Backtobanks

For a team with no money, they sure have wasted money on all of these ridiculous signings.

Eating 1/2 of his salary (or adding a prospect) might make him worth something. A back-of-the-rotation possibility for $7 million over one year might fit a lot of teams, while saving us $6 million. Same thing for Kimbrel (saving $7-$8 million) to someone who needs a closer.

If you are that desperate to save money, then you either kick in some cash or add a prospect to get rid of them. Also, it would have been much easier to move them before everyone else made trades and signed free agents, but everything is on shutdown until the KB ruling. There's absolutely no reason that Theo couldn't make other deals to reduce payroll while waiting for the KB decision. As has been mentioned, it’s probably that he doesn’t want to trade either right now until they know what’s going on with KB. They probably want to make sure they get a guy back who can start in a trade for KB before shedding 1 or 2 guys who have a rotation spot currently. You can likely move a Chatwood in ST regardless if you attach a prospect and decide to keep KB then go dumpster dive on a swing man or whatever. If the planned outcome is KB is likely gone in a month or so it really doesn’t matter to move Chatwood or Q right now anyways to free up money to sign a margin add like Shogo, Cesar, etc because they aren’t winning anyways. Waiting 2-3 more months to trade someone like Chatwood really will diminish any trade value he had. A couple of months ago, Chatwood and Bote to Texas might have given us a decent return, but after adding Kluber, Gibson, & Lyles they no longer need a SP. The fact that Theo is fixated on trading KB and needing to await his decision before doing anything to help the club is really frustrating.

Probably because of one of the following: 1) depending on the returns, the Cubs could either still be favored or at least have a realistic shot in the division 2) you're hoping for a solid first half from the closer to up his value from where it is right now 3) somebody still has to pitch and the "relief" pitcher would be one of the five best options remaining I think it’s pretty much as simple as you aren’t getting anything back for either and you’re going to have to include money and/or prospects you don’t want to move to move either of them. If you are that desperate to save money, then you either kick in some cash or add a prospect to get rid of them. Also, it would have been much easier to move them before everyone else made trades and signed free agents, but everything is on shutdown until the KB ruling. There's absolutely no reason that Theo couldn't make other deals to reduce payroll while waiting for the KB decision.

I think ultimately we see both KB and Q dealt, which would put the team ~$27M under the tax. That's enough room to extend Javy (adds $8-9M), add 2-3 bench bats ($3-5M each), and leave a small reserve (~$5) for the trade deadline. But with so many moving parts, they don't want to close off any possibilities early. And if extending Javy really is part of Plan A, that may be why they don't even want to do something modest like a Shogo signing before they know they've got a preferred KB deal done. If you're trading KB and Q, then why in the world are we keeping a $16 million closer and a $13 million relief pitcher?

Sharma took some swings? Can he play 2B or CF and will he be cheap?

Because if a 22 year-old hit 31 HR in his rookie season for the Cubs, you would be gushing about how great he is. If he literally brought nothing else of value to the table to being a good baseball player I doubt it. Especially in an environment everyone with a pulse and and couple hundred PAs hits in the 20s to 30+ HRs. He’s kinda capped as a 2-3 win player with his profile, maybe he has a peak 4+ head as an outlier. For example, JD Martinez hit .304/.383/.557 with 36 HRs with double the walk rate and about 1/3rd fewer Ks than Eloy last year and was only worth 3.2 WAR. As I posted before, I never said he was a great player and MLB has become a place where one-dimensional players are on every team. The AL has paid them a lot of money and extended their careers by having the DH. At 22 years old, it's kind of hard to predict what he'll do in the future.

HR at age 22: Bonds 25 Griffey 27 Frank Robinson 31 Mantle 27 ARod 42 Jimenez 31 Pujols 34 Aaron 26 why do you do this Because if a 22 year-old hit 31 HR in his rookie season for the Cubs, you would be gushing about how great he is.

