The Cuban Defectors Thread

[Guest]

Yea the reason I'm not terribly upset about missing out is that the offense really isn't a priority now for whatever the hell the FA dollars are. I'd much rather they focus that on pitching. I also wouldn't be surprised to see them in on Tomas, assuming the scouting checks out. I've gotten the impression this front office is really adverse to offering substantial long term deals to older players.

While we need to spend on pitching, hitting is still a need. A ton of the guys we are counting in haven't seen a big league pitch, have injury concerns, or have had struggles with the ML pitching they've seen. A starting caliber OF would go a long way. Hopefully it's addressed somewhere else in FA or trade.

So, to solve this problem you wanted to sign a guy that has never seen a big league pitch?

[ctcf]

Yea the reason I'm not terribly upset about missing out is that the offense really isn't a priority now for whatever the hell the FA dollars are. I'd much rather they focus that on pitching. I also wouldn't be surprised to see them in on Tomas, assuming the scouting checks out. I've gotten the impression this front office is really adverse to offering substantial long term deals to older players.

While we need to spend on pitching, hitting is still a need. A ton of the guys we are counting in haven't seen a big league pitch, have injury concerns, or have had struggles with the ML pitching they've seen. A starting caliber OF would go a long way. Hopefully it's addressed somewhere else in FA or trade.

So, to solve this problem you wanted to sign a guy that has never seen a big league pitch?

 

hahahahaha

[jersey cubs fan]

Yea the reason I'm not terribly upset about missing out is that the offense really isn't a priority now for whatever the hell the FA dollars are. I'd much rather they focus that on pitching. I also wouldn't be surprised to see them in on Tomas, assuming the scouting checks out. I've gotten the impression this front office is really adverse to offering substantial long term deals to older players.

While we need to spend on pitching, hitting is still a need.

 

Yes indeed.

 

If the strategy is to have an awesome offense and a stable/okay pitching staff, then they are still a very long way away from having an actually awesome offense.

[SouthSideRyan]

This seems like a drastic over pay! I bet we can find an outfielder to produce similar results for a lot less money!

 

More likely a guy who can produce 1/3 of the results for 1/8 of the money

 

What type of player do you think Castillo will be?

 

What type of player do you think the FO think he'll be? Were they in on him up to 8M/year to be a 4th-5th OF?

 

No, but I can understand the hesitation at giving him 70+ million if there's any concerns about his game translating(like there are statistically) and if his ceiling isn't much higher than a 2-3 win OF. Is that a 'drastic overpay' in that case? No. It's also not a sign of stinginess either.

 

No one lack of signing is ever going to be a sign of stinginess. It's the 3 year pattern.

[SouthSideRyan]

This seems like a drastic over pay! I bet we can find an outfielder to produce similar results for a lot less money!

 

More likely a guy who can produce 1/3 of the results for 1/8 of the money

 

What type of player do you think Castillo will be?

 

What type of player do you think the FO think he'll be? Were they in on him up to 8M/year to be a 4th-5th OF?

Way to avoid the question

 

I'm not a professional talent evaluator. ("OBVIOUSLY" - sneaky) Something tells me nobody would be upset if we were actually the ones to sign him to the contract.

[KingCubsFan]

Yea the reason I'm not terribly upset about missing out is that the offense really isn't a priority now for whatever the hell the FA dollars are. I'd much rather they focus that on pitching. I also wouldn't be surprised to see them in on Tomas, assuming the scouting checks out. I've gotten the impression this front office is really adverse to offering substantial long term deals to older players.

While we need to spend on pitching, hitting is still a need.

 

Yes indeed.

 

If the strategy is to have an awesome offense and a stable/okay pitching staff, then they are still a very long way away from having an actually awesome offense.

True. But at that price, I'd prefer they go after Colby Rasmus, who at least has some sort of track record (albeit uneven). Plus Melky Cabrera and Markakis should be significantly cheaper.

[Guest]

I'm not a professional talent evaluator. ("OBVIOUSLY" - sneaky) Something tells me nobody would be upset if we were actually the ones to sign him to the contract.

To be fair, some of the scouting reports I've read in recent days have cooled me off on him. I wouldn't be upset if we signed him for that amount of money, but I'm not upset we didn't, either.

 

If we go into next spring without having spent money on something and have a $60M payroll, then I'll be upset.

[ctcf]

I'm not a professional talent evaluator. ("OBVIOUSLY" - sneaky) Something tells me nobody would be upset if we were actually the ones to sign him to the contract.

To be fair, some of the scouting reports I've read in recent days have cooled me off on him. I wouldn't be upset if we signed him for that amount of money, but I'm not upset we didn't, either.

 

If we go into next spring without having spent money on something and have a $60M payroll, then I'll be upset.

