FA options this off season

[spanishsox]

Way too early for conspiracy throw crap at the wall theories but what about this?

1. Theo Epstein has 1 year to go on his 5 year extension and it looks like the Cubs won't get to the WS with this current roster.
2. He has been known to seek and accept new challenges during his career.
3. His one dimensional K heavy and poor RISP roster has bitten him in the butt since 2018 with no major changes.
4. An overhaul may be an option on the table this off season. With a pretty thin farm system and no real pitching talent
other than Marquez he may be tempted to conduct a fire sale and try and get as many top level pitching prospects
as possible.
5. We will be in the market for another TOR this winter whether it be via FA or a trade.

So having laid out all of this, why the Cubs and who would be my target?

They know the end of the line for their core is coming and they have to make decisions soon on who to trade & who to try and retain. I think it would be good due diligence to explore whether there will be a market for Kyle "The Professor" Hendricks.

He has been a rock solid top 25 pitcher for the last 5 years and has averaged 4 WAR per year. He has been compared to being a Greg Maddox lite and he has superb control of his 4 pitches. He is durable and is on a super market friendly contract for the next 3 years with a last year option. He has NLDS, NLCS, & WS experience.

He could easily be our number 2 behind Gio and then you bump Keuchel down to the 3 spot. Wow one can dream about a rotation anchored by those 3.

My question is:

Would you do a deal centered around Hendricks if the Cubs made him available and what would you give up knowing our top pitching prospects have to be part of the package? He oozes confidence, talent, and ticks so many boxes.

[ChiTownTrojan]

Way too early for conspiracy throw crap at the wall theories but what about this?

1. Theo Epstein has 1 year to go on his 5 year extension and it looks like the Cubs won't get to the WS with this current roster.
2. He has been known to seek and accept new challenges during his career.
3. His one dimensional K heavy and poor RISP roster has bitten him in the butt since 2018 with no major changes.
4. An overhaul may be an option on the table this off season. With a pretty thin farm system and no real pitching talent
other than Marquez he may be tempted to conduct a fire sale and try and get as many top level pitching prospects
as possible.
5. We will be in the market for another TOR this winter whether it be via FA or a trade.

So having laid out all of this, why the Cubs and who would be my target?

They know the end of the line for their core is coming and they have to make decisions soon on who to trade & who to try and retain. I think it would be good due diligence to explore whether there will be a market for Kyle "The Professor" Hendricks.

He has been a rock solid top 25 pitcher for the last 5 years and has averaged 4 WAR per year. He has been compared to being a Greg Maddox lite and he has superb control of his 4 pitches. He is durable and is on a super market friendly contract for the next 3 years with a last year option. He has NLDS, NLCS, & WS experience.

He could easily be our number 2 behind Gio and then you bump Keuchel down to the 3 spot. Wow one can dream about a rotation anchored by those 3.

My question is:

Would you do a deal centered around Hendricks if the Cubs made him available and what would you give up knowing our top pitching prospects have to be part of the package? He oozes confidence, talent, and ticks so many boxes.

No, I don’t think it’s worth giving up Kopech (and more, because that’s what it would take) for Hendricks. I’d rather them find a mid-rotation option via FA and see if Kopech can become the TOR guy.

[A. Cavatica]

Way too early for conspiracy throw crap at the wall theories but what about this?

1. Theo Epstein has 1 year to go on his 5 year extension and it looks like the Cubs won't get to the WS with this current roster.
2. He has been known to seek and accept new challenges during his career.
3. His one dimensional K heavy and poor RISP roster has bitten him in the butt since 2018 with no major changes.
4. An overhaul may be an option on the table this off season. With a pretty thin farm system and no real pitching talent
other than Marquez he may be tempted to conduct a fire sale and try and get as many top level pitching prospects
as possible.
5. We will be in the market for another TOR this winter whether it be via FA or a trade.

So having laid out all of this, why the Cubs and who would be my target?

They know the end of the line for their core is coming and they have to make decisions soon on who to trade & who to try and retain. I think it would be good due diligence to explore whether there will be a market for Kyle "The Professor" Hendricks.

He has been a rock solid top 25 pitcher for the last 5 years and has averaged 4 WAR per year. He has been compared to being a Greg Maddox lite and he has superb control of his 4 pitches. He is durable and is on a super market friendly contract for the next 3 years with a last year option. He has NLDS, NLCS, & WS experience.

He could easily be our number 2 behind Gio and then you bump Keuchel down to the 3 spot. Wow one can dream about a rotation anchored by those 3.

My question is:

Would you do a deal centered around Hendricks if the Cubs made him available and what would you give up knowing our top pitching prospects have to be part of the package? He oozes confidence, talent, and ticks so many boxes.

Hard pass on any Cub pitchers. Even Q, who will be a free agent.

