Ohtani to Dodgers for an ungodly amount of money

[JD94]

Bruce Levine thinks they absolutely will and ownership won’t back down from his record setting asking price. Interesting. I’m sure we’ve all assumed the Cubs would not fish in those waters. 

[jersey cubs fan]

I’ve always assumed they’d fish, and keep the bait dangling a couple dozen feet off the ocean floor for appearances sake 

[JD94]

3 minutes ago, jersey cubs fan said:

I’ve always assumed they’d fish, and keep the bait dangling a couple dozen feet off the ocean floor for appearances sake 

Yeah I’m still in the camp of “I’ll believe it when I see it.” It’s just weird Bruce doubled down that Ricketts would absolutely sign off on that type of deal. It sounds like that information is straight from the horses mouth. It could just be wishful thinking though on my part. 

Edited July 29, 2023 by JD94

[Ding Dong Johnson]

[Tryptamine]

Yeah right. What was the last top of the market free agent they signed? Heyward? Dansby was a very good signing but by the vast majority of people going into FA he was SS #4. Stroman was a good signing, but wasn't at the top of the list. Lester and Heyward were the last big big FA splashes. 

[CubbyBlue2008]

I’d be extremely surprised if we don’t finish in 3rd or 4th place for him. Or any top FA for that matter.

[JD94]

I don’t think the Cubs will sign him. I just find it interesting. I do have a small slither of hope after reading this that Bruce would say Ricketts won’t back down from his price. 
 

The Cubs absolutely can afford a contract like this though. They absolutely should be in on the top tier free agents. Maybe they are just more selective on who they give these too. It would have been easy to give $300M to Turner, Bogaerts, or Correa in the offseason instead of going the cheaper shorter route for Swanson, but now it looks like they made the right choice. I’m not willing to say at this point the Cubs won’t spend that type of money just because they haven’t yet. I think they would if the timing was right and the player was right. You have to remember that $300M contracts weren’t even a thing until like 5 years ago and we’ve been “rebuilding” for 3 of those years, so in their eyes, giving out that type of money probably didn’t make a whole lot of sense. Obviously Ohtani will cruise well past $300M, but the point still stands. I don’t believe it will happen, but I also don’t buy that the Cubs will never sign a player to $300M+ just because they haven’t yet. 

Edited July 29, 2023 by JD94

[UMFan83]

22 minutes ago, JD94 said:

Yeah I’m still in the camp of “I’ll believe it when I see it.” It’s just weird Bruce doubled down that Ricketts would absolutely sign off on that type of deal. It sounds like that information is straight from the horses mouth. It could just be wishful thinking though on my part. 

Of course he would. Who wouldn’t want an attraction will will ensure 40k+ in the seats and more Marquee subs even if the Cubs suck because they spent all the money they are comfortable spending on Ohtani

[Derwood]

Just like the Cubs were "among the players" for Bryce Harper, Brian Roberts, Jake Peavy, etc, etc

[Rex Buckingham]

It's in the Ricketts' best interest for this to get out, so there's no reason to be anything except skeptical

[Brian707]

2024 is an election year and the Ricketts will have a ton of money tied up in terrible far right wing causes and candidates. This is nothing but a dog and pony show

[Brock Beauchamp]

I will believe this when I see it.

[David]

Whole lot of defense mechanisming in this thread.

 

Ohtani or bust.  It's happening.

[David]

53 minutes ago, Derwood said:

Just like the Cubs were "among the players" for Bryce Harper, Brian Roberts, Jake Peavy, etc, etc

How the hell do the Roberts and Peavy situations compare at all lol

[David]

1 hour ago, jersey cubs fan said:

I’ve always assumed they’d fish, and keep the bait dangling a couple dozen feet off the ocean floor for appearances sake 

Yep.  In all seriousness, at the very least, they were always going to be doing at least that.  Surprised people are at all surprised at this report.

[Eeyore]

" We made a very competitive offer."

I would hope that somebody explained to them that the Asian market would open up to Cubs baseball like for no other team. They'd make every penny back +.

[UMFan83]

3 minutes ago, David said:

How the hell do the Roberts and Peavy situations compare at all lol

None of them really count. Peavy and Roberts were both attempted trades and there’s no reason to believe they weren’t genuinely trying to acquire them. Harper there was a lot of smoke but I’m pretty sure there wasn’t a single report about the Cubs attempting to speak with him during FA. 

The right reference I guess would be Carlos Beltran. When he was a FA after 2005 I’m pretty sure there were reports about the Cubs being interested and speaking to Beltran but they were clearly never going to actually sign him. 

[JD94]

21 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

None of them really count. Peavy and Roberts were both attempted trades and there’s no reason to believe they weren’t genuinely trying to acquire them. Harper there was a lot of smoke but I’m pretty sure there wasn’t a single report about the Cubs attempting to speak with him during FA. 

The right reference I guess would be Carlos Beltran. When he was a FA after 2005 I’m pretty sure there were reports about the Cubs being interested and speaking to Beltran but they were clearly never going to actually sign him. 

On top of that, it’s a different ownership so none of that matters anyways… outside of Harper. 

[Dfan25]

This doesn’t look to me like it’s just Levine’s opinion ;

 

I just think it’s appropriate news that a big market team like the Chicago Cubs are going to be interested in the Shohei Ohtani market going forward, according to industry sources.

 

The key there industry sources 

I doubt they get him but still fun to think about it .

 

[SOFNR]

1 hour ago, Dfan25 said:

This doesn’t look to me like it’s just Levine’s opinion ;

 

I just think it’s appropriate news that a big market team like the Chicago Cubs are going to be interested in the Shohei Ohtani market going forward, according to industry sources.

 

The key there industry sources 

I doubt they get him but still fun to think about it .

 

Im sure we'll get several more reports about the Cubs interest before Ohtani signs with whatever actual big market team wants him. Several reports of how Hoyer is checking in to make sure Ohtani doesn't want to come to Chicago on a 4 year deal. But he doesn't, so he won't.

Edited July 29, 2023 by SOFNR

[PackLandVA]

[Derwood]

[muntjack]

I said last year, and nothing has changed, that I think they will sign Ohtani.  As horrible as Ricketts is,  it makes complete business sense to spend here, and the fact that they've been targeting supplemental pieces with everything pointing toward 2024 tells me Shohei is the prize they're after.  

[CubinNY]

52 minutes ago, muntjack said:

I said last year, and nothing has changed, that I think they will sign Ohtani.  As horrible as Ricketts is,  it makes complete business sense to spend here, and the fact that they've been targeting supplemental pieces with everything pointing toward 2024 tells me Shohei is the prize they're after.  

The Ricketts/Jed are not going to spend $50M a year on one player. It’s not going to happen. They will check in. They will make a bid. The bid will be well short of whatever he gets. Their mouth pieces, Lavine and Rogers will get out the good word and that will be that. 

Edited July 29, 2023 by CubinNY

[Tryptamine]

8 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

The Ricketts/Jed are not going to send $50M a year on one player. It’s not going to happen. They will chicken in. They will make a bid. The bid will be well short of whatever he gets. Their mouth pieces, Lavine and Rogers will get out the good word and that will be that. 

They made a competitive bid, but Ohtani wanted the west coast will be what is said. Then later on we'll find out it was 5/250 with opt outs after years 2 and 3,