Rosenthal: Cubs most likely team to land Lester

[Guest]

That's what I'm talkin' bout.

[jersey cubs fan]

Not worried about Shark bad mouthing us. One, I don't think he will. He seemed to understand what we were doing. Two, even if he did, I seriously doubt it'd mean that much anyway. Lester knows our FO much better than he'll get to know Shark over a two month period.

 

He will have a much better opportunity to get a hell of a lot closer to a teammate over two months than he ever would with front office execs.

[TheDude]

Somebody make it happen

[Sever82]

lol, Would love to field a team of players the Cubs were favorites to land.

 

Would it beat a team of players the Bulls were favorites to land?

 

Nobody could beat the Bulls FA 2nd place finishes.

 

They are the dream team of FA 2nd place finishes.

 

PG: LeBron James

SG: Kobe Bryant

SF: Carmelo Anthony

PF: Kevin Garnett

C: Chris Bosh

 

BN: Dwyane Wade, Kevin Love, younger Pau Gasol

 

Not to turn this into a discussion about the NBA but Kobe and KG were never favorites to land here as free agents. Kobe was rumored via trade and KG publicly said he didn't want to go to the bulls so he was never favored to come here. Lebron and Bosh were rumored to come here as a duo in 2010 but Wade was assumed to stay in Miami even despite his visits to Chicago. Love was rumored via trade but Cleveland was always the favorite because of Wiggins. Bulls didn't miss out on Gasol, they just didn't give up what was wanted via trade. Sorry I just get annoyed when people make believe this world where the bulls somehow had these star players within their grasp.

[apete6]

lol, Would love to field a team of players the Cubs were favorites to land.

 

Would it beat a team of players the Bulls were favorites to land?

 

Nobody could beat the Bulls FA 2nd place finishes.

 

They are the dream team of FA 2nd place finishes.

 

PG: LeBron James

SG: Kobe Bryant

SF: Carmelo Anthony

PF: Kevin Garnett

C: Chris Bosh

 

BN: Dwyane Wade, Kevin Love, younger Pau Gasol

 

Not to turn this into a discussion about the NBA but Kobe and KG were never favorites to land here as free agents. Kobe was rumored via trade and KG publicly said he didn't want to go to the bulls so he was never favored to come here. Lebron and Bosh were rumored to come here as a duo in 2010 but Wade was assumed to stay in Miami even despite his visits to Chicago. Love was rumored via trade but Cleveland was always the favorite because of Wiggins. Bulls didn't miss out on Gasol, they just didn't give up what was wanted via trade. Sorry I just get annoyed when people make believe this world where the bulls somehow had these star players within their grasp.

 

You are forgetting the Benny the Bull greeting Tracy McGrady and Tim Duncan at O'Hare in the early 2000s debacle.

[Guest]

Kobe was never heavily rumored or anything, but we did find out after the fact that he was interested in coming here as a FA in 2004. The whole thing was pretty off the radar at the time, though.

 

IIRC, he would've come if the Lakers hadn't traded Shaq.

[rawaction]

So, if you knew Lester was going to sign with the Cubs this offseason.....would you (as GM) have kept Jeff Samardzija to make a run for it next year?

[Cubswin11]

So, if you knew Lester was going to sign with the Cubs this offseason.....would you (as GM) have kept Jeff Samardzija to make a run for it next year?

I'd still move Samardzija for Russell and sign Lester+Scherzer (if we are playing in hypothetical GM world). And since it's hypothetical I'd only sign them to 4 year deals with a really high AAV so if they break they aren't on the books that long.

Edited August 12, 2014 by Cubswin11

[Guest]

So, if you knew Lester was going to sign with the Cubs this offseason.....would you (as GM) have kept Jeff Samardzija to make a run for it next year?

 

No. We get to have Addison Russell and still make a run for it next year.

[Andy]

So, if you knew Lester was going to sign with the Cubs this offseason.....would you (as GM) have kept Jeff Samardzija to make a run for it next year?

 

No. We get to have Addison Russell and still make a run for it next year.

Yep. If Soler and Bryant are even close to the unstoppable monsters they are now in 2015, plus Lester and whatever other pitching we might get, we should contend.

[Guest]

Only positive vibes in this thread, please.

[sneakypower]

So, if you knew Lester was going to sign with the Cubs this offseason.....would you (as GM) have kept Jeff Samardzija to make a run for it next year?

not a chance; any time i get the chance to move 1.5 years of a good-very good pitcher for the best prospect in baseball, i'll do it

[rawaction]

So, if you knew Lester was going to sign with the Cubs this offseason.....would you (as GM) have kept Jeff Samardzija to make a run for it next year?

 

No. We get to have Addison Russell and still make a run for it next year.

Yep. If Soler and Bryant are even close to the unstoppable monsters they are now in 2015, plus Lester and whatever other pitching we might get, we should contend.

 

Yeah, but chances are Russell won't be a huge part of that next year, whereas Samardzija would have been. I would have still made the trade also, but just playing devil's advocate.

[shnsajax]

Samardzija went to Notre Dame so the odds are he would just choke in the moment.

[TruffleShuffle]

They also have Russell as an asset. If he's still a top prospect next year (very likely) and the Cubs reach late July and view themselves as World Series contenders (probably unlikely), they'd have the option of dealing Russell as the centrepiece for a top starting pitcher.

