Chicago Cubs Mock Offseason (UPDATE: Rules in Post #20)

[{Ron!n}]

Bunch of folks have been asking about this and it's probably time to start it up.

We just need to set some ground rules before getting things rolling. Last time we had the payroll set to around 145 Million, but I doubt it will be that high this year.

2012 opening payroll was 109 Million, so would anybody say 120 is a decent number to go with? Although we're only at around 40 million pre-arbitration so it might not need to go over 110.

We also need to put guesses on the arbitration eligible guys, who are:
James Russell, Luis Valbuena, Ian Stewart, Shark and Matt Garza.

Payroll obligations so far are:

1) Alfonso Soriano- 19 Million

2) Carlos Marmol 9.8 Million

3) David DeJesus- 4.250 Million

4) Starlin Castro- 5.8 Million

5) Jorge Soler- 1.66 Million

6) Gerardo Concepcion- 1.2 Million

7) Darwin Barney- 500k this year (probably goes up to 1 Million as a pre-arb
present)

8) Michael Bowden- 400k

9) Tony Campana- 400k

10) Brian LaHair- 400k

11) Steve Clevenger- 400k

12) Anthony Rizzo- 400k

13) Rafael Dolis- 400k

14) Lendy Castillo- 400k

15) Arodys Vizcaino- 400k

16) Jeff Beliveau- 400k

17) Wellington Castillo- 400k

18) Brett Jackson- 400k

19) Josh Vitters- 400k

20) Brooks Raley- 400k

21) Chris Rusin- 400k

22) Travis Wood- 400k

23) Alberto Cabrera - 400k

Comes out to 49.11 million payroll currently, with one FA who is Shawn Camp.

The voting criteria previously were:

A ) Realistic and Playoff Contender


B ) Realistic but not a contender


C ) Realistic and World Series Contender


D ) Unrealistic

But I think we might need to change them around to better fit the current situation, so thats open to suggestions.


Only rules are:

• You must adhere to the set payroll or else the mock will not count
• Your roster must include 25 players, with at least 5 starting pitchers
• Mocks will be posted on a first come first serve basis and we'll set a certain deadline for submission

This thread will be to get the arbitration numbers set, to specifiy the payroll and to put a deadline for submission. Any other suggestion or advice are welcome. Anybody is allowed to participate and multiple users can work on one together, so if you're seeing this and don't have an account sign up and make your own.

Once we have it set you guys can send it to my inbox and I'll post them.

[Cubsfan365]

MLBTR has the arbitration projections for 2013 Cubs players as follows:

Garza- $10 million
Samardzija- $2.9 million
Stewart- $2.3 million
Valbuena- $900K
Russell- $900K

That would put us somewhere around ~$66.11 million if we brought all of them back.

[davell]

As a guy who's posted some of these, are you looking for us to build the best team we CAN within that payroll limit? Or are you wanting us to try and mirror what we predict WILL happen, with our interpretation of the FO's plan(which will vary and inevitably morph into 2 sides)? It's two totally different teams for me. As far as payroll goes, I honestly doubt we hit 110. Nothing to base it on, other than with what it appears we're looking for(short term contracts) it won't even be easy to get it that high, if we add 2 SP and a CF.

[{Ron!n}]

You have the freedom to decide what you want to do. You can say screw it and go for it all, or try and predict what the front office will do/try to build a great foundation.

Thats also why I'm not sure what we should put as the poll options. It shouldn't be basically contender or not, because thats hard to do with a 100-loss team.

I'm thinking something along the lines of "Long-term contender and realistic, short-term contender and realistic, Long-term contender but not realistic, and short-term contender but not realistic"

[terencem]

You have the freedom to decide what you want to do. You can say screw it and go for it all, or try and predict what the front office will do/try to build a great foundation.

Thats also why I'm not sure what we should put as the poll options. It shouldn't be basically contender or not, because thats hard to do with a 100-loss team.

I'm thinking something along the lines of "Long-term contender and realistic, short-term contender and realistic, Long-term contender but not realistic, and short-term contender but not realistic"

Those sound like good options to me.

[SenorGato]

As soon as the power is back from this wind storm I will be all over this. Looking for a team similar to the O's and A's with more money to work with...This means a slew of FAs, probably a trade or two, and overall a flexible roster with a few keepers and more tradeable pieces.

