Poodski's Cubs Mock Offseason

[{Ron!n}]

Name	 Salary 	Position
Wellington Castillo	 $400,000 	SC
Anthony Rizzo	 $400,000 	S1B
Darwin Barney	 $500,000 	S2B
Starlin Castro	 $5,800,000 	SSS
Kevin Youkilis	 $9,000,000 	S3B
Alfonso Soriano	 $19,000,000 	SLF
BJ Upton	 $14,000,000 	SCF
David DeJesus	 $4,250,000 	SRF
Steve Clevenger	 $400,000 	BUC
Brett Jackson	 $400,000 	BUOF
Ian Stewart	 $2,300,000 	BUINF
Luis Valbuena*	 $900,000 	BUINF
Brian LaHair	 $400,000 	BULHB
Matt Garza	 $10,000,000 	SP1
Brandon McCarthy	 $10,000,000 	SP2
Jeff Samardzija	 $2,900,000 	SP3
Shaun Marcum	 $7,000,000 	SP4
Travis Wood	 $400,000 	SP5
Rafael Soriano	 $13,500,000 	CL
James Russell*	 $900,000 	SUL
Carlos Marmol	 $9,800,000 	SUR
Rafael Dolis	 $400,000 	MR1
Michael Bowden	 $400,000 	MR2
Lendy Castillo	 $400,000 	MR3
Alberto Cabrera 	 $400,000 	MR4
Brooks Raley	 $400,000 	MU
Tony Campana	 $400,000 	ML
Jorge Soler	 $1,660,000 	ML
Gerardo Concepcion	 $1,200,000 	ML
Arodys Vizcaino	 $400,000 	ML
Jeff Beliveau	 $400,000 	ML
Josh Vitters	 $400,000 	ML
Chris Rusin	 $400,000 	ML

Total Salary	 $118,710,000 	
Flexibility	 $1,290,000

Thats my team. I assume you want a write up correct?

Lets go over the 5 FA signings that I made.

I used Jim Bowdens ESPN average for each player. I can list them out but just literally used his AAY. http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/story...op-free-agents

Unfortunately its an insider article, but I used that. I can post years if someone would like but for purposes of this mock its useless.

Anyhow I started at 3B which for our starters was the lowest sOPS+ on the entire team and is pretty obviously our biggest need. I don't have much faith in Vitters at this point in time. IN a few years maybe he could take over but for right now I want a solid 3B. He's 33, but I think he can bounce back a little bit from last year but even if he doesn't his .745 OPS is still 134 points better than what we had last year.

Our next lowest spot was CF which was a 72 sOPS+ and I went out and signed BJ Upton. Upton has been about a 750 OPS guy for the last few years playing in one of the worst hitters parks in baseball. That should increase a bit playing 81 games at Wrigley. This pretty much makes Brett Jackson expendable, but I am not looking to make trades at this juncture.

The rest of the offense I left alone. The only real concern here is catcher, but I am willing to give Castillo a shot.

For pitching I signed two starting pitchers. The first being Brandon McCarthy who I absolutely love. Unfortunately its probably only a 1 year deal due to his injuries, but if you get him here you could possibly extend him after the season.

Marcum I think would be a great number 4 to go with the rest of the pitchers. He posted a 3.70 ERA last year, but of course like McCarthy this is an injury risk, but in order for the Cubs to realistically have a chance in 2013, a lot of stars have to align.

A rotation of Garza, McCarthy, Samardjiza, Marcum and Travis Wood I think would be very competitive.

I also wanted to move Marmol out of the closers spot and put him in the spot he thrived in back in the day. I also wanted an experienced closer and decided to sign the best out there. Soriano will shut things down in the back end and we shouldn't have as many 9th inning losses.

So that's the team. Like I said I made no trades, because well people always complain about them. I only made FA signing and just used Bowdens numbers to try to curb away all the unrealistic votes.

Anyhow there it is.

[gaughan333]

Hate the Soriano signing

[terencem]

I find it realistic in terms of those values are around what those players would be paid in year one. I think Upton's AAV will be more than 14. I don't find the Soriano signing realistic for this front office, but I believe the money is just about right.

