Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Cubs Rumors

Cubs To Sign Brad Brach

By | at

1:24PM: Brach will earn at least $4.35MM in guaranteed money in 2019, Rosenthal tweets.  The mutual option is also more of a dual option for the 2020 season, similar to what we’ve seen in recent contracts for Zach Britton and Yusei Kikuchi.  If the Cubs exercise their option for 2020, Brach will receive $9.5MM over the course of the two seasons.  If Brach exercises his side of the option but the Cubs do not, Brach is still under team control for 2020 but at a lesser salary.

11:59AM: The Cubs have agreed to sign free agent reliever Brad Brach, according to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal (Twitter link).  The deal is a one-year contract worth $3MM, as per Jon Heyman of Fancred Sports (Twitter links), and the two sides hold a mutual option for the 2020 season.  Brach, a client of Big League Management Company, will have to pass a physical before the deal is official.

After four years of excellent numbers out of the Orioles’ bullpen from 2014-17, Brach’s production stumbled in the first half of the 2018 season, as he posted a 4.85 ERA over 39 innings with Baltimore.  Brach had an untidy 4.4 BB/9 rate over that stretch, though an inflated BABIP may have somewhat unfairly contributed to Brach’s struggles.  After a deadline trade to the Braves, however, Brach looked more like his old self, delivering a 1.52 ERA, 8.4 K/9, and a 2.44 K/BB rate over 23 2/3 frames for Atlanta.

On the whole, Brach posted a career-best 46% grounder rate in 2018, though he also had a career-worst 35% hard-hit ball rate, far surpassing his previous high of 29.6%.  His fastball also averaged 94.4mph after three years of topping the 95mph threshold, though Brach also threw his fastball less often than usual last season, instead using his changeup with greater frequency in 2018 than in any season save 2015.

These warning signs and Brach’s age (33 in April) may have been enough to lower Brach’s price tag to just one guaranteed season.  (MLBTR ranked Brach 41st on our Top 50 Free Agents list, with Tim Dierkes, Steve Adams, and Jeff Todd projecting Brach for a two-year, $12MM deal.)  The mutual option does provide the right-hander with the ability to test free agency again next winter if he returns to his old form, making the deal essentially a pillow contract.

Brach served as Baltimore’s closer in 2017 when Britton was on the disabled list, and he could very well pick up some save opportunities early next season as Brandon Morrow recovers from November elbow surgery.  At the very least, Brach will provide some backing behind Pedro Strop, Carl Edwards Jr., or whomever ends up handling the ninth inning while Morrow is out, assuming Joe Maddon doesn’t deploy a committee approach.

Getting the 2013-17 version of Brach for, at most, $9.5MM over two years would be a nice coup for a Cubs team that has been facing a payroll crunch all winter.  Even the modest expenditure for Brach, however, puts Chicago into a higher Competitive Balance Tax bracket.  As per Roster Resource’s projections, the Cubs now have a luxury tax payroll over just under $229MM for next season, putting them in line for an additional tax beyond the usual 20% “first-time” rate for not only exceeding the $206MM luxury tax threshold, but exceeding it by more than $20MM.  There had been speculation that the Cubs could explore trading a big contract or two off its current roster to afford bullpen help or other acquisitions, and it remains to be seen if Theo Epstein’s front office has more moves in store to cut payroll and/or land new players.

Cubs To Sign Colin Rea

By | at

The Cubs have agreed to a minors deal with righty Colin Rea, Matt Eddy of Baseball America reports on Twitter. Details otherwise remain unclear.

Now 28 years of age, Rea at one point seemed likely to be a steady rotation piece at the game’s highest level. In fact, the Marlins acquired him on just that premise in the middle of the 2016 season.

Things took a stunning turn when Rea exited his first start in Miami with an elbow injury, teeing up a controversy with the Padres that resulted in Rea being shipped back to San Diego. Rea ended up undergoing Tommy John surgery not long thereafter, costing him all of the 2017 season.

Though he returned to the hill last year, Rea managed only a 5.73 ERA in 75 1/3 innings in the upper minors. The San Diego club dropped him at the outset of the offseason. He’ll look to get back on track in Chicago and perhaps provide an interesting depth option for the Cubs.

