Ohtani to Dodgers for an ungodly amount of money

[Jason Ross]

Just now, 17 Seconds said:

jesse rogers in on the radio saying he doesn't think it's happening for the cubs

Is it more speculative sounding or more...like the Cubs told him sounding?

[17 Seconds]

Just now, 1908_Cubs said:

Is it more speculative sounding or more...like the Cubs told him sounding?

i don't know, but he said he was getting pretty close to being confident enough to write an article about it

[Bertz]

Okay yeah it's done

 

[CubbyBlue2008]

I’m annoyed.

[UMFan83]

Chicago the city of blue balls

[Jason Ross]

4 minutes ago, Bertz said:

Okay yeah it's done

 

Yeah. It's done. I agree.

[17 Seconds]

a serious organization would pivot to soto immediately

[CubbyBlue2008]

Can’t wait for the Hoskins/Chapman offseason.

[17 Seconds]

still early and jed could surprise me, but this is feeling exactly like last year. all those rumors about how the cubs were going all out and might get 2 of the top shortstops, only to end up shopping in the 2nd and 3rd tiers... again

[WrigleyField 22]

Gonna cling to the Boob effect until the very end /don't care

[Transmogrified Tiger]

36 minutes ago, 17 Seconds said:

not saying you're wrong, but god that would be boring. who would the best player on that team? dansby? and who would be the best bat? seiya?

It's definitely a double down on depth, but if you aren't getting one of Soto/Ohtani, there are worse ways you can go.  Glasnow when healthy is a Top 10, maybe Top 5 SP in the league, and with Imanaga you go 5 deep with guys who have decent aspirations to be 3 win SP(Glasnow/Steele/Hendricks/Imanaga/Taillon), plus Wicks in AAA and Horton behind him.  And because you've beefed up the rotation the benefit to the pen compounds since the need to ever start Smyly, Assad, Wesneski, or even Brown* goes way down, plus you're adding to the back end externally.

* One of Assad/Wesneski/Brown is probably gone for Glasnow

 

On offense assuming Morel doesn't go for Glasnow or Polanco(and he shouldn't need to) then you have a much deeper every day lineup that can absorb PCA's growing pains without a risky back half of the lineup that some other offseason permutations have.  Hoerner/Happ/Seiya/Hoskins/Polanco/Swanson/Morel/C/CF has a whole lot of good hitters and/or 110+ wRC+ bats to keep rallies going and avoid being too easy to pitch to.

[CubinNY]

I can't wait for the autopsy. 

 

[Bertz]

7 minutes ago, 17 Seconds said:

still early and jed could surprise me, but this is feeling exactly like last year. all those rumors about how the cubs were going all out and might get 2 of the top shortstops, only to end up shopping in the 2nd and 3rd tiers... again

I mean a year later you'd way prefer to have Swanson over the other three. 

[CubinNY]

2 minutes ago, Bertz said:

I mean a year later you'd way prefer to have Swanson over the other three. 

over the life of the contracts, I'd rather have either of the other two. 

[17 Seconds]

3 minutes ago, Bertz said:

I mean a year later you'd way prefer to have Swanson over the other three. 

that's not the point. they'd have preferred correa/bogaerts/turner if they were all priced the same. they chose dansby because he was the cheapest.

[We Got The Whole 9]

I don't think you can blame anybody but Ohtani and that's obviously not fair. Jed did well even getting to the finals. I doubt it is anything but personal preference, not $ or accomodations,

[thawv]

2 hours ago, Tryptamine said:

I love that people at the winter meetings basically have no idea what's going on with Ohtani, but a popular answer for where he's going recently has been back with the Angels.

IF he goes back to the Angels, the whole wanting to play on a winning team was all a dog and pony show.

[CubinNY]

Just now, 17 Seconds said:

that's not the point. they'd have preferred correa/bogaerts/turner if they were all priced the same. they chose dansby because he was the cheapest.

I actually think they liked Dansby the best. They like his "leadership". 

[Tim]

1 minute ago, 17 Seconds said:

that's not the point. they'd have preferred correa/bogaerts/turner if they were all priced the same. they chose dansby because he was the cheapest.

You can't just separate the cost entirely, though. 

[17 Seconds]

Just now, Tim said:

You can't just separate the cost entirely, though. 

i don't believe they were ever willing to give a 300 million dollar contract out last year

[imb]

1 minute ago, 17 Seconds said:

that's not the point. they'd have preferred correa/bogaerts/turner if they were all priced the same. they chose dansby because he was the cheapest.

Ehh I dunno. I think it certainly helped that he was the cheapest, but they were probably out on correa for health reasons, out on Turner because his defensive profile didn't match the cost (I wanted turner to be fair but im also a dumb dumb) and they were never gonna give Bogaerts $280 mil. Tom, of all people, actually sold me on Swanson after the signing and yeah it's just one year but it was probably the right call. 

[mul21]

21 minutes ago, 17 Seconds said:

a serious organization would pivot to soto immediately

Based on the prospect cost we're hearing at this point, I don't quite understand this logic.

[17 Seconds]

Just now, imb said:

Ehh I dunno. I think it certainly helped that he was the cheapest, but they were probably out on correa for health reasons, out on Turner because his defensive profile didn't match the cost (I wanted turner to be fair but im also a dumb dumb) and they were never gonna give Bogaerts $280 mil. Tom, of all people, actually sold me on Swanson after the signing and yeah it's just one year but it was probably the right call. 

it did work out, but i believe that even if the issues you mention with the other 3 didn't exist, they'd have still been shopping in the sub-200 million range

i think ohtani is a special circumstance, and that if we miss on him, we'll blow right by soto and move onto the next tiers. i still expect the cubs to be good going forward, but i'm sick of this pattern of not getting the elite guys.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

At a minimum I very much doubt they ranked Swanson 4th of the four, given the defensive focus they've had I doubt they would rather have had Bogaerts even with equal contracts.

But it's not about which one is cheaper, that's an oversimplification and has been borne out in their investment in not only Swanson, but Stroman, Seiya, and Taillon.  For better or worse, Jed is extremely mindful of the length of deals and how well they will age and inhibit future moves.  Call it smart actuarial thinking, call it overcorrective Heyward PTSD, but I think it's a very big factor.  The 4 SS signed through ages 40, 40, 35, and 35, guess which two Jed was most heavily linked with through last offseason?

[almirhadzic123]

Think some of you are being unfair. I don't doubt Jed going all out for Ohtani with his pitch, but I think personal preferences(geography for ex) that Ohtani has are working against us, more so than us being cheap. If you're cheap, you don't get into the Ohtani conversation at all. Let the offseason play out folks.