Hoerner, as well as Busch, has caught Seiya Suzuki Disease. Taking too many first pitch strikes down the middle of the plate and third pitch called strikes on the corners. As a result of all this passivity, Cubs offense sucks. Seiya is last in RISP in MLB, which ought to tell people something. Happ got better once he started swinging the bat. Hoerner will be fine with a change of scenery.

In defense of Suzuki, I’ve never seen a hitter get worse calls from umpires. On the opposite extreme Acuna. Pitchers always get squeezed when he’s at the plate. In fact, Counsell needs to fight more for his players on the field, not make wish washy statements after the game. The 40 million dollar genius. It was Hader and Williams all the time. Only Stupid Jed.

Just thought of who Counsell reminds me of. Mike McDaniel coach of the Dolphins. Nerdy looking guy. They can’t take the camera off him during the game. One time I counted the shots. After about 25 in the first half alone (and I’m not exaggerating) I lost count. Announcers love to talk about what a genius he is. Because he wears glasses. Looks like a science teacher. Haha! What a bunch of morons.

Orioles are giving up 2 top 10 prospects here, not sure why your values are so far off.

Slimecave, Come out of your prospect cave. The Cubs are giving up a Gold Glove 2B-SS with a lifetime .273 avg. and 2.5 years of team control, plus one of the top left-handers in the game with 4.5 years on control. That's more than 6 years of team control, one more year than the Orioles will have over either Basallo or Mayo, once they are called up to the majors. Hoerner and Imanaga have PROVEN their value at the MLB level. This is a real gamble for the Cubs. In the real world, I would pull Imanaga and offer Steele, plus ask the Orioles for a couple #10-20 prospects and get it, because execs understand what you don't, not every hotshot prospect becomes the next Aaron or Koufax.

Remove Samuel Basallo & Nico Hoerner and you might have something. Or get a 3rd team to take Nico Hoerner who the Orioles don’t need, (though they could play him at 2B and then make another trade of Mateo and /or Urias).

MD, good idea to amend the deal. Leave Basallo and Hoerner in. Cubs insist O's throw Seth Johnson and Luis DeLeon in on the deal. BLT still says yes! Also meant to say sub out Steele for Imanaga.

From the O's perspective, do you think this is the best they can get for Mayo and Basallo? I think they think they can get more. And maybe not fair or rational, but since O's are in win-now mode Imanaga's recent performance will weigh heavily into what they'll give up for him. There's still a lot we don't know about Imanaga, particularly if he can hold up to an MLB grind. And maybe his recent performance is evidence that there's a book out on him now. O's need playoff-proven pitching, and Imanaga's too risky of a proposition with this recent trajectory.

nonane__SU, I think each team might do better to trade each player individually. The Cubs traded two veterans, Baez and Williams, for PCA, which might be a cautionary note for the O's. Basallo and Mayo seem to be expendable. A better model for Basallo might be the Moreno deal, in which the Blue Jays got a controllable player (Varsho) in return. But they also included Gurriel. I've watched Imanaga pitch a lot. He's the real deal, lots of different quality pitches, but you make a good point as to whether he can hold up to the grind.

I look at the $10m as the cost of player acquisition. This is roughly the same amount as round 1 talent. Or you could rationalize it as past of Shota's year one salary, in which case he would still be a bargain.