Also joining the Chicago organization is outfielder Zach Borenstein, Eddy adds. The 28-year-old has yet to crack the bigs, but has posted some solid numbers at times at Triple-A. In five total seasons there, he carries a .260/.337/.476 slash, popping 65 home runs but also going down on strikes 493 times in 1,657 plate appearances.

Minor MLB Transactions: 1/23/19

By | at

We’ll use this post to catch up on some recent minor moves and track any new ones that emerge …

  • The Dodgers reportedly have a minors deal in place with veteran backstop Josh Thole. Per Bob Nightengale of USA Today (via Twitter), the arrangement includes a $600K potential MLB salary as well as an opt-out opportunity on July 1st. Thole has seen time in eight MLB seasons, slashing a cumulative .242/.313/.306 through 1,499 plate appearances, but hasn’t been asked up to the bigs since 2016. He plied his trade last year at Double-A with the Tigers organization.
  • Meanwhile, righty David Hale is reportedly headed to the Yankees on his own minor-league accord. The 31-year-old bounced on and off of the New York roster last season (as well as that of the Twins) and will again represent a depth piece for the Yanks. Hale’s chief appeal is his ability to function in a swing capacity, giving innings from the bullpen or if needed taking a spot start. He spent most of 2018 at Triple-A, working to a 4.20 ERA in 55 2/3 innings through 11 starts while compiling 7.1 K/9 against 2.7 BB/9.
  • The Nationals have reportedly lined up on an agreement with outfielder Tyler Goeddel, the terms of which remain unknown. He’ll be hoping for an eventual shot to return to the majors after struggling in a 92-game stint with the Phillies back in 2016. Goeddel, 26, hit just .219/.298/.329 last year in the upper minors with the Reds and Dodgers organizations.
  • Finally, the Cubs have also reportedly added a player on a minors deal, with infielder Cristhian Adames slated to join the organization. Now 27 years of age, the switch-hitter saw time over four MLB seasons with the Rockies but failed to make it back up last year. In his 498 Triple-A plate appearances with the Marlins org, Adames, put up a .269/.324/.370 batting line. Adames is capable of playing all over the infield and has primarily appeared at shortstop as a professional.

Cuban Shortstop Yolbert Sanchez Cleared To Sign With MLB Teams

By | at

Shortstop Yolbert Sanchez has left Cuba and has been cleared by Major League Baseball to sign with teams beginning on Feb. 5, Eric Longenhagen and Kiley McDaniel of Fangraphs report. The 21-year-old (22 in March) will be subject to MLB’s international bonus pool system.

Sanchez’s stats in his limited professional experience won’t wow anyone — he’s a .297/.338/.345 hitter in 435 plate appearances — but McDaniel and Longenhagen nonetheless paint him as a likely seven-figure bonus recipient due to his raw speed, glovework at shortstop and arm strength — each of which are considered by scouts to be anywhere from above average to plus. Their report notes that scouts view him as the type of prospect who’ll typically command a bonus between $2-4MM.

Certainly, that bodes well for the Orioles, who still have upwards of $6MM in their international bonus pool after whiffing on prospects Victor Victor Mesa, Victor Mesa Jr. and Sandy Gaston when the trio signed early in the 2018-19 offseason (the Mesa brothers with the Marlins; Gaston with the Rays).

Of course, the mere fact that the Orioles presently have the most money at their disposal doesn’t by any means make Baltimore a lock to sign Sanchez. The O’s, after all, had the ability to make larger offers to the Mesa brothers and Gaston but did not ultimately ink any of the trio. It’s also possible that they don’t view Sanchez as a prospect who should command such an investment — or at least that they don’t like him to the same extent as another organization with millions remaining in its bonus pool. Beyond that, Sanchez could technically opt to wait until July 2 to sign, at which point bonus pools would reset and present him with a vastly larger list of suitors.

