Cubs owner Tom Ricketts went on the Mully & Haugh Show on 670 The Score this morning, making an attempt to defend the Cubs’ quiet offseason. (Hat tip to Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times, who wrote an article here).
Ricketts began, “First of all, we have spent money this offseason. We signed Cole Hamels, and we picked up Descalso, and I’m sure Theo’s got a few moves left in him.” We’ll hit pause there to note that to allow for Hamels’ $20MM option to be picked up, the Cubs had to ship Drew Smyly and his $7MM salary to the Rangers. That series of moves suggested that the Cubs felt they had to make a tradeoff to retain Hamels, compromising their rotation depth but saving money. Beyond that, Descalso was inked to a two-year, $5MM deal, after Tommy La Stella and his (eventual) $1.35MM salary was dealt to the Angels. So, the Hamels and Descalso moves added $13.15MM to the Cubs’ payroll.
Ricketts continued, “But frankly, we have one of the largest budgets in all of baseball. We put that to work, we’ve definitely signed a lot of players over the years. We have a team that we like. We have a team that we think is going to go a long way. We have a team that won 95 games last year without a lot of help from some of the guys we picked up last offseason. And all the different things that we fought through last year – the injuries, everyone’s having kind of down years, some of the off-field distractions…we like our club. And we’re among the very top spenders. So, I just think all that stuff’s kind of misguided.”
Ricketts had two refrains in this interview: we are already spending a lot of money on players, and we have a great team already.
Ricketts said that despite having unique stadium and tax expenses that other teams do not have, the Cubs are one of the “top few spenders” in baseball. He suggested the club could never spend at the level of the Yankees or Dodgers, implying the Cubs sit third behind them in payroll. Looking at 2018 end of season luxury tax payrolls from the Associated Press, the Cubs ranked fifth behind the Red Sox, Nationals, Giants, and Dodgers. Why the Cubs cannot spend like the Red Sox is unclear. Perhaps the problem is that the Cubs had for the most part set expectations of heavy offseason spending:
- 2017-18: $216.295MM spent in free agency (Yu Darvish, Tyler Chatwood, Brandon Morrow, Steve Cishek, Smyly, Brian Duensing)
- 2016-17: $19.5MM spent in free agency (Jon Jay, Koji Uehara, Brett Anderson, Duensing) plus the acquisition of Wade Davis ($10MM salary). Fresh off a World Series win, the Cubs were mindful of the competitive balance tax threshold, and of course were able to stay under it without fan backlash. The market was light on premium free agents, and the club traded for Davis rather than engage with Aroldis Chapman or Kenley Jansen.
- 2015-16: $289.95MM spent in free agency (Jason Heyward, Ben Zobrist, John Lackey, Dexter Fowler)
- 2014-15: $192.1MM spent in free agency (Jon Lester, Jason Hammel)
So the Cubs signed a $126MM+ player in three of the last four winters. It’s not that they haven’t spent money, it’s just that at this point in their competitive window, they’ve chosen an odd winter to stop spending. The Cubs’ brief playoff appearance this year, Theo Epstein’s “our offense broke” comment the following day, and the once-a-decade availability of free agents Bryce Harper and Manny Machado led most fans to think the team would be firmly in the mix for a major offensive upgrade, particularly Harper. Instead, Ricketts suggested the team had little room for improvement, saying, “The fact is we look at our lineup, and you look around the horn and who would you switch out?”
Though this was intended as a rhetorical question, it’s one that has many good answers. FanGraphs projects the 2019 Cubs at 87 wins, with the Cardinals coming in at 86 after the addition of Paul Goldschmidt. There’s also the Brewers, who have handily beaten projections over the last few years and won 96 games in 2018. I’ll take the over on FanGraphs’ 79 win projection for Milwaukee, while the Reds and Pirates also land in that 79-80 projection range. All five NL Central teams should be competitive. The Cubs hardly have the division locked down, so who would you switch out?
The Cubs were expected to move on from Addison Russell after his domestic violence suspension came down and further details emerged, but he remains penciled in at shortstop after tallying 2.9 WAR over the last two seasons combined. Their outfield consists of Kyle Schwarber, Ian Happ, Albert Almora, Jason Heyward, and Ben Zobrist – hardly a crew that should block Harper or even Andrew McCutchen. The bullpen has glaring holes, with closer Brandon Morrow starting the season on the DL and the Cubs choosing not to bring Jesse Chavez back. The Cubs are looking at Pedro Strop, Carl Edwards Jr., Steve Cishek, Mike Montgomery, Brandon Kintzler, and Brian Duensing in the pen, with the expectation being that Epstein will continue to sit out the bidding for top free agents. Craig Kimbrel remains on the market, while Zach Britton, Jeurys Familia, Adam Ottavino, Andrew Miller, Joe Kelly, David Robertson, Kelvin Herrera, and Joakim Soria are off the board.
Though Ricketts has typically participated in a fan Q&A at the annual Cubs Convention, he won’t be doing so at the event this weekend. He laughingly cited having the “lowest-rated panel” as the justification, but the cancellation of the panel coinciding with the club’s quiet offseason is a bad look for the team. Fan frustration has reached a boiling point this winter, and that’s why the owner should be accountable. While Ricketts noted that the panel could be brought back next year if people want it, why not just reverse course this year and field fan questions?
With the Cubs’ core of Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, and Javier Baez in place for only three more years, Ricketts has decided to sit out the 2018-19 offseason. Ricketts asked fans to withhold judgment on the choice, saying this morning, “We’re going to be great, and I think people people should judge us by what happens during the season, not what happens in December.”
Last off season’s moves are hitting them hard
I am SHOCKED that Ricketts didn’t allow Joe Maddon on there with him!
This is such s well written article… thank you!!!
Team might be headed for a rebuild sooner than a lot of people think. It’s been mismanaged for some time now—myriad bad deals.
Yes because throwing money at guys like Darvish and Heyward in free agency has worked out sooooo well for them the past few years. Lol
Heyward was an ultimate disaster waiting to happen
Was he though? look at his stats prior to signing. There is a reason the Cubs werent even his top offer.
Cards offered more in AAV for Heyward, just no opt-out. Thank doorknob he went north.
That said, Heyward got his revenge. He made Fowler look like a much better defensive outfielder than ever before and the Cards overpaid for him.