[JIMBO]

Just one mock SenorGato

[SenorPerro]

Starters:
1. Matt Garza
2. Jeff Samardzija
3. Brandon McCarthy (traded on deadline)
4. Rick Porcello
5. Ryu-Hyun Jin (Lefty changeup guy who throws a fastball in the low 90's and an
occasional curve, looks very durable and I think he can succeed in this league.)
6. Travis Wood/Alberto Cabrera

Bullpen: Shawn Camp, James Russell, Michael Bowden, Trey McNutt, Jeff Beliveau
Closer: Rafael Dolis

Spring non-roster invitees/minor league contracts: Matt Bush, Mark Prior, Scott Kazmir.

Position players:
1B Anthony Rizzo (duh)
2B Kelly Johnson/Logan Watkins (Barney, Szczur, Marmol traded to Detroit for Porcello.)
SS Starlin Castro
3B Ian Stewart/Luis Valbuena/Josh Vitters
RF David DeJesus/Dave Sappelt
CF Shane Victorino/Brett Jackson
LF Alfonso Soriano/Dave Sappelt
C Russell Martin/Wellington Castillo

Bench: LaHair, Valbuena, Campana, Sappelt,

[SenorPerro]

Starters:
1. Matt Garza
2. Jeff Samardzija
3. Brandon McCarthy (traded on deadline)
4. Rick Porcello
5. Ryu-Hyun Jin (Lefty changeup guy who throws a fastball in the low 90's and an
occasional curve, looks very durable and I think he can succeed in this league.)
6. Travis Wood/Arodys Vizcaino/Alberto Cabrera

Bullpen: Shawn Camp, James Russell, Michael Bowden, Trey McNutt, Jeff Beliveau
Closer: Rafael Dolis/Alberto Cabrera

Spring non-roster invitees/minor league contracts: Matt Bush, Mark Prior, Scott Kazmir.

Position players:
1B Anthony Rizzo (duh)
2B Kelly Johnson/Logan Watkins (Barney, Szczur, Marmol traded to Detroit for Porcello.)
SS Starlin Castro
3B Ian Stewart/Luis Valbuena/Josh Vitters
RF David DeJesus/Dave Sappelt
CF Shane Victorino/Brett Jackson
LF Alfonso Soriano/Dave Sappelt
C Russell Martin/Wellington Castillo

Bench: LaHair, Valbuena, Campana, Sappelt,

[davell]

Tronin, I'll nitpick something here: The minimum pre-arb amount is now 500k, not 400. Castro didn't get a big raise in his last pre-arb year either, my guess is Barney is just a tad over 500k for 2013.

[GatorJimmy]

Starters
Josh Johnson
Garza
Shark
Edwin Jackson
Wood

Lineup

Dejesus
Castro
Hamilton
Rizzo
Soriano
Youk
Castillo
Barney

To me this lineup and rotation can win now without giving up much youth. The only trade would be josh johnson and the only contract over 3 years would be Hamilton( he is also the most unrealistic part because of his hatred of day games)
I would also prefer a better lefty starter like Hyun jin.
If we make those moves while adding a cOuple bullpen arms we have a good shot at the division next year.

[Mell413]

I'll do one. This sounds like one of those things were it's a good idea in theory, but I'm not sure how this is going to turn out lol. I think $145 allows for more creativity so I would go with that. Plus it's not like this team doesn't have the ability to support a payroll that high so you are still being realistic

[gaughan333]

Starters:
1. Matt Garza
2. Jeff Samardzija
3. Brandon McCarthy (traded on deadline)
4. Rick Porcello
5. Ryu-Hyun Jin (Lefty changeup guy who throws a fastball in the low 90's and an
occasional curve, looks very durable and I think he can succeed in this league.)
6. Travis Wood/Alberto Cabrera

Bullpen: Shawn Camp, James Russell, Michael Bowden, Trey McNutt, Jeff Beliveau
Closer: Rafael Dolis

Spring non-roster invitees/minor league contracts: Matt Bush, Mark Prior, Scott Kazmir.

Position players:
1B Anthony Rizzo (duh)
2B Kelly Johnson/Logan Watkins (Barney, Szczur, Marmol traded to Detroit for Porcello.)
SS Starlin Castro
3B Ian Stewart/Luis Valbuena/Josh Vitters
RF David DeJesus/Dave Sappelt
CF Shane Victorino/Brett Jackson
LF Alfonso Soriano/Dave Sappelt
C Russell Martin/Wellington Castillo

Bench: LaHair, Valbuena, Campana, Sappelt,

Isn't he in jail?

[SenorGato]

Isn't he in jail?

Hes most certainly not in baseball.

[{Ron!n}]

You guys do know you have to PM these to me? And you have to detail the contract obligations for each player and if you make a trade you need to list prospects.

I think we'll go with a 120MM payroll and the MLBTR arbitration figures.