2014 Roster Discussion

[SouthSideRyan]

the Cubs baseball ops department will be limited monetarily for another 3 years due to a covenant in the sales contract Ricketts signed with Zell.

WTF does that even mean? The sales contract limited how much Ricketts could spend on the team?

I take it to mean Levine has no idea what he's [expletive] talking about

 

It means Tom was counting on Joe dying by now. #inheritance #brokeTomRicketts

[SouthSideRyan]

The big issue they have is there is an awful lot of people in that Rockies FO that question his toughness, mental edge and injury history- I keep hearing they want to avoid an 'Alex Rios situation'- the Blue Jays had to just dump Rios as his value had disappeared once Rios displayed the very same issues the Rockies seem to think CarGo has.

 

I assume the big issue is pertaining to the Rockies here? That goombahism should help our end of the deal

[Guest]

 

I assume the big issue is pertaining to the Rockies here? That goombahism should help our end of the deal

 

Yeah. I'd assume that's what he means. Awesome for us.

[Clem Fandango]

 

More on this:

 

Too much makes sense here, even moreso when you think that CarGo has the ability to play all three OF spots and blocks no one...

 

For some reason I thought to myself "Uhhh, it blocks one of Bryant or Soler" then I realized we'd be trading Alcantara in this scenario and one of Baez or Castro can slide over to 2B and Bryant stays at 3B.

 

That said, I have concerns about Gonzalez as he can't seem to stay on the field for a full season and he has some pretty mediocre numbers away from Coors, though his splits were reversed for 2013, oddly (though his home OPS was still great).

 

Career Splits

Home: .328/.388/.604/.992

Away: .269/.324/.450/.774

 

2013 Splits

Home: .273/.354/.576/.930

Away: .332/.381/.606/.987

[Guest]

Not that I'm worried about the splits to begin with, but Wrigley is supposed to be an awesome LH hitters park.

[Old Style]

The debt/financing structure is what is presumably limiting them along with likely falling short of projected revenues (renovations/city help/additional ad revenue/falling attendance/etc.) not some explicit thing in their sales agreement. If you want to say their financing structure in the SA is keeping them limited, fine, but you really think there is some clause in there that says they can't exceed spending x?

 

It says they can't deficit spend for any fiscal period. IANAaccountant, but apparently it's one of the rules of the type of family trust that they used to buy the team in order to save Zell some taxes and protect Papa Ricketts.

OK, that makes sense to me.

[A New Era]

Give me CarGo or give me Death!

 

(not literally, please don't kill me great and mighty karma)

[Guest]

 

More on this:

 

Too much makes sense here, even moreso when you think that CarGo has the ability to play all three OF spots and blocks no one...

 

For some reason I thought to myself "Uhhh, it blocks one of Bryant or Soler" then I realized we'd be trading Alcantara in this scenario and one of Baez or Castro can slide over to 2B and Bryant stays at 3B.

 

That said, I have concerns about Gonzalez as he can't seem to stay on the field for a full season and he has some pretty mediocre numbers away from Coors, though his splits were reversed for 2013, oddly (though his home OPS was still great).

 

Career Splits

Home: .328/.388/.604/.992

Away: .269/.324/.450/.774

 

2013 Splits

Home: .273/.354/.576/.930

Away: .332/.381/.606/.987

 

From earlier in the thread:

 

Also, on the topic of CarGo's performance translating outside of Colorado, his career OPS is .887, .920 as a Rockie. His career OPS in NL Central stadiums is .940, in 300 plate appearances.

[A New Era]

God this is giving me a boner. DOWN BOY!

[Post Count Padder]

ABTY:

 

Keep hearing the Cubs will be more active in the trade market than the FA... A ton of chatter about Carlos Gonzalez becoming available- highly expect the Cubs to go hard after him. Contract is reasonable for a large market, young enough to still be a major piece when this team is ready to compete- Cubs also have the assets the Rockies would ask for in return, mainly MIF and 1B (along with pitching)- a deal starting with Alcantera and Vogelbach should get their attention and be as competitive as any...

Balaguert,

 

 

Not sure what the Balaguert thing is at the end. Maybe he meant to throw him in with Alcantara and Vog.