None of his prior-Cubs stats justify his contract. He had one slightly above average season offensively.
25 yr old gold glover that hit .293 is just slightly above average season… huh. Im not going to argue with you about the market value of a player b/c you dont really have ground to stand on there.
heyward is just overpaid for an average player, costing the team in terms of payroll. Cubs should sign Kimbrell or Harper. If their offense is failing, then its harper. it was media and fandom for the rizzo/bryant/harper back to back hrs
The whole wrigley into disneyland was to bring in money for free agents (line the owners pockets), but the cubs aren’t bringing in the free agents this year.
The tax situation was the cubs wanting the entertainment/amusement tax dollars on tickets back to them for what amounted to a private company taking tax dollars.. the city said no.
Yeah, he was never even very good. Who pays over 100m for outfield defense and under 20 hr’s with a poor OBP?
He was a lot better before the Cubs signed him, but I still can’t justify the contract even with his prior stats he wasn’t worth giving the 14th richest contract in MLB history. Historically bad deal, most likely worst contract in MLB history.
Every team over values every one. Look at jim hendry and his love for 2nd baseman. He was obsessed with with trying to trade for Brian Roberts. He gave milton Bradley 30 million dollars a player who never spent more than 1 season with one team. Jengabe derek lee who had one good year with the Cubs and maybe 3 good seasons his whole career 80 million dollars.
Then because he got comfortable lee refused to be traded to a contender in 3 straight seasons.
There Have been far worse moves and trades than Heyward. Jim hendry is one of the worst GMs of all time. He traded DJ Lemehieu for Ian Sterwart. Making an idiot like dan o’dowd look like a genius
Unless you hit .330 or above, batting average is irrelevant. You judge a hitter by stats related to run production. Off the top of my head, the most HRs Heyward ever hit in his career is 26. You don’t pay OFs who hit 26 HRs $186M. There are a gang of fairly average dudes who can do that. Now if Heyward. AVERAGED 26 HRs a year, that along with his elite defensive skill justifies his current contract. This is where everyone in the baseball world with an ounce of knowledge were left scratching their head when the Cubs signed him for that ridiculous amount of money. I mean, that’s MVP money two or three years ago. My second impression was, gee, the Cubs must know something about this guy the rest of us don’t, cuz Epstein’s a “genius,” right?
Funny, but didn’t the “genius” John Mozeliak offer Heyward that money as well?
Wait, you base your entire argument on an out-dated stat for one single season and dare say someone else has no ground to stand on? Nice joke.
What else happened besides that .293 BA? A combined total of 50 XBH, which is barely average for a regular with 500 or more PA, and well below average for a RF. An OPS of .797, which falls into the barely above average range for a regular with at least 500 PA. A combined total of 139 Runs and RBI, despite playing on a team that was good enough to win 100 games and finish with the best record in the MLB. Sorry, but that’s below average considering that he finished 3rd (out of 5) on his team in this regard among those with 500 PA or more. He did have a good 117 OPS+, but that and his defense do not merit his contract… even if he had done this every year of his career and not just for a contract season and the best he’d had since his rookie year. If you look up Dexter Fowler’s 2012-2015, is is remarkably similar to Heyward’s. Would you dare claim that he deserved an 8-year $184M contract that same winter? Of course not. I mean, up to that point, Curtis Granderson had managed a far suprior career than Heyward, and his biggest pay day was 4/$60M… half the time and a third of the cash.
Excellent post.
That’s just wrong:
2015: wRC+ 121
2014: wRC+ 109
2013: wRC+ 120
2012: wRC+ 121
Then with Cubs: 72, 88, and 99 last year.
He was about 20% better than league average his four years before becoming a Cub, then turned into a different hitter completely.
First of all the first half of that comment was in regards to him/her saying that it was a slightly above average season which is ludicrous. Secondly players are worth what teams offer to pay them. We know for a fact that there was at least on other team that was willing to give him more than the cubs did. That makes his contract market value. You can not argue that. It doesn’t mean it is a good contract
None of those players cost anywhere close to 184 million dollars. Definitely worst free agent signing of all time.
He was a 6.7 WAR player before the Cubs signed him.
Fowler was in his 30s compared to Heyward being 25 with a lot more potential. Also granderson was in his prime in the early 2000s are we really comparing salaries from 2 different generations? Use your head man.
Davis and Cabrera are far worse signings. Alberts contract is worse too
Heyward was only ever a somewhat above-average bat save for his rookie year, while his defense was overvalued. While it was a surprise that his offense got even worse, most people knew he was being vastly overpaid even when he first signed the deal.
Still, his offense has bounced back somewhat since hitting rock bottom in 2016, while his defense remains mostly elite, so his contract still isn’t a completely horrible one. He’s still good enough to start every day for a lot of teams regardless of how much money he makes.
Good. The city should say no. I hate Chicago’s tax on entertainment/amusement, but the Cubs shouldn’t get the tax money
Cabrera extension SO bad but Tiger owner Illitch, RIP, did it for love of game, legacy, so Cabrera would retire a Tiger and have Tiger hat in the hall. Print his money with Little Caesar empire and sign his favorite players because he loved his favorite players!
Cabrera is a future hall of famer, and not long removed from elite play. There aren’t any similarities between him and Heyward.
No one said they are similar. Cabrera is owed over 30 mil a year until he is 42. This has nothing to do with how well they have done throughout their career. I would much rather have Heyward’s contract to deal with than Cabrera’s
You’re thinking he was paid based mainly off his offensive production, when in reality back here on earth it is well known he was highly valued by not only the cubs but other teams as well how offered him MORE money because of his defense. Before becoming a Cub he was a .270 hitter with a .350+ OBP and easily the best defensive right fielder in the game. Oh, and he’d also swipe 20+ bags a year….. and had 15-20 HR power. You don’t think that’s worth a $23M AAV deal? Just look at what people (read as media… who are barely people in my eyes, haha) think Harper is going to get/worth. They think it would be insulting if the dude got anything less than an 8 year $300M deal. Averaging WELL over $30M AAV. And for what? A shi**y fielding outfielder who hit 25… maybe 30 HRs a year and who has hit .270 with a .390 OBP the last 3 years? Only thing he does noticeably better than Heyward did when Heyward was his age is hit HRs. So that means people must think hitting…. 10-15 more HRs is worth paying a guy $10M more/year than a dude with less power but pretty similar stats otherwise across the board. That’s a lot of money for a single HR….. $1M for each extra HR? No thanks.
