Bobson Dugnutt

everybody here when reality starts to sink in that David Stearns has forced the cubs' window shut: https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/2de3adb6-b387-4729-9737-0bf4efe20f2d#BJb0JaerBG.copy

god i can't wait until 2019 when we have darvish and harper in the fold and those dorks are talking about how our window is going to be closing in 2023 or whatever.

lmaooo actually cracking up at my desk right now.

As mentioned on the last page, Ross came after Lester was signed. This is true but we were rumored to be interested in Ross before signing Lester and the thought was that it was to lure Jon to the Cubs (or was a condition he had to sign). I remember the board thinking that we didn't need to sign Ross now that we've got Lester (since we already had Welly and Montero signed). Tweet from Rosenthal a week before Lester picked the Cubs: [tweet] [/tweet] yup, and this one from a week earlier... [tweet] [/tweet]

wow looks like Stearns leaked those Ellsbury/Darvish rumors to scare the cubs into signing a 35-year old replacement level catcher. he continues to play chess while Theo plays checkers.

who is the sixth starter in that case? http://www.uglypufferfish.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/shang_tsung.gif

i think all it does is free montgomery to play the swing role again and make spot starts without relying solely on wilson for left-handed relief when monty is starting. I think if The Cubs get Darvish or bring back Jake Montgomery is traded. who is the sixth starter in that case?

i think all it does is free montgomery to play the swing role again and make spot starts without relying solely on wilson for left-handed relief when monty is starting.

would everyone just leave R. Show alone

and i think the front office has talked about this in the past. was it the heyward/zobrist/lackey offseason where they pretty much said that they took care of multiple years' worth of offseason acquisitions all at once? similar idea here.

i think this is a definite possibility. i know that whenever you do these projections (and i always appreciate the breakdowns) you leave money for trades. but maybe they feel like there just won't be much out there worth trading for. or that, since they've used a lot of their trade assets over the past two years, they won't really be able to outbid other teams for attractive pieces without dealing from the major league roster (which they're seemingly reluctant to do). so they're just going all in now.

Or it means they aren’t really that serious about Darvish and are just making sure they explore every avenue. if we aren’t serious on darvish and don’t want arrieta, are we just locked into cobb no matter what? i’m pretty sure i’m the sixth starter right now. going into a season with the rotation depth as it currently stands would be unconscionable for a team that plans to contend. i mean, as it relates to darvish, i think there could be a number of reasons why they felt comfortable making this deal. maybe after talking to him for the last month, they don't believe they're able to meet his asking price in terms of either years or aav and have decided to move on. maybe they're really confident that they'll get him for a low enough aav that they had an extra $2 million to play with to bring back a guy they like better than grimm. or they'll go super cheap on backup catcher/OF. or they've determined that the trade deadline market is likely to be really thin, so instead of leaving much wiggle room for in-season trades, they're going to try to get basically all their shopping done now. in any case, i'm fully confident the cubs will sign a starting pitcher and you'll be bumped to seventh starter by the time the season starts. by the second half, when depth becomes especially important, we could be looking at Monty/Smyly/Tseng/Alzolay as depth. that seems alright to me.

I think he made $2 million last year as a scrub pitcher that nobody cared about. So getting a raise of $1.5 million after putting together a solid year and being a pitcher nobody cares about doesn't seem that crazy. yep, i'm fine with Duesning as a 3rd LH reliever, freeing montgomery up to make spot starts when needed. and $3.5 million isn't anything i'm going to get too concerned over. after we shoot justin grimm into the sun, we've increased our payroll obligations by like $2 million.

this seems fine to me. i trust our front office didn't blow their chance to sign darvish or harper to sign brian duesning.

If they go with an 8 man bullpen, Grimm will probably compete for the last spot. Morrow Cishek Edwards Strop Montgomery Wilson Duensing Then Grimm, Maples, or maybe one of the guys they claimed puts it together. possibly. i just can't see them spending a combined $6 million on Grimm and Duensing.

this basically guarantees that grimm is gone, right? but they still have to pay him, what, $1 million? and then duensing will make an extra $1 million over what grimm was slated for.

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Eloy is gonna be a stud and it’ll be regrettable if Q is a 4/5 and doesn’t stay healthy. How do the Cubs have Quintana for “twice as long”? Good thing he's never been a 4/5 nor had health issues yeah, what?

Yeah don't blame them for trying to keep the window open (I would've gone the blow up route) but if enough things fall right that team can compete for the division or a WC. A lineup with Posey, Longoria, Belt, Crawford and McCutchen hitting 2-6 in some order could/should be pretty good. Heyman (grain of salt caveat) mentioned that they might still pursue Lorenzo Cain. considering they lacked any outfielders with a pulse going into this offseason, Cain + McCutchen would obviously be quite an upgrade.

i don't agree with the direction necessarily, but Posey, McCutchen, and Longoria in the same lineup is fun. obviously it would have been more fun 5 years ago, but still. i also think the giants are still pegged for 4th place, although maybe they can overtake the rockies.

lol the yankees interest in darvish is so real they’re willing to give him $16 million a year

I was always dubious on how real their interest/financial ability was for Darvish and how much he wanted to go there. I never really saw them as a threat unless they really went over the top on a offer (which I don't believe they could really afford). I view them more as a Cobb/Lynn landing spot or some of the bargain/risk guys like Tillman, Garcia, etc. Oh, I definitely agree with this, but it's still probably a good thing to see one of our four known competitors for Darvish allocate a decent amount of money elsewhere.

Given that the twins are a team that’s been mentioned in relation to Darvish all offseason, does this do anything to decrease their likelihood of signing him? $8.5 million a year isn’t a small amount for teamlike the twins. And yeah, I really liked Reed as an option for us, but it seems like the Cubs have been focusing on other things.

that's good so he's able to name like six of his kids after him before he has to start doubling up

alright, so where do we stand in relation to the luxury tax?