Offseason Rumors

[Guest]

I don't think people are realizing how quick the Cubs could become an above average team with a lineup of Rizzo, Baez & Bryant + some pitching.

 

That's placing a ton of faith in two guys who have less than 250 PAs combined above A-ball.

 

And even if that happens, we'd need to get the pitching too.

So, you think those two are going to fail?

 

They don't have to fail for things to not work out as they seemingly have to. There's a pretty wide gulf between failing and being awesome enough to essentially carry a team/build one around, and they kinda have to be the latter at this point.

 

i think anything less than the latter would be a failure.

[TruffleShuffle]

Ervin Santana wants 5/100+, Nolasco 5/80

 

http://stream1.gifsoup.com/view4/1660106/larry-david-laughter-o.gif

 

crowdsourcing (fangraphs) had santana at 3/40 and nolasco at 4/50.5

[Guest]

@DCameronFG Also seeking Atlantis, fountain of youth, unicorns. RT @Ken_Rosenthal: Sources: E. Santana seeking $100M, Nolasco $80M on five-year deals.

 

@DCameronFG Baseball teams have so much money that maybe they get those deals. But if any GM gives Ervin Santana $100M, he should resign in shame.

[TruffleShuffle]

yeah, santana's figure is especially hilarious. his fWAR the past 5 years is 7.6, and that's when he's supposedly in his prime. so you're either hoping he improves a lot, or you're paying around $13m per WAR for the next 5 years, assuming that he doesn't get worse as he heads into his mid 30s.

[treebird]

i expect to be over .500 in 2015, but if we aren't, i'll be ready for a new front office. terrible owner or not, you have to have some ability to get good players besides spending like crazy and drafting and waiting for five years. 2015 will have been plenty of time for a team of competents to show they have any particular ability.

[SouthSideRyan]

@DCameronFG Also seeking Atlantis, fountain of youth, unicorns. RT @Ken_Rosenthal: Sources: E. Santana seeking $100M, Nolasco $80M on five-year deals.

 

@DCameronFG Baseball teams have so much money that maybe they get those deals. But if any GM gives Ervin Santana $100M, he should resign in shame.

 

Well baseball teams except for the Cubs have so much money. But yes, I'm very excited for another offseason of "hahahhahahaha can you believe how stupid that team/GM is. Look at how much they overpaid that guy. Thank God we have Ryan Sweeney who'll put up 1/5 of the fWAR for 1/8 the price!!" They're going to look so stupid when that contract blows up in 2018.

[Backtobanks]

I have damn near 0 faith in Ricketts, but I am near the opposite when it comes to the FO. Ricketts is all about money, it makes complete sense to put a more exciting team on the field immediately. A 75-80 win team in 2014 is VERY doable, especially without a selloff. CSN or WGN seeing a nice increase in wins, with an extremely young nucleus in place could be forced to pay up, if they project plenty of playoff baseball inside that 2015-2019 window.

 

Enter 2014 with our opening day payroll of 106ish and we've got 35 mill to spend. Attendance loss is canceled out by the MLB revenue gain. No matter what Arguello was saying, I see no reason our payroll should drop. Getting WGN or CSN just to pay what CSN is already paying for their half results in around 10 mill more for Ricketts per year for that 5 year period. 50 mill over 5 years for just keeping payroll static THIS year. Attendance would also move back up, meaning more money for Ricketts.

 

I have total confidence the FO can get 5-10 wins out of 35 mill of payroll, given the construction of our team and the assets we have available to trade(that don't include Javy or KB). I'm banking on Ricketts to be capable of seeing a financial opportunity. He ain't much, but surely he's got THAT in him.

 

Most of the posters on NSBB thought 75-80 wins was doable in 2012 and 2013 too.

 

75 wins might have been possible last year without trades

 

Or Castro, Rizzo, Castillo and Shark actually being good most of the season. Especially Castro. But especially Castro.

 

So we could have been mediocre if we didn't trade any players away and everybody would have had a good year? That says a lot about the strength of our roster.

[Guest]

@DCameronFG Also seeking Atlantis, fountain of youth, unicorns. RT @Ken_Rosenthal: Sources: E. Santana seeking $100M, Nolasco $80M on five-year deals.

 

@DCameronFG Baseball teams have so much money that maybe they get those deals. But if any GM gives Ervin Santana $100M, he should resign in shame.

