davell

Why do you feel the need to say you were his number one backer like once a week? There were quite a few of us that have been on his side the entire time. And sorry, no one's buying you taking him out of your signature as a gag. And saying this sucks, because you're one of my favorites here. you seem very upset about this lol No, just think it's very weird you feel the need to constantly bring something up that's not remotely true.

Article says Addy, plus pitching, plus an OF..... My complete GUESS would be something like Addy, Monty, Lange or Little, and a guy like Zagunis. And that's really steep, in my eyes, but worth it, if we keep him. But yeah, he's hitting FA. Getting him here though could obviously help in KEEPING him here.

We contract the Yankees, Dodgers, Phillies, and other big market teams that won't allow it to happen.

[tweet] [/tweet] So, this is going to be a serious thing again, I guess. Giving up Addy for Russell is fine, as long as you keep him, I guess? No idea what pitching or OF would be included, or if it's just pure speculation, for what the O's want.

Remember when you took him off your sig? THAT was insane. That was actually sneaky but I used it as a gag iirc I was the number one javy backer after 2014 and have never been a javy buster Why do you feel the need to say you were his number one backer like once a week? There were quite a few of us that have been on his side the entire time. And sorry, no one's buying you taking him out of your signature as a gag. And saying this sucks, because you're one of my favorites here.

He's 5-5 on the day.

Oh horsefeathers. Flew back to LA to get checked out. And biceps injuries seem to be precursors to TJS. He's had it before. But, he's got some miles obviously. As much as I hate the Dodgers, I'm hoping he's OK.

One of their beat guys handled that as poorly as possible. Said something like "trying to confirm some devastating news for the Cards". Their fan base went crazy and the dude never said anything else until morning, when he said Molina was out a month.

https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2018/5/4/17309236/kerry-wood-20-strikeout-game-cubs-astros-1998 Sending this blind. But it's Brisbee on Wood's 20K game, so I'm sure it's fantastic.

If you've got the top pick, there's no problem with the 2/3's idea. You've still got full slot to hand out to your 2-10 round picks. In other words, it doesn't affect your draft budget at all in terms of other players. You can get that guy, plus a regular draft class on top of that. Hell, you can still skimp on your 7-10 rounders with college seniors, use your overage and pay an additional over slot or two, if you want. Personally, I would do it that way. If you're drafting 24 though, and pay 5 mill of your 7.5 budget, you've got 2.9 mill left(after overage) for an entire draft class. It's basically equivalent to having to sign college seniors to our 2nd, and one of our 2 comp picks as well, in order to fit the first guy into budget. There's other ways to skin the cat obviously, but the bottom line is you're using everything to get ONE high school pitcher. Way too risky. And there's not going to be a college guy that falls THAT far, to where it ever makes that situation feasible. But sure, IF a draft class's version of Strasburg or Prior fell to that area? Yeah, I'd take the plunge. Because you're literally inheriting a top 10-15 prospect in the game immediately. A guy like Rocker? MAYBE he's a top 100 guy immediately? That's not even a guarantee. High school pitchers are way too risky to try that with. Rocker is good. I'd gladly go over for him. But 3.5 or so, would be the max range(our slot is 2.7ish, I think). He's not some super rare talent type. Not even considered the hands down best pitcher in his class. If you DO go the route of punting your class for one guy, he's just got to be much better and much more of a surety than a guy like Rocker.

W 50 would put him somewhere in the top 100.

I'm pretty sure this means he's on hold until a team can trade for 2 mill of IFA money on July 2nd.

I'd prefer a bat. But, if we DO take an arm, I'm fairly positive you can find one, with nice upside, for much, much less than 2/3 of your budget.

If Rocker's asking price is 5 Mill, i have less than zero interest in giving ANY singular Pitcher, 2/3's of our draft budget.

https://www.thecubreporter.com/05012018/cubs-triple-angels-riverview Eury Ramos might be a thing now.

He did that platelet thing that seems like it's a waste most of the time in the offseason.

Where are those morons getting the attendance stuff at? We're averaging 35,529 per game and they're at 32,955. Are they so stupid they think they're ahead because they've played 3 more home games?