 

More on this:

 

Justin Upton, younger, more talented and signed to a better extension, cost Martin Prado, Randall Delgado (previous dealt for 3 month rental of Ryan Dempster before 10/5 invoked), mid level prospects Zeke Spruill, Nick Ahmed and Brandon Drury, oh and the DBacks included an (at the time) MLB average starting 3B in Chris Johnson (who obviously exceeded expectation a bit)... the market price is set gents- the Rockies need RP, they need a future 1B, they've needed a 2B since Eric Young left 10 years ago and they 'need' to capitialize on CarGo's value before they start to pay into that contract big time. IMO, a CarGo trade is exactly what the Cubs FO is hoping for- it's splashy, it's for the future as well as the present, it shows off just how far the farm system has come in terms of 'assets' and it's a PR wet dream... Too much makes sense here, even moreso when you think that CarGo has the ability to play all three OF spots and blocks no one...

 

The big issue they have is there is an awful lot of people in that Rockies FO that question his toughness, mental edge and injury history- I keep hearing they want to avoid an 'Alex Rios situation'- the Blue Jays had to just dump Rios as his value had disappeared once Rios displayed the very same issues the Rockies seem to think CarGo has.

So what kind of package would we be looking at? From their wants/needs, would Alcantara, Vogelbach and Russell, plus a couple of low level guys get it done? Especially if they're worried about him "being another Alex Rios situation."

[Post Count Padder]

Tim Dierkes (via Twitter) has talked with multiple agents who see the Cubs spending significant money on a free agent catcher this winter. That comes as something of a surprise following a solid year by Wellington Castillo, who is still pre-arbitration eligible. Castillo, 26, hit .274/.349/.397 in 428 plate appearances this season.

 

I imagine this is just agents trying to drum up interest in their players? Only one I'd be interested in Salty, and he'd be expensive. Especially considering Castillo was worth two more wins than him this season and is younger.

 

You're not interested in McCann?

 

I mean there's other places I'd address, but just saying as far as catchers go.

McCann is also nice, but we have other places where we could better allocate the money.

[Sammy Sofa]

Tim Dierkes (via Twitter) has talked with multiple agents who see the Cubs spending significant money on a free agent catcher this winter. That comes as something of a surprise following a solid year by Wellington Castillo, who is still pre-arbitration eligible. Castillo, 26, hit .274/.349/.397 in 428 plate appearances this season.

 

I imagine this is just agents trying to drum up interest in their players? Only one I'd be interested in Salty, and he'd be expensive. Especially considering Castillo was worth two more wins than him this season and is younger.

 

You're not interested in McCann?

 

I mean there's other places I'd address, but just saying as far as catchers go.

McCann is also nice, but we have other places where we could better allocate the money.

 

Unless, as mentioned, they use Castillo as a part of a trade.

[Guest]

 

More on this:

 

Too much makes sense here, even moreso when you think that CarGo has the ability to play all three OF spots and blocks no one...

 

For some reason I thought to myself "Uhhh, it blocks one of Bryant or Soler" then I realized we'd be trading Alcantara in this scenario and one of Baez or Castro can slide over to 2B and Bryant stays at 3B.

 

That said, I have concerns about Gonzalez as he can't seem to stay on the field for a full season and he has some pretty mediocre numbers away from Coors, though his splits were reversed for 2013, oddly (though his home OPS was still great).

 

Career Splits

Home: .328/.388/.604/.992

Away: .269/.324/.450/.774

 

2013 Splits

Home: .273/.354/.576/.930

Away: .332/.381/.606/.987

 

From earlier in the thread:

 

Also, on the topic of CarGo's performance translating outside of Colorado, his career OPS is .887, .920 as a Rockie. His career OPS in NL Central stadiums is .940, in 300 plate appearances.

 

that doesn't seem like much to go on.

 

wasn't there something out there about how cargo does most of his damage against fastballs, and that the main thing that coors affects is fastball movement?

[sneakypower]

Also, on the topic of CarGo's performance translating outside of Colorado, his career OPS is .887, .920 as a Rockie. His career OPS in NL Central stadiums is .940, in 300 plate appearances.

 

that doesn't seem like much to go on.

 

wasn't there something out there about how cargo does most of his damage against fastballs, and that the main thing that coors affects is fastball movement?

i'm guessing you're referring to this: http://wooden-feather.com/?p=33

 

it seems he's become a more balanced hitter since that was posted (2010); this year, he isn't even in the top-30 for (per-pitch) fastball value

[toonsterwu]

I'm not even sure where this discussion is (just skimming through right now), but if a Cargo trade is simply built around Vogelbach/Alcantara as the main pieces, you almost have to make that deal. I really like both Vogelbach and Alcantara, but a proven major leaguer in his prime is going to cost something. The problem is, what pitching gets put in there? It's sort of hard to see them taking a low level arm to finish off a deal, but there's very few choices in the upper levels that makes sense for the Cubs AND them.