I just find it funny how people lament over a certain player’s contract/salary and how overpaid he is. As if every professional athlete isn’t overpaid. I mean let’s rationally think about what is going on here. Grown adults, playing a children’s game for a living, getting paid in the millions of dollars. It’s crazy.
I should have mentioned this here instead of an old thread. Heyward’s contract is identicle to Joe Mauer’s. (with the exception of Heyward’s signing bonus). Twins’ fans whined non-stop about Mauer’s production after signing, yet Cubs’ fans take Heyward’s struggles in stride.
It’s the Cubbie-Koolaid.
His rain delay speech was worth the contract
Thank you
you cant really judge a guy that was injured all year. At the time Yu signed a contract that was below market value. This year he should provide quite a boost to the rotation.
Yu injured or not simply isn’t that great a pitcher actually.
Career 3.49 era Yu? Highest k/9 of all active starters over the last several years Yu? Career 1.19 whip Yu? Huh you must know what you are talking about.
“Why the Cubs cannot spend like the Red Sox is unclear.”
Uhhh, maybe it’s because Henry bought the Red Sox for $660 million in 2002 and has been paying down the debt; while Ricketts bought the Cubs for $845 million in 2009 and very probably has a larger debt service to pay in 2019? Ya think? Do the Cubs bring in as much revenue as the Red Sox?
How come Kris Bryant doesn’t hit and field like Mike Trout?
Red Sox also have their tv network already up and running, Cubs don’t have that yet.
I believe it’s not, ya think.
It’s Yu think.
The problems I see with the Cubs is that they might be built decently to win 90+ games, but I don’t see them as a team built well to win in a 5 or 7 game series. Some people will say it’s about the hot-hand when playoff time comes, but when you have notoriously streaky hitters up and down your lineup, and a bullpen that might produce a decent overall ERA, but lacks shutdown guys, you’re going to run into the buzzsaw pretty quickly in October.
They need more consistency in their lineup, and more guys that you WANT to hand the ball to late in the game.
No bullpen depth or closer = caput
Dumb. Just dumb.
Jiminy ricketts
Process and internalize how you must, but it’s their most obvious weakness. If you’re going to say a dominant bullpen doesn’t matter with a solid rotation, tell that to the Brewers who owned your sorry butts last year.
A weakness that wasn’t a weakness last year (in fact they had one of the strongest pens in the NL despite losing Morrow, Kintzler blowing up after the trade, Duensing pitching abnormally poorly, and Montgomery spending most of the season in the rotation), and should be stronger this year with rebound seasons? No depth? Say that to the staff in Iowa and the 6 prospects knocking on the door. No closer? They have 4 guys who have successfully filled that role in recent years.
Again with the reliever stats. The Cubs had 3 guys they could count on to get outs in pressure situations last year: Morrow, who is absurdly fragile, Strop and Cishek. Everyone else was suspect at best. We saw how that situation deteriorated down the stretch, so spare me the garbage reliever stats and rankings for the Cubs.
There’s nothing worse than a fan who cites bullpen ERA as a way to judge the effectiveness of a bullpen. So if a reliever dominates all year and gives up 6 runs in one outing, he’s terrible? No.
To follow up on that – the Cubs bullpen allowed the 4th most walks in MLB. They had the 18th worst WHIP as a bullpen…. but you’re right, walks and hits in the late innings don’t matter.
Look with a name like ChiSoxCity, you’re hardly an unbiased observer. Fact of the matter is the Cubbies have been to the post-season 4 straight years. 3 straight years to the LCS sandwiched around a World Series win. Statistically, you can’t win every year but you can put a team in a position to win, which is without a doubt what they have done. 2nd Milwaukee did not “own” the Cubs last year. They won game 163. The first EIGHT of NINE games we played MIL we literally did not let them score a run. 8 shutouts all different starters a d the entire bullpen. 3rd, your knocking this team while the White Sox GM is literally using the Cub blueprint for trying to rebuild- trade all of your assets for as many prospects as possible, hope a few of the bunch click at the same time then sign a few big free agent contracts. It worked for the Cubs in 16, the Astros in 17 and you try and fill in the holes afterwards to make the best of that cheap cores window. The Chicago Cubs of 2015 to 2019 have the best 5 year run of any Cub team in their ridiculously long tenure. Clearly the front office knows what it’s doing (which again is why Rick Hahn is attempting to emulate it). As a Cub fan I have almost literally nothing to complain about considering what the 80’s,90’s a d 00’s looked like prior (no pun intended on “prior”)
You are right Milwaukee did not own the Cubs, they did go into Chicago and win when it mattered most though. And you may wanna check what happened in the first 9 games, while the Cubs did win 8 of 9, the brewers literally scored a run in 4 of the 9 games, not 8 shutouts. Kind of hurts your argument when you make stuff up
What you said exactly. Relying solely on luck in the postseason is a recipe for short-term mediocrity and long-term irrelevance. Of course, unless Cubs fans vote with their wallets, Ricketts will make money either way.
A lead-off man with some speed would help this team immensely.
Been a problem for the Cubs for the better part of 20 years. They never seem to want speed guys on their team. Has never made sense to me.
You mean Speedy Willie Jay, and his inflated OBP from getting hit in the arse 20 times a year, wasn’t a good acquisition for them at an inflated $8M? I was told his high OBP, great defense and clubhouse leadership is unmatched in the league.
Daved…u couldn’t carry his jockstrap or his 8 million
Great comeback.
Yours is even better.
If you would have some new material sometime it would help. We get it, u dont like Jay. BFD
Yessir
Speed is overrated, at least for the guy batting leadoff. While you want some overall speed in your lineup, it’s much more important to have a guy with an elite OBP in the leadoff spot.
Although, if you have a guy who can give you both OBP and speed, that’s even better, but it’s ultimately still just a bonus
Depends if the leadoff hitter has power. If he does, speed isn’t important, but if he’s just going to stand on 1B and can’t run 1st to 3rd or 2nd to home on a single, then get his Willie Jay butt out of leadoff and bat him 8th.
