2019-20 Offseason Rumors/General Chit-Chat

[Cubswin11]

Sorry, never going to agree with the idea that it's up to the player and their people to second guess the organization's offer to them, because that just sets the horsefeathers precedent that a player SHOULD take some kind of a cut or a discount because woe unto the poor, poor generous owners, just stupidly throwing money they can't actually afford at the greedy players. Come on.

You hear guys talking all the time about picking a spot to sign as a FA because they thought it gave them the best chance to win. It’s clearly something they consider. If winning is still this important to a player after getting a mega deal then yeah, I think they should second guess it or at least evaluate if it’s the best place to sign if they want to win. I’m not saying he should’ve gone back to the Rockies and offered to take less. That’s ridiculous and I never said he or other players should do it. But if winning/being competitive was the most important thing to him he probably shouldn’t have signed that extension.

 

It wasn’t hard to evaluate the position the Rockies were in when he signed that extension that they maybe wouldn’t be all that competitive or spending a ton more. Understanding the situation you’re getting in to when signing such a deal with any team should be part of the assessment on the player side if anything other than getting paid top dollar is important.

[jersey cubs fan]

You hear guys talking all the time about picking a spot to sign as a FA because they thought it gave them the best chance to win. It’s clearly something they consider.

 

It's called ingratiating yourself to the fan base.

[Cubswin11]

He signed the contract during a period where big contracts completely dried up because of the collusion between owners.

 

He also got opt-outs into the contract and should use them as pressure to get what he wants from the team, including trying.

Machado, Bryce, and Corbin all got 9 figure deals. Eovaldi, Kikuchi, McCutchen, Pollock, Britton, Miller, etc. all got big contracts. The big contracts didn’t dry up, they took forever to sign but they still were there in the end. A player of his caliber was never in danger of not getting paid short of a catastrophic injury (which good for him to take that risk out by extending early and that’s all part of the equation to taking the deal he did.)

 

I also have no problem with him using the leverage he has to try and get them to spend and build a better team. The owners and GM deserve that pressure criticism for not doing it. It still is partially on him to realize the situation he signed up for might not lead to the most competitive scenario though, which again if that’s so important to him it is something him and his agents should’ve evaluated. It’s negligent on their side not to if it’s such a want of his.

[Sammy Sofa]

Again, if the team didn't want to pay him that money, or would have preferred to spread that money around (and we all know that's not true), THEN DON'T OFFER HIM THAT MONEY.

[Cubswin11]

Again, if the team didn't want to pay him that money, or would have preferred to spread that money around (and we all know that's not true), THEN DON'T OFFER HIM THAT MONEY.

Sure, but they’re also one of the most poorly run team in all of sports.

[David]

in light of them even considering trading him like 6 months after he signed the deal, it kinda seems like they threw that player opt out (which he didn't even want) in in hopes of him actually taking it. get the positive PR of extending him and then he's the bad guy when he opts out after he continues to be awesome for a couple years.

[ConstableRabbit]

Again, if the team didn't want to pay him that money, or would have preferred to spread that money around (and we all know that's not true), THEN DON'T OFFER HIM THAT MONEY.

Yeah, it's kind of like when a board of directors woos a successful CEO with a great track record and a big offer with base + company performance incentives, only for the CEO to realize that the rest of the C-suite is full of b-players who the board won't support replacing with better (and more expensive) execs. The person is paid a lot but is worth a lot, and can't win as the team is constructed. I can't imagine how frustrating that would be.

[Sammy Sofa]

Yeah, the automatic thinking would be, "OK, if they're willing to pay this, then they're hopefully willing to do what it takes to step up and finally try and build a decent team," not, "horsefeathers, this extension was acatch-22 to ultimately get the owners out of spending any real long term money on anyone, AND to paint me as the villain when I opt out. horsefeathers."