[seanimal]

umm [expletive] pitching

[davell]

Question for the [expletive] pitching crowd: I get the fact it's easier to project hitters moving forward. I'm on board with drafting hitters early for sure. But I can't see us loving our odds heading into a playoff series getting ready to face Kershaw and Greinke or other groupings like that. Do you guys actually want us to just keep signing each years versions of the next Hammel/Feldman type and never spend big money on pitching? I kind of get not trading for pitching too, but with the large amount of hitters we have coming up, I honestly DO think we'll have an excess to deal from there. And with everyone being young and cheap, I can't even see how we use our payroll, if we DON'T spend on pitching. This isn't meant to turn into a Stanton debate either. One, because I honestly don't think we need him myself and two, because even if we DID deal for him, we'd still have plenty of payroll room anyway.

[Andy]

Question for the [expletive] pitching crowd: I get the fact it's easier to project hitters moving forward. I'm on board with drafting hitters early for sure. But I can't see us loving our odds heading into a playoff series getting ready to face Kershaw and Greinke or other groupings like that. Do you guys actually want us to just keep signing each years versions of the next Hammel/Feldman type and never spend big money on pitching? I kind of get not trading for pitching too, but with the large amount of hitters we have coming up, I honestly DO think we'll have an excess to deal from there. And with everyone being young and cheap, I can't even see how we use our payroll, if we DON'T spend on pitching. This isn't meant to turn into a Stanton debate either. One, because I honestly don't think we need him myself and two, because even if we DID deal for him, we'd still have plenty of payroll room anyway.

I think several people here, including the [expletive] pitching crowd, are on board with spending money on pitching this off-season. The idea isn't to never spend money on pitching, it's not to spend dumb money on pitching (like signing over-30 guys to extreme long-term, high-$ deals).

[MWV]

I thought the central tenet of the "[expletive] pitchers" movement was to avoid investing draft/development resources in pitching, due to the volatility/injury concern surrounding pitching prospects. I'm fully on board with this.

That having been said, I think throwing FA cash at pitching is the finest thing a man can do, IF he's good at it.

[jersey cubs fan]

as others have said, draft hitters, but you can spend bit money on established free agent pitchers as well.

[Guest]

Question for the [expletive] pitching crowd: I get the fact it's easier to project hitters moving forward. I'm on board with drafting hitters early for sure. But I can't see us loving our odds heading into a playoff series getting ready to face Kershaw and Greinke or other groupings like that. Do you guys actually want us to just keep signing each years versions of the next Hammel/Feldman type and never spend big money on pitching? I kind of get not trading for pitching too, but with the large amount of hitters we have coming up, I honestly DO think we'll have an excess to deal from there. And with everyone being young and cheap, I can't even see how we use our payroll, if we DON'T spend on pitching. This isn't meant to turn into a Stanton debate either. One, because I honestly don't think we need him myself and two, because even if we DID deal for him, we'd still have plenty of payroll room anyway.

It isn't that I don't ever want to spend resources (be it money, draft picks, IFA budget, whatever) on pitching. I just want to pick my spots.

 

For example, I like the volume approach the Cubs have taken in the draft. I think the Cubs are more likely to have found an ace with their 2nd through 10th round picks than any of the teams that spent several million on a pitcher at the top of the first round. Many of the star pitchers come from lower in the draft or cheaper IFA signings that blossom under better tutelage. So you spend money on Johnson to provide that to a larger volume of high-potential arms.

 

I am generally against signing any pitcher to anything longer than a four year deal. The Cubs might be in a situation where it makes sense right now if they feel really, really confident TV money will be there for them in 2018. Then they could carry dead weight of a hurt pitcher without too many issues. They could very much use an ace to front the rotation to accelerate playoff contention to 2015. Not to mention how much excitement there will be around this team if they sign an ace and how that will help ticket sales for next year.

 

I'd prefer they continue targeting the Arrieta's and Turner's of the world as trade targets and signing the Hammel's of the world as rotation filler. It's basically the major league corollary of the draft approach. Whenever you're dealing with pitching, there is safety (and opportunity) in numbers.

[WrigleyField 22]

If we don't spend big and overpay for pitching well have a 60-70M payroll again, so hopefully the get one big long term guy and another big salary short term guy,

[WrigleyField 22]

Without looking at the current salary and knowing what PTR is willing to spend, Castillo as a OF bat, a big FA Lester type, a Feldman type, and a second catcher has to be doable right?

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Question for the [expletive] pitching crowd: I get the fact it's easier to project hitters moving forward. I'm on board with drafting hitters early for sure. But I can't see us loving our odds heading into a playoff series getting ready to face Kershaw and Greinke or other groupings like that. Do you guys actually want us to just keep signing each years versions of the next Hammel/Feldman type and never spend big money on pitching? I kind of get not trading for pitching too, but with the large amount of hitters we have coming up, I honestly DO think we'll have an excess to deal from there. And with everyone being young and cheap, I can't even see how we use our payroll, if we DON'T spend on pitching. This isn't meant to turn into a Stanton debate either. One, because I honestly don't think we need him myself and two, because even if we DID deal for him, we'd still have plenty of payroll room anyway.

 

When we've got 8 awesome hitters in the lineup and lots of budget room, then we might as well go big on a pitcher because what else are we going to spend it on?

 

But don't believe for a second that pitching matchup in the postseason is some big deal. Didn't we just see Kershaw get plonked around pretty hard last year?

[sneakypower]

Without looking at the current salary and knowing what PTR is willing to spend, Castillo as a OF bat, a big FA Lester type, a Feldman type, and a second catcher has to be doable right?

i don't want a Feldman type unless it's just some frivolous rehab project like Brett Anderson

 

i think i do want a proven reliever though, like maybe a Sergio Romo or Casey Janssen (if he's not injured [he probably is])