[Tragg]

Don’t forget, we need room for Keuchel too.

Rodon can just be released, since he’ll be non-tendered.

Ruiz and McRae are completely expendable. If Cishek is only on a one-year deal and they have decided not to put him on the playoff roster, that’s three. After that...Mazara?

I liked the looks of McRae. Maybe even as a starter. Why non-tender Rodon? Sox paid like $9 million for a year of Ivan Nova, and I was assured that was 'market price." Rodon is better than him and cheaper and the Sox have financial room. Pitching is really looking up, so stockpile it, don't dump it.

[Mohoney]

I liked the looks of McRae. Maybe even as a starter. Why non-tender Rodon? Sox paid like $9 million for a year of Ivan Nova, and I was assured that was 'market price." Rodon is better than him and cheaper and the Sox have financial room. Pitching is really looking up, so stockpile it, don't dump it.

Nova made his 30 starts last year. Durability was part of that market price.

[GoSoxMMV]

I liked the looks of McRae. Maybe even as a starter. Why non-tender Rodon? Sox paid like $9 million for a year of Ivan Nova, and I was assured that was 'market price." Rodon is better than him and cheaper and the Sox have financial room. Pitching is really looking up, so stockpile it, don't dump it.

What does this have to do with anything?.....other than taking more pot shots at Sox management after the team just clinched a playoff spot that some posters said over and over again for years would never happen by 2020. Why stop at Ivan Nova? JEFF KEPPINGER!!!! YONDER ALONSO!!!! Live it up, Sox fans!

[voodoochile]

Hard pass on any Cub pitchers. Even Q, who will be a free agent.

Quintana as a FA might be had for $10M per for a 3 year contract because of his injury history recently and middling success prior to that. He did his best work under Coop. Not sure if the Sox view pitching as a need with the development of Dunning, Lopez looking better recently and the expected return of Kopech but if I was going to target a pitcher Q would make sense on a number of levels.

[longtimefan]

Quintana as a FA might be had for $10M per for a 3 year contract because of his injury history recently and middling success prior to that. He did his best work under Coop. Not sure if the Sox view pitching as a need with the development of Dunning, Lopez looking better recently and the expected return of Kopech but if I was going to target a pitcher Q would make sense on a number of levels.

My friend pointed this out last year. He said why not get Q back on-the-cheap. The questions are what is Rodon's role next season (if any), when will Kopech be major league ready (2021 hopefully), is there another FA to target, is there a better choice at Schaumburg?

Also, who is playing RF next season? Mazara doesn't appear to be the answer. Is Leury the guy?

And what about McCann? I would have extended already but who knows what kind of budget JR will give Hanh next season.

[Mohoney]

No, I don’t think it’s worth giving up Kopech (and more, because that’s what it would take) for Hendricks. I’d rather them find a mid-rotation option via FA and see if Kopech can become the TOR guy.

If the Cubs go full rebuild, Hendricks and a whole lot of bad Heyward money may keep the prospect cost down.

[spanishsox]

If the Cubs go full rebuild, Hendricks and a whole lot of bad Heyward money may keep the prospect cost down.

I thought about including Heyward in the scenario with Hendricks because it solves both the pitching & RF holes. The huge obvious problem is that while he plays great GG D in RF and has been solid on O since last year he is not worth the 23.5M AAV his current contract calls for.
If the Cubs were to eat 11-12M of that salary then we might have to offer a better prospects package. It will never happen but fun to throw **** at the wall.

[HomeFish]

There are no good FA options for a TOR starting pitcher. They're all off the market because of the great extensions craze of 2019. The Sox will need to part with prospects for a truly elite starter.

There are plenty of good FA options to replace Mazara. And to replace EE if they feel Vaughn is not ready.

[spanishsox]

Hard pass on any Cub pitchers. Even Q, who will be a free agent.

I get the previous post rejecting this based on prospect capital cost, but why the hard pass?

[ChiSoxNationPres]

Hard pass on any Cub pitchers. Even Q, who will be a free agent.

Hendricks is great, and would be a huge acquisition. That being said, I don't see the Cubs trading him.

[ChiTownTrojan]

If the Cubs go full rebuild, Hendricks and a whole lot of bad Heyward money may keep the prospect cost down.

What in theory would you think it would cost, assuming no money is exchanged? I still don't think they'd do it without Kopech or Dunning, plus one of our younger pitching prospects, and a couple bats. But I'm not good at assessing trade value.

[ChiSoxNationPres]

What in theory would you think it would cost, assuming no money is exchanged? I still don't think they'd do it without Kopech or Dunning, plus one of our younger pitching prospects, and a couple bats. But I'm not good at assessing trade value.

It would be similar to what the Quintana to the Cubs deal looked like, but a little less.