 

Well baseball teams except for the Cubs have so much money. But yes, I'm very excited for another offseason of "hahahhahahaha can you believe how stupid that team/GM is. Look at how much they overpaid that guy. Thank God we have Ryan Sweeney who'll put up 1/5 of the fWAR for 1/8 the price!!" They're going to look so stupid when that contract blows up in 2018.

Look on the bright side. Jeff Loria just sold a painting for almost as much as he pays his entire team and still has no plans to invest in his team.. #PoorTomRicketts needs to get in the art game.

 

But really, you are so right and it's beyond frustrating.

[Guest]

@DCameronFG Also seeking Atlantis, fountain of youth, unicorns. RT @Ken_Rosenthal: Sources: E. Santana seeking $100M, Nolasco $80M on five-year deals.

 

@DCameronFG Baseball teams have so much money that maybe they get those deals. But if any GM gives Ervin Santana $100M, he should resign in shame.

 

Well baseball teams except for the Cubs have so much money. But yes, I'm very excited for another offseason of "hahahhahahaha can you believe how stupid that team/GM is. Look at how much they overpaid that guy. Thank God we have Ryan Sweeney who'll put up 1/5 of the fWAR for 1/8 the price!!" They're going to look so stupid when that contract blows up in 2018.

 

So I can put you down for the over on 90 million for Santana? He got a qualifying offer too.

 

Sorry, but there's a huge chasm between "lol look at how inefficient that contract they're paying that good player(Cano, Choo, etc) is" and "Ervin Santana wants 100 million".

[HoopsCubs]

Cubs have spoken to the Mets about Nate Schierholtz as New York is looking to acquire 2 outfielders this season, and would prefer if at least one had power. They would like to trade for a player in the $3-6M range as opposed to acquring an expensive player (e.g. Andre Ethier) or signing a free agent to big money (e.g. Nelson Cruz) since they are expected to be a major player for Shin-Soo Choo.

 

The Cubs have been very interested in the Mets pitching prospects dating back to their discussions in summer on Starlin Castro. They've been told Noah Syndergaard is an untouchable, and that Rafael Montero would "require a haul", so it's highly improbable that Nate alone could land the latter. However my source did say that the Mets do like some of the Cubs position players, so the teams will continue to explore some type of deal.

[SouthSideRyan]

@DCameronFG Also seeking Atlantis, fountain of youth, unicorns. RT @Ken_Rosenthal: Sources: E. Santana seeking $100M, Nolasco $80M on five-year deals.

 

@DCameronFG Baseball teams have so much money that maybe they get those deals. But if any GM gives Ervin Santana $100M, he should resign in shame.

 

Well baseball teams except for the Cubs have so much money. But yes, I'm very excited for another offseason of "hahahhahahaha can you believe how stupid that team/GM is. Look at how much they overpaid that guy. Thank God we have Ryan Sweeney who'll put up 1/5 of the fWAR for 1/8 the price!!" They're going to look so stupid when that contract blows up in 2018.

 

So I can put you down for the over on 90 million for Santana? He got a qualifying offer too.

 

Sorry, but there's a huge chasm between "lol look at how inefficient that contract they're paying that good player(Cano, Choo, etc) is" and "Ervin Santana wants 100 million".

 

There's also a huge chasm between Santana wants 100M and Santana signs for 100M. That said, If he were to get that, with the existence of the QO, then it would almost certainly change the market for SP, and we'd have to adjust what is a good contract accordingly

[Guest]

There's also a huge chasm between Santana wants 100M and Santana signs for 100M. That said, If he were to get that, with the existence of the QO, then it would almost certainly change the market for SP, and we'd have to adjust what is a good contract accordingly

 

Right, the chasm between Santana wanting 100M and Santana getting 100M is the whole reason to laugh at that attempt in the first place.

[Sammy Sofa]

So we could have been mediocre if we didn't trade any players away and everybody would have had a good year? That says a lot about the strength of our roster.

 

4 guys = everybody?

 

The point is that they could/should have been in a better position to improve in the short run if those guys had played closer/more consistently to what was expected/hoped from them. I'm not pointing that out as an excuse; I'm bemoaning the shitty situation the Cubs are in.

[davell]

In some tweets to Tom Loxas, Kasper doesn't see the Cubs making big moves this offseason. "The plan is the plan."

[jersey cubs fan]

There's also a huge chasm between Santana wants 100M and Santana signs for 100M. That said, If he were to get that, with the existence of the QO, then it would almost certainly change the market for SP, and we'd have to adjust what is a good contract accordingly

 

Right, the chasm between Santana wanting 100M and Santana getting 100M is the whole reason to laugh at that attempt in the first place.

