Thread by @cubprospects

Alright, here goes. A thread of what I’d suggest for this winter. I am not The Big Change Guy you probably want me to be.

Enter this 12-tweet thread only if you dare.

First, I would re-sign Nick Castellanos. While I do believe fan servicing may have misguided f.o. decisions in 2019, I’m starting off with some fan service.

I also think as a player and person, he crosses the right boxes for the future of this organization.

As a secondary to that, I would explore trading Jason Heyward, with a willingness to eat up to $28 million of what remains on his contract. I will continue on with the thread under the assumption that this doesn’t happen.

And I’ll assume Darvish opts into his contract.

I would allow the following players to walk in free agency without receiving a qualifying offer: Cole Hamels, Steve Cishek, Derek Holland, Brandon Kintzler, Pedro Strop, Jon Lucroy, Ben Zobrist, Xavier Cedeno, Brandon Morrow and Tony Barnette.

I would non-tender Addison Russell.

I would trade Albert Almora Jr for a minor league pitcher with options remaining. I believe in this front office’s ability to identify the proper player who would excel in their Pitching Infrastructure.

I would trade Victor Caratini, Ian Happ and small minor league pieces for Jon Gray.

This is my pure hypothetical. I might be misguided that it would interest either party.

I would set my targets on the top set-up man available. Let’s call him Dellin Betances.

If by allowing David Phelps to go, I would have more than enough money to sign a better reliever than him, let’s do that. If not, Phelps is fine.

I would sign Yan Gomes as my back-up to Willson Contreras.

I would sign Jarrod Dyson as a bench outfielder.

I would allow Nico Hoerner to stay in the Major Leagues.

My lineup would be Rizzo, Castellanos, Bryant, Schwarber, Baez, Contreras, Heyward, Hoerner.

My bench would begin as Gomes, Bote, Dyson, Kemp and Descalso. My leash on the latter would be short.

My rotation would be Hendricks, Darvish, Jon Gray, Quintana and Lester.

My bullpen would be Kimbrel, Betances, Wick, Ryan, Phelps (or someone better), Wieck or Hultzen, Chatwood and Mills.

I don’t care who the manager is. My assistant GM can pick.

I’m not sure how this team would do.

There’s one thing I’m more certain of: I’d be a bad GM, and so would you 😂. Peace and love this final week. It will be a long one — with far too many eulogies written — for us all.