Cubs Picking Up Hamels Option, Trading Smyly to Rangers

[David]

[tweet]

[/tweet] Edited November 2, 2018 by David

[squally1313]

Smyly is a...relatively valuable piece to giving to a team who we just saved $6m. Possible middle infielder incoming?

[KrisBryantisaBeast]

I guess with Hamels and Monty he is kind of redundant. Hopefully we get something useful for him though.

[Brian]

smart, they can rehab him in the majors and trade him back to us at the deadline if he's good.

[Bertz]

Makes sense as a way to cut payroll. I assume we'll get something pretty decent for Smyly, so I'm curious what that looks like.

 

That said, Smyly is a pretty extreme fly ball guy, so not sure why Texas specifically wants him, but whatever. Also likely means that Montgomery is locked in as the swingman again, so I feel a little bad for him.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

I'm going to miss that guy who will probably never be very good at pitching

[UMFan83]

So basically we save $6m on salary like we would have but have to give up a pretty nice trade chip to do it.

[squally1313]

If this was a pure salary dump why wasn't it Kintzler or Duensing?

[ConstableRabbit]

So basically we save $6m on salary like we would have but have to give up a pretty nice trade chip to do it.

I think it’s $7m

[Transmogrified Tiger]

So basically we save $6m on salary like we would have but have to give up a pretty nice trade chip to do it.

I think it’s $7m

 

Smyly makes 5 million.

[Banedon]

If this was a pure salary dump why wasn't it Kintzler or Duensing?

 

This doesn't end the offseason. They very well could dump them as well.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Always nice to kick the offseason off by getting thinner at pitching to save money.

[ConstableRabbit]

So basically we save $6m on salary like we would have but have to give up a pretty nice trade chip to do it.

I think it’s $7m

 

Smyly makes 5 million.

Where are you seeing that?

[Brian]

So basically we save $6m on salary like we would have but have to give up a pretty nice trade chip to do it.

I think it’s $7m

 

Smyly makes 5 million.

 

for luxury tax purposes, 7 million in actual payroll for 2019

 

2 years/$10M (2018-19)

signed by Chicago Cubs as a free agent 12/12/17

18:$3M, 19:$7M

2019 performance bonuses: may earn up to $6M as a starter and up to $1M as a reliever

[imb]

i do not understand this. Why is Smyly involved in us picking up Hamels option?

[Banedon]

i do not understand this. Why is Smyly involved in us picking up Hamels option?

 

Two separate transactions reported in the same tweet. I think "in a related move" simply means they're both Cubs moves.

[David]

i do not understand this. Why is Smyly involved in us picking up Hamels option?

 

Two separate transactions reported in the same tweet. I think "in a related move" simply means they're both Cubs moves.

 

Well, it's related in that they traded him to make up for some of the money they're paying Hamels, and the Rangers would've had to pay the $6M buyout if the Cubs didn't exercise the option.

[Banedon]

i do not understand this. Why is Smyly involved in us picking up Hamels option?

 

Two separate transactions reported in the same tweet. I think "in a related move" simply means they're both Cubs moves.

 

Well, it's related in that they traded him to make up for some of the money they're paying Hamels, and the Rangers would've had to pay the $6M buyout if the Cubs didn't exercise the option.

 

Ah ok, I see it now.

[Bote McBoteface]

I would have put the odds of that option being picked up at 0% if you asked me this morning. But, ok, whatever.

[Named After Maddux]

Official:

[tweet]

[/tweet]

[javy knows my name]

Always nice to kick the offseason off by getting thinner at pitching to save money.

 

Why are you like this

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I think it’s $7m

 

Smyly makes 5 million.

 

for luxury tax purposes, 7 million in actual payroll for 2019

 

2 years/$10M (2018-19)

signed by Chicago Cubs as a free agent 12/12/17

18:$3M, 19:$7M

2019 performance bonuses: may earn up to $6M as a starter and up to $1M as a reliever

 

That's my bad, I had it in my head he had a 5/5 split in raw dollars too and should've double checked. But yeah, for purposes that matter, 5 million

[davell]

This is a weird move. If you're holding the 6 mill over the Rangers head, why do you deal them Smyly? Wouldn't Kintzler or Duensing, or BOTH, been more advantageous to us? BOTH is only an extra 1.5 mill from the Rangers side of things....... Seems like we could have sent them something pretty underwhelming to cover 1.5......

 

Instead, we send them a guy quite a few teams would probably take a one year flyer on at 7 mill......

 

We used zero leverage here. If it's to keep up good trade relations? Ok, I get that. But, Smyly wasn't going to be hard to move at all, so this seems more like a favor to them, in my eyes.

 

One of Duensing or Kintzler being attached, would have made me feel better about this.

 

This does truly feel like a pure cost cutting move. Fine, I guess. But, there needs to be more deals, more cutting, and then replenishing the spots we're losing.......

 

This guy being the first gone seems odd to me. This guy being the first out, which hurts our NEEDED rotation depth, is NOT a great look, in my eyes......

[Transmogrified Tiger]

The logic I can come up with for why it's Smyly is that as a starter, with Hamels he's currently what, 8th on the depth chart? 9th if you're a big Alzolay fan? He threw one competitive inning last year. It's not certain he's ready to start games in April, and he's not going to be a guy you can plug into the rotation and let him go like you can with Montgomery or Chatwood, so even in positive outcomes for his workload you have to monitor him pretty intensely. As a reliever he has some higher end potential, but that productivity is also easier to find, and it's especially easier to find when you've moved Montgomery to 6th(7th if Chatwood cures his brain worms) on the SP depth chart. He'd also need to be babied a bit as a reliever, which is prevalent enough with the rest of the pen to dampen enthusiasm for that positive outcome too.

 

I'd have given up Kintzler and/or Duensing as a pure salary dump first, but Smyly has always been a guy at the fringes of the 2019 pitching staff for me too.

[Brian]

yeah I think there are two many questions marks on Smyly, they can't hide him on the roster as they ease him back and he's not good enough at this point where you can reconfigure the roster just to be able to keep him.