r/CHICubs • u/smartlikefox • 12d ago
Lots Of Work To Do…
Jed out in centerfield this afternoon.
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u/Icehawk59 SEIYAAAAAAAAA 12d ago
All criticisms of the organization aside, warranted or otherwise, I feel like this picture embodies whatever emotions that a lot of us are experiencing right now.
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u/GonePhishingAgain Chicago Cubs 12d ago
Conversation going something like this:
“Where is everyone? I made trades at the deadline. I thought we were playing in October.”
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u/14hammarby 12d ago
He then says, “is my watch right? It’s 1:43pm, I thought we were gonna have one of those early start playoff games. Did someone drop the ball?”
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u/Bobson-_Dugnutt2 12d ago
we all need to lower our expectations of this offseason. I don't anticipate many if any FA signings until we know baseball is happening next year.
That said - there are a lot of FA pitchers that we can and should add.
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u/Some_dude-7876 12d ago
Or maybe start and maintain a decent farm system with all the cash flow? Buying arms, trading away what few prospects we have to get more or we could be raising arms within the organization? I don’t know enough about that but it feels like we’re always playing reactive rather than planning and proactive
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u/augustwest700 12d ago
Yea this is why the draft this year was very pitcher focused. Will be hard though because those arms will not be contributing to this team in time
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u/NUMBNUTZ42069 Lester 12d ago
I think we see the opposite, there will be a bunch of signings before lockout
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u/Away-Character-4616 12d ago
Genuine question, why would owners want to pay more when they could wait a few months and possibly pay less for players?
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u/NUMBNUTZ42069 Lester 12d ago
Because of uncertainty of the future. Teams in win now might pay to lock in a sure thing before they whole landscape changes and they can have contracts grandfathered in above a cap
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u/Away-Character-4616 12d ago
Yes, but for owners, why would they want to try and get new contracts that would be above the cap? Why not get the same player for cheaper by just waiting a few months?
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u/NUMBNUTZ42069 Lester 11d ago
Becuase some teams have more money and than others and would have an advantage in bidding against other teams before a potential floor is implemented. There’s a chance after the lockout where teams like the Rays, brewers, As, marlins etc HAVE to spend.
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u/benisnotapalindrome 12d ago
If the last one was any indication, we'll see both: a flurry of activity in the window between the WS ending and the lockout beginning and then another scramble when it ends.
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u/dsalmon1449 Chicago Cubs 12d ago
In 2021 there were a ton of moves made before the CBA expired. This should be a busy November
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u/notanamateur 12d ago
Why would we not know baseball is happening next year?
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u/jayster138 12d ago
Seeing as the Commissioner met with teams about a potential lock out and Bryce Harper got in his face and was yelling at him and threatening to fight him outside over a proposed salary cap with Harper straight up saying "we are not scared to lose 162 games" is not the best way to open negotiations since the players side is fully on board to sit out the season.
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u/Frosty-Broccoli4013 12d ago
Harper really did that? Pretty bold to talk to the boss like that. Of course he isnt scared because he has a haul, but 90% of the players make far less and a season would hurt them more.
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u/jayster138 12d ago
Yeah, the word at the time was Schwarber pulled him away caus Harper got right in Manfred's face like they were nose to nose yelling at each other and Schwarber said something to him like "dude, they find bodies of people who do this to the commish!!"
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u/Frosty-Broccoli4013 11d ago
haha...love the line. Yeah, not much Harper can do, but I know if I had someone in my face it would make me want to dig in more. Crazy stuff though
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u/NUMBNUTZ42069 Lester 12d ago
Lockout coming 12/1
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u/Fine-Rock2513 12d ago
I doubt it’ll last long. I’m guessing this is going to be just like 2022, where the owners posture about a cap so that they can squeeze out FA protections and chip away at the union.
I don’t think anyone has the balls for a prolonged lockout after watching baseball drop from America’s number one sport by revenue to number three last time in 1994. After all, the one thing the owners love most is money.
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u/Frosty-Broccoli4013 12d ago
they shouldve stuck it out in 1994 if thats what they wanted. The season was lost anyway, and no one showed when they got going.
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u/fastassbluegras 12d ago
You would you like to see from this year's FA pitchers?
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u/Bobson-_Dugnutt2 12d ago
I mean obviously I’d love to have Skubal but I don’t see our FO giving him the amount of years he will want.
Would love King or Gallen, but the guys that fit our FOs MO are reclamation arms like Valdez, Bieber, and Peralta.
Honestly they just need to add like 6 MLB level pitchers to the rotation and bullpen.
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u/Dangerous-Stock-8112 Smylyng through it all 12d ago edited 12d ago
2nd most HR allowed by a pitching staff. Tied for last in pitching fWAR. Oldest average team in MLB. Lowest average four-seam velo in MLB. 25th in MLB in save %. 25th in MLB in K rate.
We better start signing proven pitchers and developing healthy modern ones if we want to be a serious team
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u/HighColonic 12d ago
Those stats really do tell a story, don't they. I appreciate real metrics over feels - though we all, of course, have feels.
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u/unique_user43 11d ago
he needs to go. anyone watch his end of season presser? literally not until about 20 minutes in did he even lightly point a thumb at himself, and even then it was a cursory throwaway “i need to look at myself too of course”. otherwise it was pretty remarkably almost entirely “the players failed, we put them in position”.
to me it is ultimately the front office’s failure to build a farm system that produces pitching and pitching depth, and also not addressing pitching nearly enough last offseason.
ever since theo and mcleod left, the f.o. has slowly run this org barren.
