so next offseason when davis is a free agent just trade almora for herrera?

and the offseason after that ian happ for say, joe blanton?

Of course there are diminishing returns, and expanding losses if this becomes de rigueur for Cubs' offseasons. In a vacuum it's not too big a deal, and very arguably +eV for the next season.

It is true that the Cubs, unlike most teams lacking in sufficient depth, have the ability to make questionable long-term moves to maximize immediate eV. But they got where they are mostly doing the opposite.

which is exactly why they of all teams should know the idiocy of what they're doing

Carlos Gomez sticks with Rangers, one year for $11.5m. If he stays on the field 140+ games I don't really see how this turns out badly for Texas

Soler doesn't really have a spot with this Cubs lineup going forward tho

him basically rotting on the bench in the playoffs is a pretty good sign of what the Cubs see his value as

Rondon gave up at least one run in 13 of his 54 appearances last season. In the two previous years he appeared 136 times and allowed 40 runs.

Davis gave up at least one run in 6 of his 45 appearances last year. In the two previous years he appeared 140 times and allowed 16 runs.

sample is by no means large but it's worth noting his OPS was almost 200 points higher after his DL activation

i'm not against trading soler by any means, and agree that all things being equal he's not likely to ever have a regular spot in the cubs lineup, but 1. davis's elbow appears to be a time bomb and 2. he's only under contract for 1 year and if you have no interest in getting a closer in free agency with jansen and chapman being prohibitively expensive and you had no interest in melancon, and you don't trust the relievers you have on your roster to pitch the 9th then this does nothing to solve the long-term issue of still needing a stable 9th inning option for the foreseeable future

Maybe the Cubs want insurance to allow Edwards to incubate for another year before letting him assume the 9th.

the cubs have an embarrassment of riches the likes of which i can't remember ever seeing. they have a deep farm system and virtually 0 use for any of it in the next decade. that doesn't mean they should just sell that for pennies on the dollar

i think this is the most likely outcome

i think it's even worse if that's true. granted, if davis doesn't go to the cubs he'll get traded somewhere else this offseason (apparently the nationals are the runner up) but if that's the case what's the harm in letting rondon take the reigns and making a midseason trade if it's required? sure, you don't get davis, but you also don't assume the risk of his elbow blowing up on your watch

Frank Thomas is Hella fat

If the mariners sign trumbo I'm jumping off a bridge

on a 1 year deal?

Why do people keep making assumptions nobody ever gets injured/falls off/$ considerations/misc off field stuff with players? Drives me nuts. Yeah, it's not like football where stars go down every year but still, there's always seemingly at least one all star who goes to total **** out of nowhere much less regular players. Yeah the Cubs don't need a corner OF, but the farm isn't really that deep now. There's 0 SS's, 1 2B who's probably a MLB OF, 1 3B and maybe only one guy ends up being a SP out of the bunch of them and the pitchers are all pretty far away I think. 1 CF to me now with almora up too. 0 1B's. 1C I think. corner OF is still fine but man do I hate trading useful things for relief pitchers especially closers. Zobrist is 35, so there's one starting spot that you have to be prepared for.

Also how does acquiring a guy for 1 year with no elbow solving the long term issue anyway? I don't get it.

Also I guess he'd have to be the top prospect to only take on two for sale. Should've gotten at least one more though given his contract and his actual talent. I wouldn't have taken less than two more myself but I'm not the lol white sox. Of course what they won't do is blow up the solid but not that good vets for other prospects and start over so it's gonna be more lol them anyway.

Many Royals fans not thrilled either, so I assume this trade is pretty fair.

Royals fans are going to love this trade in about 6 months.

For those assuming the Cubs can just trade for a closer in July, you're forgetting there isn't always a Miller/Chapman crop available. KRod is the best closer heading towards free agency this year, and there's been a real migration of top closers to competitive teams in the last few years, so there won't be all that much up for grabs.

Bolded is ridiculous. He had an injury, spent some time on the DL, and then came back and pitched great for the last month of the season. Obviously the Cubs have done their homework on him and wouldn't be trading for him on a one-year deal if they didn't think his arm would hold up for that year.

And not every deal has to solve a long-term issue. They're World Series favorites this year and that can't be taken for granted. We just saw several examples this past postseason of good teams that lost because they didn't have enough quality bullpen arms (Giants for example), and we saw 2 teams that acquired the elite guys at the deadline make it to the World Series. The Cubs probably don't win without Chapman, so even if Gleyber goes on to be a hall-of-famer in NY that will have been a good trade. A guy like Davis, with a sub-2.00 ERA & FIP over a 3-year stretch, is insanely valuable to a team in the Cubs' position even if it's just a 1-year band-aid. And if last year is any indication of the trade-deadline price for such a guy, this would be a relative bargain.

the injuries that sent him to the DL last year without ending in TJ is kinda alarming and does seem to suggest it's an inevitability. granted tanaka's been pitching with a torn UCL for 2 years seemingly but still, even if davis simply pitches through his elbow issues like he did last year he was a shell of what he was 2 years ago (ks down, walks way up)

off the top of my head herrera, betances, the entire oakland bullpen, potentially ramos capps and rodney, neris. davis may be better than most of them but the difference is vastly overstated

I'm fine with this trade. With schwarber going down early in season, Soler couldn't take the reigns in LF even tho it was handed to him on a platter. And he barely played in playoffs, it's pretty evident he's not part of teams long term plans. Also, we have Eloy Jimenez who is a God damn man child waiting in minors to take a corner OF spot.

I like this deal a lot

The diff between winning the WS or not are in the margins.

chapman allegedly has a $92 million offer on the table. what on earth

desmond to the rockies

I don't understand the rockies. Forfeiting the #11 pick to sign him. Gotta think they're trading Blackmon to make up for that

This Desmond thing seems bad. Already have four OF's, and initial reports are suggesting that he'll spend a lot of time at 1B. Seems like they could have found someone else to play 1B that wasn't going to cost them such a prime draft pick.

Should be interesting to see what they'll do now. Need a catcher and SP-- maybe Blackmon+ for one of the Rays' starters and then go sign Weiters.