While Baltimore is the runaway leader in remaining pool space, McDaniel and Longenhagen write that the Dodgers, Cubs and Phillies are among the teams with the most resources remaining. MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez adds the Cardinals to the mix, noting that St. Louis has an estimated $1.85MM remaining in its pool. Sanchez pegs the Dodgers at about $1.4MM, the Phillies at roughly $1MM and the Cubs, Rangers and Red Sox in the $750-800K range. Sanchez will hold workouts for teams later this week in the Dominican Republic, per Fangraphs’ report.

Yadier Molina, Kris Bryant Exchange Barbs

By | at

  • Elsewhere in the NL Central, the Cardinals and Cubs seem to be primed for a feud in the coming campaign. Both teams are dead set on getting back to the top of the division. And now things are getting personal. As Ben Frederickson of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch deftly explains, Chicago star Kris Bryant’s casual and mostly harmless jab at the city of St. Louis (“boring”) ignited a “scorched-earth response” from stalwart St. Louis backstop Yadier Molina. It might seem like much ado about nothing; it may turn out to be just that. But Molina promises “it will carry” into the season. And as Frederickson explains, the matter touches at something deeper in the psyches of Molina, the Cards, and even the city they play in.

Projecting Payrolls: Chicago Cubs

By | at

Although substantial time has passed since the last installment in this series, only the reliever market has moved in a significant way. As such, we move on to the 12th piece while the biggest fish remain unhooked. Below find the links to the earlier posts in this series.

Philadelphia Phillies
Los Angeles Dodgers
Los Angeles Angels
Atlanta Braves
New York Yankees
Chicago White Sox
Boston Red Sox
Minnesota Twins
Milwaukee Brewers
San Francisco Giants
St. Louis Cardinals

If you have questions about financial information made available to the public and the assumptions used in this series, please refer to the Phillies piece linked above.

Today, we look into a club coming off of its best four-year stretch in franchise history and flush with cash, yet one who also appears to be fully intent to sit out free agency this winter: the Chicago Cubs.

Team Leadership

Concluding 65 years of ownership by the Wrigley family, the Tribune Company purchased the Cubs in 1981. The franchise had, incredibly, missed the playoffs for 35 straight seasons prior to the transaction. The team went on to make the postseason six times under Tribune ownership, including three times from 2003-08. The final two years of Tribune ownership were executed under the direction of Sam Zell, a real estate mogul who purchased the Tribune in late 2007. Then, in October 2009, the Ricketts family famously acquired the Cubs for $845 million. Ownership of the franchise is managed by team chairman Tom Ricketts, who authorized an aggressive tank followed by the most successful time period in Cubs history.

While the Ricketts family initially kept general manager Jim Hendry in place running the baseball operations department, they made the splashiest of splashy moves in 2011, relieving Hendry of his duties and replacing him with new President of Baseball Operations and renowned curse breaker Theo Epstein. Epstein got his band back together, bringing in former proteges Jed Hoyer and Jason McLeod to be his general manager and vice president of scouting and player development, respectively, both after two years in San Diego. The results have been undeniable: the club averaged a putrid 67 wins per year during the first three years of the Epstein regime and flipped the switch in 2015, averaging 97 per year over the next four years.

Historical Payrolls

Before hitting the numbers, please recall that we use data from Cot’s Baseball Contracts, we’ll use average annual value (“AAV”) on historical deals but actual cash for 2019 and beyond, and deferrals will be reflected where appropriate. And, of course, the value of examining historical payrolls is twofold: they show us either what type of payroll a team’s market can support or how significantly a given ownership group is willing to spend. In the most useful cases, they show us both. We’ll focus on a 15-year span for the Cubs, covering 2005-18 for historical data as a means to understanding year 15: 2019. This period covers two competitive windows and two ownership groups for the Cubs, and it’s not terribly difficult to see where the Ricketts-authorized tank began. We’ll also use Opening Day payrolls as those better approximate expected spending by ownership.

Payroll spiked from 2008-10 as the Cubs paid to keep their 2007-08 winners together. Publicly available reported revenue increases climbed to fuel the spending, growing from $179 million in 2005 all the way to $239 million in 2008. Of course, take all publicly available revenue figures with a significant grain of salt as only ownership and the front office truly know the finances. However, revenue largely stagnated in the following half decade, reaching only $266 million in 2013 during the tank.