 

Why would you laugh at an athlete reaching for the most he can get in an incredibly inflated market? I'd laugh at the idiot who strives low and the teams that can't hang in the market.

[XZero771679666304]

There's also a huge chasm between Santana wants 100M and Santana signs for 100M. That said, If he were to get that, with the existence of the QO, then it would almost certainly change the market for SP, and we'd have to adjust what is a good contract accordingly

 

Right, the chasm between Santana wanting 100M and Santana getting 100M is the whole reason to laugh at that attempt in the first place.

 

Why would you laugh at an athlete reaching for the most he can get in an incredibly inflated market? I'd laugh at the idiot who strives low and the teams that can't hang in the market.

 

You can't blame him for trying, but it is a laughable goal. There is no harm in starting high and working down, though.

[Guest]

In some tweets to Tom Loxas, Kasper doesn't see the Cubs making big moves this offseason. "The plan is the plan."

What [expletive] plan is that? To suck balls every year constantly turning over players with good value to get prospects who might or might not turn out to be as good as the guy they are trading plan?

 

At what point do they start trying to be good?

[Guest]

There's also a huge chasm between Santana wants 100M and Santana signs for 100M. That said, If he were to get that, with the existence of the QO, then it would almost certainly change the market for SP, and we'd have to adjust what is a good contract accordingly

 

Right, the chasm between Santana wanting 100M and Santana getting 100M is the whole reason to laugh at that attempt in the first place.

 

Why would you laugh at an athlete reaching for the most he can get in an incredibly inflated market? I'd laugh at the idiot who strives low and the teams that can't hang in the market.

 

For the same reason you laugh at anything? What type of hyper-literalist question is that? If Dioner Navarro says he wants a 4/50 deal, are we forbidden for mocking that attempt because it's a weak attempt at anchoring his price?

[jersey cubs fan]

There's also a huge chasm between Santana wants 100M and Santana signs for 100M. That said, If he were to get that, with the existence of the QO, then it would almost certainly change the market for SP, and we'd have to adjust what is a good contract accordingly

 

Right, the chasm between Santana wanting 100M and Santana getting 100M is the whole reason to laugh at that attempt in the first place.

 

Why would you laugh at an athlete reaching for the most he can get in an incredibly inflated market? I'd laugh at the idiot who strives low and the teams that can't hang in the market.

 

For the same reason you laugh at anything?

 

I laugh at things that are funny, not business negotiations.

[Clem Fandango]

There's also a huge chasm between Santana wants 100M and Santana signs for 100M. That said, If he were to get that, with the existence of the QO, then it would almost certainly change the market for SP, and we'd have to adjust what is a good contract accordingly

 

Right, the chasm between Santana wanting 100M and Santana getting 100M is the whole reason to laugh at that attempt in the first place.

 

Why would you laugh at an athlete reaching for the most he can get in an incredibly inflated market? I'd laugh at the idiot who strives low and the teams that can't hang in the market.

 

For the same reason you laugh at anything?

 

I laugh at things that are funny, not business negotiations.

 

[davell]

I think Santana is extremely overrated, but it's not going to shock me if he gets 5/75 or slightly more. I take comfort in knowing our FO wouldn't do THAT. But I understand the lack of availability makes it imperative to give an extra year or two and maybe a mill or three more per year to get a guy you actually want.

[Backtobanks]

So we could have been mediocre if we didn't trade any players away and everybody would have had a good year? That says a lot about the strength of our roster.

 

4 guys = everybody?

 

The point is that they could/should have been in a better position to improve in the short run if those guys had played closer/more consistently to what was expected/hoped from them. I'm not pointing that out as an excuse; I'm bemoaning the [expletive] situation the Cubs are in.

 

Well 4 guys is a big part of your everyday lineup. While I agree that they didn't produce what was hoped/expected, we also had guys (Wood, Nate, Navarro, Valbuena, etc.) produce more than expected. I agree that the situation is a mess and everything we can hope for is locked up in a bunch of very young prospects becoming all-star level players.

[davell]

Theo: "It takes great courage to be patient."

[Guest]

Wood and Schierholtz either nailed or were rounding errors from their career performance, Navarro got 266 PA, and Valbuena only outperformed his career numbers in the sense that he's a 27 year old who's finally allowed to play the right position. Please stop pretending this is equivalent to things like Rizzo and Castro underperforming their ZiPS projections by nearly 7 wins.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

It's darn close to axiomatic that a 66-win team had way more underperformances than overperformances. It's hard to build a 66-win team on paper.