Yankee fans complain that “Hal’s not doing enough” but look at other teams. Yanks have done more to improve their team than anyone else this offseason. Britton, Ottavino, Paxton, Happ, LaMaheu, Tulowitzki. They’re making moves, improving the team. Fans just mad the Yankees are finally showing restraint in doling out wasteful dollars.
And that is why the market isn’t as hot on Machado and Bryant as some initially thought. With less teams willing to buy and even less teams willing to meet the asking price, they look at teams like the Cubs as to why there is hesitation.
This team has a lot of bad contracts. Their good players are only going to become more expensive as their arbitration salaries increase. The farm system has gotten dramatically worse over the past few years. The arrow does not seem to be pointing up for the Cubs. The other Chicago team, however…
To be fair … one team has been awful (not on purpose) and then became worse (on purpose). Pretty safe bet to say they are on the way up. The Cubs have been the opposite of that. They built a world class team and have maintained that team over the past 3 years. There isn’t much room for them to go up further.
The Cubs will be better than the White Sox for at least the next few years.
No haha. The White Sox will be better than the Cubs by 2021. Top 3 farm. Most money available and a new TV deal next year. Cubs will be older and their prime players won’t be affordable thanks to that payroll and bad contracts.
The Cubs and Astros had top 3 Farms and they did something with it. It’s about the execution not the hope.
The Cubs will still have Rizzo, Baez, Bryant, and Schwarber in their primes in 2021 as well as whoever else they’ll still have or will have built around that core. That in itself should make them better than the White Sox at that time. 2022 on the other hand…
Also very dumb and uneducated comment.
In other words, we won a World Series now it’s time to line our pockets. K got it
Its a shame you are permitted to have an opinion. It really is.
Why is that?
Maybe it time to get over your conspiracy theories. Fact of the matter, which you seem to glaze over, is that they have one of highest payrolls in baseball. Secondly, another inconvenient fact is a couple of these contracts are AFTER they won a WS. Hmm, kind of blows a hole in your logic, eh?
As a matter of fact, dont comment again for 7 days. Think about your type-first approach and the shame you should feel.
They went for it again last year which is when they gave those contracts. They didn’t produce like they thought they would. I have been watching this team for 40 years and very passionate about them. To see them have the ability to blow away a small market team like Milwaukee only to sit back and do nothing pisses me off. So instead of being a smart ass like 90 percent of the other commenters on this website maybe try having a logical conversation.
Produce a logical comment first. After 40 years, you might not be a conspiracy theorist, one would think.
….wow, after 40 years, you definitely should feel shame. Lots of it.
How incredible that Cubs fans, who hadn’t won in over A HUNDRED YEARS suddenly turn into Yankee fans after ONE WIN.
found a troll!
Who is turning into a Yankee fan. I would like to see them win again. If anything the ones who say they can do no wrong are like Yankee fans. If you think this team as it is has any chance in the playoffs and the World Series for that matter you are a homer. They have sucked my whole life. The Yankees are a dynasty and probably will win again next year cause they are spending. He doesn’t want to spend like the Yankees and dodgers. Why?
1. Being a fan for 40 years doesn’t give you special insight. The Cubs of 40 years ago means nothing to the current conversation. Being passionate appears to be clouding your judgment.
2. They cannot spend like crazy every off-season. Milwaukee had more room in the budget this off-season. Simple as that. No conspiracy.
3. You were presented with factual evidence that disputes your original claim. You were implying a Marlins/Padres strategy to artificially pump up your club for a short duration (to get a new stadium, media deal, WS etc) and then blow the thing up. That clearly DID NOT happen. The team has sunk significant money into this roster AFTER the WS win.
Not as incredibly distressed and broken you were in 2016. Just think about that for a moment…and then relive your misery.
K.
Really old now dude, now you’re just a troll as bad as themed
K.
Everybody’s a troll to Cubs fans.
No this guy specifically just comments k. On every one of my comments. He thinks it’s funny but it’s really not. It’s childish.
K
That had to be the most satisfing K you placed. I laughed.
Chitown311 1
Simschifan 0
At least Ray Derek is dead. I got an account banned just trying to silence him lol
If you had an account banned on a fan forum, regardless of intent, that makes you kinda pathetic too. Far, far too many trolls on this site now.
Dude, just ignore him.
I’m gonna from now on. Kind of like themed. He only comments about Cubs articles. We all have our favorite teams but if you just comment on a specific team to bash them you are useless here.
You could have just commented “Yoan Moncada” if you wanted a synonym for K
The biggest point of all this is the fact that the Cubs are in the middle of this window and have done very little this off-season. Harper would be a huge improvement over Almora or Hayward and would help the “broken offense” immediately. He is only 26 and just now entering his prime years. I understand the need to be mindful of future obligations in the cores rising values, but to just sit this one out seems like a waste.
Close to or over $60 million dollars comes off the books after this season so why not make the move now and keep improving?
I have a feeling there will be an announcement of an extension with Javy before spring training and possibly Rizzo as well. KB will most likely leave after 2021 but there will always be others.
Or maybe they are waiting until next offseason to make a run at Arenado?
“My dad founded Ameritrade! I could spend as much as I want, but I CHOOSE not to!”
I thought the cubs “print money”?
I think the problem is where the money is going. And it’s not only into player contracts
They obviously do, theo has world series titles and brought back 2 baseball franchises from disaster. They are over 200 million dollars, and are willing to bank on the rtalent they already have, which already features 3 perennial mvp candidates in the lineup. Hardly need to sign a guy upwards of 300 million for a lineup boost. They will need starting pitching 2 to 3 years from now, that’s what they should save money for. You’re argument that they have no money is a terrible one, they do, obviously, they just are not willing to go all in on one of the 2 guys available. That hardly means they are poor, it means they believe in what they have. The white Sox, we will see what happens if they do go all in on a record contract for one of these guys, and we will see how many championships it brings them, that is, if they even want to sign there
If not Harper or Machado spend… SOMETHING! Impactful names are coming off the board. They want to add veteran leadership and bullpen depth, or so I’ve read. But what are they doing? Yes I liked the Hammels move. But you need to do more
you sure print this comment on a lot of Cubs articles. What do you gain from attempting to troll? imaginary internet points? I feel bad for you buddy
It’s Clark Bucks. They don’t go as far as you’d think.
gone are the days of clubs trying to win, now it is about putting a cheep product on the field and selling the inferior product to the fans
Ugh some old guys need to shut the hell up.
thats bold talk for the faceless nothings on the internet. It is the reality: Teams are making more now, worth more now and very apparently spending less on lesser players rather than gamble on contracts with proven players. They promise the sure thing later and fans have bought into the lie. The teams make money selling their product and if people will buy lesser products for the same money that they used to get better products at, why would they get better? There is no reason. except the desire to win.