 

I'm not sure what to expect this offseason, but I will be rather surprised if they don't add a 2nd tier starting pitcher to go with Samardzija/Jackson/Wood. I'll be somewhat disappointed if they spend big on the pen, as I'm fine letting Bard, Strop, and others sort it out.

 

As for C, I could see them pursuing a "Russell Martin-leadership" move, to work with Welington and split time, but McCann seems like a big, big buy. The market for McCann seems like it's going to be pretty strong, and giving him multiple years and a big contract? Not sure if I love the idea.

[Guest]

I'm not even sure where this discussion is (just skimming through right now), but if a Cargo trade is simply built around Vogelbach/Alcantara as the main pieces, you almost have to make that deal. I really like both Vogelbach and Alcantara, but a proven major leaguer in his prime is going to cost something. The problem is, what pitching gets put in there? It's sort of hard to see them taking a low level arm to finish off a deal, but there's very few choices in the upper levels that makes sense for the Cubs AND them.

 

I'm not sure what to expect this offseason, but I will be rather surprised if they don't add a 2nd tier starting pitcher to go with Samardzija/Jackson/Wood. I'll be somewhat disappointed if they spend big on the pen, as I'm fine letting Bard, Strop, and others sort it out.

 

As for C, I could see them pursuing a "Russell Martin-leadership" move, to work with Welington and split time, but McCann seems like a big, big buy. The market for McCann seems like it's going to be pretty strong, and giving him multiple years and a big contract? Not sure if I love the idea.

 

Well they allegedly have a thing for Arrieta.

 

If not him, I'm pretty OK with anyone but CJ going as a 3rd piece, though I'd rather it not be Johnson of course.

[toonsterwu]

I'm still of the mindset that Pierce Johnson has to be off-limits (for the most part ... I mean, if they said we'll take CJ or Pierce and some low level secondary pieces for CarGo, I probably wouldn't say no ... again depends on secondary pieces). We already have a lack of top SP talent and Pierce offers solid 2, 2/3 potential, with some polish.

[Post Count Padder]

I'm still of the mindset that Pierce Johnson has to be off-limits (for the most part ... I mean, if they said we'll take CJ or Pierce and some low level secondary pieces for CarGo, I probably wouldn't say no ... again depends on secondary pieces). We already have a lack of top SP talent and Pierce offers solid 2, 2/3 potential, with some polish.

Agreed. He's a piece we need. We don't have enough top pitching prospects that we can afford to trade our top guy way.

[Guest]

I'm still of the mindset that Pierce Johnson has to be off-limits (for the most part ... I mean, if they said we'll take CJ or Pierce and some low level secondary pieces for CarGo, I probably wouldn't say no ... again depends on secondary pieces). We already have a lack of top SP talent and Pierce offers solid 2, 2/3 potential, with some polish.

Agreed. He's a piece we need. We don't have enough top pitching prospects that we can afford to trade our top guy way.

 

He's not our top guy. Just saying.

[Cubswin11]

TINSTAAPP

[Hairyducked Idiot]

We can't trade a pitching prospect because we don't have enough, whereas all we'd be getting is a star MLB hitter, something we are loaded with?

[Post Count Padder]

We can't trade a pitching prospect because we don't have enough, whereas all we'd be getting is a star MLB hitter, something we are loaded with?

I would just prefer to not give up he or Edwards in a CarGo deal, since we're short on high-end arms. And from the rumblings, I'd think we could get it done without including either. That's just me.

[Guest]

http://www.denverpost.com/rockies/ci_24278267/rockies-owner-dick-monfort-says-all-stars-tulo

 

Rockies GM says Tulo and CarGo aren't going anywhere.

[davell]

By the way, any season ticket holder care to share what Ricketts season ending letter said in it? Any clues whatsoever as to what to expect in the offseason?

[SouthSideRyan]

 

2013: Building a Foundation for Success

 

Dear Ryan –

An important season in our team's development plan has drawn to a close, and I want to take a few minutes of your time to thank you for your ongoing support and provide an update on our progress.

