As the Sox ship Dylan Cease to the Padres for a handful of players, they are giving another signal to their fans and the rest of baseball, that they will not be competitive this year. What message are the Cubs sending?
Remind me again of all the acquisitions the Cubs made this offseason. Oh yeah, we resigned Cody Bellinger. Hey, not mad about it, but… he was on our team last year. Yes, we signed the left handed Japanese pitcher Imanaga; hope that pans out. Picked up Hector Neris in the pen, and… are we done? Once the Cubs canned Rossy and picked up Counsell as the manager, I thought there were big things in our future. Well, I certainly did not see the Cubs signing a ton of guys; Blake Snell is still out there, but… that’s it. We’re done. We’re running back the same team as last year pretty much. Although I’m not really happy about that, I guess I could be a Sox fan…
The Cubs are counting on this group collectively being better with another year under their belts, guided by a manager who has an idea of what he’s doing. I’ve made worse gambles. I would still like to have added another top level talent, preferably on the mound. Steele, Hendricks, Imanaga… and hoping Taillon is better, Wesneski rebounds, Wicks continues to pitch well, and/or Smyly steps in to plug a hole? Is that what the plan is?
I’m not going to complain about getting Bellinger back, although he’ll probably be in the OF, giving Mervis a chance? I don’t think it’s a bad move to give Morel a position to play every day at 3B, although how is his defense? And about that prospect we acquired from the Dodgers… I’m completely fine up the middle with Dansby and Nico; really love that combo in pretty much every aspect. However, in the outfield… Happ, Seiya, Tauchman, Canario… it would have been nice to add a corner outfielder with some pop. I don’t hate those guys, but they’re just kind of… meh… We’re the Cubs. We have the means. Where is all that JHey money we’re saving? I just thought we’d have more…
Maybe at the trade deadline? If the Cubs are decent, and in it, kind of like last year’s nice surprise… surprise being the key word… how can you expect to repeat a “surprise”… anyways, I do like the fact that we didn’t dump at the deadline like everybody predicted; I’d like to repeat that action this year. Maybe if we’re hovering around 500, and make a big acquisition, we can get propelled into the postseason? It doesn’t sound like a great plan to me. We should already be feeling confident that we have the horses to compete and make the postseason right now. Maybe upper management does feel that way. I hope the manager and players feel that way; you have to.
Still, I can’t help but think we should have done more in the offseason, again. I hope I’m wrong. I hope all these guys get better. I hope our young guys shine. I hope our pitching holds up. I hope… You can only get so much from what’s on paper. You need to start seeing the boys play actual games. How much longer to the regular season? Go Cubs!
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