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For most of the year, it seemed like the worst scenario for the Cubs was having to play again in the Wild Card Game. Instead, largely thanks to a series of eight consecutive defeats, they were formally eliminated from the playoffs four days from the end.
I do not think it's fair to say that it's the end of the best stretch of Cubs' history. There are enough basic players to win the World Series next year with some changes.
In some ways, it could be said that many conspired against the Cubs. Javier Baez has a broken thumb. Anthony Rizzo played on one leg. Kris Bryant has been beaten for a lot of the year. Craig Kimbrel has never really been right this year. Willson Contreras missed a good part of his time with an injury. Apart from the rotation, these are the five most important Cubs players.
Then there were things like Pedro Strop striking his decline, Carl Edwards completely melted, Ben Zobrist leaving the team to deal with personal issues, the suspension of domestic violence from Addison Russell and his Terrible comeback, the bad season of Albert Almora and Daniel Descalso being one of the worst player positions in the majors.
It was not so bad. They will finish with a winning record. But after the 2016 World Series, things were supposed to be much better. As things stand, it seems necessary to take radical measures to make things happen. Let's talk drastically. Here are six ideas. I do not necessarily think it's necessary for this to happen, I'm just throwing out ideas that might work. Let's enter with open mind, are we going?
1. Enter Castellanos; Schwarber trade
Given their lack of reach and the fact that the Cubs are stuck with Jason Heyward – who is better placed in the right field than in the center – keep Nicholas Castellanos and Kyle Schwarber does not seem to be a smart game. This means that they have to choose one. The signing of Castellanos only costs them money and he may want to be a lifelong scammer after the Detroit trade has breathed new life into his game. he goes to Scott Boras and says to talk only to the candidates. Schwarber does not have the commercial value that he once had, but he hit .302 / .392 / .657 with 12 doubles, two triples and 15 homers in his last 53 games. He really seems to have entered his. Facing it by placing Castellanos in the left field could give the Cubs one or two usable pieces. My impression is that the money is not very different from Castellanos in free will against Schwarber in arbitration.
2. Stay away from Joe Maddon
I've already developed this point before (I probably did not know that they would not win another game before writing this piece), so go here for all the points. Basically, I think Maddon is the best manager the Cubs have ever had, but this group is obsolete and he is one of them. A new voice can sometimes turn things around. His contract is in place, so it's not like they're going to fire him.
3. Bryant trade; sign Rendon
Hey, I said something radical, right?
The Bryant War by year: 6.1, 7.4, 6.1, 1.9, 3.5. He only played 102 times last year. He played in 147 this year, but he suffered a lot. He is still two years in arbitration and will make his fortune based on his background, which includes an MVP.
Let's look at something here. As stated, I said that we had to do something radical to get things moving.
Bryant: .282 / .382 / .521, 145 K
Rendon: .322 / .410 / .603, 82 K
Rendon hits for a lot more power and power than Bryant while being a good hitter. He would bring a lot more consistency to the training than Bryant, who has been heating up and chilling a lot this season. The Cubs offense as a whole has lacked consistency, so having a more reliable anchor point would help things.
Whether or not this could actually be removed is another matter. We have already seen the Cubs promote Starlin Castro and Ben Zobrist at the 2015 Winter Meetings, but this is one of the a lot larger proposal. I'm just saying that this could / should be a topic of discussion.
4. trade exchanges; sign Grandal
Willson Contreras is a stud that will not get a free agency until 2022. He would surely have picked up a good package in return and – as in the Bryant / Rendon case above – the Higher levels of prospects could use a little refresh.
While Contreras has improved his frame at 4.6 points above average, Yasmani Grandal is in the top 5 baseball at 14.4. Contreras is a better full batter, but Grandal has a base percentage of 25 points. In addition, Contreras could be subject to injury. He has had hamstring problems several times and has managed only 103 games played this season with two separate IL relays.
Getting something back for Contreras by signing the free agent Grandal is probably more realistic than the above Bryant / Rendon, but it's in the same spirit to get things moving while plugging in a new stud. and reorganizing the agricultural system.
5. Sign Gerrit Cole
Ready for a new bidding war? The Cubs have money in their pockets this year and over the next few years. So they surely have the financial leeway to take it to Cole. Cole Hamels was released by an independent agency, so there is a natural opening in the rotation, which could use a foolproof ace over Yu Darvish, Kyle Hendricks, Jose Quintana and Jon Lester.
It's not really a radical idea, but after hearing Tom Ricketts say that they can not spend anything last winter, it may sound like a lot.
6. Theo Epstein
WHAT?
Listen, Theo's status in Wrigleyville should always be a little before God. Exalted! Although I might have said the opposite simply to preserve my sanity as a fan, in hindsight I realized that I thought I would never see the Cubs win everything. They did it. Theo was the architect. Millions of us will always be grateful and smile every time we see it.
If I'm his boss and the job evaluation is going on, though, he has not been really good since that title. Even before the title, really. He chose to sign Jason Heyward on Dexter Fowler and the collapse of Fowler's market contributed to the 2016 title. Remember that he had been introduced to the spring training unexpectedly after signing a surprise contract of one year. If that did not happen, they probably will not win everything. I would not change anything before the World Series 2016 because it did not please, but Epstein was probably overpaying for Aroldis Chapman (again, you can argue for doing everything you can to win everything, but that's not the case. was a lot). After that, he probably paid too much for Jose Quintana, then for Yu Darvish.
Exchanging Jorge Soler for Wade Davis made sense at the time and looks bad now. Signor Brandon Morrow eventually went bankrupt. Craig Kimbrel's signature really does not look fantastic.
The movements of the Hamels and Castellanos were good, but I do not see much more to come back even before the World Series title.
The farming system is messy at this point and one could say that it's because of so many young talents in the major tournaments, but are the first-round picks regarding Almora and Ian Happ were really overwhelmed ? In the meantime, this is probably the worst baseball organization to develop its own pitchers. Again, we could say something like "well, they choose to do big shots in the repechage", but I would argue that Almora and Happ are not very good. They have not even been good at developing bats after the first-round selections, which are actually only Bryant (not to be missed), Schwarber, Baez (which was not even a choice of draft at Epstein) and Nico Hoerner (and we can not be sure that he'll manage).
Epstein did a ton of good moves until 2015. Again, we are always grateful. It's also a business, and I think the Ricketts family – who, by the way, is complicit in this mess for not allowing more expenses because of the greater unexpected benefit of franchise history – should discuss this. seriously.
Now, a new employee would immediately have a lot of big decisions to make. See above. In addition, it is not excluded that Yu Darvish waives his contract at this stage because he was an absolute stallion in the second half. Anthony Rizzo ($ 16.5 million) and Jose Quintana ($ 11.5 million) have affordable club options that one should choose, but you never know. It is the hour of the shakeup.
It's still the golden age of Cubs baseball, but you have to do something drastic to expand this window. Let's see if they have the courage and, more importantly, know how to do it.
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