The 2018-2019 Cubs Offseason Rumors & Discussion Thread AKA The Rickettssss take a dump on EVERYTHING

[Sammy Sofa]

My read is that the Cubs are restricted on spending inasmuch in that they're planning on dropping hundreds of millions on Bryce Harper despite having a perfectly good offense without him

 

 

NEVER SETTLE FOR THESE DONGLESS SCUMBAGS.

 

Your home runs uber alles campaign is going to some strange places. Wherever will an offense with Bryant, Rizzo, Baez, Schwarber, and Contreras find power?

 

Sometimes you play the straight man role a little TOO well for your own good.

[Brian]

Well they just brought their best September dongman back (Hamels)

[treebird]

I’m a little scared of a scenario in which the Cubs miss on Harper/Machado and then Ricketts doesn’t approve the same budget if we aren’t adding a star.

[UMFan83]

I’m a little scared of a scenario in which the Cubs miss on Harper/Machado and then Ricketts doesn’t approve the same budget if we aren’t adding a star.

 

That was my thought.

[imb]

My read is that the Cubs are restricted on spending inasmuch in that they're planning on dropping hundreds of millions on Bryce Harper despite having a perfectly good offense without him

 

 

NEVER SETTLE FOR THESE DONGLESS SCUMBAGS.

 

Your home runs uber alles campaign is going to some strange places. Wherever will an offense with Bryant, Rizzo, Baez, Schwarber, and Contreras find power?

 

They were 11th in the NL in home runs last year with all those boys on the roster.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Your home runs uber alles campaign is going to some strange places. Wherever will an offense with Bryant, Rizzo, Baez, Schwarber, and Contreras find power?

 

They were 11th in the NL in home runs last year with all those boys on the roster.

 

And one home run off of first the year before that with the same cast of characters. I'm also told that the hitting coach last year was unpopular. Point being that if the primary thing you're worried about is home runs(since the team scored plenty of runs, had a high wRC+, etc), the players on hand already are going to make or break that, you aren't going to ship off Schwarber in search of more homers.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I’m a little scared of a scenario in which the Cubs miss on Harper/Machado and then Ricketts doesn’t approve the same budget if we aren’t adding a star.

 

If they don't get Harper or Machado, the path to a similar type of improvement is probably far less correlated with spending.

[Sammy Sofa]

Look at this grannyball-loving motherjumper over here.

[Cubswin11]

My read is that the Cubs are restricted on spending inasmuch in that they're planning on dropping hundreds of millions on Bryce Harper despite having a perfectly good offense without him, so they'll have to do more work on the margins to fit in the relievers or an additional SP they want to do on top of that. Anyone who says 'they're already over the luxury tax, they're tapped out' is not connected to the reality that the Cubs have very clearly been gearing up to play for Harper(or, sigh, Machado) and nothing has changed in that regard.

Yeah I also believe that something like this is really what’s going on. I also could see that writers caught wind we were working a trade with Texas (because we knew we could likely get them to take something instead of just eating $6 mil and it was an easy way to shed some money) and jumped to conclusions about what that actually meant for the whole offseason in terms of what we have to spend and how willing that is.

[imb]

Your home runs uber alles campaign is going to some strange places. Wherever will an offense with Bryant, Rizzo, Baez, Schwarber, and Contreras find power?

 

They were 11th in the NL in home runs last year with all those boys on the roster.

 

And one home run off of first the year before that with the same cast of characters. I'm also told that the hitting coach last year was unpopular. Point being that if the primary thing you're worried about is home runs(since the team scored plenty of runs, had a high wRC+, etc), the players on hand already are going to make or break that, you aren't going to ship off Schwarber in search of more homers.

 

you're getting caught looking backwards. Bryant is an unknown now power-wise, Rizzo is officially out of his prime, Baez had a career year, and Contreras hit like 7 home runs last year.

 

That's not a guarantee that they'll all be sapped of power again in 2019 but it certainly lowers the odds that you can just count on them to be well above average in the dong department again

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Mooney decides to get in on the doom mongering: https://theathletic.com/630609/2018/11/02/what-the-cole-hamels-option-means-for-the-cubs-and-bryce-harper/

 

If the Cubs are so tight financially that they are unlikely to be able to be serious contenders for Harper when nothing has changed in 6-12 months on that trajectory, you have to think that Theo prioritized bringing back Hamels at 15-20 million over the pursuit of Harper.

 

Or, you could see them needing to make a decision on Hamels and using the leverage that decision had over Texas to get rid of some of the modest amount of payroll they'll want to shed after adding Harper and Hamels.

