The Cubs’ reported lack of spending capacity has been the offseason’s main storyline out of Wrigley Field, though in a recent radio interview on 670 The Score (partial transcript here), president of baseball operations Theo Epstein dismissed the idea that the Competitive Balance Tax is “dictating any of our actions or inactions this winter at all.” In regards to the $206MM threshold, “there are times when strategically you want to make sure you’re under it or where you don’t mind going above it. This isn’t one of those offseasons where strategically it makes a heckuva lot of difference to us,” Epstein said. “It’s just sort of traditional budgeting. You spend what you have. You don’t spend what you don’t have….We have more than enough resources to win, and that’s the way we’re going to continue to approach it.”
It should be noted that the Cubs are already over the CBT threshold, as Roster Resource calculates a luxury tax figure of slightly under $228.5MM for the current 40-man roster. If crossing the $206MM line altogether isn’t a concern for Epstein and his front office, a bigger issue could be the $246MM threshold, which would trigger a larger tax payment for the Cubs and a ten-position drop in the first round of the 2020 draft. If this estimated $17.5MM of payroll space is what the team really has to work with, it still doesn’t leave room for a major addition like Bryce Harper, who has been rumored as a target if the Cubs can shave some more salaries off the books.
Here’s more from around the National League…
- The Brewers’ deep outfield and Keon Broxton’s out-of-options status made him a trade chip for the club, GM David Stearns told reporters (including the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Tom Haudricourt) in the aftermath of the trade that sent Broxton to the Mets. “Teams are smart, so they looked at our outfield situation and saw we had a couple of out-of-option players who are talented,” Stearns said. “Teams have been poking around on Keon since the end of the season. We discussed scenarios with different teams and this is the one that finally went over the (finish) line.” In regards to any outfield additions, Stearns said the team will do its due diligence, but overall, “we are comfortable with the options we have at this point.”
- “There’s no timetable for a resolution” in the dispute between the Braves and first-round draft pick Carter Stewart, Gabriel Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes. As detailed by The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal (subscription required) in early October, the MLBPA filed a grievance claiming that Stewart failed to reach an agreement with the Braves after his physical turned up ligament damage in his wrist, and he’s now seeking to be declared a free agent by Major League Baseball. The grievance alleges that the Braves did not offer Stewart 40 percent of his slot value, which is the minimum offer that must be made to a player in order to receive a compensation pick in the following year’s draft. Stewart was the eighth overall pick in the 2018 draft, so Atlanta stands to be picking ninth overall in the 2019 draft unless Stewart’s grievance results in a favorable ruling for the young right-hander. Needless to say, it would be a big setback for the Braves if they missed out on such a high pick and received no compensation whatsoever, so this situation is certainly worth monitoring in the coming weeks or months until some decision is finally reached.
- “The degree to which the Dodgers pursue [Bryce] Harper will say a lot about where they are headed as a franchise,” Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times opines. The Dodgers have been rumored to be suitors for Harper all winter, particularly since the team created outfield space and luxury tax space in the Yasiel Puig/Matt Kemp trade with the Reds. Rather than a long-term mega-deal for Harper, however, the Dodgers have reportedly been more interested in offering shorter-term contracts with a higher average annual value, though Hernandez wonders why money is suddenly an object for a big-market franchise that spent freely for years. Hernandez argues that L.A. fans won’t be impressed by a sudden restraint in spending, particularly after a season that saw the Dodgers duck under the luxury tax threshold and thus perhaps leave themselves short-handed for the World Series.
I reckon a club should also drop 10 places in the draft if they don’t spend to a certain threshold.
No. Horrible idea. The NBA has a similar rule where a club must spend 85% 90% of the cap room. You get teams that give out these horrible contracts that buckle a teams spending ability later on which has created such disparity in the league and why super teams have formed because the teams with cap space can sign players but ones that gave out horrible contracts to mediocre players cant make a formidable offer.
The NBA is also basically run by the players so I’m not sure it’s a great analogy.
I will also point out that a potential benefit to a salary floor is more money by percentage goes to the players, which would open a lot of possibilities for needed reforms in the next CBA
But then I’ve always been of the opinion that George Steinbrenner was much better for baseball then any ‘frugal’ owner has ever been.
of course he was!
PLV but there is no cap in MLB. There should be a minimum to be spent. I suggest 175% of the revenue sharing they receive. That would be about 80M per year.
