~60 million to spend?

[chibears55]

Just a crazy thought here but...
With a payroll that sitting at 30 mil right now and will only go up slightly with a bunch of kids on roster and having committed payroll being even less the following years....

Would it be totally crazy if they tried to bring in both scherzer and lester ? Offer both 6 yrs, probably cost a combined 50-60 per..

If the plan is to stick with most of these kids, payroll not going to get above 110/120 for quite some time, even with the 60 mil combined added.. might as well grab 2 of the top starters in baseball now that are just 30 YO and build your staff around them for the next 6 years..

Even if Arrieta and Hendricks just become 15+ game winners, plus a 5th starter who can get you double digits wins, your looking at a rotation averaging about 80+ wins for you automatically every year...

 

[Papa Wheelie]

Why do the Cubs need to sign a closer? Strop, Ramirez, Rondon.,etc. I don't get it. They also have Viscaino at AAA.

I agree, I thought Strop, Ramirez, Rondon did pretty darn good. I also think the bullpen is going to be a strength for the Cubs. I could see a reasonably priced setup man, but the Cubs will put their money into starters imo. I really would like Russel as well. A quality catcher for the young arms is a must imo.

 

[Parade_Rain]

Add rivero who had a tremendous year in the minors and throws hard. He is probably our closer in the near future. Cubs have a plethora of power arms.


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For some reason I keep forgetting about Rivero.

 

[Parade_Rain]

I agree, I thought Strop, Ramirez, Rondon did pretty darn good. I also think the bullpen is going to be a strength for the Cubs. I could see a reasonably priced setup man, but the Cubs will put their money into starters imo. I really would like Russel as well. A quality catcher for the young arms is a must imo.

I could see them trying to improve the backup catching situation, but Castillo handled Arrieta and Hendricks fine, IMHO.

 

[Raskolnikov]

The price for Lester, Shields, AND Peavy shouldn't be terrible. Its not a bad shopping list and maybe they should get all 3 if they can. That would structure a solid and flexible rotation together with the farm and current players. I'm not sure Peavy would help the Cubs, I don't know what his career numbers are in Wrigley or parks like Wrigley.

The fact that small ball shelled him in Boston, S.F., and K.C. says something. With the wind blowing out Wrigley might not be ideal for Peavy either. He should go to Oakland, and the Cubs should get Lester. Shields is worth his paycheck and brings a competitive professional, I'm not against it.

Finally excited for the Cubs, Maddon is the right guy for them and raises the IQ of the Clubhouse and the front office at the same time. I think for me personally, only Tony LaRussa is a comparable baseball mind among managers. They know how to read advanced statistics and understand baseball enough to know when something is useful. They improve their team each and every day just by making good decisions. Scosa in L.A. is in the next tier of good managers, but I consider Maddon the best active.

 

[JimJohnson]

The price for Lester, Shields, AND Peavy shouldn't be terrible. Its not a bad shopping list and maybe they should get all 3 if they can. That would structure a solid and flexible rotation together with the farm and current players. I'm not sure Peavy would help the Cubs, I don't know what his career numbers are in Wrigley or parks like Wrigley.

The fact that small ball shelled him in Boston, S.F., and K.C. says something. With the wind blowing out Wrigley might not be ideal for Peavy either. He should go to Oakland, and the Cubs should get Lester. Shields is worth his paycheck and brings a competitive professional, I'm not against it.

Finally excited for the Cubs, Maddon is the right guy for them and raises the IQ of the Clubhouse and the front office at the same time. I think for me personally, only Tony LaRussa is a comparable baseball mind among managers. They know how to read advanced statistics and understand baseball enough to know when something is useful. They improve their team each and every day just by making good decisions. Scosa in L.A. is in the next tier of good managers, but I consider Maddon the best active.

As someone already said, we don't really want Shields. Didn't he lose both of his WS games? Plus he's an older guy and not getting better. Why can't we get Lester and Scherzer? If the Cubs brass wants to win so bad like they keep saying, pony up.

 

[Parade_Rain]

The cubs brass isn't going to be stupid and spend money like drunken sailors just because they got the top manager who surprisingly was available.

 

[JimJohnson]

The cubs brass isn't going to be stupid and spend money like drunken sailors just because they got the top manager who surprisingly was available.

Why would getting Lester and Scherzer to pair with Arriata be stupid? That gives you a 1-2-3 that could beat anyone if you get into the playoffs.

 

[brett05]

As someone already said, we don't really want Shields. Didn't he lose both of his WS games? Plus he's an older guy and not getting better. Why can't we get Lester and Scherzer? If the Cubs brass wants to win so bad like they keep saying, pony up.

Wait now you want Lester???

 

[JimJohnson]

Wait now you want Lester???

Would you shut the **** up you annoying little ****

 

[SilenceS]

Why would getting Lester and Scherzer to pair with Arriata be stupid? That gives you a 1-2-3 that could beat anyone if you get into the playoffs.

