Cubs Acquire Cole Hamels for Eddie Butler, Rollie Lacy & PTBNL

[KingCubsFan]

Rollie Lacy scratched tonight, per Mooney

[UMFan83]

Would it be at all bad to have 4 lefties in the rotation assuming it’s Lester/Quintana/Montgomery/Hamels/Hendricks (the righty)?

[David]

Would it be at all bad to have 4 lefties in the rotation assuming it’s Lester/Quintana/Montgomery/Hamels/Hendricks (the righty)?

The dodgers are significantly worse against lefties again, but not as awful as they used to be in 2016

[Cubswin11]

[Cubswin11]

Theo always gets his man

[UMFan83]

Imagine our rotation back in 2014

[UMFan83]

More confirmation:

[Cubswin11]

Alright I guess let’s go. I’ll buy in to the road numbers and “veteranness”

[Liam Neeson]

Alright I guess let’s go. I’ll buy in to the road numbers and “veteranness”

Don't forget pitching at Wrigley splits!

[Cubswin11]

[Brian]

Until I see him suck, I'm into this move with more pitcher friendly parks, playing meaningful baseball and Cubs super defense behind him.

[Bertz]

Would it be at all bad to have 4 lefties in the rotation assuming it’s Lester/Quintana/Montgomery/Hamels/Hendricks (the righty)?

The dodgers are significantly worse against lefties again, but not as awful as they used to be in 2016

Phillies are much worse as well.

Conversely, the Braves murder lefties (which is why they gave us so much trouble)

[TomtheBombadil]

Woohoo, love me some Cole Hamels and have seen him as a fit as this org for a long time under this FO. Great pitcher and I believe he has plenty of arm left for this stretch

[Brian]

He's got a kind of an annoying 6 million dollar buyout (on a 20 million dollar option) next year, but I guess if the plan is to blow by the luxury tax it doesn't really matter.

[17 Seconds]

if we aren't getting somebody good, then get another hamels type, eliminate chatwood, and go with a 6 man rotation until someone sucks enough to be removed

[ScrubMD]

I went the Phillies/Reds playoff game back in like 2010 or whatever when Hamels shut out the Reds for the sweep....Hopefully he pitches like that.

[toonsterwu]

Sounds like a good deal. I wouldn't want Hamels long term, but he's had a nice bounce back this season, and it seems like the Rangers are eating a lot of the deal and we're not giving up some top level talent, so all in all ... okay. Should add some stability to the back end of the rotation.

Fangraphs has him using the cutter a lot more. Wonder if that continues in the NL and in Wrigley.

[CubinNY]

Woohoo, love me some Cole Hamels and have seen him as a fit as this org for a long time under this FO. Great pitcher and I believe he has plenty of arm left for this stretch

You are nothing if not consistent.

However, I like this move too. I’m also glad Theo has seen the wisdom of my point of view that I’ve never expressed publicly before.

[Bertz]

Sounds like a good deal. I wouldn't want Hamels long term, but he's had a nice bounce back this season, and it seems like the Rangers are eating a lot of the deal and we're not giving up some top level talent, so all in all ... okay. Should add some stability to the back end of the rotation.

Fangraphs has him using the cutter a lot more. Wonder if that continues in the NL and in Wrigley.

I don't know if that's inside info or just an example of the type of thing they could have in mind.

[mikeyt34]

Hamels was scheduled to pitch Saturday for Texas. I wonder if they slide him into a spot for this weekend in St. Louis or wait until Chatwood's next spot. Chatwood needs to go to the bullpen and leave Monty where he is IMO.

[Bryant's Disco Ball]

He's got a kind of an annoying 6 million dollar buyout (on a 20 million dollar option) next year, but I guess if the plan is to blow by the luxury tax it doesn't really matter.

I have a feeling the Rangers will be paying that buyout.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Even as-is, he's at least a little better than Chatwood.

But ... meh. I'm not convinced the Cubs' ability to "fix" pitchers is distinguishable from the random variance of pitcher performance.

[ScrubMD]

Only problem is Montgomery probably can’t maintain a full starter’s workload.

[Cubswin11]

I think we are gonna 6 man it soonish and hopefully Chatwood hits the DL

[Brian]

Only problem is Montgomery probably can’t maintain a full starter’s workload.

Hopefully things are clearer (and for the better) after Yu's bullpen tomorrow