Does "realistic, long term contender" mean they would start competing now and then long into the future or that they will compete eventually?

[KyleJRM]

By far my favorite one so far.

[poodski]

Hate the Soriano signing

I can understand that. I know the general consensus on the board is "closers are overrated", but I think not having a shut down closer has hurt us recently and its almost to the point where I think they are being underrated. 12.5 is probably more than I would pay, but thats what Bowden had so thats what I went with. I wanted one pretty badly for this mock, and I felt like if I was going to get one I was going to get the best available and not go a Madsen or Broxton route. Could have saved money and could have signed my Napoli, but again this is the route I wanted to go.

I find it realistic in terms of those values are around what those players would be paid in year one. I think Upton's AAV will be more than 14. I don't find the Soriano signing realistic for this front office, but I believe the money is just about right.

Does "realistic, long term contender" mean they would start competing now and then long into the future or that they will compete eventually?

I kind of agree on Upton I thought it was low too, but looking at Bowdens track record of guessing the FA contracts I went with it. If its off its not by more than a million or so anyhow or at least not off by much on the first year of the contract anyhow.

[gaughan333]

Doesn't Soriano also want a long term deal?

[terencem]

I think it doesn't make sense to pay a player nearly $13MM per WAR if you can avoid it nor does it make sense to pay a player to protect leads you probably don't have in the first place. The 1 year value on the Soriano deal sounds realistic, though. It would have to be a multi-year deal or else there's no reason why he'd leave New York. Upton seems to be getting more expensive by the day but that amount makes sense in a back-loaded contract and for when it was submitted.

[gaughan333]

If you can get upton at an AAV of 14, I'd be happy with that

[KyleJRM]

The only thing that doesn't make sense is using WAR to measure the value of late-inning relievers.

[northsider]

Not bad poods.

Thought the Soriano contract was a bit much but, agree with tiring nonsense of a lacking BP.

[poodski]

Doesn't Soriano also want a long term deal?

I can't see him really getting longer than 3 years at that price but maybe.

I think it doesn't make sense to pay a player nearly $13MM per WAR if you can avoid it nor does it make sense to pay a player to protect leads you probably don't have in the first place. The 1 year value on the Soriano deal sounds realistic, though. It would have to be a multi-year deal or else there's no reason why he'd leave New York. Upton seems to be getting more expensive by the day but that amount makes sense in a back-loaded contract and for when it was submitted.

Basing a closer off of WAR is kind of silly. A closer in terms of WAR is never going to be as valuable as even a back end decent rotation guy. Doesn't mean he isn't worth it. He wants to close so he isn't going back to the Yankees.

[poodski]

Not bad poods.

Thought the Soriano contract was a bit much but, agree with tiring nonsense of a lacking BP.

Thanks mah dude.

[SenorGato]

Yeah, not a big fan of paying Soriano 13.

Not a big fan of Youkilis. He's not a good defender at 3B, 90% of why he's seen as a logical fit is because he used to be a starting 3B for this FO, and he was the first guy sent off once the Red Sox stopped winning.

The pitching rotation is good looking on paper, but inning questions and injuries definitely seem to a black mark. The bullpen doesn't look like they will offer much support as far as taking on innings.

Not sure what I think...depends on how you think about how to move forward I guess...Obviously I like Upton, but he's the only true long term piece added.

[Mell413]

Not a fan of the Youkilis deal, but I guess when you consider what's out there it's not bad. Plus I'm assuming it's not a long term deal. So it won't kill us long term. I like the Upton deal. Soriano is expensive, but the bullpen has been pretty bad so I understand it. Plus you went after the best one out there. The Orioles proved a bullpen can take you a long way. I like the Marcum and McCarthy deals. There is risk there, but this team needs to take a chance if we want to be relevant. That's a pretty good rotation if Wood can get back to his 2010 form. The pitching should be good enough that maybe we can win the close games. I don't know if the team is better than Cincinnati and St Louis, but I think that team assuming it stays in tact can probably stay in it through the summer at least.

[CubbieSteve]

That's a nice rotation, if healthy it'd keep us in the hunt. I like this team, just wonder if we'd score enough runs.

I think it's definitely a competitive team.