davell

My way too early prediction(not necessarily what I'd do) is Span at 2/24 for CF, Zobrist at 4/68 for a few spots, Zimmermann at 6/102, and Soler/Johnson for Salazar, with 5 Cuban IFA's at 12 mill(plus penalties)

I just hope NoCode has a relative married to a Price relative.

I still want to see his evidence no one was close to us on Edwin's deal.....

It just depends on what the budget actually is, as to how I'd go about the pen. Unless the budget moves a ton(it's possible) I want no part of adding a closer that's tying up 10+ mill. Not to mention, I'd hate giving up true assets to fix a problem that isn't even a problem. I like all 3 of Rondon, Strop, and Grimm a bunch. I figure Wood coming back is going to be a budgetary thing. If we think he can fit inside of it, I'd love to have him back. At 1.1, I see no reason not to bring Richard back either. I have no idea where Cahill stands on starting or not, but if he's OK with being a pen guy, I'd love to have him back too, as it looks like he can be a very solid 7th/8th inning type. It's nice to have Ramirez, hope he gets healthy. If not, we can cut bait and it doesn't hurt anything but depth. If CJ isn't dealt, I feel like he's a big second half contributor next year. I don't care about the other guys enough to bring back, Rosscup having an option left is nice anyway. Unless I'm missing someone else on the 40 man that's decent, I doubt any of the rest are factors. That said, with bullpens being volatile, I hope we add a few pieces. Throw ins on trades, a few decent arms on minor league deals.....Unless there's plenty of room inside the budget, it's just not how I'd allocate the money. I guess I could be talked into O'Day replacing Wood's salary, even with 2 years added on to it. But it won't shock me if he gets more than that and maybe even an opportunity to close.

Does EJM factor into these lists, or no since he hasn't actually played professional ball in the US yet? The variation on him is huge, so he won't even come close to sniffing some lists, but given Law's comments on him, I'd have to believe he'd be on his list and maybe a couple others. Yeah, he will. If Law doesn't hear anything negative about his plate discipline, I'd bet he's top 50 for him based on his comments. That's the one thing Law hasn't seen yet and he'll likely see him again prior to his list coming out. He's likely not got a chance with anyone else though as most of these guys stick relatively close to their initial thoughts for a while anyway.

I know AZCubs guy gets abuse for really being a Cardinals fan. But in the time I've been paying attention, BanktoBanks also seems like a candidate for a long-term troll. I'm sure he likes some stuff about the Cubs, but I just don't think I've ever read any of it. He's a Cubs fan, he just hates Theo. Gotcha. So before he was hired was Banks a pretty normal fan who would actually say good things about the team or was he always more on the side of negativity? And is this why people often talk about Hendry with him, because he was pro-Hendry? He defends Hendry and has mockingly called Theo "Boy Genius"

While you're right, I think that we could find a solid deal by dealing some depth away. This isn't "depth" like we tried to find deals with back in 2010, it's higher upside types, with some solid floor mixed in. That said, I still think you're selling it short a bit. While I too am having difficulty figuring out who is 2 for me as well.....I think we'll have 3-4 guys show up in most of the top 100 lists. And it very well may be different groups. Torres is a lock obviously. If Contreras isn't a lock, he's awfully close. McKinney is going to make some(maybe most). Underwood is going to make some(maybe all). It won't shock me if Almora sneaks onto a list. Same with Happ. For that matter, Candelario seems a decent possibility to do the same. Couple those guys with extremely high upside types like Jimenez or Cease, plus ready for a trial run types in PJ, CJ, and Villanueva, it'll come down to a team's preference. But the fact we've got so much depth, it makes it much more likely that a team is going to really like multiples out of our system. Again, this doesn't even take into account that we've got the best group of 25 and unders in all of MLB that's already in the majors. Of which it looks like we'd be open to deal from as well.

And yet, now that we're good, there's nothing remotely positive from you whatever. Still waiting on your source no one was going to pay Edwin.....

I drank like most college kids, never affected me. Did that thru mid 20's. Settled down, went years without "tying one on". Got hammered one day/night a few years back and woke up with the worst feeling I'd ever had. To my dismay, the following morning wasn't all that better. If I ever get drunk again, I'm a complete idiot.

Actually, I'm almost positive the Rangers were at 4/48 on him is what's funny.

