CubinNY

At the beginning of the offseason, all the smart people talk on NSBB was about how much money the Cubs have and how much they'd go over teir 1 of the luxury tax. Then they fired Ross and maybe sort of appeared to be in on Ohtani. And all the smart people were talking about how much money the Cubs had to spend to get other targets too. Then when Ohtani did what everyone expected him to do, the focus switched to waiting in the cue for the mythical rank order of free agents to get their deal to see who fell to the Cubs. In the meantime, Jed apparently has done nothing. But it's not nothing. He staying true to his philosophy and his and the Ricketts long-term plans for the Cubs. The idea that the Ricketts are giving Jed a pile of money to use and he's not using it is to me ridiculous. The Ricketts would not have him in that position if their ideas and behaviors were not in alignment. They can say whatever they want to placate the fans. They believe the way to winning is through the draft and development process. They are not bothered by losing or mediocrity to the extent that it is going to take them away from their vision and mission. I do think Jed was disappointed in Ross and knew that they left several wins on the table through bad management. But I also think that Ross would still be managing this team if Counsel didn't become available. Counsel's availability is exactly the type of low-risk/high-reward bet that Jed loves. It's his MO and can be seen in every part of this team. They do not care that they are not spending, because they think spending is not related to winning long term. Or perhaps secondary to it. They are spending on R&D and spending on the draft. They want to be the Dodgers, except they don't want to be the Dodgers as much as they want to be some hybrid mixture of Tampa and I don't know, Toronto? Jed is about value. He's betting value is the path to winning. He's betting that they have many of the pieces to the next great Cubs team in place in the minor leagues. It's a low-risk high-reward bet. The reason for that is that it's what the Ricketts want and expect. If he fails, he can get new development people. But there is always another draft or veteran to flip. I do not ever expect them to regularly be in the running for the best free agents.

that is so funny. Scott: Hi this is Scott Boras, I'd like to speak to Mr. Ricketts please. Condescending secretary: I"'m sorry Mr. Ricketts is in Rhodesia killing an endangered white rhino right now. Scott: Do you have a number where he can be reached? Condescending secretary: There are no phones. Scott: Do you know when he'll be back? Condescending secretary: February 31st, Scott: Ok, than..... There is no February 31st Condescending secretary: Exactly. <click>

last I heard the only one who was offered a contract was Snell who turned it down without a counter.

In the grand scheme of fighting for wins and the costs involved, It was a pretty cheap investment. I know I keep saying this, but Jed is getting his chessboard set and Counsel is part of those moves. He's an upgrade and then some over Ross, how many wins that translates to is anyone's guess and is probably really hard to quantify though.

I'm always a win-now guy, but I'm not going to get real angry about this offseason. Soto is a one-year and a costly rental Bellinger, Chapman, etc. is a commitment in years that may not make sense Ohtani was myth The one that bothers me is Yammamoto -- There are 0 reasons for them not to make the best offer, if he didn't want to come it's on him. The rest, they did ok with the guys they did target. I'm not a strong advocate of the Busch trade though.

the sarcasm in post was clearly too understated. But seriously, I think they believe that they are approximately the 2014/15 Cubs version of a team and are not going to make commitments they think will harm the future. We can agree or disagree with the strategy. I think they are not close to a really good team unless a few of PCA, Horton, Wicks, Shaw, Caissie, Alcantara, Ferris, Busch turn out to be the best version of their prospect status.

I think Jed and his team are going to develop PCA the way they think is correct regardless of the record of the team. They've shown no indication that they are invested in winning this year at the potential cost of the future.

Since pitchers and catchers reported today is it still considered the offseason?

Tom, I think people can be sympathetic to your sentiment but at the same time, this change doesn't appear to support an overarching malevolent intent. There appear to be good reasons for why the change was made.

Agreed. He uses a lot of scoutspeak too. He's a really smart guy. The Cubs are lucky to have him.

Total runs scored is not a measure of consistency

Yes, in general, and with a few exceptions, I'd rather give ABs to unproven players than to washed-up has-beens. You never know when you Dwight Smith your way to helping a team win a division or be in the wildcard.

I don't care for Zaidman either, and I also listen to the games more than I watch them. I love the MLB app. I can watch the game and listen to the radio broadcast.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/CHC/2023.shtml

With or without those two this roster is going to have a hard time scoring runs consistently enough to win games.

These guys aren't taking scraps thrown out by THE MAN. A free market has boundaries too. I'm sure that there are oodles of financial information showing comparisons of player X to player Y and markups for inflation or unique skill sets (I mean how many CF/1B combos are there out there?). Anyway, the point is they are going to play for someone so I suppose not signing until they have extracted as much as they can get is a good thing. To say it's not drama is to ignore the situation. Edit: Also, Boras drama is not putting him in the position of the bad guy, it's putting him in the position of an orchestrator of drama.

no.

there is chatter that the Cubs and Sammy are now talking.

It's already been posted on here a number of times. I'd be good if you bothered reading anything anyone posts on here

definitely in the minority. They could have dispensed with the rest of the game and decided it on the coin toss.

It would be nice to have regular people like the old days. They really haven't done that since Len left and it seems JD is content with a limited schedule of road games. Backfilling exclusively with Pat (for Boog) and anyone except Suttcliffe for JD would be better. I love listening to Doug Glanville do color.

<puts on tinfoil hat> MLB is doing everything it can to keep players from making as much money as possible. And in so doing irreparable damage to the quality of the game. <takes off tinfoil hat> There must be a good reason for this but I don't know what it is.

I'm not the smartest person in the world or even particularly on the ball about most financial things so this entire Boras drama makes almost no sense to me. It seems like the thing to do for a player is to gather offers from teams who are interested in signing you. Sort through those offers, make a decision on exclusive negotiations and start working on a definite contract. It might not be exactly what the player wants, but it's not going to be exactly what the team wants either. I don't understand negotiating from the standpoint of We want X for Y years, come get some.

well done.

I get what you are saying, but he's not going to learn to adjust to big league pitching until he's facing it. I love the way he plays the game, hopefully, he's not in Iowa for three months while they are running Tauchman out there most days.