Money/Payroll

[AlwaysaCub]

Close this if it's already been posted, but...

 

From http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?id=2670755 By Phil Rogers:

 

The Cubs have about $92 million committed to 16 players, which means they still have another $25 million to $30 million to spend on free agents if they're taking the payroll to $125 million, as has been rumored.

 

If the payroll is 125 million, they have 33 million left on 9 players. It really isn't clear to me who those 16 players are, because we have a load of young pitchers who may or may not make the 25 man. However, some of those 9 spots will probably be filled by people making the minimum, which probably leaves us about 28 million for 4 or 5 players. That's a lot more than I thought. Is this the correct reading here?

[Mephistopheles]

He isn't counting about $10,000,000 to Carlos Zambrano in arby.

[Mephistopheles]

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f189/kctigers23/CubsContract1.jpg

 

it's not going to be 100% accurate.

[JeffH]

It really isn't clear to me who those 16 players are

 

It seems fairly obvious to me that he's counting the 14 players already under contract, plus Zambrano and Prior, the two arb-eligibles who are going to make "real money".

[Soriano12]

It is becoming very clear that Hendry was hamstrung by Failure in the past. Not to let Hendry off the hook, because he has made some poor decisions, but it is clear who was the root of the problem.

[ThePenguin11]

As far as I can tell there's not much room left for the 25-man aside from a SP or two and maybe one position player depending on what happens with Cedeno and Theriot.

 

I see the current 25 looking like this:

 

SP (5) (In no particular order)

Zambrano, Hill, Prior, Miller and TBD.

 

RP - 8

Dempster, Howry, Eyre, Wuertz, Ohman, Wood, Cotts and Novoa

 

IF (5)

Lee, Derosa, Izturis, Ramirez, Barrett

 

OF (3)

Soriano, Murton, Jones

 

Bench (4)

Blanco, Cedeno, Theriot, TBD.

 

So as far as I can tell the $25,000,000 we have left to spend will be for two starting pitchers a possible upgrade at CF or SS and maybe one more bench player. If the Cubs have that much money left I can actually see them offering ~$15M to Schmidt.

 

After comparing the top ten free agent starting pitchers what I noticed is that Schmidt and Zito are the only pitchers in the bunch who don't consistently post ERA's in the 4.20-4.50 range, and WHIP's in the 1.45 range.

 

So with that in mind, wouldn't it make sense to dump 60% of our remaining budget on a real pitcher such as Schmidt (maybe Igawa) then spend the last $10M in trades (taking on salaries) or on filling out the last roster spot or two?

[YearofDaCubs]

It is becoming very clear that Hendry was hamstrung by Failure in the past. Not to let Hendry off the hook, because he has made some poor decisions, but it is clear who was the root of the problem.

He had a 100mil payroll and still stunk it up. If anything it was MacPhail and his philosophy, Hendry and his fascination to sign mediocre talent and lack of a game plan that has done us in.

[Derwood]

As far as I can tell there's not much room left for the 25-man aside from a SP or two and maybe one position player depending on what happens with Cedeno and Theriot.

 

I see the current 25 looking like this:

 

SP (5) (In no particular order)

Zambrano, Hill, Prior, Miller and TBD.

 

RP - 8

Dempster, Howry, Eyre, Wuertz, Ohman, Wood, Cotts and Novoa

 

IF (5)

Lee, Derosa, Izturis, Ramirez, Barrett

 

OF (3)

Soriano, Murton, Jones

 

Bench (4)

Blanco, Cedeno, Theriot, TBD.

 

So as far as I can tell the $25,000,000 we have left to spend will be for two starting pitchers a possible upgrade at CF or SS and maybe one more bench player. If the Cubs have that much money left I can actually see them offering ~$15M to Schmidt.

 

After comparing the top ten free agent starting pitchers what I noticed is that Schmidt and Zito are the only pitchers in the bunch who don't consistently post ERA's in the 4.20-4.50 range, and WHIP's in the 1.45 range.