What followed is difficult to describe as I’ve never seen anything like it. Revenue climbed to $302 million in 2014, $340 million in 2015, $434 million in 2016 (!), and $457 million in 2017. While 2018 revenue hasn’t yet been reported, it is entirely possible that revenue has increased more than $200 million over just five years. Striking. Seen in that light, the 2016-18 payrolls are hardly surprising.

Ricketts ownership and the Epstein-led front office have been keen to stay under the luxury tax threshold during their time in charge, exceeding the threshold only in 2016, incurring a tax of just under $3 million before staying under the threshold in each of the next two years. The Cubs have simultaneously been major players in the international market, throwing a $30 million guarantee at outfielder Jorge Soler in 2012 and following with a boisterous international class in 2013 that included young stars Gleyber Torres and Eloy Jimenez and a massive 2015 class that yielded just under $19 million in signing bonuses. Major League spending captures a significant portion of Cubs spending, but international amateur spending has been a key facet of Cubs expenditures in recent years.

Future Liabilities

Cubs spending in 2019 will surely hit a new franchise high.

That is a lot of guaranteed money.

The 2019 Cubs are spending $88 million guaranteed on starting pitching, led by $20 million-plus salaries for Lester, Hamels, and Darvish. To say that these commitments are risky is a massive understatement.

  • Lester has been a paragon of stability, but he has seen his FIP rise each year as a Cub, from 2.92 in 2015 to 4.39 in 2018. He’ll enter 2019 with 2,520 combined regular season and playoff innings on his odometer. He just turned 35.
  • Hamels pitched a year and a half to the tune of a 4.87 FIP prior to joining the Cubs at the trade deadline in 2018. He was rejuvenated with the Cubs, but he’ll enter 2019 with 2,653 combined regular season and playoff innings on his own odometer, also having just turned 35.
  • Darvish largely enjoyed success since arriving from Japan before a disastrous debut season with the Cubs that ended in May due to an elbow injury.
  • Tyler Chatwood bombed in his first year as a Cub, losing his rotation job and throwing fewer than 10 innings for the club after the trade deadline.
  • Jose Quintana posted a career-worst FIP of 4.43, fueled in large part by a career-worst home run rate.

Projection systems expect the Cubs rotation to be wildly successful in 2019, especially when the arbitration-eligible Kyle Hendricks is added to the fold. Still, Cubs fans are at least a bit anxious after the across-the-board struggles from 2018.

A trio of lefty hitters figure prominently on the balance sheet, two of whom will be around for years to come. Rizzo and Heyward have been lineup mainstays for years, though Rizzo has obviously been substantially more productive on the field. Unlike Rizzo and Heyward, Zobrist finds himself in a walk year in a season in which he turns 38.

The remaining notable deals are all for relief pitchers, at least four of which find themselves staring down free agency come November. In a highly competitive 2019 National League Central division, the team will need strong production from multiple arms in the group of Morrow, Cishek, Strop, Kintzler, and Duensing.

Finally, Heyward’s signing bonus stands out as the only deferred money for the franchise. But it’s a big number: $20 million payable after his contract expires. Presumably franchise revenue will be so astronomical in the mid-2020s so as to see this amount as largely rounding error, but $5 million is still $5 million.

As a result of stellar drafting in the early part of this decade and a trio of impact trades, the Cubs feature significant talent in the arbitration ranks, including multiple Most Valuable Player candidates and Cy Young contender.

All seven players listed above figure to play key roles for the team in 2019, though Russell finds himself mired in a mess of his own making. As the arbitration chart shows, each player is controllable for at least one year beyond 2019 as well with offensive stars Bryant, Baez, and Schwarber each controllable through 2021.

What Does Team Leadership Have to Say?

So, so, so much.

