2020 Chicago Cubs Offseason Thread

[cuzi]

I was just thinking about this. When Theo came in and it became clear they were tearing down to rebuild from the bottom up I was so excited. They were on a path to nowhere. The farm sucked. The MLB roster sucked. The FO had sucked. Now they had an actual plan and smart people executing it. I was pretty comfortable with them tanking and watching the farm system. I’d watch The Mlb draft standings rather than the divisional standings and it was fine.

Now, I’d be pretty pissed to watch them tank. They could easily go into 2021 resetting the lux tax and be the overwhelming favorites to win the division again. Easily. This isn’t a baseball decision at all. A tank now is 100% about money and that sucks. I wouldn’t be nearly as patient this time. They have a much better MLB roster and a much better farm system than the day Theo walked in. If it happens, I won’t blame Jed, but it’ll be annoying. The Cubs should not have to tank on purpose every decade.

100% about money?

This team isn't good enough. Period. They've survived by being in a very lack luster NLC that hasn't had a true stand out team since the Cubs from 2015-17. The Cubs haven't won a playoff series since '17.

Damn near the entire starting 8 are on 1 year deals, and the last remaining major piece leaves the following year.

Maybe you don't completely tear it down and sell everyone, but its crystal clear sweeping changes need to be made.

[JD94]

So what are we looking for in a deal with the Nats for KB? Or any team I guess, I’m just using the Nats because of the report that they have interest in KB. How much money do y’all think we try to eat to get a better prospect? Even if we eat half, how much better of a prospect do we get if we didn’t eat any, or maybe only like 5 mil?

[CP_414]

100% about money?

This team isn't good enough. Period. They've survived by being in a very lack luster NLC that hasn't had a true stand out team since the Cubs from 2015-17. The Cubs haven't won a playoff series since '17.

Damn near the entire starting 8 are on 1 year deals, and the last remaining major piece leaves the following year.

Maybe you don't completely tear it down and sell everyone, but its crystal clear sweeping changes need to be made.

It’s absolutely about money. It would be incredibly easy in this market to upgrade this roster to make them an overwhelming division favorite and still be under the lux tax.

They just have no interest in doing that.

[CP_414]

So what are we looking for in a deal with the Nats for KB? Or any team I guess, I’m just using the Nats because of the report that they have interest in KB. How much money do y’all think we try to eat to get a better prospect? Even if we eat half, how much better of a prospect do we get if we didn’t eat any, or maybe only like 5 mil?

That’s the question. If the answer is “none” the you probably don’t get much of a prospect back at all. If you take back someone like Daniel Hudson or toss in almost half the money then maybe you can ask for a top prospect who has failed so far like Kieboom or a decent non top 100 guy.

[JD94]

That’s the question. If the answer is “none” the you probably don’t get much of a prospect back at all. If you take back someone like Daniel Hudson or toss in almost half the money then maybe you can ask for a top prospect who has failed so far like Kieboom or a decent non top 100 guy.

To me, and you would know better than I would, I would think KB + half his salary to get Kieboom would probably be a win on our end all things considered. Like I just don’t know if we can do better than that. I mean maybe we can, but I doubt it.

[CP_414]

To me, and you would know better than I would, I would think KB + half his salary to get Kieboom would probably be a win on our end all things considered. Like I just don’t know if we can do better than that. I mean maybe we can, but I doubt it.

Even that might be a stretch, but the more you pay the more you get.

[huff]

Maybe get the Rockies and nats together since both have goals they are trying to accomplish. Rockies want to rid themselves of the Arenado contract, nats want a 3b RH middle of the order bat but with all the money commited to their rotation they can’t take on Nolan’s deal, so let the Cubs facilitate.

Nats get: Bryant+Almora rights
Cubs get: Arenado+cash(7m annual for 3years . Opt out bumped back 2 years, basically making him a 3yr 84m committed from Cubs.
Rox get: Bote+Robles+Kieboom+Caratini

Nats get their bat and a backup cf equivalent to Robles
Rox get a starting cf, 3/5ths of a starting infield under contract for a long time. Bote in coors would be interesting.

Then move Kimbrel in a deal to save money and dfa schwarber if no takers via trade

[CP_414]

Maybe get the Rockies and nats together since both have goals they are trying to accomplish. Rockies want to rid themselves of the Arenado contract, nats want a 3b RH middle of the order bat but with all the money commited to their rotation they can’t take on Nolan’s deal, so let the Cubs facilitate.

