Statyllus

Circular logic at best…deliberate obtuseness at worst.

Milwaukee proves the point. Cubs outspend their division rival virtually every year but the Brewers prevail. I hope this font size is more to your liking.

Article strikes out on efficiency. Spending efficiency matters most. 2025 playoff field realities: • Several playoff teams were below Dodgers/Mets payroll • Several missed-playoff teams were above Cubs payroll • Postseason outcomes are weakly correlated with raw payroll This undercuts the claim that: “Revenue rank should dictate payroll rank.” That’s a fan expectation, not an analytical rule. The Cubs are now better positioned to sign free agents than top spenders because many are in the most expensive tiers of CBT and surcharge penalties. See attached image. LAD must spend $2.10 for every dollar they add to their payroll in 2026. Cubs are great position for efficiency.

The reality of acquiring a top young controllable SP is daunting if we all agree that Boston established the market value in the Garrett Crochet deal for the White Sox. Boston gave up four (4) Top 100 prospects 11, 14, 25 and 54. Crochet actually had a winning record for an awful team.

The Cubs are clearly in need of pitching, and Edward Cabrera is a young, controllable arm having a good 2025 season (4-4, 3.48 ERA, 92 Ks in 88 IP, 1.24 WHIP) with arbitration years through 2028. The Marlins, meanwhile, are looking to build around their young core and are listening to offers for their established arms, seeking prospects in return. Here are three win-win trade scenarios, focusing on fair value and addressing both teams' needs, with no over or under-paying. Cubs receive: Edward Cabrera (RHP) Marlins receive: Cubs prospects Trade Proposal 1: The High-Upside Deal * Marlins Get: * Kevin Alcántara (OF - Cubs' #4 Prospect): A high-ceiling outfielder with excellent tools (power, speed, defense). He's still a bit raw but has the potential to be a star. This gives the Marlins a premium position player prospect to add to their developing core. * Jaxon Wiggins (RHP - Cubs' #5 Prospect): A powerful right-hander with a big fastball. He's further away than some, but his stuff is electric and he could develop into a top-of-the-rotation arm. * Why it's a Win-Win: * Cubs: Acquire a talented, controllable starting pitcher who fits their rotation immediately and for years to come. Cabrera's current success and future potential are a significant boost. * Marlins: Get two of the Cubs' top five prospects, adding significant high-end talent to their farm system, particularly in areas they'll need for future competitiveness. Alcántara provides a potential impact bat, and Wiggins offers front-line starter upside. Trade Proposal 2: The Balanced Package * Marlins Get: * Moises Ballesteros (C/1B - Cubs' #2 Prospect): A highly-regarded catching prospect with an advanced hit tool and surprising power. He's close to MLB ready and could fill a long-term need for the Marlins. * Jefferson Rojas (2B/SS - Cubs' #3 Prospect): An athletic middle infielder with a solid bat and good defensive instincts. He projects as an everyday player with offensive upside. * Brandon Birdsell (RHP - Top 10-15 Cubs prospect): A solid pitching prospect with good control and a diverse repertoire. He's likely a dependable middle-of-the-rotation starter or high-leverage reliever. * Why it's a Win-Win: * Cubs: Still land Cabrera, their coveted starter. * Marlins: Receive a well-rounded package of prospects. Ballesteros offers a potential long-term solution at catcher, while Rojas brings a versatile infielder who can hit. Birdsell adds a more polished pitching prospect who could contribute sooner. This deal provides both high floor and solid upside. Trade Proposal 3: The Near-Ready Impact * Marlins Get: * Owen Caissie (OF - Cubs' #1 Prospect): A powerful corner outfielder who is very close to MLB ready and has shown significant improvement in 2025. He projects as a middle-of-the-order bat. * James Triantos (2B - Cubs' #6 Prospect): A high-contact infielder with developing power and good defensive versatility. He's also nearing MLB readiness. * Why it's a Win-Win: * Cubs: Get Cabrera to address their immediate and long-term pitching needs. * Marlins: Acquire two prospects who could make an impact in the very near future. Caissie offers elite offensive potential, and Triantos provides a high-floor bat with defensive flexibility, accelerating their rebuild/retooling process. This trade prioritizes closer-to-the-majors talent. These proposals aim to balance the Cubs' desire for controllable, impactful pitching with the Marlins' need to replenish their farm system with high-quality, relevant prospects. The specific combination of prospects can be debated, but these scenarios represent fair value based on current prospect rankings and team needs.

Agree 100%! Nico is a proven performer but there are three (3) categories of Cubs fans that have different agendas: 1. Fans that just want to win now, 2 Prospect Huggers that act as though having good prospects is an end onto itself- it is “winning” and finally 3. The Budget Watchers who love to “count the beans” along with Jed and Tom.

