when he was first coming up, reports were he could hit 100 mph. Last year in 69 games, Giles had 15 saves, a 1.80 ERA, and 11.2 k/9.

He's definitely a huge upgrade at closer. We would still need to add another lefty to the bullpen as well.

I like the idea of Giles.

Who would be our options as a LHer addition? A return for Sipp? He's not my first choice, but I also think we do worse.

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I like the idea of Giles.

Who would be our options as a LHer addition? A return for Sipp? He's not my first choice, but I also think we do worse.

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Convince Appel's agent to get him to start throwing lefty. Maybe he'll do better with the other arm.

Reds really got screwed by Chapman going nuts.. They had a couple of solid additions.

If nobody wants to touch Chapman, and the Reds still want to move him, would any of you want to give up a little to bring him in? If he's a parasite, he's on the last year of his contract.

There are no indications he's a parasite as far as the team goes. The concern is that domestic violence raises a big red flag in the public's eye.

I don't locker room antics are an issue. I wouldn't mind. He was cleared by the police correct?