So, you sign Chris Davis. It doesn’t make you competitive.
It also doesn’t make any sense.
You can either lose draft position, or tie a brick around your franchises neck and toss it into a river…
I don’t see a lot of owners choosing the latter, I’d imagine they want to get good at some point. They’re much more likely to sign several inconsequential veterans then one awful player…
Id rather see the limit lowered to 190 million, but in agreement for lowering the limit minor league deals (950,000) and veteran minimum contracts are increased in value. Also, increase wages for minor league players in the systems.
No
Minor Leaguers do not need an increase in salary. Even those on Minor League min get an allotted $2,000 a week during the season, plus have housing, food, and everything provided for 6 months. So that’s a $50,000 salary that they only have to use for half a year, so that’s the equivalency of having a $100,000 salary. Since most 18-24 year olds are not even close to that kind of income. I don’t feel bad for these guys at all, especially since most of them are not aiding to the income of their “company” yet. However, players that do not get assigned to clubs (Extended Spring Training guys) don’t get any pay unless the team wants to be nice to them. I definitely think that these guys should be getting paid at the same rate as Minor Leaguers or at least close to it.
Most owners think a soft cap is needed to somewhat curtail large market spending. But that backfires on them.
To simplify…….
When da Yankees give Manny his $30-35m AAV, it now raises compensation of all 3B’s. Agents of tenured (i.e. 6 years in) 3B’s will compare their clients stats to Manny’s stats. Say an agent can show his client is worth 2/3’rds of Manny – he how wants $20-23m. This trickles down till we get to arbitration, at which time an arbiter will award a 5th-6th year player a similar percentage raise – and that trickles back up as veteran 3B’s with contracts expiring may have poor years, but are now underpaid.
This assures the larger market teams can take advantage of mid and small market (SM) teams salary dumps – i.e. because the market on a player by position is always rising a percentage, the SM’s are forced to pay some salaries they cannot afford. So they either dump some productive players, or let them go FA.
This has been going on since the owners agreed to arbitration.
In a true free market system da Yankees can give Manny 50% more then the next best 3B. However, that would not force all other teams to raise their compensation by a like percentage.
To those that say the owners can afford it, they’re all making gobs of money – uh, no. Some are. Yankees. Red Sox. But even the large market Dodgers and Cubs are pulling back some. And Yankees did for a few years recently. MLB may have teams valued at a billion dollars and up. But when costs are rising faster then revenues, that’s not good……in any business.
And may I add – player salaries are hardly the only expense an MLB franchise has.
Being paid 50 thousand for half a year and then being paid nothing is still a 50 thousand salary, because that’s all you’re getting paid.
Ans considering it’s 50 thousand with no retirement benefits, no job security, and is highly likely not to last into your thirties, it really is abysmal when you actually put some thought into it
No.
Not true.
Minor leaguers to do not earn $2000/week. They do not have food, housing and everything paid for 6 months. Not true. Please share your source.
marketplace.org/2018/04/05/business/minor-league-b…
Minor Leaguers start at $1100/month and are lucky to share an apartment to split the rent – or live with a host family.
That is simply not true.
AAA players make $2150 a month! Low A players make $1100 a month. They earn less than that until they get to full season ball.
They do not get paid at all in spring training regardless of level. Most teams provide 2 meals per day during spring training.
They get no per diem at home and they sometimes get one meal a day from the teams. In AAA, they do get $25 per day in meal money on the road.
They typically share apartments. In areas like mine where apartments are expensive, they often have 3 or 4 guys staying in one 2 bedroom apartment and share the rent.
They are required to show up at 11am for 6pm games and in the minors those games often don’t end until 10 pm. With after game meetings they are leaving the park after 11pm. 12 hour work days 6 and sometimes 7 days per week. That is a typical day, not an out of the ordinary day. They spend hours on busses and in low end motels when on the road.
When all is said and done, unless they are on the 40 man roster, a AAA player makes less than the federal minimum wage.
All of what I said is easily googled. Why would you feel it necessary to make up a long lie like that?
money.cnn.com/2016/07/01/news/companies/minor-leag…
ftw.usatoday.com/2014/03/minor-leaguers-working-po…
Salary for minor league players
A $1400 per month
A+ $1600 per month
AA $2000 per month
AAA $2300 per month
They’ve gotten a little bump since the numbers you are using, but yes, they don’t make any money.