Nats get: Bryant+Almora rights
Cubs get: Arenado+cash(7m annual for 3years . Opt out bumped back 2 years, basically making him a 3yr 84m committed from Cubs.
Rox get: Bote+Robles+Kieboom+Caratini

Nats get their bat and a backup cf equivalent to Robles
Rox get a starting cf, 3/5ths of a starting infield under contract for a long time. Bote in coors would be interesting.

Then move Kimbrel in a deal to save money and dfa schwarber if no takers via trade

I don’t see that one. I don’t think you can assume the Arenado would opt out so the Cubs financial commitment is larger than this. The Nats aren’t giving up all that for a year of KB and a guy who is getting non tendered.

[huff]

Who cares if he doesn’t opt out? At that point the financials would be way better for the Cubs and I think you might overvalue the two players the nats are sending. Glove first cf with flashes with the bat and a highly rated prospect that the shine is off of so for KB it seems legit to me value wise

[CP_414]

Who cares if he doesn’t opt out? At that point the financials would be way better for the Cubs and I think you might overvalue the two players the nats are sending. Glove first cf with flashes with the bat and a highly rated prospect that the shine is off of so for KB it seems legit to me value wise

Just saying it’s not 3/84. It’s 6/199 minus the cash you have coming over.

I think you are overvaluing KBs trade value if you think the Nats will give up Robles + Kieboom for a year of Kb at $20 mil. To each his own, but I don’t see that at all. Not sure what Almora adds to the trade. He’s an obvious non tender and minor league deal guy at this point.

I’d rather just cut Arenado out and take the Rockies side of that deal, and the Nats would probably rather cut the Cubs out and take Arenado and cash.

[TheRealTI]

This all true. All of it!

Ricketts looked like a savior to us fans. "We finally have an owner who wants to win!" At least that's what I thought. And I think we were right......for awhile. It usually costs money to win like that, and I feel like money is now his driving force. From an owners standpoint, I don't really hold that against him. He's a typical greedy owner. I've made peace with that.

Because we have a ton of money, the big city backing, good players, and a championship under our belts, there's no reason other than greed, that we can't retool, instead of rebuild. This one seems like it's not going to be as fun. But I'm ready for it.

Another layer to this is we know the Ricketts family has been buying up a ton of property in the neighborhood right around Wrigley. I have to imagine with the pandemic they are getting absolutely rinsed on those investments right now.

We saw over the past few years they bought the team so they could monetize the club via property investments and the TV network. Neither have worked out the way they were planning they would.

We could really see them cut payroll costs even more than we are thinking due to these other losses. It's just very frustrating they were going to take the approach of "well the TV network and property stuff is not the CUBS money, it's a different business and so we can use returns to invest in the Cubs" and now that those other businesses are struggling it'll be "well, the Cubs are going to have to help pay for those other investment losses sine they're related."

[thawv]

Another layer to this is we know the Ricketts family has been buying up a ton of property in the neighborhood right around Wrigley. I have to imagine with the pandemic they are getting absolutely rinsed on those investments right now.

We saw over the past few years they bought the team so they could monetize the club via property investments and the TV network. Neither have worked out the way they were planning they would.

We could really see them cut payroll costs even more than we are thinking due to these other losses. It's just very frustrating they were going to take the approach of "well the TV network and property stuff is not the CUBS money, it's a different business and so we can use returns to invest in the Cubs" and now that those other businesses are struggling it'll be "well, the Cubs are going to have to help pay for those other investment losses sine they're related."

This is a good way to look at it. I guess they CAN have it both ways!

[1908_Cubs]

Mark Feinsand (MLB Nework) adds to the flury of reports on the Cubs this offseason:

An American League executive believes Chicago will move at least two of the aforementioned group in an effort to save money and undergo a reset of sorts.

“My sense is that the Cubs are very open [to anything],” the exec said.

(That group was Bryant, Baez, Rizzo and Schwarber)

“They seem to think a heavy restart could be in order,” a National League executive said.

“They are open to all kinds of stuff,” the NL executive said. “They aren’t a group afraid to make big moves.”

[thawv]

Mark Feinsand (MLB Nework) adds to the flury of reports on the Cubs this offseason:

(That group was Bryant, Baez, Rizzo and Schwarber)

We may finally have an eventful off season.

[La_bibbers]

Gonna be hard to watch next year.