What if Cuban becomes owner and

[CubfaninCA]

wants to push the budget to $130 million next year? Looks like the Cubs could be sold, so this is more plausible now. Basically, he'd take the same approach as the Yankees & the Red Sox by buying his way to a title via getting the best free agents.

With Maddux, Wood & Pierre coming off the books, the Cubs would have lots of money to play with.

 

Who would you want him to sign??

 

Schmidt & Soriano would be at the top of my list. Cubs would probably have enough for Mulder too. That depends on how Prior, Guzman and Marmol perform. It would be nice to get another left-handed bat, but there aren't many available...

[srbin84]

wants to push the budget to $130 million next year? Looks like the Cubs could be sold, so this is more plausible now. Basically, he'd take the same approach as the Yankees & the Red Sox by buying his way to a title via getting the best free agents.

With Maddux, Wood & Pierre coming off the books, the Cubs would have lots of money to play with.

 

Who would you want him to sign??

 

Schmidt & Soriano would be at the top of my list. Cubs would probably have enough for Mulder too. That depends on how Prior, Guzman and Marmol perform. It would be nice to get another left-handed bat, but there aren't many available...

 

I'd want Zito first and foremost, then if you could get Soriano and either Schmidt or Mulder without compromising a long term deal for Z, I think even if the Cubs did nothing else, they'd be a contender next year.

[CubfaninCA]

wants to push the budget to $130 million next year? Looks like the Cubs could be sold, so this is more plausible now. Basically, he'd take the same approach as the Yankees & the Red Sox by buying his way to a title via getting the best free agents.

With Maddux, Wood & Pierre coming off the books, the Cubs would have lots of money to play with.

 

Who would you want him to sign??

 

Schmidt & Soriano would be at the top of my list. Cubs would probably have enough for Mulder too. That depends on how Prior, Guzman and Marmol perform. It would be nice to get another left-handed bat, but there aren't many available...

 

I'd want Zito first and foremost, then if you could get Soriano and either Schmidt or Mulder without compromising a long term deal for Z, I think even if the Cubs did nothing else, they'd be a contender next year.

 

I agree that 2 big signings makes them contenders.

 

Cuban needs to fire MacPhail on day 1, and get rid of the "sign a bunch of $3-9 million second/third tier free agent's" philosophy.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

I don't think it's Cuban's money that makes such a big difference as is it is his philosophy.

 

However, assuming I could spend 130 million on the team next year, I'd probably buy some pitching and then deal some young pitching (Prior or Marshall) to try to get Abreu and move Jones to CF.

 

This team needs a big time bat and Abreu could provide that.

[soccer10k]

I would be careful in going after Schmidt. He'll be 34 by the time the 2007 season rolls around and Felipe Alou has a tendency to run up the pitch counts. Schmidt is averaging 113 pitches a start this year.

[mg420]

i would much rather see a youth movement than a payroll increase and more huge salaried, broken down veteran players. they have guys like guzman, hill, gallagher, rappada, fox, fuld, ep, & pie hopefully ready to contribute in the majors in the next few years. i hope the cubs follow the marlins way of thinking than the yankee's.

[baseball7897]

Zito and Soriano should be at the top of the FA list for the Cubs.

[Brian]

Zito and Soriano should be at the top of the FA list for the Cubs.

 

Both will get more money elsewhere, unless there is a regime change. The current one is not capable of signing a sought after FA (excluding middle relief, which doesn't seem to be a problem for them somehow)

[Fro]

i would much rather see a youth movement than a payroll increase and more huge salaried, broken down veteran players. they have guys like guzman, hill, gallagher, rappada, fox, fuld, ep, & pie hopefully ready to contribute in the majors in the next few years. i hope the cubs follow the marlins way of thinking than the yankee's.

 

With the payroll the Cubs have, we don't have to homegrow the whole team, nor is there a track record of our prospects panning out well.

[DeuceBaseman]

Carlos Lee in LF 12 million a year

Barry Zito or Jason Schmidt 12 million a year

Doug Davis or Jason Marquis for about 7 million a year

Alfonso Soriano for 12 million a year

Save about 20 million from wood and maddux, 7 million from pierre and walker. 43 million spend on free agency means we would have about a 15 million more payroll next year only. That is like 105 million. lineup:

1)Ronny Cedeno SS

2)Alfonso Soriano 2B

3)Derrek Lee 1B

4)Carlos Lee LF

5)Aramis Ramirez 3B

6)Jacque Jones RF (platoon with Murton)

7)Michael Barrett C

8)Felix Pie CF

Staff: Prior, Zambrano, Schmidt or Zito, Davis or Marquis, Marshall

= world series

[Brad]

Yeah, that would be great, but theres no way the Cubs sign Carlos Lee, Soriano, Zito/Schmidt, and Davis/Marquis. But we'll see what happens.. :roll:

[CubinNY]

Cuban may like to win, but the Chicago market cannot sustain a $130 million dollar team.

 

First and foremost Cuban is a business man. And from all reports a pretty smart business man. He'll want to win but not at the cost of losing millions of dollars. That is just foolish.

[Iceblink]

Carlos Lee in LF 12 million a year

Barry Zito or Jason Schmidt 12 million a year

Doug Davis or Jason Marquis for about 7 million a year

Alfonso Soriano for 12 million a year

Save about 20 million from wood and maddux, 7 million from pierre and walker. 43 million spend on free agency means we would have about a 15 million more payroll next year only. That is like 105 million. lineup:

1)Ronny Cedeno SS

2)Alfonso Soriano 2B

3)Derrek Lee 1B

4)Carlos Lee LF

5)Aramis Ramirez 3B

6)Jacque Jones RF (platoon with Murton)

7)Michael Barrett C

8)Felix Pie CF

Staff: Prior, Zambrano, Schmidt or Zito, Davis or Marquis, Marshall

= world series

 

If you put any weight into salary, Walker isn't ridiculously far behind Soriano - and Soriano is not any better defensively. Cedeno has a long way to go before he's a viable lead-off man and Murton really shouldn't be in RF with his arm. Awful lot of RH hitters, too. Would it be any worse if you didn't sign Lee and put Soriano in LF with Walker back at 2B, and spend the millions you'd save on another starter? (I know Walker won't be back, just saying.)