I would actually be happy with them just getting a closer, if they could get Kimbrel for 2-3 years I would go for it. No more than that. That central is gonna be hard
Alright. We all get it. The cubs hands are tied. They’ve spent till they can’t spend no more. We see it in the media daily. But keep telling there fans how good they are. They aren’t going to be good and they are now on a downward spiral. But hey maybe they’ll get back on the finish last for a few years and restock pile there minor league talent.
How is winning 95 games a downward spiral?
Assuming the Cubs go with and infield of Contreras, Rizzo, Zobrist, Baez, Bryant.
An outfield of Schwarber, Almora, Heyward, with Happ being the 4th guy…there are some definite replaceable pieces. Happ and Almora are young however, so I can understand wanting to give them a chance but offensively, Heyward is awful and his contract is worse.
For Ricketts to suggest that this team is perfect and ask “Who would you switch out?” is totally ridiculous. Open your eyes man!
to be fair Heyward is far from awful. Gold glove defense hitting .270 is serviceable. He has also hit better each year. Now his contract is terrible, you got that right.
He didn’t say the team was perfect. He said it is good.
Which it is. None of the starting 8 is over 30, and they won 95 games with limited contributions from Bryant.
The SPs aren’t bad either. There’s no shutdown stopper, but the starting 5 should be OK.
You’re correct, he didn’t say perfect. But he sure made it sound like he wouldn’t switch out any current starters for Harper or Machado, which is ludicrous.
Young core. 95 wins with a half healthy Bryant and a unlucky year for Darvish. Rotation is solid. Lineup is young and full
Of potential.
My money is on Chatwood bouncing back and being an effective pitcher.
Hope morrow comes back healthy. We will need him
On a side note. It’s been fairly clear for a year we won’t be signing Bryant to a long term deal. Trade him and Q for Trout.
You can’t extend Bryant but can extend the even more expensive trout ? That’s logical
Bryant has hard feelings for not calling him up. He also has Boras I believe who doesn’t like extensions. Trout isn’t going to the Cubs now or ever however.
According to whom does Bryant have these hard feelings?
The story about the rejected extension has been denied by both sides…
yes been rejected, but Boras clients very rarely sign extensions. he wants them on the open market.
they want to be on the open market too because it’s how you get more money. But all that doesn’t make Bryant any more or less likely to leave since it’s still ultimately his choice
Close friends with Kris are you?
Baseball is played on the field, not on freaking Fangraphs.
I didn’t know Ted Cruz owned the Cubs???
This is like when your mom says “we have food at home” when you beg her to hit the drive thru as a kid. Xabial can probably relate.
The Cubs are good, they won 95 games last year, but the rest of the division has gotten much better. It will be extremely challenging for any team in the Central to win 95 this year. The give me wins are gone. The expectations of the Cubs and their fans to reach 95 wins just because Bryant is healthy is short sighted in this division. Should be an interesting year.
“Instead, Ricketts suggested the team had little room for improvement, saying, “The fact is we look at our lineup, and you look around the horn and who would you switch out?””
Maybe Manchado for that SS that had that DV issue? You know the guy you don’t want to answer questions about so you are skipping out on your owner’s Q&A session this year at the Cubs Convention.
I think they should have re-signed Murphy at 2B and let Baez take over short.
Yes, yes, yes and yes. NL Central is easily the most entertaining in MLB this year….you can even imagine a world where everything breaks right and the Reds/Pirates get into it…..Cubs are decent as is, but that might be enough….
I think Cubs fans are really overreacting to not adding a big name this winter. They had a lot of tough luck last season and with one more win would have been the top seed with home field advantage through the playoffs.
But I find it fascinating that the people that aren’t happy with the team, give no blame to Epstein. He was talking about the waves and waves of talent that would allow sustained success. The real issue is he hasn’t developed pitching for whatever reason. I’m not just talking about developing a front-line starter, he hasn’t even developed hardly anyone that can contribute quality innings from the bullpen.
I agree, they are over reacting here but that comes with spending pretty heavy the last 4-5 years.
I would argue that developing arm talent isnt really an issue. The cubs have made it clear that their strategy is to draft the best bats available and trade/sign pitchers. It has worked quite well actually but much of that talent went into trades in 2016. They worked out for everyone I think. I dont meet many cubs fans that would trade a ring to have those players back.
I would consider giving up less for Quintana though. Eloy is a beast.
Yes he is. As is Gleyber. Both still sting. I couldnt imagine the witch hunt had the Cubs not won in 16
All very valid points stl_cards16.
Dylan Cease is almost ready but they traded him to the White Sox.
As a Cubs fan I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt because he’s never been ‘cheap’ in the past. You can make a reasonable argument that the Cubs don’t need Harper that badly
If he takes the same line when it comes time to start extending people and money is coming off the books, he and I have issues, though.
It is interesting that the money coming off the books the next two seasons coincides with Arenado being available in 2019 and Trout the year after. If either of those two become Cubs, I will take my medicine with what they have this year for sure.
They don’t need Harper or Machado but they need someone in the bullpen to help out and definitely need a closer cause Morrow is not.
The BP could use a bit of tweaking, I admit, but spending big money on relievers is not a strategy that has historically produced great dividends. So I’m not overly upset that they’re not, for example, connected to Kimbrel.