Hypothetically, if a club had to forfeit a first round pick, to sign Harper or Machado, instead of drop 10 spots, for 40M+, they’d still sign Machado and/or Harper anyway.
Luxury tax rules for repeat offenders, hurt more than a 10 spot drop in draft for $40M+ over lux tax. If you get Harper or Machado’s signature, the pick becomes moot.
At the end of the day, competitive balance draft picks are still the only picks allowed to be tradeable. In a very recent Jerry trade, he acquired pick No.77 lool
I’m love w/ NFL system: All teams are required to spend 89 percent of cap over a 4 year period. You can be under the cap one year, so long as you spend 89% over 4 years.
The last four year period was 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016. This means ALL teams must spend 89% of cap by 2017
The penalty for not reaching 89% over 4yrs isnt bad; team’ll give the money theyre short to their own players
This system works beautifully. 2019 NFL salary cap is estimated to be 187-$191 million, sixth straight year, of at least $10M increase
Keep in mind that nfl contracts aren’t guaranteed. Parts are but majority is not.
Exactly bigjonliljon! In the NFL other then Cousins, nobody has a fill 100% guarantee.
xabial, is that what you are suggesting? MLBPA give up the security of fully guaranteed contracts so teams can cut players whenever they want and only have to pay signing bonuses?
Aaron Rogers has a 100% guaranteed contract too.
There should be a minimum and a maximum or you lose draft picks – makes the most sense
Only if all teams share every dollar of TV revenue evenly, NFL style.
Nono, it makes the least sense
Or we can stop the socialization of baseball and let owners run their team, just like any other business.
Seriously? MLB still benefits from an anti-trust exemption that has continually been upheld in the courts. No other sport has this protection. This is actually a good thing in one aspect: An owner can’t pack up his team and abandon a city to move to another without the approval of the other owners, something which has happened in other leagues like the NFL.
Additionally, baseball is an industry that needs to be healthy to survive. That applies to the individual franchise owners and the players. It can’t be run the same as other businesses the owners might have had before purchasing a ball club.
if you really want to care only about profits, let’s switch owners. Idiot. You have ZERO CLUE how good you have it, having owners who will do whatever it takes to win.
Not the worst idea – but go full capitalism here. No salary caps, no luxury tax and no reserve clause.
Allow the players to move freely.
YES!!
Only if all teams get the same amount of revenue like in the NFL, NBA and NHL. That won’t work in baseball where some teams have 3 times as much revenue as others unless it is based on gross revenue. If that were the case the Yankees HAVE to spend $200 million on payroll as a minimum and the Rays have to spend at least $70 million. That would be the same percentage of revenue.
Aside from the Cubs being way over the luxury tax line they are going to being overhauling their roster the next 3 years. Harper doesn’t make much sense given what they’re facing.
They’re gonna need to extend Baez and Bryant after 2021. Gonna need to extend or find an heir to Rizzo
They’re gonna need to replace Lester Quintana Hamels in the rotation.
Gonna need to replace Strop Morrow Duensing Kintzler Cishek (5 relievers) after 2019.
Having Darvish and Heyward on the books till 2024 really hurts them.
^This
^ this you can say for just about every team, everyone has a star or 2 they will need to sign in 4 years, in 5 years we rarely see the same team that was rostered the opening day 5 years before. It’s the Astros too, the Yankees, the cubs. The Indians. Then the Braves Phillies, etc. It’s part of the big picture , and I get what you’re saying. But having a world series ring somewhere in that 5-7 year outlook quells a lot of the problem, at least they won a championship, if they didn’t it would be much worse
Zobrist comes off after this year and Chatwood the year after. That’s 30 million.
You can replace a lot/extend from Lester, Hamels and the two mentioned salaries
It is just a matter of how much they are willing to eat to get rid of Heyward. They will probably save around 50 million upon his departure (which should be soon). Hamels, Morrow, and Zobrist alone coming off after this season saves another 41 million. Cubs can buyout Lester at 10M saving 15M after 2020. If they don’t use club option for Quintana, that’s another 10.5M. If they just stay healthy, make some minor deals and perform the way they should there will be plenty of room to go and get anybody they want after 2020, even Trout. Save money now and be patient. If they are competitive at the break, a trade for an ace or a closer from a struggling team may get them to the promised land anyway!
Braves better not have screwed up again. The international issues is one thing but to mess up on our home turf on top of that is flat embarrassing….