I can worry about the Nats. I can worry about the Mets. Cardinals a little bit. Dodgers. Diamondbacks look good currently. I can find things to worry about with the Phillies and Braves. The Brewers? Not one bit. Those other teams all have stars. They have the finances to get things done in the future and/or prospects upon prospects to turn into stars. The Brewers? They've got some nice players that aren't stars, nor will be. They're not particularly young. They've not got loads of money. Not do they have prospects that scare me to death. They're just decent. They try hard though. They're just a team I would literally HATE to be a fan of myself. Because they're in purgatory. They're going to win 77-85 wins like clockwork for a few years, then fade away. What a window. And their fans? Those deluded peons that eat theirs vitamins and say their prayers, hoping to see Zach Davies and Chase Anderson turn into a great 1-2, that pray for Shaw and Braun to turn into Shaun or Braw, to compete with Bryzzo..... We need to have empathy on those people. Nah, let's just make fun of them, because they're really, really stupid and deserve the misery they're in the process of witnessing.

Who knows? I'm hopeful on that. But, I think 12/400 may be the low end from an AAV standpoint. Granted, that'd help a ton.

To get rid of all of Heywards deal or you just don't want to go down that particular road? Because I think it would take a lot to get any team to take 5/106 off our books, if we DID go down that route. Of which, it'd be to free up OF AB's obviously. Again, I'm not advocating that as the easiest option.

With as much as I'd thought about this, that EXACT scenario hadn't entered my mind lol. That makes sense. But, the money situation doesn't work from an LT standpoint. That would just pro rate Heywards hit. But, I think Happ is worth much more than just one year of Heyward too. So, it still makes sense. And yeah, I oddly feel comfy with Bote too in our long term plan.

