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Smyly Getting to Work, Steele Getting Snubbed, Defense at Third, Cubs Offer to Ohtani, and Other Cubs Bullets

Brett Taylor Brett Taylor
Dec 17, 2023
Chicago Cubs

It’s crazy but true: if the Chicago Bears win today against the Cleveland Browns, their playoff odds will approach 10%. PLAYOFF odds. In Da Hunt.

  • Drew Smyly working at Driveline this offseason:

  • Smyly gets kinda lost in the shuffle of the Cubs’ pitching depth, but he’s a very handy pitcher to have available. Obviously some starting woes last year, but he was nails in relief (2.51 ERA over 28.2 IP). I think if the season were to start today, Smyly would have as good of a chance to be in the rotation as the young arms (Javier Assad, Jordan Wicks, and Hayden Wesneski, primarily), but ideally he’s a swing man who opens the year in the bullpen. Of course, if he is having a stretch where he’s starting really well – he’s certainly had them before with the Cubs – then let him start until he hits a blip.

  • Consider that your reminder of just how much the Cubs need to add a quality starting pitcher this offseason. They have tons of depth to cover the rotation and then some, but you’d like more certainty after Justin Steele, Jameson Taillon, and Kyle Hendricks (while preserving the flexibility for the young guys to break out).

  • I get Justin Steele not making the first team, but he didn’t even make the second team? Come on:

  • Justin Steele was 7th in WAR, 6th in ERA, and 5th in FIP. And you’re going to tell me he wasn’t one of the 10 best starting pitchers this year? What the eff, man.

  • I wouldn’t read too much into the “expiration of permission” thing, as these guys typically have specific windows of time that their big league clubs permit them to play (i.e., it isn’t necessarily like the Cubs suddenly decided his winter league season was over because trade talks were heating up):

  • The sample is TINY, so I am not making a point here. I am only offering this for context on the number. Among 46 players who saw at least 300 innings at 3B last year, that fielding percentage would’ve been 8th worst.

  • Of note, by the way: Patrick Wisdom was at .927, third worst. Errors and fielding percentage are not the best measures of defense on their own, but there definitely is a threshold below which it becomes a reall problem to boot that many balls/throws.

  • It doesn’t matter now, but Bruce Levine reported on 670 The Score that the Cubs’ offers to Shohei Ohtani went over $50 million in AAV, and went upwards of 10 years (he didn’t EXACTLY say the Cubs offered 10/$500M or more, but that was the implication). Since the Dodgers’ offer was worth $460 million, it’s possible the Cubs’ offer was actually for more money. But the thing is, Ohtani simply never seriously engaged with the Cubs. No visit. No negotiation. He simply was not interested.

  • Well this is pretty transparent:

    • https://twitter.com/JimBowdenGM/status/1736119008594718956

  • Translation: “Dear Dodgers, Mets, and Yankees, please step up your offers so I can go one of the places I actually want.”

  • You have heard of the Mystery Team, but how about the Mystery Pitcher:

  • Among these, it’s OBVIOUSLY ‘Christmas Vacation,’ but how is ‘Love Actually’ off the board:

    • Read More

    written by

    Brett Taylor

    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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