UMFan83

all i remember is i got a small upset win in one round and then rawaction slaughtered me Raw slaughtered me too. I think in the next round after yours. Hell I think I voted for him

I wouldn't be surprised if he's had conversations with guys who have opt-outs who have said if they had to do it all over again they'd rather not deal with it. Or he could go the Jason Heyward route and vastly underperform to the point where no one is discussing the possibility of him opting out.

I doubt Boras went into meetings saying "My client refuses to accept an opt out". No but if we take his comments at face value (which yeah big if) he instructed Boras to not discuss opt outs. I highly doubt the Phillies were bringing the topic of player opt outs to the negotiating table.

Yeah...for example I don't think many people were talking about Kershaw joining another team last year. Yes there was a 'will he opt out' discussion but most people knew that even if he opted out he was going back to the Dodgers. But whatever I guess some people are wired differently and based on his comments it seems like the distraction may have affected his play last year. I guess its comforting for him to know that he doesn't have to worry about his next contract or next team for the rest of his career and he can just focus on baseball.

I don't think it's dumb as hell. The guy doesn't want to go through free agency again. An opt-out is something you negotiate in to a contract. If he didn't want one, there is no point to try and get one. He got what he wanted. Generally speaking players don't seem to enjoy all the talk of "what are you going to do when your contract expires in two years" dialogue that goes on. If you have an opt out in three years, within a few months of your new deal you are going to be asked about what you are going to do. Some players may be obsessed with always being as highly paid as possible and will deal with the questions in order to get that. Other guys would be happy to get a record contract and then let somebody else beat that record. But in no way is it "dumb as hell" to have a $330 million guaranteed contract. You are right that not every player wants the distraction and not every player cares about being the highest paid player. It just doesn't personally make any sense to me though that you wouldnt want control. If the Phillies werent willing to go to $330 with an opt out, fine its a concession, but if it isnt even on the table at the player's insistence it just seem right. Maybe he feels great about the Phillies being able to have sustained success, but if they don't you are stuck being underpaid on a middling team for the rest of your career with no other options unless they trade you.

The Cubs were so under the radar on this one that even Harper and Boras weren't in the loop.

That is dumb as hell unless it was leverage for more money. You can still be with one team, you just have an opportunity to bail out and make more money if the team that you've never played for until now turns out to suck. 13 years ago the highest salary in baseball was $21m (ARod) and in 2018 Trout (who was technically still in his final arb year of service time) made $34m. Kershaw made $35. So a $14m rise highest paid player in 13 seasons. We can't assume a rise will be linear, but I would guess he's not even among the 20 highest paid players in a few years. This year if you include his signing bonus, he's only 7th, and that $30m number will drop to $26 for most of the remainder of the deal, which would be tied for 13th highest in 2019. Among players making ~$26m this year: Jon Lester, Jake Arrieta, Felix Hernandez, pre-extension Aranado, Jordan Zimmerman. If he's producing MVP numbers and seeing worse players make more, he's going to be pretty pissed that there is no opt out.

I'm not sure any of those guys you listed will take a minor league deal unfortunately. I see Welington Castillo is going to be a free agent, maybe he will return home if we can sell off some of the light fixtures at Wrigley (you only really need like 4-5 to see the ball)

I'm still putting the odds at around 5% that we will sign him. if he hasnt physically signed the contract, he's still in play...go get him Theo!

Yeah I mentioned that too. It's certainly possible it was just a coincidence but I really want to believe the Cubs were taking one last stab. That said, I feel like even if the Cubs were really good at not leaking info, if the Cubs were talking to one or more teams in a last gasp attempt to clear space, I feel like we would have heard at least some rumblings.

I wonder if we will see less Tom walking around Wrigley greeting fans this year.

Surprised he didn’t get any opt outs in there. Rosenthal is saying he didn't want an opt-out. That doesn't make any sense unless it was to get extra money out of them. There's no reason to not want as much control as they are willing to give you.

But seriously, it doesnt matter anymore but Zobrist and Heyward back in the lineup and Harper signing is announced hours later.

25.4 per year...or put another way Brandon Kintzler plus Cole Hamels plus .4 million Horsefeathers Theo just as much as Tom I wouldnt be surprised if it was quite a bit front loaded. But yeah if the Cubs were concerned about luxury tax then this would have been a good deal for them.

Holy horsefeathers So much for not really wanting to play in Philadelphia. He is now a Phillie for life

Screw you Ricketts family

Well obviously it’s a trade and it would have to provide some benefit to the other team. I’m not sure if a random rebuilding AL team cares if they are facilitating the Cubs getting Harper if it means they are picking up a top Cubs prospect or two along with a player they can spin off at the deadline (Zobrist) or a respected clubhouse guy that can try to overhaul his offense in a no pressure situation while still providing positive value overall or even just a good team that knows it isn't in the harper market. zobrist at $12M for one year is an attractive option for a lot of teams. True, he was literally the 2nd most valuable player on a 95 win team last year by fWAR

Well obviously it’s a trade and it would have to provide some benefit to the other team. I’m not sure if a random rebuilding AL team cares if they are facilitating the Cubs getting Harper if it means they are picking up a top Cubs prospect or two along with a player they can spin off at the deadline (Zobrist) or a respected clubhouse guy that can try to overhaul his offense in a no pressure situation while still providing positive value overall

Does seem like there is a little smoke with all of these absences for personal reasons from the 2 most likely players to be traded to clear up payroll. I just wish there was more reports of the Cubs being in this besides “they checked in and are longshots” I did see one of those odds sites update their Harper odds and the Cubs were listed (at like 4000-1 but still) My theory is that the Cubs know that we are in the Harper end game and are maybe taking one last stab at trying to dump Heyward and Zobrist. Or they really did both have excused absences unrelated to anything else but that’s less fun to believe.

So the Dodgers are going to do what this board thought/was hoping the Cubs were doing. Dammit.

It's non-exclusive so we can get him if the Bears are willing to give up 2 1st rounders!

Ahh thanks, I unfollowed him when he went on some pro-Trump rants the other day.

jeff passan is saying the extension is 8/255. showing my work: [tweet] [/tweet] So much for the Cubs liking next year's FA class better. Gotta think that would be been one of the names they would be targeting in that hypothetical scenario. Still time to get Bryce!