Nah, I'd have been thrilled with Latos/Wood. It's money based and where their teams age is, as to why I'm down on what Friedman has done so far. I can give him a pass based on just taking over.....I guess. I did with Theo. But Theo tore down and didnt waste time on deciding what direction he was taking. Nor did he have anything close to the monetary ability that Friedman has now. Friedman filled with depth in the offseason, instead of getting elite guys. I'm more OK with Theo taking that approach, because a mistake will hurt much more than it would hurt them. I'd say the same for the deadline. Risks are necessary at times, in their case, I'd say more than most others. Because they can continually buy right over top of them. That said, I'm arguing by myself against a group of guys I know "know their [expletive]", so I'll drop off not having my mind changed, but admitting you guys may be on the right side of this thing.

This is how one adds a starter with options that could also compete for the rotation. Absolutely. He fits our situation to a tee.

Is Callis more down on him than most? My guess is Callis is caught in the middle. He works with Jesse Sanchez, who's extremely high on him. And he used to work with Badler, who's the definitive low guy on him. Based on how poor MLB's lists have been, I'd say Callis lazily put him in between the 2.

What was Ryu's injury? Shouldn't he be back? Wood was rough with the Dodgers in the second half, but he's still a quality arm. There's still about a 90+% chance they re-sign Greinke. They have De Leon ready in the minors. McCarthy will be back at some point. Kershaw Greinke Ryu Wood McCarthy Beachy De Leon Cotton I'd love to have that heading into 2016. 1) Greinke isn't theirs currently, all the more reason to capitalize last year. 2) Ryu had major shoulder surgery. I'm sure he'll be back, but are you just going to assume he'll be as good? 3) McCarthy will be back in the middle of the year. He's nothing special either way. 4) Pretty sure Beachy is a FA. 5) DeLeon and Cotton aren't what I'm talking about, they weren't figuring into 2015. I'm not saying the Dodgers are all of a sudden going to suck. They're not. No, their group of 25 and unders aren't equal to ours. But that's not the point either. They could catch up there conceivably by throwing absurd amounts of money at guys in IFA or buying prospects in trades. Their curve is different than ours because their roster is older. Hell, if Kershaw were a Cub, we'd be worried as [expletive] he'll break. But Adrian is old, so is Turner, Ethier, Kendrick was on the last year of his deal. They have no reason to take a cautious approach. They did and if I liked them, I'd have been pissed, just as most of the fans I know actually were.

http://chicagocubsonline.com/archives/2015/01/reports-cubs-set-announce-new-five-year-contract-wgn-ch-9.php At any rate, for the 80 CSN games this year, we made an extra 150k per....Thats 12 mill in additional revenue obviously. And instead of opt outs, it looks like this goes up gradually to 750K until 2019. WGN is undisclosed over their 45 games, but rumors say they're at 500K per, which is doubled. As they were at 250K per. So if that's the case, it's an extra 11.25 mill. The 25 games from ABC are getting 750K per game. They WERE WGN games at 250K, making us an extra 12.5 per obviously. So, we've got an extra 24.5 mill we didn't have last year just from the TV deal revenue, NOT even counting WGN, which may very well push it up to 35.75. Had put this in the wrong thread. David doesn't think the WGN number will be correct, but even if its not......Thats your David Price money right there. Not even counting added attendance or playoff revenue. At any rate, this explains to me how we could have been in on Moncada when I didn't see how we could afford him at that point.

http://chicagocubsonline.com/archives/2015/01/reports-cubs-set-announce-new-five-year-contract-wgn-ch-9.php Uh, did we somehow just miss this?(I know I did anyway) At any rate, for the 80 CSN games this year, we made an extra 150k per....Thats 12 mill in additional revenue obviously. And instead of opt outs, it looks like this goes up gradually to 750K until 2019. WGN is undisclosed over their 45 games, but rumors say they're at 500K per, which is doubled. As they were at 250K per. So if that's the case, it's an extra 11.25 mill. The 25 games from ABC are getting 750K per game. They WERE WGN games at 250K, making us an extra 12.5 per obviously. So, we've got an extra 24.5 mill we didn't have last year just from the TV deal revenue, NOT even counting WGN, which may very well push it up to 35.75. Sooooooo HOLY [expletive] [expletive]??????(unless I missed this somehow)

http://js.mlblogs.com/2015/10/23/next-top-cuban-pitcher-shines/ Sierra isn't bound to the IFA penalties and definitely turned some heads yesterday. Sanchez mentions the Raicel Iglesias contract (4-27) as a comp for what to go off of for Sierra. My initial thought, no basis to go off though, is the Yanks and Red Sox will be tough to beat on him, since they can't go after the rest of the Cubans.