[Mizzou]

Cuban may like to win, but the Chicago market cannot sustain a $130 million dollar team.

What do you mean?

[CubsBullsBears]

Cuban may like to win, but the Chicago market cannot sustain a $130 million dollar team.

 

First and foremost Cuban is a business man. And from all reports a pretty smart business man. He'll want to win but not at the cost of losing millions of dollars. That is just foolish.

How would he lose money!!?? We've got so many revenue streams.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Cuban became a billionaire by making wise business decisions. That isn't going to change if he buys the Cubs. He is a numbers man, and I think what you would see is an extreme "Moneyball" team in the $80M range, not buying the high-priced goofs like Carlos Lee and pushing payroll to 130.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

Cuban became a billionaire by making wise business decisions. That isn't going to change if he buys the Cubs. He is a numbers man, and I think what you would see is an extreme "Moneyball" team in the $80M range, not buying the high-priced goofs like Carlos Lee and pushing payroll to 130.

 

Actually, I think you'd see something like the Red Sox without such a high payroll.

 

He'd spend more than a "true" moneyball team, but use cost-analysis and sabermetric views much like they have done in Boston.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Cuban became a billionaire by making wise business decisions. That isn't going to change if he buys the Cubs. He is a numbers man, and I think what you would see is an extreme "Moneyball" team in the $80M range, not buying the high-priced goofs like Carlos Lee and pushing payroll to 130.

 

Actually, I think you'd see something like the Red Sox without such a high payroll.

 

He'd spend more than a "true" moneyball team, but use cost-analysis and sabermetric views much like they have done in Boston.

 

No sense in arguing, let's get him in here to see which of us is right! :lol:

[CubinNY]

Cuban may like to win, but the Chicago market cannot sustain a $130 million dollar team.

 

First and foremost Cuban is a business man. And from all reports a pretty smart business man. He'll want to win but not at the cost of losing millions of dollars. That is just foolish.

How would he lose money!!?? We've got so many revenue streams.

 

Last year the Cubs had @ $100 million dollar team and they made @ 10 million in profit.

 

You do the math.

Edited June 10, 2006 by CubinNY

[srbin84]

Cuban may like to win, but the Chicago market cannot sustain a $130 million dollar team.

 

First and foremost Cuban is a business man. And from all reports a pretty smart business man. He'll want to win but not at the cost of losing millions of dollars. That is just foolish.

How would he lose money!!?? We've got so many revenue streams.

 

Last year the Cubs had @ $100 million dollar team and they made @ 5 or 6 million in profit.

 

You do the math.

 

Those are figures reported by the Cubs, right?

[CubinNY]

Cuban may like to win, but the Chicago market cannot sustain a $130 million dollar team.

 

First and foremost Cuban is a business man. And from all reports a pretty smart business man. He'll want to win but not at the cost of losing millions of dollars. That is just foolish.

How would he lose money!!?? We've got so many revenue streams.

 

Last year the Cubs had @ $100 million dollar team and they made @ 5 or 6 million in profit.

 

You do the math.

 

Those are figures reported by the Cubs, right?

 

No, that's a best guess from Forbes reported profit from 2001.

 

But more to the point, money is not what is holding the Cubs back.

[srbin84]

Cuban may like to win, but the Chicago market cannot sustain a $130 million dollar team.

 

First and foremost Cuban is a business man. And from all reports a pretty smart business man. He'll want to win but not at the cost of losing millions of dollars. That is just foolish.

How would he lose money!!?? We've got so many revenue streams.

 

Last year the Cubs had @ $100 million dollar team and they made @ 5 or 6 million in profit.

 

You do the math.

 

Those are figures reported by the Cubs, right?

 

No, that's a best guess from Forbes reported profit from 2001.

 

But more to the point, money is not what is holding the Cubs back.

 

Bad spending is, agreed. However, I'd rather they have a 130 million dollar team than a 100 million dollar one. And I think there is a good chance things have changed a lot since 2001.

[Mizzou]

Cuban may like to win, but the Chicago market cannot sustain a $130 million dollar team.

 

First and foremost Cuban is a business man. And from all reports a pretty smart business man. He'll want to win but not at the cost of losing millions of dollars. That is just foolish.

How would he lose money!!?? We've got so many revenue streams.

 

Last year the Cubs had @ $100 million dollar team and they made @ 10 million in profit.

 

You do the math.

The Cubs made a 7.9 million dollar operating profit in 2001. That same year, Forbes also said that the Cubs were worth 287 million dollars. If the recent reports of a worth between 500 and 600 million are correct, then I'd say that the Cubs had a profit of at least 20 million last year, at a minimum. That's just a guess though, obviously.

[Larry Horse]

I've also heard Mike Murphy ( I know, I know) report that someone "in the know" has told him the Cubs have two sets of financial books, each with different figures.

[YearofDaCubs]

I've also heard Mike Murphy ( I know, I know) report that someone "in the know" has told him the Cubs have two sets of financial books, each with different figures.

Who knows how accurate that is but let's not fool ourselves, the Cubs make more than a 10mil profit per year even with a 100mil payroll.