They better not get a compensation pick. They knew the rules and didn’t go by them.
First off the Braves have said through Bowman they did in fact offer the minimum, but knew it wouldnt get a deal done. The damage was severe enough they just didnt want to risk a top pick and money on him. Second, this happens all the time and players NEVER win, because it usually ends up an agent tried to strong arm the team behind a players back, or some other hurt feelings or misinformation involved. The Braves ridnt just decide to burn a draft pick for funsies because they dont know how the draft works.
All these pitchforks in the comments based on predictable rumor mongering, during a slilow baseball day, is just ridiculous.
Then why even waste anyone’s time with this grievance if the Braves absolutely did offer the minimum 40%? If anything this will leave a bad taste in the GMs’ mouths and hurt Stewart’s draft stock.
Because it hasn’t been proven to the mlbpa that the Braves did. Maybe this is something that simply has to go through the process. You and I don’t know anything except that one side says they did and one says they didn’t, so what’s the point of making a determination when we will find out for sure shortly?
This looks like the Brady Aiken vs Houston situation.
Aiken never claimed that the Astros didn’t offer him 40% of slot value…
I’m not making any determination on the process. I’m saying that if the Braves did offer Stewart 40% of slot (close to $2m), they should have no problem proving it to the MLBPA. This case should have been closed within like a day or two. And unless he has an actual case, Carter Stewart is a scumbag for having the MLBPA file this grievance.
And if the Braves didn’t offer the requisite 40% of slot, what the heck were they thinking?
Braves try to cheat again and get caught again the penalty will be more than lose of a comp pick. They are under probation from last cheating.
Lol, cheat? How did not signing the #8 pick in the draft improve their situation at all? Typically when you cheat it improves your situation. Dude was damaged, ala brady singer. He may be fine in the long run but I wouldn’t wanna dump a bunch of money in a hypothetical.
It did improve their situation, they have the #9 pick this year. Maybe a case where they drafted him in order to have a high pick in a stronger draft. Stop drinking the braves kool aid
That doesn’t even make sense. Why would the braves draft a player that they knew had an injury just so they can have essentially the same pick the next year? What happens if the braves draft another hurt player next year?
They dont sign him and get the #10 pick.
The braves actually still benefit. Bonus draft pool money this year from the #9 selection.
If their compensation pick doesn’t sign, though, they get nothing. It doesn’t keep rolling over.
Just wanna make that clear before anybody tries to go down that rabbit hole.
While Carter Stewart supposedly had the best pitch of the draft (curveball), I don’t remember seeing any mock drafts that listed him in the top-5 overall. He went about where he was supposed to go. A post-draft physical, which I believe is customary before any signing – like taking a mechanic to check out a car you’re about to buy – revealed ligament damage that Stewart may or may not have known about, but ATL definitely did not, which is why it didn’t sign him at full value. It would have been quite the strategy though to have taken a chance on him at #8 knowing about the injury, drafting him, then giving him the 40% offer in a shallow draft, only to try and get another pick in a deeper draft the next year.
ATL drafted Kolby Allard knowing that his draft stock slipped because of injuries in his senior high school season, but I don’t believe he was hurt at the time of the draft. Drafting someone that is rehabbing or ailing is not uncommon if the injury is disclosed at the time of drafting – it could actually help the team get more value in their pick. However, I think the issue here was that ATL did not know about the ligament damage at the time of the draft.
The point is this type of grievance should never happen. You’d have to be a complete idiot to not offer your first rounder at least 40% of slot knowing what’s at stake and you’d have to be just as stupid to file this type of grievance if the team indeed did make the offer.
What everyone is missing, is the fact that he enrolled at East Florida State college, which is the old BCC, a community College. If he isn’t damaged material, why go to a community college and not try to catch on to a D1 college?
You can reenter the draft sooner if you go to community college. You’re only committed for 3 seasons to NCAA schools.
He can declare for the draft as soon as next season now.
The Dodgers also took on Homer Baileys contract. How much room did they actually clear?
They also got pretty good prospect value which is often ignored when discussing the trade. Puig, Wood and Kemp were not going to be on the team after 2019. Downs and Gray were good pieces to help replenish the farm a bit after trading for many rentals recently.
about $16 mil
What all non Dodger fans don’t see is they got rid of players that were useless. They were replaced before they even left the team. DEPTH. That”s what the Dodgers have and what they dealt. Freed up cash money and got 2 good prospects to stash in the farm for future trades. Lost nothing!