Ricketts being tight with money, fine. Over the luxury tax, okay. But why hasn’t there been more trades?? Almora, Happ, Quintana, Bote, are VERY tradeable. The idea of trading Bryant who will most likely not remain a Cub down the road should have been explored. The fans love Baez, Rizzo, and Schwarber, but the rest would not really upset their fanbase that much. There were so many trades that were staring them right in the face, and nothing? NOBODY would take on 10M of Heyward’s contract? He is a disappointment, but he is worth that surely. They easily could have moved some of these pieces to try and snag Kluber or Syndergaard because the Mets and Indians weaknesses match up perfectly with what the Cubs could provide. Both of those teams were looking for established talent, not prospects for a return. The Indians have absolutely nothing in the OF, you are telling me they wouldn’t consider Happ, Almora, or a 1/2 off dicsount Heyward in a package deal?. Even Carl Edwards would be an enticing trade piece for other teams. He has great stuff, but hasn’t played up to it in Chicago. They had better do something quick, or fans are going to really be disappointed. It is almost as if the Cubs brass pulled an Eric Cartman on the fans saying, “Screw you guys…I’m going home.”
Quintana came in a trade. Hamels in a trade. Montgomery in a trade.
I really hated the Quintana trade and Hamels will have pitch to less than 3.50 ERA and have 30 starts to justify 20M. Montgomery was a good one though. Those trades came when they needed less. Now that they need more the crickets (or should I say Rickett’s?) are chirping.
Hamels, in the NL, can very much pitch to a 3.50 ERA or lower. In the last 11 years, he’s started 30 or more games 10 times.
Heyward projects @ 1yr/$5m if he was a free agent. He is, essentially, a glove first 4th outfielder.
And the Cubs could EASILY sign Harper to 12/450 and just have Heyward be that highly-paid 4th OF. Why don’t they do this? Greedy owners who want to make $500M next year instead of $462M, that’s why.
@mkeyankee Each point of fWAR is worth $10.5 million in FA. Heyward put up 2.0 fWAR in 2018. I will let you do the math.
2.0 WAR is MLB average everyday starter.
Please stop making Yankee fans look bad.
War makes guys like heyward seem better than they really are. That’s the problem with the statistic itself imo
Tim,
This comes across as more of and Op-Ed, than a report on a rumor/interview. It seems to have a lot of negative intent. This site usually leaves the slanting to this comments section. I hope you return to objective reporting.
This site has been this way since Day 1, in 2005.. I never wanted it to be just passing along news without adding any context/opinion/analysis.
Great article Tim. Keep up the good work. Don’t let a few morons try and change the way the MLBTR staff runs things!
People are morons for wanting objective info? yikes
It IS objective info that all MLB owners are causing this by lying to everyone about how much of the profits THEY are raking in.
If only MLB owners were put under the same microscope as the players aka the people who make the profits happen. Some old white guy is making billions while idiot fans cry about some player who was at one point awesome and created profit for MLB, making $20M a year when they might not be awesome anymore. So many fans are spoonfed by the media, but the correct stance is to ALWAYS side with players over owners and if you don’t….this is how slavery starts.
Where to even begin with this …
1. Teams are not lying. They simply aren’t required to report their financials (with few exceptions). Unless you working in the accounting department of a major league team you have no idea how accurate any statements regarding income are.
2. The players don’t make the profits happen. Without owners AND players there is no game. Owners assume all of the risk. They provide the capital. They run the ship.
3. Slavery? Really? Talk about the race card being used. Let me help you. I’ll wager that a full 70% of ML players would be making less than $100K/year (and for many it would be significantly less as they are uneducated and/or coming from third world countries where they would be stuck without baseball). Owners have literally pulled thousands of people out of poverty to give them a chance to hit a little round ball. That is called empowerment, not slavery. Your baseless accusations do nothing but further divide the country.
4. And no – you don’t always side with players. Just like you don’t always side with owners. There are bad actors on both sides of the equation.
You actually think playing a game for 3 hours a day in the summer for millions is comparable to slavery? My god man, just stop it, and dive back into the rabbit hole. Running a complicated business that comes with a ton of regulation, responsibility, and stress only to be blamed for all the problems that come with it is the real job.
Fans come out and watch on TV when their team is winning.
They do not regularly do that because a team has a Star” or loses one.
Machado did not attract fans to Camden Yard the last 3 years. Harper leaving the Nationals is not causing meaningful season ticket cancellations, if any.
When they do sign, there will be a temporary bump in attendance and viewership. But if their teams do not win big, within a year or two those numbers will revert back to from where they started. And those teams will be stuck with massive contracts.
I see all the skeptics, have even wavered on skepticism myself this offseason but the thing that keeps coming back front and center is this…. this really is a reallllyyyyy good team as it sits. I can see what the man is saying about in house.
You’ve got Javy, Riz and KB as boppers but they need people on base. If Jhey hits a few more holes, Schwarber trims his launch angle a tad and starts RE producing with doubles and singles, Almora is a breakout just waiting to happen, I truly believe that but he’s solid as it stands. What you don’t have in stick you have in defense. This is legitimately a 180+ HR team with atleast 3 100 rbi potential guys. Hot damn I’ll take this team all day long.
I think our bullpen is shaky and needs some upgrade but not necessarily these high profile FAs. We need a surprise up and comer, “tomorrow’s” guy. Im fine with the starting 5. The Darvish signing felt good but didn’t shake out….yet. Chatwood was a huge gamble, a huge hope, a 30 million dollar hope….meh, he showed he was no fluke lol. He is EXACTLY what he’s always been.
I think this team is up for solid, impressive year again. You heard it here 1st, 103 wins.
As far as Harper, man im a fan. I like what he brings. It’s not his potential, I like his game. His charisma, his in your face brashness. He’s all but guaranteed 30hr and 90rbi but I just don’t see where it’s smart money. I don’t see where he fits. I’d love him in blue but I’d also hate the hand cuffing potential he represents. I’ve seen a lot of losing, this winning feels good. Talking trash feels good and it’s sustainable without him. Do I think he’s worth 30 a year… nope! But if he were my son I’d sure hope he got it. So I hope he gets it.
But I admit I’m conflicted as a cub fan. I want him but we don’t need him. We could use him but if we use him then we lose other quality. If we sneak up and sign him ill be excited but if we pass ill also say good call.
Bottom line…. bring on baseball!!!
I would say at least 4 potential 100 RBI guys. Baez, Bryant, Rizzo, and Schwarber. IF Maddon doesn’t keep platooning him. By the way, his current launch angle needs to be improved, not trimmed. His experiment with leveling his swing out last season caused him to hit on the ground way too much. He would be better suited to going back to his original big swing that produced homer balls that are still on top of scoreboards.