That would be 50 million a year on two players. ThAts a lot to invest. There are only a couple of guys who are considered aces for longer then a 3 year span. The Phillies got killed when they signed Halladay, lee, and hamels to those huge contracts. They never sniffed a championship. It's a huge investment that can go south in a hurry and hamstring an org.


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[JimJohnson]

That would be 50 million a year on two players. ThAts a lot to invest. There are only a couple of guys who are considered aces for longer then a 3 year span. The Phillies got killed when they signed Halladay, lee, and hamels to those huge contracts. They never sniffed a championship. It's a huge investment that can go south in a hurry and hamstring an org.


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http://espn.go.com/mlb/team/salaries/_/name/lad/los-angeles-dodgers

I think the Cubs can spare $50M and survive if it doesn't work out. I'd rather spend $50M on Lester and Scherzer than $40M on Lester and Shields.

 

[theberserkfury]

Would you shut the **** up you annoying little ****

Put him on your ignore list...

 

[JimJohnson]

Put him on your ignore list...

Good call, that little ***** just went on my shit list.

 

[chibears55]

That would be 50 million a year on two players. ThAts a lot to invest. There are only a couple of guys who are considered aces for longer then a 3 year span. The Phillies got killed when they signed Halladay, lee, and hamels to those huge contracts. They never sniffed a championship. It's a huge investment that can go south in a hurry and hamstring an org.


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Difference was Halladay was 33, Lee was 32, and the heart of the Phillies Roster were already in their 30s..
So, they had a 2-3 year Window .
97 wins and 102 wins the first 2 years, then age and high payroll caught up to them..

Cubs have a young team with barely a payroll, they can more then afford to spend 50+ mil on 2 30 YO top starters without hamstringing the organization..

Like i said earlier, with the team going with mostly young players, should be a few years before payroll reaches 110/120 and by then they will be close to that new TV deal and by then both those contracts will be over if deal for 6 yrs..

 

[beckdawg]

You literally can't spend $50 mil on 2 players. There's too many other needs. If I'm right about them having closer to $60 mil maybe you you talk about spending $20 mil on 2 pitchers each leaving you $20 mil to spend on other various needs but side from that you're going to knock of $3-5 mil a year on some bench players.

 

[chibears55]

You literally can't spend $50 mil on 2 players. There's too many other needs. If I'm right about them having closer to $60 mil maybe you you talk about spending $20 mil on 2 pitchers each leaving you $20 mil to spend on other various needs but side from that you're going to knock of $3-5 mil a year on some bench players.

Sure they can if they wanted to.. there no cap in baseball.
They dont need to just spend this 60 mil you come up with, they could stretch it a bit if they wanted to.
Payroll sitting at 30.5 now..
Even if they wanted to keep payroll close to 110/115 , that leaves them with 80 to 85 to spend ..

Majority of their main guys they need to sign are first year or Arb players in which their salary going to be relatively low, probably close to 10 mil total tops. .

That going to leave them with around 70 to 75 mil to spend on backup Catcher, LFer, maybe another bench guy
That shouldn't cost them more then 20+ mil

That still leaves them with 50 plus if they choose to put it all in lester and scherzer


Because this team is being pretty must built with first year and Arb players, they have more then enough money to go get a couple top FAs and still have payroll at a reasonable low amount under 120 mil for 2015

 

[SilenceS]

You do realize these would be 6 to 7 year contracts. This is the ultimate thinking about now then the future. Lester is over 30 and so is scherzer. Look at verlander. Unless your name is Keyshawn. Felix Hernandez and a few others. Absolutely nit


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[chibears55]

You do realize these would be 6 to 7 year contracts. This is the ultimate thinking about now then the future. Lester is over 30 and so is scherzer. Look at verlander. Unless your name is Keyshawn. Felix Hernandez and a few others. Absolutely nit


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Lester will be 31 and scherzer 30 at the start of 2015, their basically in their prime years still but yes i agree its a risk down the road paying them 25+ mil at age 36,37..

im not saying they should or need to get both, just saying they have the available money to do so if they choose to..

Ill be more then happy with one ( most likely Lester ) and a 2nd tier starter..

 

[CSF77]

2015 payroll obligations:

EdWin(LOL) Jackson: 11 Mil
Castro: 6,857,143
Rizzo: 5,285,714
Soler: 2,666,667
Sweeney: 1,500,000
Conception: 1,200,000
Turner: $1,000,000
Fujikawa: $500,000 buy out.

Arb Case Predictions:

Wood: 5,500,000
Arrieta: 4.,100,000
Valbuena: 3,100,000
Ruggiano: 2,500,000
Strop: 2,400,000
Castillo: 2,100,000
Wright: 2,000,000
Coghlan: 1,400,000
Doubront: 1,300,000
Baker: 1,100,000


Now not all will be tendered.

Rumor has it that target #1 will be Lester and Shields is the back up plan. Not both.

Peavey wants to play on the same team as Lester. So what ever Lester does here.

Cubs have a situation where they could handle both.