They got rid of 2 outfielders with 120 OPS+ apiece & a solid mid-rotation starter, and added the WORST pitcher in the game. If Puig, Wood, and Kemp are useless, then Bailey is sunscreen on a skunk.
Dodgers cut Bailey immediately…yes, Puig, Kemp, and Wood are good players but they weren’t in the teams long term plans at this point. Plus, the trade freed up money along with acquiring 2 decent prospects from Cincy. Addition by subtraction
@joe
Non Dodger fan proving my point. Clue less bro
Word!
Maybe explaining it a different way will help him understand. Thanks
They are losing about 5 wins in Puig/Wood/Kemp and have injury prone pitchers and outfielders that aren’t necessarily going to replace them.
It’s still a win for the Dodgers, don’t get me wrong, but they might end up flipping those prospects back for similar players to Puig/Wood at the deadline. (think Granderson in 2017.) Someone will get hurt and some younger guy will regress, and average old players will suddenly seem not useless at all.
K you sound a little better besides the minus 5 wins thing. Don’t know how you came up with that but whatever.
You can’t predict the future but all 3 of those players were dead weight. Gone after this year.
This is also a small tid bit many people are over looking. Dodgers are also clear of most of the drama queens on the team. Loved Puig but you could see alot of the players didn’t like his kid like antics, Kemp was crying because he wasnt’ t playing everyday. I don’t have to explain anything about Machado. I think there is going to be a better team chemistry this year.
That does not make them useless
Kemp was a 4th or 5th OF at this point, Wood wasn’t going to factor into the rotation, and while losing Puig stings a bit, he was a FA-to-be anyway. Clearing $16 million, grabbing a couple solid prospects, and alleviating the logjam in the OF was the whole point of the deal.
I think Wood should have been ahead of Hill in the rotation, 2018 was an abnormal year for Wood He give up a lot of hr but usually He was the Dodgers pitcher with less hr allowed. Now probably Caleb and Stewart will be starters if we have injuries. I want Caleb to stay in the bullpen, Dodgers Owe a bullpen to L.A. Fans
Wtf? I feel like the Carter Stewart grievance should be an open-and-shut case. The Braves should have a record of what was or wasn’t offered to Stewart. If they did offer the requisite 40%, Stewart is pretty scummy for having this grievance filed at all. If they didn’t offer it, the Braves FO are morons.
Imagine if someone accidentally used the 2017 slots when calculating 40%…that guy is getting fired for sure.
Imagine failing to offer 40%, losing the 8th overall selection, losing the 9th overall selection in this years draft, and possibly other penalties.
Imagine a pitcher getting picked 8th overall and not disclosing injuries or revelations from a physical that could jeopardize a large signing bonus. Braves beat writer Mark Bowman has already reported that Braves reportedly offered him 40%. He could have been wrong, but he isn’t known for that.
“A post-draft physical, which I believe is customary before any signing – like taking a mechanic to check out a car you’re about to buy – revealed ligament damage that Stewart may or may not have known about”
You said that above. So did he know about it or not?
Either way, I wouldn’t be surprised AT ALL if players knew about issues before the draft and didn’t say anything, and I don’t really blame them at all.
Reply Braves are morons!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Its a fact Braves did not offer proper amount they we cheap.
Cubs, Yanks, or any team won’t care about dropping 10 spots for going $40M over the luxury tax ($206M) to sign 26 y.o. star of Harper /Machado’s caliber.
My issue, remains, monetary constraints. Cubs fans have too many albatross contracts and extensions due to core. They think Cubs’ upcoming TV deal give them their pick.. I have news for you… Yankees buying 100% of YES Network. Yankees have more $$ >>> Cubs
You’re going after the Cubs about albatross contracts? Coming from a Yankees fan? Hmm
How do the Yankees finances have any impact on the Cubs ability to spend? Just because they’re both peripherally involved in Bryce Harper doesn’t mean much of anything about whether the Cubs can or can’t spend
And?
“,,,Hernandez wonders why money is suddenly an object for a big-market franchise that spent freely for years.”
Well they did spend freely for years, but haven’t since Friedman was hired. It’s not sudden. The only reason they were able to duck under the CBT threshold in 2018 was because of Friedman’s more frugal approach. It’s been very different from the way they spent under Coletti.