 

So with that in mind, wouldn't it make sense to dump 60% of our remaining budget on a real pitcher such as Schmidt (maybe Igawa) then spend the last $10M in trades (taking on salaries) or on filling out the last roster spot or two?

 

No way do we go into Opening Day with an 8 man bullpen. I'm not sure what Piniella's tendencies are, but usually 6 is standard, 7 if you have a streak with no off days. So subtract Ohman and Novoa and add two bench players. Or trade Eyre, etc. to get the missing SP

[AlwaysaCub]

As far as I can tell there's not much room left for the 25-man aside from a SP or two and maybe one position player depending on what happens with Cedeno and Theriot.

 

I see the current 25 looking like this:

 

SP (5) (In no particular order)

Zambrano, Hill, Prior, Miller and TBD.

 

RP - 8

Dempster, Howry, Eyre, Wuertz, Ohman, Wood, Cotts and Novoa

 

IF (5)

Lee, Derosa, Izturis, Ramirez, Barrett

 

OF (3)

Soriano, Murton, Jones

 

Bench (4)

Blanco, Cedeno, Theriot, TBD.

 

So as far as I can tell the $25,000,000 we have left to spend will be for two starting pitchers a possible upgrade at CF or SS and maybe one more bench player. If the Cubs have that much money left I can actually see them offering ~$15M to Schmidt.

 

After comparing the top ten free agent starting pitchers what I noticed is that Schmidt and Zito are the only pitchers in the bunch who don't consistently post ERA's in the 4.20-4.50 range, and WHIP's in the 1.45 range.

 

So with that in mind, wouldn't it make sense to dump 60% of our remaining budget on a real pitcher such as Schmidt (maybe Igawa) then spend the last $10M in trades (taking on salaries) or on filling out the last roster spot or two?

 

Glendon Rusch is still on the roster, and there's been no indication that he won't make the team. He would be the 4th lefty in the bullpen listed, and that's ridiculous. A trade must be in the works/in Hendry's mind.

[CubColtPacer]

As far as I can tell there's not much room left for the 25-man aside from a SP or two and maybe one position player depending on what happens with Cedeno and Theriot.

 

I see the current 25 looking like this:

 

SP (5) (In no particular order)

Zambrano, Hill, Prior, Miller and TBD.

 

RP - 8

Dempster, Howry, Eyre, Wuertz, Ohman, Wood, Cotts and Novoa

 

IF (5)

Lee, Derosa, Izturis, Ramirez, Barrett

 

OF (3)

Soriano, Murton, Jones

 

Bench (4)

Blanco, Cedeno, Theriot, TBD.

 

So as far as I can tell the $25,000,000 we have left to spend will be for two starting pitchers a possible upgrade at CF or SS and maybe one more bench player. If the Cubs have that much money left I can actually see them offering ~$15M to Schmidt.

 

After comparing the top ten free agent starting pitchers what I noticed is that Schmidt and Zito are the only pitchers in the bunch who don't consistently post ERA's in the 4.20-4.50 range, and WHIP's in the 1.45 range.

 

So with that in mind, wouldn't it make sense to dump 60% of our remaining budget on a real pitcher such as Schmidt (maybe Igawa) then spend the last $10M in trades (taking on salaries) or on filling out the last roster spot or two?

 

Glendon Rusch is still on the roster, and there's been no indication that he won't make the team. He would be the 4th lefty in the bullpen listed, and that's ridiculous. A trade must be in the works/in Hendry's mind.

 

Rusch is incredibly unlikely to be medically cleared to play by Opening Day. He has to be on blood thinners for a mininum of 6 months, and it will probably be longer than that. He cannot play at all during that time. They started in the middle of September, so the earliest he could even really throw a baseball is the middle of March, and probably later than that. After that, it would take quite a while to get back into playing form. We may have to pay his contract, but the indications are that he won't be in the bullpen for at least the first 1/2 of the season at least.

[YearofDaCubs]

As far as I can tell there's not much room left for the 25-man aside from a SP or two and maybe one position player depending on what happens with Cedeno and Theriot.

