2015 Cubs Offseason Discussion

CSF77

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http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/cubs/post/_/id/28167/cubs-non-tender-john-baker-wesley-wright

The Cubs could fill Wright's role from within, as they recently re-signed lefty Tsuyoshi Wada -- though he was a starter last season -- and picked up southpaw Joe Ortiz from the Texas Rangers in early October. Lefty Zac Rosscup is also on the 40-man roster, while Felix Doubront threw out of the bullpen in seven games last season, as well.

.My take is they are controlling costs here as they are expecting to win Lester. In house they would have Wada (If they get Lester and keep Wood in the rotation), Ortiz, Rosscup, Doubront and Jokisch in house. To be honest they have depth.

This part was interesting:

The eight players the Cubs tendered contracts to included pitchers Jake Arrieta, Travis Wood, Pedro Strop and Doubront, as well as infielder Luis Valbuena and outfielders Justin Ruggiano and Chris Coghlan. Castillo was also tendered a contract. All can negotiate and sign a contract with the team before arbitration hearings begin in February.

I'm getting the feel that they are expecting to win Lester again with them offering both Coghland and Ruggiano. That is the LF platoon and it should cost no more than 6 mil to run it out there. They are going to need a catcher and the article goes into Miguel Montero somewhat. Only guy on the 40 is Rafael Lopez.

So I'm thinking they end up getting Lester now. IMO it would be a major upset is they lost out here. Wright was solid but with that many LH arms on the 40 man they had to make a choice and they chose cost control.
 

TC in Mississippi

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I think they get Lester too but I think his camp is unhappy with where the money is ending up so rather than take the Cubs offer now they've thrown it out there that there are two more "mystery" teams. Two days ago the Yankees were getting involved. My guess is they were hoping for 6/$150 million (curiously exactly what Buster Olney said would get it done, think he might have taken that verbatim form Lester's agent...hmmm) and the Cubs look to be the high offer about $10 mil or so under that. Obviously the Cubs aren't going to bid against themselves so they're looking for a counter. I don't think there is one but if this drags to the weekend I could see the Chicago just saying "fine, $144/6 let's get it done". There have been two sets of numbers all along, one where the Yankees were a player with the TOR guys and one where they weren't. The latter appears to be reality and the market has fallen accordingly. Wasn't too long ago that Scott Boras was dropping 7 years/$230 million for Scherzer. Now he'll get more than Lester but at this point, with the big money staying put and plenty of trades to be made, I'd be surprised if Scherzer got more than 6/$175. The real loser here is likely to be James Shields who probably won't sniff more than 4 years/$70 million and I'm sure he was hoping for a lot more than that.
 

CSF77

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Shields is 33. He shouldn't get more than a 3 year deal. We saw what happened to Dempster at that age. Fell off the table and injury prone. With out PED's players and dropping off around 34-36 now vs 38-40. I can't see any player over 38 getting more than a 1 year deal as we go forward. Happened with Colon and Hiroki Kuroda. They are the rare ones to keep productive at 40. That is not the norm.
 

cubsneedmiracle

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Lots of shit on twitter saying we got Lester but no credible sources yet.
 

brett05

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All coming from kids it seems on twitter
 

TL1961

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All coming from kids it seems on twitter

Hey, kids broke the news on a deal earlier - was it Butler? I forget.

All I remember was MLB Network giving grief to Ken Rosenthal for getting scooped by two teens. They were saying "scooping Rosenthal is easier than scooping mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving."

But, yes, it seems any "buzz" right now is inaccurate.
 

Thunderfoot

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Cubs should trade Castro, and try to get...

Matt Harvey off of the Mets.
 

JosMin

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Hmmmmm... wonder who the Cubs would consider sending back? Perfect landing spot for a Edwin Jackson shitty contract dump!

@jonmorosi

#Cubs, #DBacks discussing trade that would send Miguel Montero to Chicago, sources tell @Ken_Rosenthal and me. @FOXSports
 

JZsportsfan

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Montero doesn't seem that much different than Castillo on the offensive side. Shows how much the FO values the sabermetrics and defense
 

TL1961

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Montero is also a LH hitter, which is a factor.
 

beckdawg

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I don't really love the idea of Montero unless it's a salary swap for Jackson. Cubs would be eating $12 mil in 2015 and $14 mil in 16/17. Even at Turner prospect level of cost that is a lot of money for someone who's been kinda meh the past 2 years. I would hope the dbacks are eating at least $5-10 mil.
 

TL1961

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I don't really love the idea of Montero unless it's a salary swap for Jackson. Cubs would be eating $12 mil in 2015 and $14 mil in 16/17. Even at Turner prospect level of cost that is a lot of money for someone who's been kinda meh the past 2 years. I would hope the dbacks are eating at least $5-10 mil.

Why would the D Backs take salary back to get rid of a C when they have no other alternative at C? They're dumping his salary. It's essentially a FA signing, depending on what minor leaguer we give up. He's a bit expensive, and no great star, but would be an improvement.
 

beckdawg

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Why would the D Backs take salary back to get rid of a C when they have no other alternative at C? They're dumping his salary. It's essentially a FA signing, depending on what minor leaguer we give up. He's a bit expensive, and no great star, but would be an improvement.

Of course they are dumping salary. You don't typically get a dodger/red sox like trade when dumping salary. More often the team wanting to dump the player has to eat money. I don't think Montero is worth $8 mil a year personally let alone $12 and then 2 years for $14. As such, I'd prefer it to be a salary swap. Why would they do that? Well for one they traded away McCarthy and may very well need to sign a back end rotation piece as a replacement. Jackson has 2 years $22 mil left. Montero has 3 years $40 mil. They would be saving $18 mil plus whatever they would have been paying to replace McCarthy in FA. Granted they'd be getting Jackson which is dubious at best but is that really any different than hoping on a low level prospect?
 

TL1961

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Montero doesn't seem that much different than Castillo on the offensive side. Shows how much the FO values the sabermetrics and defense

It's nice to finally have a FO that understands that defense is part of the game.
 

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