 

This. I'll readily admit I'd be fine if not excited if the Cubs had signed him to that deal. That said, I'm not terribly bummed that they didn't, either.

[SouthSideRyan]

I'm not a professional talent evaluator. ("OBVIOUSLY" - sneaky) Something tells me nobody would be upset if we were actually the ones to sign him to the contract.

To be fair, some of the scouting reports I've read in recent days have cooled me off on him. I wouldn't be upset if we signed him for that amount of money, but I'm not upset we didn't, either.

 

If we go into next spring without having spent money on something and have a $60M payroll, then I'll be upset.

 

This is fair, there's just a limited number of players out there our FO would deem worthy, and with each one off the board we inch closer to the nightmare scenario you describe (see last offseason)

[Guest]

I'm not a professional talent evaluator. ("OBVIOUSLY" - sneaky) Something tells me nobody would be upset if we were actually the ones to sign him to the contract.

 

That's because if you believe in the front office as talent evaluators, their signing/not-signing him is an indicator.

[SouthSideRyan]

I'm not a professional talent evaluator. ("OBVIOUSLY" - sneaky) Something tells me nobody would be upset if we were actually the ones to sign him to the contract.

 

That's because if you believe in the front office as talent evaluators, their signing/not-signing him is an indicator.

 

There's a limit to that faith.

[Guest]

I'm not a professional talent evaluator. ("OBVIOUSLY" - sneaky) Something tells me nobody would be upset if we were actually the ones to sign him to the contract.

 

That's because if you believe in the front office as talent evaluators, their signing/not-signing him is an indicator.

 

There's a limit to that faith.

 

Sure, it's not a proof and there's other factors involved. If it were Cubs instead of Boston in the thread title, my reaction would be along the lines of 'I would not have expected it to be that much, but they must really believe he's better than the consensus thinks he is". Anyone saying this is a 'drastic overpay' is wrong unless they're putting it in the context of having an Astros payroll as well. At the same time, locking in 70+ million is not trivial either, so if you aren't convinced he'll translate and/or think his ceiling isn't that great, I have zero problem passing and looking to improve the offense in the offseason.

[WrigleyField 22]

Yea the reason I'm not terribly upset about missing out is that the offense really isn't a priority now for whatever the hell the FA dollars are. I'd much rather they focus that on pitching. I also wouldn't be surprised to see them in on Tomas, assuming the scouting checks out. I've gotten the impression this front office is really adverse to offering substantial long term deals to older players.

While we need to spend on pitching, hitting is still a need. A ton of the guys we are counting in haven't seen a big league pitch, have injury concerns, or have had struggles with the ML pitching they've seen. A starting caliber OF would go a long way. Hopefully it's addressed somewhere else in FA or trade.

So, to solve this problem you wanted to sign a guy that has never seen a big league pitch?

Just bring in additional options in anticipation of some of the inevitable failures.

[sneakypower]

who specifically are the inevitable failures?

[WrigleyField 22]

who specifically are the inevitable failures?

Why does it have to be a specific guy?

[Banedon]

who specifically are the inevitable failures?

 

The point is that you don't know who the failures will be. Just that inevitably, not everyone pans out.

[WrigleyField 22]

What's the conservative $ estimate on what they'll have to spend, $40-45M. Even if you grab a top of the rotation starter AND a mid rotation starter, your talking 30-35m? Leaving up to another $10m or more. If we thought we had a lot less available, I may feel differently, but they should have plenty to address pitching needs and still add more hitters to give us depth and options.

[jersey cubs fan]

who specifically are the inevitable failures?

what a ridiculous question

[jersey cubs fan]

somebody go agitate in cuba, we need new defects

[treebird]

this cocky mfer probably would've demanded health insurance as part of his deal. glad we passed.

[Cubswin11]

who specifically are the inevitable failures?

This might be the dumbest thing asked on here since Da Bum left

[davell]

http://www.baseballamerica.com/international/yoan-moncada-cuban-baseball-star/

 

I guess he's a possibility if it takes forever for him to get clearance.

[sneakypower]

who specifically are the inevitable failures?

This might be the dumbest thing asked on here since Da Bum left

it's misguided to keep repeating that some of these prospects are sure to fail with the implication veterans are comparatively a sure thing; it's a point that's needlessly belabored

 

it's been said before, but it warrants repeating that "minor league batting statistics will predict major league batting performance with essentially the same reliability as previous major league statistics"

 

so let's talk about the veterans who'll flame out, too, like Schierholtz, Jackson, Sweeney, etc. have

[champaignchris]

Based entirely on brief skimmings of third hand scouting reports, I have a feeling this guy will be more Kosuke Fukudome than Yasiel Puig.

[ScrubMD]

this cocky mfer probably would've demanded health insurance as part of his deal. glad we passed.

 

I don't understand why anyone would defect from Cuba when healthcare is free there.