Sadly I don’t see Schwarber getting 100 with the cubs, under Joe. I think the platooning is a terrible injustice that willand is stunting his growth.
I believe he’s earned the right to play everyday and show what he is or isn’t. That being said im all in on his 100 potential if he’s given the opportunity.
^Agreed. As an outsider watching the Cubs I don’t understand why Ian Happ is not playing 2B while Baez is at SS. Happ looks like a breakout candidate if he could get regular at bats. That’s just my perspective.
If you are looking for “tomorrows” guy, follow a catcher named Miguel Amaya in the minors this season. He is going to be a beast and makes Contreras a bit more expendable especially if he plays as poorly as he did last year.
I am familiar with miguel and yes he looks awfully good. Im actually starting to wonder if Willy was a flash in the pan 2 years ago. I dig him but I don’t think it’s an unfair wondering.
Harper’s low batting average is due to having problems hitting against the shift.
The 2016 Cubs were a really good team. The 2018 was not above average because of Baez’s amazing season. Remove his impact from the team and they would have been a .500 club.
*were above average
So you think Baez is a 14 WAR player? Thats funny
This team has 4th place tattooed across it’s forehead. Will give Theo a year to clean up the books and expect a 2020 revival
Because the Reds 1 starting pitcher is gonna propel them to .500?
Two! Wood AND Roark!
Rotation is old, injury prone and lacks depth. No pitching depth in minors and a questionable bullpen. Offense is extremely streaky but puts up overall great numbers. With the rest of the division stepping forward just looks like the cubs are ripe for an under bet on that win projection.
So we’re pointedly ignoring just how flawed the Reds are and just predicting doom for the giggles, are we?
Okay then…
Which “under” is that?
I think Pitt is the darkhorse, along with the majority of experts, not Cin.
Vegas win total.
I made this point in another post, but I don’t get the Cubs this offseason. Even if they do have financial constraints from ownership (which is a joke), where is the creativity you see from other GMs? You could find someone to take Heyward for $8mil/yr, trade the year left of Zobrist, release Russell, and give Chatwood to someone for around $5mil/yr and you have enough to sign Harper, while ridding yourself some from the Heyward, Chatwood, and Russell messes. That (or some variation) couldn’t work and address the lack of offense problem they thought they had at the end of last year? C’mon.
Why would other teams want Jason Heyward or Tyler Chatwood.Chatwoods career era is 4.44 and it’s been higher the last 2 years.and Jason Heyward hit 8 hrs in 119 games and his one redeeming feature of years past defense faded .Heywards signed thru 2023 and Chatwood has 2 more years. What team needs those 2 clowns even if you pick up some of there salaries. Heywards not worth 16 mill a year thru 23 even if Cubs pickup a 1/3 of the salary over that span and Chatwoods worth pretty much nothing.You yourself call them messes and you’re a Cubs fans.
The Cubs are already $16 million over the CBT. Much more and they start losing draft picks.
The team had no position players over 28 last season. This coming season they will get their big money starter and their closer back.
Heyward earned his money last year. To get that kind of production in WAR they would have spent $16+ million in FA.
You are getting rid of 4 starting players and then replacing them with one, leaving 3 holes in the lineup. Not smart for any team to do that.
IF MLB does not increase his suspension, releasing Russell creates a hole in the lineup and just puts them $3.4 million further into the red.
Zobrist is a $12.5 million savings IF you can get a team to take all of his salary and trading him leaves a hole in the lineup.
The Cubs will get little salary relief for Chatwood. They will be eating nearly all of the $25.5 million owed to get rid of him. Maybe they get $5 million of salary relief.
With $106 million left on his contract, Heyward would be nearly impossible to trade. Maybe if the Cubs ate $8 million a year like you said the Cubs could get rid of him, but they could not replace him. Now they have yet another hole in the lineup.
With all the huge arbitration raises coming to Bryant, Baez, Hendricks, and others they will definitely want to keep and the loss of 6-9 players that will be FA after 2019, the Cubs are going to need to spend huge dollars next offseason.
And you want to sign Harper who is going to cost $35+ million per year for a very long time? A guy that only fills one of the holes you created?
Put down the Old Style and sober up. You are not thinking clearly.
Heyward had a 1.6 WAR last year.How was that worth 21.5 mill.If thats the going price for a 1.6 WAR player we’re in bad shapebtw1,0 WAR is not worth 10 mill so 1.6 is not worth 16.Sorry
Oh boy, YourDaddy…you are wrong on so many levels. I think you are the one that’s been drinking. It’s okay. Have one on me too.
Arb contracts/agreements are not guaranteed. They could basically cut him up until a date in ST and only be responsible for league minimum. In which he’s suspended so they’d be responsible for zero.
Who would we switch out? The same two EVERYONE would switch out, Heyward to anybody and Russell OUT, no matter what. Ad this to the fact that although some (possible many) Cubs fans love Maddon, many of us are tired of “numerology baseball”. If you get to the majors you should have time to prove yourself against left or right handed hitters and the pitchers. Platoon hitting and ten pitchers per game SUCK. Hey Maddon, “try not to suck” …. again.
Pretty negative slant toward the Cubs in this article. That aside, Phil Rosenthal has a piece in the Trib this afternoon that’s also about Ricketts not having a panel this year at the Cub convention. I think the fact that they’re gonna go with their own network in 2020, which will undoubtedly require a fee to watch, is a tough sell- I just don’t think Ricketts wants to answer the tough questions about sitting on their hands this off-season.
I don’t love the bulk of the information here, but it’s hard not to agree with the final sentence.
Breaks a 108 year “curse” to bring a flag which flies forever to the town and team.
2 offseasons later…with a higher payroll even…
“You cheap bum!!!” – Fans
Cubs will be fine in ‘19! Harper is over-rated and Machado is a me-first guy who can infect a clubhouse with attitude. They need improvements across the board from KB, Schwarbs, Almora, and Contreras. In their age 26-27 seasons, it’s now or never. Starting 5 can matchup with any Central team. Only obvious need is in the pen.