 

I see the current 25 looking like this:

 

SP (5) (In no particular order)

Zambrano, Hill, Prior, Miller and TBD.

 

RP - 8

Dempster, Howry, Eyre, Wuertz, Ohman, Wood, Cotts and Novoa

 

IF (5)

Lee, Derosa, Izturis, Ramirez, Barrett

 

OF (3)

Soriano, Murton, Jones

 

Bench (4)

Blanco, Cedeno, Theriot, TBD.

 

So as far as I can tell the $25,000,000 we have left to spend will be for two starting pitchers a possible upgrade at CF or SS and maybe one more bench player. If the Cubs have that much money left I can actually see them offering ~$15M to Schmidt.

 

After comparing the top ten free agent starting pitchers what I noticed is that Schmidt and Zito are the only pitchers in the bunch who don't consistently post ERA's in the 4.20-4.50 range, and WHIP's in the 1.45 range.

 

So with that in mind, wouldn't it make sense to dump 60% of our remaining budget on a real pitcher such as Schmidt (maybe Igawa) then spend the last $10M in trades (taking on salaries) or on filling out the last roster spot or two?

 

Glendon Rusch is still on the roster, and there's been no indication that he won't make the team. He would be the 4th lefty in the bullpen listed, and that's ridiculous. A trade must be in the works/in Hendry's mind.

 

Rusch is incredibly unlikely to be medically cleared to play by Opening Day. He has to be on blood thinners for a mininum of 6 months, and it will probably be longer than that. He cannot play at all during that time. They started in the middle of September, so the earliest he could even really throw a baseball is the middle of March, and probably later than that. After that, it would take quite a while to get back into playing form. We may have to pay his contract, but the indications are that he won't be in the bullpen for at least the first 1/2 of the season at least.

We might as well release him if he doesn't retire.

[CubColtPacer]

As far as I can tell there's not much room left for the 25-man aside from a SP or two and maybe one position player depending on what happens with Cedeno and Theriot.

 

I see the current 25 looking like this:

 

SP (5) (In no particular order)

Zambrano, Hill, Prior, Miller and TBD.

 

RP - 8

Dempster, Howry, Eyre, Wuertz, Ohman, Wood, Cotts and Novoa

 

IF (5)

Lee, Derosa, Izturis, Ramirez, Barrett

 

OF (3)

Soriano, Murton, Jones

 

Bench (4)

Blanco, Cedeno, Theriot, TBD.

 

So as far as I can tell the $25,000,000 we have left to spend will be for two starting pitchers a possible upgrade at CF or SS and maybe one more bench player. If the Cubs have that much money left I can actually see them offering ~$15M to Schmidt.

 

After comparing the top ten free agent starting pitchers what I noticed is that Schmidt and Zito are the only pitchers in the bunch who don't consistently post ERA's in the 4.20-4.50 range, and WHIP's in the 1.45 range.

 

So with that in mind, wouldn't it make sense to dump 60% of our remaining budget on a real pitcher such as Schmidt (maybe Igawa) then spend the last $10M in trades (taking on salaries) or on filling out the last roster spot or two?

 

Glendon Rusch is still on the roster, and there's been no indication that he won't make the team. He would be the 4th lefty in the bullpen listed, and that's ridiculous. A trade must be in the works/in Hendry's mind.

 

Rusch is incredibly unlikely to be medically cleared to play by Opening Day. He has to be on blood thinners for a mininum of 6 months, and it will probably be longer than that. He cannot play at all during that time. They started in the middle of September, so the earliest he could even really throw a baseball is the middle of March, and probably later than that. After that, it would take quite a while to get back into playing form. We may have to pay his contract, but the indications are that he won't be in the bullpen for at least the first 1/2 of the season at least.

 

We might as well release him if he doesn't retire.

 

I would agree with that. My guess is that there is some sort of medical settlement, which leaves him free to sign with another team if he becomes healthy again. Is that possible in MLB?

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

My guess is the Cubs could put Rusch on waivers. No one would claim him with his salary and medical condition. The Cubs would have to pay him, but it opens a roster spot.