Yankees Sign Masahiro Tanaka

[jersey cubs fan]

It's nobody's "fault", but they're acting like there is a conspiracy against them and trying to find any way they can to circumvent the new system that was agreed on by every other team in the league and MLB. I guarantee if they hold off on posting him until next year the new rules aren't going to magically change and give them an extra 30 million.

 

Having everybody else but you agree to a system that cheats you out of $30m pretty much is a conspiracy against them.

[Guest]

Yeah, it's not even a theory, it's the actual thing.

[SouthSideRyan]

It's nobody's "fault", but they're acting like there is a conspiracy against them and trying to find any way they can to circumvent the new system that was agreed on by every other team in the league and MLB. I guarantee if they hold off on posting him until next year the new rules aren't going to magically change and give them an extra 30 million.

 

But they'll get another year of Tanaka

[Hairyducked Idiot]

It's nobody's "fault", but they're acting like there is a conspiracy against them and trying to find any way they can to circumvent the new system that was agreed on by every other team in the league and MLB. I guarantee if they hold off on posting him until next year the new rules aren't going to magically change and give them an extra 30 million.

 

But they'll get another year of Tanaka

 

It's sometimes hard for Cubs fans to remember that other baseball teams perversely want to have good baseball players on their roster and win lots of baseball games.

[Guest]

Yeah, I have no idea how you can fault Rakuten for what they're doing at all.

 

And why would anyone criticize a team for trying to circumvent the rules when every team in MLB does it all the time, including the Cubs?

[CubsWin]

It's nobody's "fault", but they're acting like there is a conspiracy against them and trying to find any way they can to circumvent the new system that was agreed on by every other team in the league and MLB. I guarantee if they hold off on posting him until next year the new rules aren't going to magically change and give them an extra 30 million.

 

But they'll get another year of Tanaka

 

It's sometimes hard for Cubs fans to remember that other baseball teams perversely want to have good baseball players on their roster and win lots of baseball games.

Oh yeah... Good players. I forgot about those. Silly me, I thought it was about building a healthy franchise top to bottom that will consistently produce playoff teams thus increasing their chances of winning a world championship...or several. I got all wrapped up in that Theospeak and lost focus on the real prize, get as many good baseball players on your major league team as you can no matter what method, and win as many baseball games as you can this season. Thanks, Mr. Logic, for once again showing some of us lost Cubs fans the light.

[Guest]

It's nobody's "fault", but they're acting like there is a conspiracy against them and trying to find any way they can to circumvent the new system that was agreed on by every other team in the league and MLB. I guarantee if they hold off on posting him until next year the new rules aren't going to magically change and give them an extra 30 million.

 

But they'll get another year of Tanaka

 

It's sometimes hard for Cubs fans to remember that other baseball teams perversely want to have good baseball players on their roster and win lots of baseball games.

Oh yeah... Good players. I forgot about those. Silly me, I thought it was about building a healthy franchise top to bottom that will consistently produce playoff teams thus increasing their chances of winning a world championship...or several. I got all wrapped up in that Theospeak and lost focus on the real prize, get as many good baseball players on your major league team as you can no matter what method, and win as many baseball games as you can this season. Thanks, Mr. Logic, for once again showing some of us lost Cubs fans the light.

 

Those things aren't mutually exclusive and shouldn't be treated as such. Major league seasons are precious. Time is precious. You don't just throw it away on purpose.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Oh yeah... Good players. I forgot about those. Silly me, I thought it was about building a healthy franchise top to bottom that will consistently produce playoff teams thus increasing their chances of winning a world championship...or several. I got all wrapped up in that Theospeak and lost focus on the real prize, get as many good baseball players on your major league team as you can no matter what method, and win as many baseball games as you can this season. Thanks, Mr. Logic, for once again showing some of us lost Cubs fans the light.

 

Call me when we actually have a healthy franchise top to bottom.

[CubsWin]

It's nobody's "fault", but they're acting like there is a conspiracy against them and trying to find any way they can to circumvent the new system that was agreed on by every other team in the league and MLB. I guarantee if they hold off on posting him until next year the new rules aren't going to magically change and give them an extra 30 million.

 

But they'll get another year of Tanaka

 

It's sometimes hard for Cubs fans to remember that other baseball teams perversely want to have good baseball players on their roster and win lots of baseball games.

Oh yeah... Good players. I forgot about those. Silly me, I thought it was about building a healthy franchise top to bottom that will consistently produce playoff teams thus increasing their chances of winning a world championship...or several. I got all wrapped up in that Theospeak and lost focus on the real prize, get as many good baseball players on your major league team as you can no matter what method, and win as many baseball games as you can this season. Thanks, Mr. Logic, for once again showing some of us lost Cubs fans the light.

Those things aren't mutually exclusive and shouldn't be treated as such. Major league seasons are precious. Time is precious. You don't just throw it away on purpose.

Just as Kyle, I assume, was being somewhat facetious, so was I.

 

In the way I facetiously described it, they are mutually exclusive. From where the Cubs were two years ago, you can't throw enough of your limited resources towards getting as many good players on your major league roster as possible and have enough resources left over to build a franchise that will produce consistent playoff contenders year after year once the rebuild is complete.

 

If you've got nearly unlimited resources it gets easier, but it's still a matter of priorities. You unfortunately have to make hard choices. I, for one, don't think it is a bad allocation of limited resources to build for the consistent winner as a team's main priority for a few seasons while making it the team's second priority to spend money to get the best possible major league players in the present season. Occasionally, those two priorities combine as in the case of Tanaka. And eventually, once the franchise is rebuilt from the bottom up, the windows for winning converge and the spending priorities shift.