Great detail on the Cubs financial structure for a possible Bregman signing. The only concern is that there’s too much detail for it to be leaked to media by Cub sources - especially since the structure is no doubt viewed as a competitive advantage by the Cubs. That means that Boras sources leaked the structure for their own purposes. Boras likely wants to provide the media with the structure and a detailed explanation of it to ensure the media reports it as a clear win for Bregman and the Boras Corporation should the Cubs and Bregman come to terms - a 90% probability now.

If Cease is coming to Cubs - Shaw is going to Padres - it’s as simple as that. Some Cub fans - the ones that are avowed prospect huggers should understand this simple fact- the Padres will insist on Shaw for the exact reasons that you don’t want to trade him. Preller will not want your alternatives to Shaw for the precisely the reasons you are happily offering them. Shaw is an excellent middle infielder prospect who might become of 4 or 5 WAR major league player but he has never been tagged as player you build a team around.. Cease is currently an excellent major league player. That’s all anyone really knows today. That’s not to say Hoyer should not try to talk Preller into alternatives or even get more than just Cease. But if it’s Cease for Shaw and the Cubs reject that trade, they can file that decision as yet another bad baseball decision under the Hoyer regime.

Padres are going to make a deal for Dylan Cease feel like a molar extraction. Not because AJ Preller is greedy or evil but because it’s going to be an extremely competitive process to trade for Cease…and because AJ Preller is greedy and just a tiny bit evil. If there are any Cubs with an abundance of talent, upside, controllability, record of good health and a low price tag that’s who the Padres will demand. Matt Shaw and Assad are those guys - once Preller has targeted them - it’s them or nothing. He just moves on.

Bregman is not likely to return to the Astros because the team no longer needs a third baseman given the reality that they traded for Issac Paredes. What they need is a left-handed power hitting corner outfielder. The team leadership has likely come to these dual conclusions already. However, on the off chance the Astros front office and ownership confuses a public relations challenge (fans and local media reaction to the loss of Bregman) with the actual need for a third baseman, the Cubs should be standing ready to assist the Astros. The Cubs do need a third baseman because they don’t have an everyday major league third baseman. They do have a minor league middle infielder in Matt Shaw who they are attempting to convert to a major league third baseman while the guy attempts to hit big league pitching for the first time. On a 1 to 10 scale of difficulty- we can all agree that’s at least a 7. Coincidentally, the Cubs do have a high level Top 100 prospect corner outfielder who hits with power from the left side, Owen Caissie. A one for one swap of Paredes and Caissie might seem to favor the Cubs, but bear in mind there are no left handed outfielder options available for the price and control of Caissie. So in the unlikely event, the Astros’ front office decides to address their PR problem by re-signing Bregman; trading Paredes -and his $7MM salary-helps with the Bregman financials while also avoids moving Altuve to LF and Paredes to 2B - a 10 on the Yikes Meter. The Tucker trade - in its final effect - becomes Caissie, Cam Smith and Hayden Wesneski for Tucker.

We should be careful not to create a mediocrity permission structure for the Cubs since most of their woes are rooted in extremely poor baseball decisions not solely in payroll. Describing the Cubs as an upstart team is disorienting since they have veterans at nearly every position. Let’s finally provide them with sound advice that’s consistent with what they are trying to be in 2025 - a team with 2-3 WAR players at every position who Hoyer hopes will overachieve to be 3-4 WAR players. Tucker being the notable exception. Adding Kiki Hernandez to such a team at this point in his career is counterproductive since he’s unlikely to overachieve even as a bench player. But Hoyer doesn’t have much time to add pitching depth and just plain bench players. He pretty much dithered away this off season.

There are more Cub fan boys on this site than fleas on a dog. The Cubs are not the Orioles clawing to bring down the Yankees and other major market teams in the AL East. The Cubs are the only major market team in the NL Central. They routinely get their ass handed to them by the Brewers. The Cubs under the Hoyer reign have produced no superstars from the Cubs farm system. And no, PCA is not a superstar and the jury is still out on him. Brewers have a 19 yr old LF who is a star in his rookie year. He delivered results by help the Brewers go to the playoffs- again. Other than future hopes and dreams about a truck load of minor leaguers riding in to save us, what have you got - a $200M+ .500 team playing in an easy to win division. Results in the PRESENT is what MLB is about. Not misty eyed fairy tales about some great future. In the here and now the Cubs suck under Hoyer.

Cubs’ self imposed budget restraint discussions are getting tiresome. To summarize, the Cubs have plenty of money to spend on improving the team-they just have good reasons not to. Of course, money is NOT the Cubs problem but rather ineffective decisions. Padres and Red Rox have the challenges of financial resources to compete with the Dodgers and Yankees respectively. The Cubs have to compete with that financial juggernaut- the Milwaukee Brewers! Brewers don’t spend more money than the Cubs-they simply make better baseball decisions.