The 2013 season was another challenging campaign at the Major League level, with only marginal improvement in our record. After careful deliberation, we made the difficult decision to proceed with a new manager next season to move us closer to fulfilling our ultimate long-term vision for this team. That search is underway, and our focus will be on providing the best possible environment for young players to learn, develop and thrive at the Major League level.

We also have been engaged in a process to save and improve Wrigley Field while reinvesting in the Wrigleyville neighborhood. Our efforts to improve the baseball organization and our facilities have resulted in promising advancement toward our family's organizational goals of winning a World Series, preserving Wrigley Field and being a good neighbor in the City of Chicago.

We continue to be optimistic about the future of this franchise and our plan for sustained success. We aspire to become the best organization in baseball and have made strides in this direction. We acquired young, impact talent through trades, the first-year player draft and a weighted investment in this year's international signing class. No team in Major League Baseball has spent more on combined first-year and international amateur talent than the Cubs over the four years of our family's ownership. This investment in young talent is a significant driver of our system's improvement and reflective of our current strategy to focus baseball resources on players who will contribute to the Chicago Cubs over the long term.

As a result, our Minor League system has improved from the bottom quartile to the second best in baseball, according to Baseball Prospectus. According to ESPN's latest rankings, four of baseball's top 30 prospects reside on our Minor League rosters. We're proud to employ many of the best scouts and player development staff in the game to help us find, commit and develop these exciting young players, and they're already helping us win. Three of our five Minor League affiliates advanced to their respective playoffs, including the Florida State League-champion Daytona Cubs.

Because training and player development are critical to our goal of winning a World Series Championship, we must ensure our players have world-class facilities. Our new Spring Training Facility is nearing completion in Mesa, Arizona. This facility will be the best in the league for Major League players to prepare for the season each spring and for young players to train and develop year-round. It will also be a great place to watch Spring Training baseball. When in Mesa, you'll notice field dimensions and elements reminiscent of Wrigley Field, from the cantilevered upper deck and roof to a replica of the red Wrigley Field Marquee. We hope you will be able to join us next spring for the facility's grand opening and inaugural season of Spring Training games.

This past spring, the team opened a state-of-the-art baseball academy in the Dominican Republic, spanning 50 acres with baseball fields, training facilities, player housing and an education center, making it the largest academy in the country. Many of the best players in Major League Baseball are from Latin America and this impressive complex gives our ballclub a competitive advantage when recruiting and developing talented young players in this important region.

Finally, the restoration of Wrigley Field remains at the forefront of our efforts in Chicago, and we're closer than ever to restoring this soon-to-be 100-year-old ballpark. We have made significant progress toward obtaining the city approvals for our $300 million private investment in Wrigley Field, which will include better player facilities, new fan amenities, improved concessions and restrooms, while maintaining what fans love about Wrigley Field. We will be able to offer more events, such as concerts and sporting events, as well as family-friendly activities to enhance the fan experience and quality of life for the neighborhood. Perhaps most importantly, this restoration will provide long-term incremental revenue that will be reinvested into the baseball team.

As we prepare this landmark investment in Chicago, our players, coaches, front office and event staff continue to deliver on our family's priority of being a good neighbor. The team donated more than $2.3 million, plus thousands of autographed items and tickets, to hundreds of Chicagoland charities from Rogers Park to Englewood. This year, we introduced new Chicago Cubs Charities signature programs: the Cubs Scholars program, the Cubs on the Move Fitness Trolley and our Diamond Project, a community impact program that will provide grants to build and revitalize baseball fields in the Chicago area. If you have ever provided a donation, purchased a 50/50 raffle ticket or attended a Chicago Cubs Charities event, we thank you for supporting increased access to sports, health, wellness and fitness causes through Chicago Cubs Charities.

From top to bottom, our organization has been clear about adopting a long-term approach to becoming a championship-caliber franchise, and the 2013 season played an instrumental role in that transformation. This organization is becoming stronger and healthier. We have added young, impactful talent throughout our system and will provide the facilities and infrastructure required for them to succeed-which means an increasing number of homegrown players joining the Major League roster ready to win while playing The Cubs Way.

We value your continued support as the team continues on this exciting journey. Like you, my family cares deeply about the success of the Cubs and we are doing what we believe is necessary to win a World Series for the greatest fans in sports. Stay tuned for details about next season as we plan to celebrate 100 years of Wrigley Field all season long.

Once again, thank you and please say "hello" when you see me at the ballpark next year.

Sincerely,

 

Tom Ricketts