Flaherty CMart Mikolas Gant and Wacha. had eras under 350.MIkolas a 2.83. The Cubs only had 2 starters under 4 unless you count Hamels who was there for a month and Lester didn’t have the year Mikolas did. So how exactly do they matchup. Chatwood is terrible and question marks due to age on Hamels and Lester.All the Cards starters are young and possibly will be better this year Even if you count Hamels his era was higher than all 5 Cards starters I named
All that and the Cubs still won 7 more games than the Cards. Imagine if just one Cubs pitcher some how has a better ERA than one Cardinal in 2019, Lester was 3.32 last year. Here’s a newsflash—-all the Cardinals you named are going to be one year older also. With four pitchers under 3.50 and another under 2.90 don’t you think they should have won 115 games???
What did Fangraphs project the Cubs to win last season? 87 games. They won how many? 95. That is how much stock you should put in those projections. Absolutely zero.
They are spending well over the CBT. They get Darvish back and healthy to start the season. Morrow should also be back and healthy by May or so. Fans should expect Rizzo, Bryant, and Hendricks to rebound from off years. It was a career worst in 2018 for Chatwood so they can hope he gets at least a little better.
This offseason they added to an already strong team and now Cubs fans are complaining? Well, then Cubs fans deserve a real stinker of a season for being ungrateful morons.
Always rainbows and care bears with Cubs fans. The reality is the ugly truth staring you in the face.
Jason Heyward is dead money.
MLB owners are all greedy slimeballs. Every last one of them. They ALL can “afford” to pay 100s of millions to any player, but keep salaries down as MLB profits get bigger and bigger because…of the players. It’s a joke and MLB owners need to be regulated and we need to start publicizing how much THEY make compared to the players.
But it won’t happen, because these billionaires control the media, and the media puts 100% of the focus on the players, and idiot fans only eat what they’re told to eat by these media.
Tom Ricketts is kinda of a moron anyway. What they need to do this year is option chatwood to triple a of he struggles again.
Heyward had a 1.6 WAR last year.How was that worth 21.5 mill.If thats the going price for a 1.6 WAR player we’re in bad shapebtw1,0 WAR is not worth 10 mill so 1.6 is not worth 16.Sorry
Heyward had a 2.0 fWAR. Each point of fWAR is worth $10.5 million in FA.
Heyward had a 1.6 bWAR. Each point of bWAR is worth $12.85 million in FA.
You can do the math.
That World Series cost them $500M. Think about that. They’ve spent 3/4 of a BILLION dollars the last few years. There’s absolutely no way any other team has come even remotely close to that. I don’t know what Ricketts is talking about- his team IS the evil empire
How did the world series cost them that much? Sure they spared no expense on the world series rings. Every team should do that. That’s what happens when you put 1908 diamonds in every ring. And hand out 1908 rings as well. From current staff players coaches to former players. And even steve bartman got a ring. Among 10 other fans. No other team has ever done that. 7th largest gathering of humans of all time. Morr than 5 million people showed up.
I highly doubt it cost them that much when they won the world series. They got a bonus from the league for winning of 150 million. They didn’t spent 500 million though
actually it cost them around fifty since they didn’t have to pay all the money up front
and they made that easily thanks to increased revenues that always come from winning the WS, so really it cost them nothing.
so yeah, making up ‘facts’ that don;t even pass basic math does not make one credible…
think about that before posting again
That Darvish contract is so very very bad.
Wow! One year in and it’s a bad contract?
Considering his extremely fragile history ? It may appear so as he has pitched 150 or more innings only once since 2014 onward. Hopefully he’s healthy from here on out
Darvish has been injury prone a lot recently. He might, just MIGHT be damaged goods
Besides, he sucked last year even before he got hurt, which leads even more credence to the damaged goods theory.
Lots of naysayers for a team that’s played in the postseason 4 straight years. Amazing to me one down year and many jump off the bandwagon.
True fans are easy to find. Young core. Aging rotation. Need some bullpen help. Solid lineup controlled through 2021. Couple of these guys will have bounce back years. KB stays healthy. Darvish stays healthy. We are playoff bound for year 5 in a row. 90-95 wins should get it done.
Cubs hitting was the worst in the league down the stretch last year. Hitting coach thrown under the bus for it (immature players got him fired over “personality” conflict). Rotation is aging, bullpen is thin, Manager on the hot seat, team stuck with bad contracts. The situation is more dire than Cubs want to admit, hence the delusion. Bryant, Contreras, and Rizzo need to return to form, and Morrow needs to stay healthy for the Cubs to have any chance of serious contention. If your goal is just to win enough games to make the playoffs with that payroll, you are a failure in progress.
Anyone else think the Cubs should bench Russell, start Baez at SS, and Zobrist at 2B? That would at least solve the infield problem for one year.
Captain Obvious to the rescue.
Son, all of this already happened….A YEAR AGO. I think your time machine needs to be recalibrated.
Can’t spend because of Heyward, Chatwood, Kinsler, and Darvish.
There you go.
Look at the bright side, ALL of these guys have something to prove and 3 of them are basically trying to save their careers. A healthy Darvish is a winner and an asset. Heyward hit .270 with .336OBP last season and has improved 2 years in a row. .280 and .340OBP this year, and most fans would be happy. Chatwood could be a huge asset for the Cubs in 2019. If he cuts his walk ratio by half this season, you have a solid pitcher who can come in early, late, or spot start when necessary. The Cubs starting pitching is actually quite deep if you look at it that way. Best starting 5 in the division already, with two capable backups with Montgomery and Chatwood. As far as Kintzler goes, I doubt he does a badly as the 2.00WHIP he posted last season lol
Fact is I think this is theos last stand. I think Tom told him you built this mess now you ride with it, I’m not going to let you throw away any more of my money on piss poor contracts. I think this season will make or break theo and Joe.
I was taking a stroll down memory lane of how certain teams wax and wane depending on their competitive windows. Then I got to the Cubs. I started from 1979 until now, a 40 year span. One conclusion I have come to, that if their current lineup and rotation stay healthy, it could possibly be their best season ever. I wasn’t even close to this conclusion yesterday. Hell, I think I have even taken for granted little things like how good Kyle Hendricks actually is. I think they could still use a veteran backup catcher and of course a closer, but other than that I am now filled with optimism and looking forward to the season more than ever.
What?