Oh, I know he's not responsible for the 300ish they've spent. But I do put blame on him for not going harder after an elite SP at the deadline, with where their teams win curve is. And considering they can blow past where their payroll is even now, I guess I lay some blame on them not getting an elite arm last offseason. To not address it at either point seems like a true mistake for sure. They definitely could have spent on the pen at either time too, but went for lesser guys, instead of the elite guys in that instance as well. I may be nitpicking him, but they've got money coming off, had the ability to do much more monetarily, and just didn't utilize the payroll advantage nearly as much as what I would have thought he would have. They have two cy young caliber guys and a crapton of depth. And you are criticizing him for the exact opposite reason you stated in the first place. My original stance on Friedman is that I'm not convinced he'll handle having a large payroll as effectively as some others might. They certainly have depth, no question there. It's not a matter of how much he spends, in my mind. He had the chance to add elite guys instead of depth for both starting pitching and out of the pen and did neither, in a season where they were at/near/maybe slight past their best shot at all of this.....And went safe, instead of taking a risk. I get that playoffs are a crapshoot for the most part and that very well may weaken my stance here. But for THAT team, with THOSE resources, to not have done more over his reign than building depth, it makes me wonder how he'll handle it going forward. They have just as much of a window as the Cubs. They have tons of young players, an excellent system, and tons of money. If everyone should be happy with the Cubs season, why doesn't the same apply to them? One, the Cubs have far from unlimited funds. Two, the Dodgers aren't nearly as young or have nearly as good of a true long term foundation as the Cubs. They've got Kershaw and nothing else good in their rotation now that Greinke is a FA. They've got Seager and Puig offensively, with Pederson as a possibility that certainly has concerns now. The fact they've got a good system AND unlimited money just tells me they needed to trade from it even more.

Oh, I know he's not responsible for the 300ish they've spent. But I do put blame on him for not going harder after an elite SP at the deadline, with where their teams win curve is. And considering they can blow past where their payroll is even now, I guess I lay some blame on them not getting an elite arm last offseason. To not address it at either point seems like a true mistake for sure. They definitely could have spent on the pen at either time too, but went for lesser guys, instead of the elite guys in that instance as well. I may be nitpicking him, but they've got money coming off, had the ability to do much more monetarily, and just didn't utilize the payroll advantage nearly as much as what I would have thought he would have. They have two cy young caliber guys and a crapton of depth. And you are criticizing him for the exact opposite reason you stated in the first place. My original stance on Friedman is that I'm not convinced he'll handle having a large payroll as effectively as some others might. They certainly have depth, no question there. It's not a matter of how much he spends, in my mind. He had the chance to add elite guys instead of depth for both starting pitching and out of the pen and did neither, in a season where they were at/near/maybe slight past their best shot at all of this.....And went safe, instead of taking a risk. I get that playoffs are a crapshoot for the most part and that very well may weaken my stance here. But for THAT team, with THOSE resources, to not have done more over his reign than building depth, it makes me wonder how he'll handle it going forward.

Oh, I know he's not responsible for the 300ish they've spent. But I do put blame on him for not going harder after an elite SP at the deadline, with where their teams win curve is. And considering they can blow past where their payroll is even now, I guess I lay some blame on them not getting an elite arm last offseason. To not address it at either point seems like a true mistake for sure. They definitely could have spent on the pen at either time too, but went for lesser guys, instead of the elite guys in that instance as well. I may be nitpicking him, but they've got money coming off, had the ability to do much more monetarily, and just didn't utilize the payroll advantage nearly as much as what I would have thought he would have.

Man, I really really hope they stay far away from Lackey. I do too. I thought about not even listing a 5th. But my guess is if we went that route, it'd probably mean we made a higher impact trade for a SP than what it may be if we get an elite guy in FA.

Kapler seems to be the early favorite for them. From a few tweets by Dylan Hernandez, Friedman and Zaidi didn't come off well at their PC today. I know it's only been a single season, but I do wonder if Friedman is cut out for such a large payroll. I remember Beane saying one time he thought he'd be more effective with tighter purse strings and I do wonder if Friedman winds up actually proving Billy's point.

This is going to be fascinating to watch unfold. If I'm looking at the FO, what they value, and how I think their FA pitching wish list would look, I think I'd rank these guys like this...... 1 Price 2 Greinke 3 Zimmermann 4 Shark 5 Lackey I think Cueto will scare the [expletive] out of them, assuming he's getting 9 figures.

It has been the talk, but he's a true odd guy. It came out recently he didn't like the 2014 team from a personality standpoint, but liked the 2015 much more. He was also a big Mattingly supporter. If I was 99.9% sure he was going to be a Dodger a week ago, I'd say I'm at around 70% now.

If Davey gets a managerial gig, I guess I could see Ross taking his place. Goony brought up a good point about the concussions in the other thread too.