HR at age 22: Bonds 25 Griffey 27 Frank Robinson 31 Mantle 27 ARod 42 Jimenez 31 Pujols 34 Aaron 26 Lol, now compares eras. In Aaron's age 22 year (1956), 12 players hit 30+ HR's. In 2019, 58 players hit 30+ HR's But not in their first season and as a 22 year old. I never said he was a great player, but in this era where MLB is like arena football combined with the DH, he has a great start as a slugger.

Anderson had a fantastic season last year, but seems to be reasonably adequate if he does come back to earth. Eloy looks to be a superstar slugger at 22 years old assuming injuries don't get in his way. Madrigal looks like the old-fashioned gritty 2B (certainly more Nellie Fox than Ryne Sandberg), but he could have a decent ML career. Not sure why you don't like them. Anderson had a good year at the plate but I don't like him defensively. In fact I think they have a number of defensive liabilities. They're going to have to out-slug their competition, which they might be able to do. They've definitely improved but I don't think they're scaring the elite AL teams. They're certainly not going to win strictly on defense, but young pitching and slugging certainly gives them a good chance in the AL Central. After that, the playoffs are a crapshoot.

Anderson had a fantastic season last year, but seems to be reasonably adequate if he does come back to earth. Eloy looks to be a superstar slugger at 22 years old assuming injuries don't get in his way. Madrigal looks like the old-fashioned gritty 2B (certainly more Nellie Fox than Ryne Sandberg), but he could have a decent ML career. Not sure why you don't like them. Eloy is a superstar slugger? Eh HR at age 22: Bonds 25 Griffey 27 Frank Robinson 31 Mantle 27 ARod 42 Jimenez 31 Pujols 34 Aaron 26

Anderson had a fantastic season last year, but seems to be reasonably adequate if he does come back to earth. Eloy looks to be a superstar slugger at 22 years old assuming injuries don't get in his way. Madrigal looks like the old-fashioned gritty 2B (certainly more Nellie Fox than Ryne Sandberg), but he could have a decent ML career. Not sure why you don't like them.

It's hard to know what we want between Theo sitting around waiting for the KB decision and PTR crying about how poor he is. I suppose any superstar-in-the-making that's available for next to nothing would be on our shopping list.

Lot's of other options: Contreras + Quintana to the Angels for Patrick Sandoval + Noe Ramirez Kimbrel (plus $7 million per year) + Bote for Leclerc Chatwood + Almora for Margot + prospect

The other question is whether Zobrist would accept a lowball offer.

I guess PTR figured out how to cure Theo's poor impulse control problem.

So you're saying we could be the NL version of the Angels. A team of 2 or 3 superstars surrounded by a bunch of role players and no pitching.

Obviously the lawyers are getting paid an hourly rate. At this speed, you would think this is a Supreme Court case.

How much cost-cutting and austerity has to happen for the Cubs to acquire Betts next offseason? The budget will need to replace Lester and Quintana along with your desired Baez extension and raises (plus arbitration).

In the last 4 years the Cubs payroll was 12% over the Cards, 88% over the Brewers, 74% over the Reds, and 102% over the Pirates. We were the Yankees of the NL Central. Why is that the measuring bar? We are a big market team in a division of mid-size market teams and outspend all of them by quite a bit every year. Fans complain when the Yankees or the Dodgers outspend their competition, but we've been doing it for quite awhile. Guys like Steinbrenner took his profits and put it into the team on the field while Wrigley used the Cubs as a tax write off.

No, that definitely was a huge part of what they did. In the last 4 years the Cubs payroll was 12% over the Cards, 88% over the Brewers, 74% over the Reds, and 102% over the Pirates. We were the Yankees of the NL Central.

Tomorrow's headline "Cubs sign Kevin Tapani to a contract for league minimum".

Probably looking for a new sugar daddy after Trump and Jared go to jail.

Not after you trade Bryant, Quintana, Chatwood, and Darvish.

With those qualifications he might be a trade target for us if he was on another team.