 

It seems to me that spending money on getting the best possible players at the major league level at the expense of the rest of the franchise is what the Cubs had been doing for much of my lifetime. I'm ready to try the other way and then, when the time is right, converge the twp priorities and create more balance between the two. Unfortunately, during the first phase, the club employing this approach will be open to attacks, facetious or otherwise, from impatient fans. The Cubs are still in the first phase and so...

[Guest]

The Cubs aren't not spending because that's Theo's strategy. The Cubs are not spending because of their owners.

[Guest]

It's nobody's "fault", but they're acting like there is a conspiracy against them and trying to find any way they can to circumvent the new system that was agreed on by every other team in the league and MLB. I guarantee if they hold off on posting him until next year the new rules aren't going to magically change and give them an extra 30 million.

 

But they'll get another year of Tanaka

 

It's sometimes hard for Cubs fans to remember that other baseball teams perversely want to have good baseball players on their roster and win lots of baseball games.

 

Just as tedious as the last time you said this exact thing.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

You misspelled "delightful and witty." Easy mistake to make.

[Guest]

The Cubs aren't not spending because that's Theo's strategy. The Cubs are not spending because of their owners.

I don't know about that. I think it's mostly Theo's strategy and the owners are going along with it.

[Sammy Sofa]

The Cubs aren't not spending because that's Theo's strategy. The Cubs are not spending because of their owners.

I don't know about that. I think it's mostly Theo's strategy and the owners are going along with it.

 

Why would any FO willfully cut themselves off like that? That makes absolutely no sense.

[Guest]

The Cubs aren't not spending because that's Theo's strategy. The Cubs are not spending because of their owners.

I don't know about that. I think it's mostly Theo's strategy and the owners are going along with it.

 

Why would any FO willfully cut themselves off like that? That makes absolutely no sense.

 

He's been saying for a while that Theo is baseball moguling it as an ego thing

[Sammy Sofa]

Then he'd be a lunatic who should be fired.

[CubsWin]

The Cubs aren't not spending because that's Theo's strategy. The Cubs are not spending because of their owners.

If you say so.

[A New Era]

The Cubs are not spending because the best way to rip out and replace an existing minors with one that actually produces first division starters on a regular basis was to tank for 3+ years and add 3-4 guys who are top of the draft talent. And another 1 or 2 stolen from desperate teams during playoff hunts. We've added 3 such talents with that method so far. And with the fact that goes along with the increased revenue that they might finally start reaping after 2+ years of arguing with rooftop owners.

 

If you want to be mad, be mad at Bud and the new CBA and the rooftop owners. Those are the 2 most evil nemeses in the Cubs delay in competing.

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

It's nobody's "fault", but they're acting like there is a conspiracy against them and trying to find any way they can to circumvent the new system that was agreed on by every other team in the league and MLB. I guarantee if they hold off on posting him until next year the new rules aren't going to magically change and give them an extra 30 million.

 

But they'll get another year of Tanaka

 

Yeah, I'm sure that's why they can't make a decision. He might get them to the NPB World Series.

[XZero771679666304]

The Cubs aren't not spending because that's Theo's strategy. The Cubs are not spending because of their owners.

If you say so.

 

Are people still questioning this? It seems pretty implicit that it is true.

[WrigleyField 22]

The Cubs aren't not spending because that's Theo's strategy. The Cubs are not spending because of their owners.

I don't know about that. I think it's mostly Theo's strategy and the owners are going along with it.

I think it's a mixture really. No question I don't think we could have 140M payrolls right now. I do think Theo isn't going to go too far outside his value range on FA though, but is willing to put up big money offers, like Sanchez last year. I'm a little surprised they haven't shown more interest in guys like Choo and Ellsbury this year, but it may be that Tanaka is just the big splash they are waiting for and are wanting all their eggs in that basket. We've heard them say before budgets aren't necessarily year to year and I could definitely see them taking the long term view on this one.

[CubsWin]

The Cubs aren't not spending because that's Theo's strategy. The Cubs are not spending because of their owners.

If you say so.

 

Are people still questioning this? It seems pretty implicit that it is true.

I'm not questioning whether the owners do or do not have limited funds. Obviously, they do. To what extent they are limited, I certainly do not know the number. If David or anyone else does, then they know a lot more than me about the inner financial situation of the Ricketts family. What I don't question is that the decision how to prioritize those limited funds, namely to create a healthy franchise from the ground up first and then when the windows line-up switch the priority to the big league club, is Theo's. That's been the clearly communicated plan from the beginning and every action the front office has taken has been in line with it.

 

The question remains, if they have the money to go hard after Tanaka but didn't go all in on Ellsbury, et al, then is it a matter of not having the funds or an issue of wanting to prioritize how to allocate them?

[Backtobanks]

The question remains, if they have the money to go hard after Tanaka but didn't go all in on Ellsbury, et al, then is it a matter of not having the funds or an issue of wanting to prioritize how to allocate them?

 

Ding! Ding! We have a winner.

[Derwood]

The question remains, if they have the money to go hard after Tanaka but didn't go all in on Ellsbury, et al, then is it a matter of not having the funds or an issue of wanting to prioritize how to allocate them?

 

Ding! Ding! We have a winner.

 

They shouldn't have gone "all in" on Ellsbury if that was the asking price.

[XZero771679666304]

 

The question remains, if they have the money to go hard after Tanaka but didn't go all in on Ellsbury, et al, then is it a matter of not having the funds or an issue of wanting to prioritize how to allocate them?

 

It's a matter of prioritizing the bulk of the limited funds for players they feel it is prudent to pursue. For example, if you can only afford Ellsbury or Tanaka, who would you rather have? I'm pretty sure I know who the FO would choose. I'm also pretty sure that if the funds were there to pursue both, they would have.