[Cubswin11]

Some roster clean up and a small add

 

[davell]

What sucks is evidently we've got no real idea yet on what kind of money we'll be working with in the future. The massive TV deal window missed us by a bit obviously. But, it seems like he's saying this is a main reason they're so noncommittal right now too.

 

I'll say this: I definitely don't think we're going past 246. The question becomes are we even certain we'll go past 226, if we can't get Bryce?

 

And is the Hamels move, actually a no-brainer, because we already know we've got extremely long odds at Bryce? Maybe we've known this all along?

 

He does say we'll get creative this offseason. But, you've got to wonder how many subtractions is worth it, to acquire Bryce?

[Bertz]

What sucks is evidently we've got no real idea yet on what kind of money we'll be working with in the future. The massive TV deal window missed us by a bit obviously. But, it seems like he's saying this is a main reason they're so noncommittal right now too.

 

I'll say this: I definitely don't think we're going past 246. The question becomes are we even certain we'll go past 226, if we can't get Bryce?

 

And is the Hamels move, actually a no-brainer, because we already know we've got extremely long odds at Bryce? Maybe we've known this all along?

 

He does say we'll get creative this offseason. But, you've got to wonder how many subtractions is worth it, to acquire Bryce?

 

I call bullcrap on Mooney there. These deals are always finalized at least a year out. And with how big and complicated they are, they damn sure are far enough along at this point to know at least what neighborhood it's in financially. Maybe it turns out to be a disappointment, but they know by now.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

I did kinda miss the Poor Tom Ricketts meme, tbh

[Sammy Sofa]

I did kinda miss the Poor Tom Ricketts meme, tbh

 

It's coming back in a big, big way, baby!

[davell]

What sucks is evidently we've got no real idea yet on what kind of money we'll be working with in the future. The massive TV deal window missed us by a bit obviously. But, it seems like he's saying this is a main reason they're so noncommittal right now too.

 

I'll say this: I definitely don't think we're going past 246. The question becomes are we even certain we'll go past 226, if we can't get Bryce?

 

And is the Hamels move, actually a no-brainer, because we already know we've got extremely long odds at Bryce? Maybe we've known this all along?

 

He does say we'll get creative this offseason. But, you've got to wonder how many subtractions is worth it, to acquire Bryce?

 

I call bullcrap on Mooney there. These deals are always finalized at least a year out. And with how big and complicated they are, they damn sure are far enough along at this point to know at least what neighborhood it's in financially. Maybe it turns out to be a disappointment, but they know by now.

 

Eh, with this market changing drastically and quickly too, it wouldn't shock me if they're not on firm enough ground to know where they stand yet. In fact, I prefer thinking that way, to knowing the deal isn't going to be nearly as lucrative as we had hoped.......

 

Hell, signing Bryce increases value here too, is the funny thing.

[Perd]

Isn’t Mooney always doom and gloom? At least when it comes to player acquisitions l. I could be wrong, but every trade deadline/offseason, he always seems to throw cold water on everything.

[Cubswin11]

Isn’t Mooney always doom and gloom? At least when it comes to player acquisitions l. I could be wrong, but every trade deadline/offseason, he always seems to throw cold water on everything.

He’s def turned more in to a doom boner/hot take clicks since he’s been at the athletic

[Cubswin11]

What are we hoping to get for media rights v the realistic expectation?

The Phillies got $2.5 billion over 25 years 4 years ago. Maybe $3-4 billion over the same period, if not more if we do our own network?

 

Fangraphs had an article

 

https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/cubs-payroll-set-to-soar-with-potential-tv-deal/

[Cubswin11]

The Phillies got $2.5 billion over 25 years 4 years ago. Maybe $3-4 billion over the same period, if not more if we do our own network?

 

Starting a cable network seems like the surest path to making serious money off of streaming rights for an individual MLB team. I might be wrong, but if true they’re almost definitely going to launch a network.

 

he Cubs make what...$80-$100 million a year under their current media rights deals?Is $150+ out of the picture? I think YES does more than that for the Yankees, like alot more, largely thanks to their streaming service (also some really friendly terms on their FOX now Disney deal)

$77, we have a garbage deal right now. We should be able to clear $100 million easily.

[Post Count Padder]

I've long been a David Robertson fan. Thoughts? Too expensive?

[davell]

I've long been a David Robertson fan. Thoughts? Too expensive?

 

Evidently so. Sharma says we want Chavez and Delarosa back and are interested in Doolittle, Will Smith, and Tony Watson in trade.

 

Also said any money we were spending was going to offense this year.

[Cubswin11]

I've long been a David Robertson fan. Thoughts? Too expensive?

I like him a lot if we have money to spend

[Bear Cub]

Another trump tax cut will give the Ricketts mucho dollars.