[Cubswin11]

Yeah, the automatic thinking would be, "OK, if they're willing to pay this, then they're hopefully willing to do what it takes to step up and finally try and build a decent team," not, "horsefeathers, this extension was acatch-22 to ultimately get the owners out of spending any real long term money on anyone, AND to paint me as the villain when I opt out. horsefeathers."

They’re at ~$180 million right now for this year. I’d imagine that’s about as much as they’ve ever spent. Again we know they can spend more, but likely won’t. It wasn’t hard to see them not spending much more until some of the horsefeathers fell off the roster.

[Sammy Sofa]

Yeah, the automatic thinking would be, "OK, if they're willing to pay this, then they're hopefully willing to do what it takes to step up and finally try and build a decent team," not, "horsefeathers, this extension was acatch-22 to ultimately get the owners out of spending any real long term money on anyone, AND to paint me as the villain when I opt out. horsefeathers."

They’re at ~$180 million right now for this year. I’d imagine that’s about as much as they’ve ever spent. Again we know they can spend more, but likely won’t. It wasn’t hard to see them not spending much more until some of the horsefeathers fell off the roster.

 

OK? Again, they offered him the money: how does it make any sense to think that the player and his agent should counter asking for less as opposed to thinking the team is going to find a way to dump excess salary, or maybe be willing to actually spend? This keeps coming back to, "the player and their agent should know better and take the high road."

[Cubswin11]

Yeah, the automatic thinking would be, "OK, if they're willing to pay this, then they're hopefully willing to do what it takes to step up and finally try and build a decent team," not, "horsefeathers, this extension was acatch-22 to ultimately get the owners out of spending any real long term money on anyone, AND to paint me as the villain when I opt out. horsefeathers."

They’re at ~$180 million right now for this year. I’d imagine that’s about as much as they’ve ever spent. Again we know they can spend more, but likely won’t. It wasn’t hard to see them not spending much more until some of the horsefeathers fell off the roster.

 

OK? Again, they offered him the money: how does it make any sense to think that the player and his agent should counter asking for less as opposed to thinking the team is going to find a way to dump excess salary, or maybe be willing to actually spend? This keeps coming back to, "the player and their agent should know better and take the high road."

I’m not saying he’s wrong for taking the money (the Rockies may be dumb for offering if they’re spent in to a corner of their own constraints). Nowhere in anything I said suggested Arenado should counter asking for less or players should do that, that’s ridiculous. My whole premise is if winning/being competitive is so important maybe he should’ve just gone to FA and found a better situation to end up in, instead of taking this deal if being competitive is so important. No horsefeathers a team who’s spending about as much as they ever have (which again we know the can spend more but likely won’t) with a bunch of bad players on bad deals isn’t a competitive situation currently. It’s a bad roster of bad players that somehow costs $180+ million and it shouldn’t have been hard for him to see this a year ago and instead take his record setting arbitration number and then leave in FA this current offseason, again, if being in a competitive situation is so important to him.

 

And good for him for trying to leverage them in to making moves publicly. Because they should and he’s right. But we know how teams generally work and they won’t. I have no issue with him taking their offer and I have no issue with the Rockies giving it, the problem seems to be there was no real plan to build off it or be competitive and to be surprised they’re not competitive after doing the deal seems a bit odd to me.

[Post Count Padder]

The Cubs have minor-league deals lined up with southpaws Danny Hultzen and Rex Brothers as well as outfielder Noel Cuevas, per the latest minor-league deal log from Baseball America’s Chris Hilburn-Trenkle. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic had previously reported the Cuevas signing, via Twitter.

 

Hultzen is official. Brothers was at one point a solid reliever for the Rockies and we traded for him in 2015 before releasing him in the spring. Lefty with big K numbers. Cuevas is your standard AAA reserve.

[Bertz]

https://twitter.com/keithlaw/statuses/1220043585518698496

[Post Count Padder]

The Phillies have reached a minor-league deal with veteran infielder Neil Walker, according to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (via Twitter). There’s a big-league camp invite; other details remain unknown.

 

When we don't even have the money for Neil Walker.