While ownership, the front office, and manager Joe Maddon have spoken at great length about the budget this offseason, comments from Tom Ricketts in recent days likely shed the most light on the spending plans. In response to questions about expected payroll, Ricketts suggested that “when you make any free-agent signing — not to pick on Darvish, but any of them — you know that you can’t spend that dollar twice and you have to budget that into the future, so that’s going to limit what you can do in the following year. And one of the things this year that we knew going into the offseason was that we weren’t going to have as much flexibility as years past.” When Ricketts moved on to discussing the team’s local tax burden, it seemed that the budget has very little, if any, room.

As we will detail below, it’s close to inevitable that the Cubs will incur a luxury tax in 2019. However, Ricketts more or less stated that the budget is tapped out, jiving with what the front office has said for months now.

In the face of big moves by the rival Cardinals and Brewers, the Cubs appear content to have their offseason largely dictated by their budget.

Are the Cubs a Player for Bryce Harper or Manny Machado?

Ummmm…honestly, I don’t know. Almost certainly not. But crazier things have happened.

The Cubs haven’t been connected to Machado at all this offseason, and given their impressive collection of infield talent, this doesn’t come as a huge surprise.

But Harper? The Cubs have been connected to Harper for years. This article humorously chronicles some of the 2017 nuggets that suggested Harper would — or wouldn’t — join the Cubs. These rumors have become par for the course. Many of the rumors have centered around the close relationship between Bryant and Harper, both Las Vegas natives.

After the Cubs surprisingly bowed out of the playoffs in quick fashion, Epstein lamented that “the offense broke,” leading to significant speculation that the Cubs would seek to add a significant bat.

Nevertheless, budgetary constraints combined with Maddon clearly stating that a Harper signing is “not going to happen” seemingly slammed the door shut on any pursuit.

Despite all of the above, Chicago Sun-Times writer Gordon Wittenmyer commented in December that sources indicated that the Cubs front office requested that Harper and his agent, Scott Boras, come back to the team before Harper decides to sign elsewhere in order to give the Cubs a chance to make a final play for the young star.

What Will the 2019 Payroll Be?

Well, it’ll be a new team record, that’s for sure. But just how high will it go?

Currently, team payroll comes in at $202.1 million before accounting for the luxury tax. If spending sticks approximately where it currently stands, the team figures to incur a luxury tax of approximately $4.4 million based on a luxury tax payroll figure of just under $228 million and a 20 percent tax on the overage.

So how much room is there for additional expenditures? I suspect that ownership would push total spending up around $220 million given the need for an in-season acquisition or two. Given that, don’t expect to see additional expenditures prior to the start of the season save for a possible minimal commitment to a backup catcher or a reliever.

Projected 2019 Payroll: $210 million

Projected 2019 Payroll Space: $2.9 million

If you’d like to go even further down the rabbit hole of Cubs payrolls, I refer you to my series of articles that have appeared on The Athletic going into tremendous detail on team spending.

Cubs Excited About Young Pitching Depth

By | at

The Cubs have struggled to develop homegrown pitchers during Theo Epstein’s regime, though senior VP of player development and amateur scouting Jason McLeod told Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times that “this is probably the first year I can confidently sit here and feel like we have the guys that can help this team in the major leagues this year, if needed.”  The Cubs are already overloaded with veteran rotation options on the 25-man roster, with Jon Lester, Cole Hamels, Kyle Hendricks, Jose Quintana, Yu Darvish, swingman Mike Montgomery, and Tyler Chatwood all on hand to make starts.  Of course, those seven account for over $100MM in salary next season, as the Cubs have been forced to spend big on starting pitching to account for a lack of help from the farm.

Cubs Have Considered Trading Ben Zobrist

By | at

With the bullpen-needy Cubs facing a budget crunch, acquiring even a mid-tier reliever would require removing payroll from elsewhere on their roster, per Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic (subscription required). Thus, as the Cubs look for ways to improve this offseason with little to no spending space, the club has “bandied about the idea of trading” second baseman/outfielder Ben Zobrist, Sharma writes. In jettisoning some or all of Zobrist’s $12.5MM salary, the Cubs would give themselves some room to upgrade their bullpen – a unit that has lost Jesse Chavez and Justin Wilson to free agency while gaining no one this offseason – and hopefully not experience much an offensive drop-off, Sharma notes.