Word!
Which one?
Being a Braves and vikings fan brings soooo much drama into my life and the seasons always end in heartache… Is it spring training yet!?!
Your Vikings were gifted last year by my Saints care of Marcus Williams. It’s not all Gary Anderson’s heartache.
Polishuk and Adams who wrote the article that the “Dodgers owe the fans Harper” are morons. No better then the hi speed wanna be fans saying we have to sign him or all is lost. Any true fan knows signing Harper is idiotic and helps nothing. Friedman stay the course. Yeah it sucks missing winning the WS 2 years in a row but we have been there. Putting the pieces together will happen. I have faith. Patience is key.
I agree with you 99%, I think it makes sense to have interested in Harper. Clearly every team would be better with Harper. Is he worth the money, that is a different ballgame. As you mentioned pieces, you will go further and be in a better position to compete in the World Series with key pieces vs just Bryce Harper.
Exactly
Harper is not worth the money. Can you imagine if this is just the beginning for Friedman. 2 WS appearances with more to come. Next year is going to be around $60 million freed up. Everyone wants to win now, but time is always on your side when you don’t drain your farm and spend stupid money on over hyped free agents. I believe this is just a start to his plan. Hatorade is gonna be flowing once the Dodgers really get going!
Please don’t sign Harper for 10 years. Look at the Angels and Pulojs. Not a smart move for any franchise.
That’s apples to oranges. Harper is five years younger than when Pujols signed that contact.
What were the Braves supposed to do? If they offered 40% and he unexpectedly accepted there’s no way we would have had the funds to acquire Brian McCann this offseason.
So the Braves did what they had to do, offered less than that but reported they offered the full 40%.
Couldn’t be taking that unnecessary risk he might accept. Helped us net McCann this offseason if the deception holds
Glad they finally cleared things up for cub fans. The cubs aren’t worried about the tax. They are simply broke from previous bad contracts. Glad they’ve got that cleared up so we can quit arguing about that here.
Cubs are far from broke. They may be choosing to not spend right now but it’s not because they’re broke. They have as much money as any team.
That’s one way to read it
A decidedly unintelligent to the point of illiteracy way to read it…
But technically A way…
I believe it said the cubs had lack of spending capacity. Sounds like broke to me.
‘broke’ would mean completely out of money, if one were to use the definition used pretty much universally.
Having already committed to over 200 million dollars in spending for the upcoming season, there is no intelligent way you can interpret them as broke.
You’re free to read it how you like, first amendment and all, but if you choose the stupid way, people will judge you by your choices ..
Yes they have spent all they can spend.
Which is a completely different thing than being broke.
Next time you try and push a narrative, put a little effort into it, at least make it difficult to rip to pieces.
Pound sand
Signing Stewart would NOT have prevented the Braves from signing McCann. Not at all.
Carter Stewart, even with the injury concerns, was easily worth the ~$2m they would have had to offer him to secure that extra draft pick.
Money paid to draft picks doesn’t count against major league payroll
If the Braves are so strapped for cash they can either have top draft picks or supplementary major leaguers, the team is basically doomed either way.
Uh, it doesn’t work that way
MLBTR posters must lack the ability to detect sarcasm
Sarcasm almost always fails on the internet without the benefit of a certain font or an emoji. Anyone who hasn’t figured out internet communication by now may never understand how this works.
If only it worked like that. The money teams have to sign amateur draft talent is secondary to having the ability to sign them in the draft with slot money. I doubt ATL was not prepared with him accepting slot value and I surely know that they didn’t spend that presumed savings on a backup catcher 4 months down the road. Bad analogy coming — that’s like spending your first income tax return on a funeral plot.
Who do you guys think would be the most plausible trade candidates if the Cubs were to shed payroll and go after Harper?
Lester and Zobrist to the Twins,
Sano and Jason Castro to the Red Sox,
Nunez, Thornburg, and $$ to the Cubs
God, no.
Zobrist number 1 without question. And I think the most logical guy to shed a little and actually get a good return too is Quintana. Package him and Schwarber to an AL team and you could actually get a pretty solid return.
So, youre not intetested in winning?
I’m sure the White Sox would love to have Quintana back at a significantly discounted rate.
Happ or Almota packaged with Chatwood in a straight salary dump.
Zo is the starting 2B, right now. There is no idea what happens with or to Russell.
You can’t trade any of your orhervstarting put hers without creating a hole.