[Regular Show]

The Cubs have minor-league deals lined up with southpaws Danny Hultzen and Rex Brothers as well as outfielder Noel Cuevas, per the latest minor-league deal log from Baseball America’s Chris Hilburn-Trenkle. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic had previously reported the Cuevas signing, via Twitter.

 

Hultzen is official. Brothers was at one point a solid reliever for the Rockies and we traded for him in 2015 before releasing him in the spring. Lefty with big K numbers. Cuevas is your standard AAA reserve.

 

I'm happy we're bringing Hultzen back and think he can be a solid reliable option in our bullpen this year, and hopefully all his health problems are behind him now.

 

I remember seeing Rex Brothers at the 2016 Cubs Convention a few years back lol. The dude has excellent stuff, but unfortunately his control will never be good enough to get called up. I mean maybe it all clicks one of these years?

[JudasIscariotTheBird]

The Cubs have minor-league deals lined up with southpaws Danny Hultzen and Rex Brothers as well as outfielder Noel Cuevas, per the latest minor-league deal log from Baseball America’s Chris Hilburn-Trenkle. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic had previously reported the Cuevas signing, via Twitter.

 

Hultzen is official. Brothers was at one point a solid reliever for the Rockies and we traded for him in 2015 before releasing him in the spring. Lefty with big K numbers. Cuevas is your standard AAA reserve.

 

I'm happy we're bringing Hultzen back and think he can be a solid reliable option in our bullpen this year, and hopefully all his health problems are behind him now.

 

I remember seeing Rex Brothers at the 2016 Cubs Convention a few years back lol. The dude has excellent stuff, but unfortunately his control will never be good enough to get called up. I mean maybe it all clicks one of these years?

2011-2013 he was pretty damn good, but I think that ship has sailed. I used him a lot in fantasy leagues that really valued K/9 and holds more than they should.

[Cubswin11]

Bring him back, assholes

 

[UMFan83]

Bring him back, horsefeathers

 

 

 

Really don’t think he wants to sign a minor league deal

[Post Count Padder]

I know we have basically a full pen now but not bringing back Strop horsefeathering kills me, especially considering how cheap he's likely gonna be

[Cubswin11]

I know we have basically a full pen now but not bringing back Strop horsefeathering kills me, especially considering how cheap he's likely gonna be

Yup. He might just be finished but the knee/hamstring injury I think really affected him last year. The slider still rated out well. Hope he gets his legs right and the velo and control come back a bit and it should really only be a $1-4 million commitment/gamble.

[Bertz]

https://twitter.com/No_Little_Plans/statuses/1220378210413809665

[Regular Show]

[tweet]

[/tweet]

One of the few teams with a good enough farm system to pull it off. Maybe Pham plus some prospects?

[Post Count Padder]

Looks like the talks are Wil Myers and a bunch of prospects but none of the Padres top five prospects and the hold up is how much the Red Sox want to pay of Myers' contract.

[Regular Show]

Looks like the talks are Wil Myers and a bunch of prospects but none of the Padres top five prospects and the hold up is how much the Red Sox want to pay of Myers' contract.

 

Yeah, that doesn't make sense... SD doesn't have that deep a farm system that they can unload Wil Myers on Boston, get Mookie Betts and hold on to their top five prospects. That's ridiculous lol.

 

You have to front load that deal with Gore or Patino or CJ Abrams. One of those prospects has to be part of the trade package.

[Post Count Padder]

Looks like the talks are Wil Myers and a bunch of prospects but none of the Padres top five prospects and the hold up is how much the Red Sox want to pay of Myers' contract.

 

Yeah, that doesn't make sense... SD doesn't have that deep a farm system that they can unload Wil Myers on Boston, get Mookie Betts and hold on to their top five prospects. That's ridiculous lol.

 

You have to front load that deal with Gore or Patino or CJ Abrams. One of those prospects has to be part of the trade package.

Oh I totally agree. Idk how that deal gets done otherwise.