“I don’t have a no-trade clause at this point, so I could be traded,” Zobrist acknowledged Saturday.

Although Zobrist realizes he’s vulnerable to a deal, it may be unrealistic for the Cubs to better their roster while subtracting him. Set to turn 38 in May, Zobrist is the Cubs’ oldest player, but he’s also one of their best. Aside from a poor 2017, Zobrist has more than delivered on the four-year, $56MM investment Chicago made in him entering 2016 – a season in which he helped lead them to a World Series title. Zobrist is now coming off a year that saw him finish second among Cubs position players in fWAR (3.6), trailing only NL MVP candidate Javier Baez, and bat an outstanding .305/.378/.440 (123 wRC+) with nearly as many unintentional walks (55) as strikeouts (60). He also posted an 86.6 percent contact rate, the game’s 15th best, making him something of an outlier for a team that ended up just 22nd in the majors in that category.

Between Zobrist’s offensive adeptness and defensive versatility (he was a plus player at second and in the corner outfield over fairly large sample sizes last year), it’s clear losing him would be a major blow for the Cubs. That’s especially true given that the Cubs’ middle infield is already down a regular, as Addison Russell will sit out the first month of 2019 because of a domestic violence suspension. To its credit, Chicago does have multiple other second base/outfield possibilities in Ian Happ and the recently signed Daniel Descalso, and those two could help fill Zobrist’s void.

If the Cubs are confident in a Zobrist-less middle infield/outfield mix which would include Baez, Russell, Happ, Descalso, Kyle Schwarber, Jason Heyward and Albert Almora for most of the season, perhaps we’ve seen the last of him in their uniform. But for a team whose offense “broke” in 2018, when the switch-hitting Zobrist put up above-average production from both sides of the plate and logged quality numbers in each of the season’s two halves, replacing his output would be no easy task.

Cubs Notes: TV Network, Maddon, Harper, Russell

By | at

The Cubs’ 15-year deal with NBC Sports Chicago is set to expire at the end of 2019, so they plan to launch their own regional sports network in time for the 2020 season, president of business operations Crane Kenney told Jordan Bastian of MLB.com and other reporters Saturday. “We are going to have our own channel. We’ve got a seat at a much larger table, so we’ve been involved in conversations not locally, but more nationally, on how we’ll launch our channel and who we’ll launch it with,” said Kenney, who added the Cubs “will do it with a strategic partner” and that “the details of that will be more apparent in probably the next 30 days.” Kenney also hinted that another baseball team will be involved, though he revealed it won’t be a local club, according to Bastian.

Here’s more on the North Siders:

  • Even though the Cubs won’t pursue an extension with Joe Maddon this offseason, president of baseball operations Theo Epstein said Saturday he wants the manager to stick around beyond 2019. “I sure hope so,” said Epstein, who, Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune writes, is “betting that Maddon remains as manager past this season.” The Cubs have been resoundingly successful in their four years under Maddon, who will turn 65 in February, as they’ve gone 387-261 with a playoff appearance in each season, two NL Central titles and their drought-breaking World Series championship in 2016.
  • Maddon indicated earlier this week that the Cubs aren’t going to sign free-agent outfielder Bryce Harper, and third baseman Kris Bryant threw more cold water on that possibility Saturday (via Bastian). “He’s not signing here,” Bryant said of Harper, a longtime friend who had been a speculative target for the Cubs entering the offseason. However, because the Cubs are seemingly maxed out on spending, they haven’t been in the Harper market this winter. The team’s easily slated to run a franchise-record Opening Day payroll in 2019, as Jason Martinez of Roster Resource estimates, and Epstein “emphasized” Saturday that he can’t go over budget, per Gonzales.
  • Epstein also spoke this week about shortstop Addison Russell, who, to the disgust of many observers, remains in the Cubs’ plans despite incurring a 40-game suspension for domestic violence. As Patrick Mooney of The Athletic relays in a subscription piece, Epstein stated Friday that the Cubs’ initial reaction was to move on from Russell. But they’re instead primed to keep the 24-year-old Russell and pay him a $3.4MM salary, in part because Epstein learned that “domestic violence experts do not believe in zero tolerance.” Rather, they advocate “a second chance if the offender is willing (to) do the difficult work of stabilizing his life and relationships and growing so this doesn’t happen again.” The Cubs are giving Russell that second chance, though Epstein noted “people have the right to boo” Russell, and the team’s prepared to “move on instantaneously” from him if he squanders his opportunity. Notably, Epstein added that Melisa Reidy, Russell’s ex-wife whose abuse allegations led to his suspension, was supportive of the Cubs’ choice to keep him in the fold, saying: “She felt like this was Addison’s best chance to get his life in order and get support from us with the incentive of earning his way back to the Cubs.”