I sometimes wonder what the discussions are between Hal & Brian at the moment.
Ya’ll comment on the money and player with the plus/minus value related.
I mean what would the NYY brass consider in value spent vs developing players with all the money saved not acquiring either BH or MM
I will assume the same thinking comes across alot of GM’s and owners minds when players like this become available.
I sometimes wonder what the McRaes discuss, too.
Even with the trade an outfield with Taylor Muncy Bellinger Hernandez Pederson Toles and a few others is still quite capable. The Dodgers have the luxury of waiting until Harper or Machado get a few offers before they make a bid. Why compete against themselves
They are staying under the luxury tax threshold. What are they gonna do to make room for Harper?
Machado just makes no sense let alone the dude is a complete buffoon. NEVER IN BLUE
2 of those guys will be starting infielders on a given day. That leaves a 4-man outfield with no elite players. They can wait for Harper but their outfield is still missing a piece.
Idk if it’s honestly missing a piece, but whether it’s now or at the deadline they need to supplant a corner with a RH bat. I think you basically will see Pederson, Taylor, & Bellinger run out there more often than not, but finding an impact RH bat that can play LF/1st would probably make the most sense.
how about paying to that japanese team for villanueva
As a Dodger fan I rather see the Dodgers try to acquire a top of the rotation pitcher such as Kluber (how about Verdugo, Muncy, Santana and a mid tier prospect for Kluber), another relief pitcher (Herrera?}, resign Grandal for 2-3 years, and resign Dozier for one year.
My guess is that the Dodgers are not going to give up a lot for a Starting Pitcher.
You didn’t have to tell us you were a dodger fan. Your offer for Kluber made it pretty obvious
He was out of options but yet they got garbage back for their best defensive player. Dumb trade by the brewers.
Stop trolling, you sound ignorant
As I recall, you thought every one of the Brewers’ moves last year were a disaster as well, and predicted they would never make the playoffs.
Please remind us again how that worked out.
The Cubs need bullpen help. They need at least two bp arms..one from each side. You can debate all day long between Brewers, Cardinals, and Cubs. The Cardinals surely are better this year and I think the Brewers are as well. The Cubs need bullpen arms to keep pace
He simply could not hit enough to stay in the majors. Dead fastball hitter and thats about it. Yeah, hes a good defender, but he was out of options and was expendable. People acting like its a disaster move to trade him. He will get playing time in NY and im sure he is very happy for that. No way Yelich or Cain are sitting to give him at bats.
If Harper remains unsigned in March, the Dodgers might get him for the contract they want; backloaded, fewer years, maybe a team opt out after 5 or 6.
No, they won’t
If Harper is unsigned in March he’ll take a 1 year, 25-30 million from somebody and try again next season
The Dodgers are not going to sign Harper. They are committed to staying under the luxury tax. They will play around the fringes with their roster but there will be no huge signings. I think they will try to add a discount RH bat, reliever or maybe something at catcher. But there will be no big ticket players. Friedman has repeatedly stated his goal is reaching the play-offs and then “anything can happen”. He will not go all in for a WS title. The Dodgers are now on a budget.
that’s all very rational…but this is LA and fan expectations are high. They love their stars and right now the Dodgers don’t have one and the Angels do. If Harper is available in March, the Dodger FO will be feeling the heat
The Angels are also putrid and the Dodgers are in the play-offs year after year. Winning sells tickets and keeps the fans happy. As shown by the attendance at Dodger Stadium versus the Big A (Or whatever it is called now). The current Dodger organization / ownership have repeatedly stated what their plans are. Nowhere have they mentioned the need for a “star” to keep the fans excited. I don’t know who qualifies as a “star” in your mind. However I do believe Kershaw may qualify as one.
Everything I have read coming from LA’s management states they want to stay under the luxury tax, remain competitive, and continue to build their farm system. Harper will only be a Dodger if he accepts less money to sign there. And we all know that isn’t going to happen.
Heard the same news last year when the Dodgers were trying to shed money to get Stanton….beginning to doubt getting Harper at all and that they are waiting to clear more salary, which could only be Rich Hills contract.
The dodgers need to give up on kulber or jt they both are asking high on them and the dodgers won’t get them. Hill would half to go in a a package for kulber. Harper will go to the national. The dodgers are going to go for cheap and utility players for a while. The dodgers aren’t going to g to repeat.