So, what are the roster accomodations, in order to make this team it's best version, for Bryce? The LT will be 206 next year. We won't go to 246 and incur the max penalties, so what do we do? Here's the roster and salaries, for LT purposes..... Lester-25.833 Darvish -21 Chatwood-12.667 Quintana-10.5 (option that will be picked up) Smyly- 5 Total- 75M Morrow-10.5 Cishek-6.5 Strop-6.25 (option that looks likely to be picked up) Duensing-3.5 Total-26.75 (overall total of 101.75M) Heyward-23 Zobrist-14 Rizzo-5.875 Total- 42.875M (overall total of 144.575M) Arbitration Eligibles Bryant-10.850 year 1, to 17.5M Hendricks-4.175 year 1, to 7.8M Russell-3.2 year 1, to 6M La Stella-.950k year , to 1.5M Baez- year 1 estimate 3.5M Montgomery- year 1 estimate 1.75M Schwarber- year 1 estimate 3.5M (tough one to guess on honestly) Edwards- year 1 estimate 2.4M Total- 43.950M (overall total of 188.525M) That's 20 roster spots. We'll have Contreras, Almora, Happ, and 2 more minimum salaried pitchers as well. That'll be another 3M, plus say another 2 Mill for in season callups. Total-5M (193.525M) Addition for Insurances and rest of 40 Man Roster- 14 Million Actual Payroll of 207.525M heading into getting Bryce..... So, the first thing is this number won't be completely accurate obviously. But, I'll bet it's pretty damn close. So, let's use it for this. Because the situation is going to be the same, even if its off by 2-3M either way. 1- What's Bryce going to get? Personally, I think 10/400 is on the extreme low end. I figure whatever he signs, he's getting multiple opt outs. I think Philly may be our true biggest competition for him myself. And they're in a phenomenal position to offer him whatever...... Wouldn't shock me to see them go to 12/500, possibly even slightly more. I think I'm landing on 10/450M. That's my actual guess at what we offer(and he takes). That's going to put us at 252.525M. Or close to 7M over the LT penalty of the highest degree. There's a mid level penalty that's a 12% addition charge between 226 and 246. I know we can pay ANY penalty, we've got the revenue..... I feel extremely confident they'll NOT break the max penalty. I DO think they'll jump into the mid penalty, because it's just monetary. And I think this holds true for EVERY team in MLB that breaks the LT during this current CBA. I'm very confident in that assessment too, it'd be dumb of any owner to do that, prior to the next CBA negotiations, in which the MLBPA are going to want a TON of monetary concessions. No reason to give them even more ammo..... 2. After you've figured whatever salary you think it truly takes to land him..... Where do you play him? I'm assuming the consensus answer is RF. He's not great there, but he's passable. Even though he's sitting at -5 DRS already this year.... Personally, I don't see them putting him in CF and increasing any injury chances. So, you've got a logjam already in the OF now. Who do you move? Almora is still making the minimum. Hes not got a ton of value either. He's got some, but I think he's more valuable to us, than in trade. I'm going to assume Happ gets his K issues in check. Hes got value, if he does. But, he's also making the minimum. Moving him doesn't create salary room, even if it netted us a solid prospect of cost controlled player. Schwarber? Yeah, you can move him. And it even makes some sense. But, it's not enough salary and you would need to move more salary too. In my mind, it makes it too complicated. That brings you too Zobrist and Heyward. Moving Zobrist is much easier to do. You MIGHT not even have to attach a prospect to get a team to take him on a 1/12 salary next year at his elderly state. You're not truly freeing up playing time in the OF though. You've got Schwarber, Almora, Happ, Heyward, and Harper out there at that point. Guess you could ALSO move one of Schwarber, Almora, or Happ as well. The Zobrist move alone gets you under the max penalty. And the other move frees up some AB's. But, you're hamstrung from doing ANYTHING else to your roster, if that's all you do. I brought it up in the minor league forum, that attaching prospects to Heyward, freeing up 23M on the LT is our best option. Attaching enough to get a rebuilding team to take on 5/106 isn't going to be easy. If he's a FA right now, what would he get? 1/10ish? That's my guess. At any rate, while unconventional, it would give us 15M or so, or flexibility, under the max penalty, AND free up an OF spot too. If he puts up a decent season, maybe it helps lessen the prospect blow. No, a team has NEVER done this before, on THIS level. I think it's about to happen though, due to the restrictions put in place. Is Heyward definitely a goner? Of course not. It may cost too much currency to move him. But, if that's the case, do you just dip into pitching to save room? 3. How far do you want to stay under 246? That's the key here. We know Theo values flexibility. We're not going to JUST add him and nothing else. I have no idea HOW FAR we would want to get under the max(246). But, my GUESS is by 20M. We'll need money for something. The pitchers I could see us move in this case? Strop is an easy choice. Although it seems as if he's extremely well liked and a great clubhouse guy. Not saying that keeps him around, especially when Bryce is involved. But, I am saying it could take them in a different direction. That said, he's an easy choice. Cishek is another easy option. Last year of his deal, solid reliever.... Relatively easy to move. Monty? I'll almost guarantee he gets moved. He's not going to get a chance to start here, he wants one...... Yeah, he'll be dealt. But, it doesn't save a ton and it creates a hole too. Hopefully Alzolay and Maples are ready to be full-time ML arms. Smyly at 1/7? Depending on when he comes back and how he looks, I think this is an option. Not a likely one. But, an option. Or..... How about moving Chatwood? Let's say he gets the walks down..... Very valuable commodity. Still have Smyly and possibly Monty, plus Alzolay to compete for the 5th spot...... So, it comes down to combos..... Who are you moving here? In my mind, we're going to want to get down to 226M after giving Harper 45M a year. Save us 20M to use on other off-season moves..... To me, Heyward is the guy to move. But, it's probably going to cost us a ton, so maybe he truly just turns into a backup that's making 23M of our LT. My guess is Zobrist, Strop, plus one of Cishek or Smyly. Those are the casualties of signing Bryce. Is it worth it? In my mind, it's an easy yes. At least on the player movement. Giving a non-Cub that much money, when you've got to ante up for some of your own in the relatively near future? That's a different discussion, that can be had, at a later time. Enough to talk about here..... So, this is how I see this going down..... I do NOT see us going past 246. I do see us signing him. Even though signing Pollock and Andrew Miller or one of the other relievers, could be an interesting alternative. Or Machado. Or any number of other possibilities too. Honestly, could have spent more time on those scenarios. Because it's important. But, I'm tired of writing this. Anyway, I'm pretty positive we won't go past the upper limits of the LT. I've got Bryce at 10/450. Because I think Philly is going to really make us pay up. And if that's the case, what's the moves you make, to accommodate this signing? Or do you think he goes much cheaper? I can see people thinking I'm on the absolute high end of money. But, it's more about how this affects everything else....... Thoughts?

Lol

Another start or two, with no improvement, I think it's then time to send him back to EXST.