Quick Hits: Padres, Red Sox, Cubs

By | at

The Padres have done a tremendous job in recent years growing the top farm system in the game, but the organization underwent a financial reshaping that was just as important to long-term stability, per Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Mired in the debt inherited from previous owner John Moores, Executive Chairman Ron Fowler led the charge in two important ways: refinancing the debt (thereby lowering interest rates and freeing up money to funnel into baseball ops), and opening the organization’s spending ledger to the public – an uncommon degree of transparency for an MLB club. Acee’s entire article is well worth a read as it paints a fairly complete picture of San Diego’s battle to build a winning franchise that is also fiscally sustainable. Essentially, the Padres followed the structural rebuilding approach popularized by Theo Epstein in Chicago: improve fan experience with additions/renovations to the ballpark while pouring roster resources into the acquisition and development of amateur and international talent. Epstein’s focus on improving the ballpark itself was a strategy he employed in Boston with Fenway Park, and again with Wrigley Field in Chicago. Speaking of…

  • The Red Sox are treading awfully close to the penalty-inducing $246MM tax threshold, and Masslive.com’s Christopher Smith wonders if that might be why they didn’t make a push to sign reliever Adam Ottavino. Dave Dombrowski has said there’s no mandate from ownership to avoid the highest tax bracket – but that’s still the goal. It’s easy to wonder why the Red Sox haven’t made more of a push to reinforce the back end of their bullpen, but it’s not totally fair to assume Ottavino was available to them for $9MM a year, as merely matching the Yankees offer doesn’t steal the contract like a white elephant gift. Still, with Joe Kelly in LA and Craig Kimbrel twisting in the wind, there is a surprising lack of urgency to add to the current stable of arms in the bullpen, especially considering the narrow margin for error in the AL East.
  • Much has been made of the Cubs lack of activity this winter as well, burnished by Theo Epstein’s early-offseason assertion that the offense was broken. Owner Tom Ricketts, however, doesn’t see any room for an addition in the lineup, writes the Athletic’s Sahadev Sharma. Considering the overall youth of their core and the injuries that limited star Kris Bryant to 102 games last season, Epstein and Ricketts might both be right. The team clearly isn’t willing to give up on Jason Heyward yet, so you can pencil him into the starting spot in right, with Ian Happ in center and Ben Zobrist at second, Albert Almora Jr., Addison Russell, David Bote and Daniel Descalso make up the remaining bench unit, ostensibly filling the roster. Outside of fringe roster types, the Cubs offense might be a one-man-in, one-man-out situation for the rest of the winter.
  • There’s cause enough to be concerned about the Cubs offense in 2019, certainly, between Russell’s suspension, Zobrist’s age, and Willson Contreras’ obvious exhaustion near the end of last season, but internally, there’s much to be excited about. At the Cubs Convention this week, Bryant and Epstein both talked up new hitting coach Anthony Iopace, whom Epstein calls “the ultimate fox-hole guy,” per Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune (via Twitter). As the Cubs former minor league hitting coordinator, he has a rapport with many Cubs hitters already and should be able to hit the ground running. Bryant, for one, is excited about a new season under the infectious energy of “’Poce,” per MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian. The Cubs brain trust appear firm in their belief that tinkering of internal processes is all the team needs to bounce back from a “disappointing” 95-win season and challenge for the top spot in the NL Central once again.

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

hide arrowsFOX Sports Engage Network scroll to top