Cubs have traded Cam Smith along with controllable major league players to Astros for a very good rental player that they don’t seem likely to sign to a long term contract and this trade would be in the same vein of “win now” but the scope is franchise transformative. Hoyer’s strategy aside, I doubt he would be able to pull off a trade of this scope in competition with other teams that might covet Dylan Cease. Hoyer has no historical trades in his transaction portfolio that come anywhere near the scope and impact of this trade. Signing Jack Flaherty to a 2 yr deal seems more Hoyer-like. Marginal improvement with the hope of overachievement, limited expenditures of controllable talent, low risk short term FA contract. Win small/fail small

Yes EVERYBODY understands that the 90th win has more marginal value than the 62st win so why are these failing knuckleheads spouting it like some new info that they just discovered? They are failing and they should be concentrating on that rather pretending they launching some new concept. Focus on results. Either Hoyer has them or he doesn’t. I hate an highly paid excuse maker.

More broadly MLB allowed teams to have PE investments dating back to around 2019. It’s tightly regulates but Ricketts likely could not resist the investments with the infrastructure debt they reportedly carry. Guarantee there are investor slides explaining how to maintain and grow revenue while making so-called intelligent investments Fan base bring the suckers.

Jesse politely nailed it including such Cubisms as “the marginal value of a win” and “overachieving our projections is the way we win” in business one is welcome to have any hair brained schemes you like but eventually accountability comes knocking. Jed is never held accountable for failures of his nutty strategies.

It appears in the last paragraph of the article

Okay, so what I hear is the Luxury Tax is the virtual budget for the team with the 4th highest valuation by Forbes. Of course, spending any amount has to be based on decisions, execution and results Cubs leadership has been a failure across the spectrum. It says the Cubs put profitability over winning always This is not the view of most MLB owners. Cubs fans apparently support this approach- they are ultimately the ones that decide Cub profitability. Fan comments on this stream indicated that they buy into the Hoyer approach and love current ownership.

You still haven’t addressed the content. Are the Ricketts and Hoyer using strategies to run the Cub that are often deployed by teams that are up for sale? BTW that’s different than saying the Cubs are being sold. I ironically asked whether the Cubs were up for sale. Just like you’re deploying a strategy of being deliberately obtuse. This is a pretty easy thing to get plugged into once it’s explained but yet you haven’t pointed to single strategy that would NOT be deployed by a team that was being sold. Give it try. Show me how really smart you are. You’ve failed to do that thus far.

Cub Fan Boy. Head in butt

Cubs fans need to stop insulting “mid market” teams by saying the Cubs act like them. AZ is a mid market team and they just signed a $200M SP. Point is the Cubs are deploying and leveraging strategies that businesses use for primarily for 2 reasons. 1. They don’t invest enough to truly compete usually because they are cash strapped (Cubs shouldn’t be cash strapped but do carry high debt level) 2. polishing up the books to sell. I don’t know if the Cubs are selling or not. I don’t care if they are or not. In any case, the Cubs don’t effectively compete and do employ strategies that look like polishing up the books. Now it is possible to do more with less investment-but are you making the case Hoyer’s Cubs have successfully done that? Who know why Hoyer has chosen theses strategies. But they are not best practice among team that win on a regular basis.

Mind numbingly idiotic response to irony. Did the Cubs compete for any first tier FA this offseason? No. Did they even pretend they were competing for talent? No. Did they dump Bellinger’s salary?Yes. Did they reinvest that salary or get equal talent back in return? No. Did they over pay for Tucker that history says they’re just renting?Yes. Do they have a sure fire 3B talent on the team? No. Did they trade away such a talent.? Yes. But here you are kissing the Ricketts’ ass Tell me what would selling the team look like if they were? Enjoy Cub Con.

It’s a thinking exercise. Give it a try. Does it matter if the Ricketts are selling or not if Hoyer is RUNNING the team like they’re selling it. Clearly, under Hoyer regime the team is not running the Cubs like other major market teams. Hoyer doesn’t compete for top players, he dumps salary and talent and does not convert into anything beneficial to winning. Jed traded for an arbitration eligible player soon to be FA in Tucker with the undisputed fact that he has NEVER signed a player contract for $200M+. He traded away a proven player at 3B without a rock solid plan to replace him. (Matt Shaw has 2 yrs professional experience and has never played an inning MLB) Nor has Hoyer as President VP Op developed a Cubs superstar - lots of flame outs and high hopes. Biggest move is record setting contract for a manager that did not win even one more win than the previous manager. All of MLB thinks Cubs management and Ricketts are pathetic - and benefit from an outstanding loyal fan base. Perhaps the fan base is the issue. We get what we deserve mostly.

Vidal, Miles, Luis, Gage…players destined to be known by only their first names? When a major market team struggles to not only cover every position (see 3B) but also has one of most gag-worthy benches in all of MLB there is something awfully wrong.