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u/BadToothJim 12d ago
So peaceful
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u/smartlikefox 12d ago
Quiet when the kids are away
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u/BadToothJim 12d ago
Wouldn't it be so amazing though just to stand out there by yourself when the place is empty? just thinking about where you are and all the stuff that's happened there. I think I'd pay admission just to do that.
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u/smartlikefox 12d ago
I’m definitely had that opportunity before and I don’t take it for granted. This place can be quite spiritual.
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u/Visible-Kangaroo-305 12d ago
There is magic @ Wrigley, no place like it. It's deep in our hearts, cuts to our soul. I love our team, they play their hearts out. Ernie, Billy, Ron, Fergie, etc had me glued as a little girl, now PCA, Nico, Breggy, Ian, Seiya, Dansby, etc have this old fart cheering. I couldn't be GM, too attached to our players. I thank my Cubbieeeeeees!! 😎🤗
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u/Hope4years 12d ago
Another geezer here. I got hooked on the same guys in the 60s (Ernie is my all time favorite). I bleed Cubbie blue and despite the years of disappointment at season’s end, I have gotten SO MUCH enjoyment over dozens of springs and summers watching them. And I too get attached - we absolutely have to get some top notch pitchers but would not be able to choose who we’d lose in a trade.
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u/No_Set1418 11d ago
I wonder if he feels any embarrassment for the team falling flat on their face at the end of the season?
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u/bump-fish-bump-pump 12d ago
Really hope the conversation is going something like this:
Ricketts: Ok, did you make to center field?
Jed: Yes
Ricketts: Great, now take it all in, because you’re fucking fired.
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u/Someguy_1785 12d ago
Ricketts is making tons of money whether we win or lose, so unfortunately he's probably okay with this. I do wonder sometimes if they actually calculate the risk vs reward of signing a decent free agent. Like if going to the playoffs would offset the salary of a big time player to not affect their desired profit margin.
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u/the-czechxican 12d ago
Always. But it's up to Ricketts if he wants to actually spend $$$ or not
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u/gsanch666 12d ago
I never understood the cutthroat Jed slander. The guy is obviously given an allocated amount to spend on players, that amount is set by his boss, the owner Ricketts. It’s ultimately not Jed’s call on who gets paid what.
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u/Drclaw411 smh 12d ago
Jed is bad at his job.
Tom won’t spend, but he’s not going to fire himself. Time to hire somebody who can do it like the Rays, White Sox, Brewers, and Guardians do. If we’re cursed to a petite payroll, then hire somebody who knows how to win with that. Pissing around and pretending under $200m contracts like Bregman and Swanson are somehow equivalent to what the Dodgers do, and saying it’s an organizational philosophy to not pay for relievers while simultaneously being awful at drafting and developing…
Yeah. If Tom doesn’t want to fire his friend, he can give him a “here’s an office, be my pal” role like Jerry did for Paxson. Tom needs to stop thinking acting like a big market with high revenue in 2007 is somehow the same as doing it in 2027. Either spend like the Dodgers, or hire somebody who can win while you spend like the Guardians. Pick a damn lane, because doing neither is a dumbfuck idea.
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u/vince_clortho99 11d ago
Sometimes when I'm on a work conf call and need a break from sitting at my desk, I'll step outside on the patio and look at my backyard. How cool to be able to do the same thing but stepping out onto Wrigley Field.
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u/dilla_zilla 12d ago
Did you take a tour today? (Ie why you there seeing Jed?)
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u/blicka7 11d ago
Zero confidence this guy can get it done , he said the EXACT same thing about needing pitching after last season then signed bregman instead of cease cuz he’s too scared to actually pay top dollar for pitching. “Intelligent spending” gets you Boyd & shota instead of fried or cease. I’m worried this fool is gonna trade hartshorn instead of signing skubal
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u/ComprehensiveFish169 10d ago
Ownership and front office know the task, pitching pitching pitching - establish a lights out rotation and a deeeep multifaceted pen. Everything else is mostly already set from the bats to the defense.
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u/tmet1027 Derrek Lee 10d ago
They need to strip it all down and start over without Jed, Hawkins. And Craig.
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u/RightNowChris 10d ago
The only thing needed is to have healthy pitching. As designed, it would have been in the running for the best stating rotation in MLB. Just too many injuries to be able to cover.
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u/dashing2217 10d ago
Jed has 5 seasons under his belt with the single NLDS run last season. Give him one more season and find someone else with a different vision of the team.
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u/Angdrew 12d ago
This offseason is a crossroads for Jed and the franchise again after dismantling the 2016 core. A looming labor lockout and lots of pitcher and position player contracts are coming off the books. The starting rotation has lots of holes and not a lot of internal options on the horizon due to recovery from injuries for Steele, Horton and Brown along with the inability to develop their own starters or high velocity bullpen arms. They need to go on a spending binge before and after the lockout. At least Jed finally took the blame for the poor bullpen this season. He seems to be open to retooling their pitching infrastructure/philosophy by perhaps finally embracing velocity again like most other franchises
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u/nofunone Woo! 12d ago
I think everyone tired their best and we hit bad luck from march until this week. If jed and or Craig get fired for this, I won’t be happy.
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u/arsonistslullaby_ It’s Sho Time 12d ago
Damn, the ivy hasn’t even really changed colors yet. It feels like it’s too early for the season to be over.