The Family is going to be doing some holiday’ing this weekend, as I hope many of you are doing as well. I’ll periodically check in for activity around the league, and you can expect that if something big goes down or a big rumor breaks, we’ll be on it. Otherwise, though, I’ll be eating cookies and drinking ale.
Until then …
We focused quite a bit on the Dodger-related impacts of yesterday’s big trade with the Reds, for obvious reasons, but I don’t want to sleep on what it means for the Reds. For the cost of a little extra money and two good, but not elite, prospects, the Reds added quite a bit of offense in their outfield in Yasiel Puig and Matt Kemp, and a starting pitcher in Alex Wood who has quietly been excellent for several years now (when he’s healthy). FanGraphs suggests it could be upwards of a three to four-win improvement for the Reds, albeit in a very competitive division. I look at a solid offense, a very good bullpen, and a passable rotation there, and I see a team that may have gotten its projections to right around .500 for 2019, which puts you in the range of a playoff spot if you get a lot of bounces and breaks over the course of the year.
A projected Reds lineup looks pretty solid (I didn’t realize how good Jesse Winker was last year):
Scooter Gennett, 2B
Yasiel Puig, RF
Joey Votto, 1B
Eugenio Suarez, 3B
Matt Kemp/Jesse Winker, LF
Tucker Barnhart, C
Phillip Ervin/Scott Schebler, CF
Jose Peraza, SS
Pitcher
The Reds also have a top 10 farm system from which to graduate and trade.
For the Cubs, although you would not be wise to pick the on-paper Reds over them in the Central, it would be fair to say that the Reds’ upgrades probably chop a projected win away from the Cubs (given the 19 in-division match-ups on the schedule). While the Cubs continue to indicate they will lean heavily on internal improvements to stay in the mid-90s win range next year, the rest of the NL Central is efforting to improve their roster. And, given how strong the NL East looks, it’s not a lock that two – or even one – Wild Cards will come from the Central. No great revelation here: the Cubs would be wise to considerably shore up the bullpen and add a reliable impact bat. Somehow. Lest they risk wasting a critical year in their window.
(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
The Cubs were pretty explicit with Daniel Descalso about the extra-curricular things they want from him:
New Cub Daniel Descalso on MLB radio .“ The Cubs were among the most aggressive teams .Theo Epstein) and Jed ( Hoyer) said they wanted me to help with leadership on and off the field “ Descalso signed two year deal with an option.
On the Descalso deal, Grandpa Rossy's influence and what Theo really means when he talks about a leadership void in the #Cubs clubhouse: https://t.co/tPwz7ULVCF
As Epstein said, the Cubs specifically got Jon Jay to be that guy in 2017, but then felt like they couldn’t afford the roster spot/playing time for him in 2018, and it was a decision they may have come to regret. So it seems like Descalso is supposed to be that guy, a respected and loud voice in the clubhouse. Which is not to say the Cubs don’t already have leaders – as Epstein says, Anthony Rizzo is of course a leader – but they’re looking for that one focal point leader like David Ross and Jon Jay, apparently.
The Cubs are gonna have to knock this guy around a bit this year:
As the year draws to a close, people were doing this, so I did it, too:
It seems to be the day that folks are sharing things they wrote this past year that were especially meaningful to them. For me, it was this: https://t.co/1qHVnwLxx4
Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here.
Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.
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