Cubs offseason rumors/transactions

[CubsFaninMN]

I think FA's are looking for two things: big money and jewelry, and not necessarily in that order. Cubs have been to the NLCS each of the past three years, and the WS once. Note Yu's list was all contenders, with the Cubs having one of the best chances of getting into post-season play of all of them. So, if he goes back to the Rangers, who are on the verge of a teardown and rebuild, and can't match the money being offered by some of the big boys, he'd be giving a non-contender a hometown discount and ignoring both the big money and the jewelry.

Possible, I guess -- people have all sorts of motivations that make no sense to me -- but doesn't seem likely...

 

[beckdawg]

Another thought i had about the cubs signing Darvish is it probably helps them down the line with international signings. I think part of what historically has made NY and LA attractive to high profile guys from NPB is they have a track record of signing guys. You have to imagine there's likely several good young players in high school who view Darvish as their favorite player. I don't think you should underestimate the power seeing a childhood hero succeed with a team has. It may not even be something at a conscious level that happens but if you think about how we as fans inevitably come to like a team it's probably something similar. You likely either had a family member who was a fan or your favorite player played for the team.

And sure money and location will always be an important factor as we saw with Ohtani but often times just getting your foot in the door is a big deal.

 

[anotheridiot]

I think FA's are looking for two things: big money and jewelry, and not necessarily in that order. Cubs have been to the NLCS each of the past three years, and the WS once. Note Yu's list was all contenders, with the Cubs having one of the best chances of getting into post-season play of all of them. So, if he goes back to the Rangers, who are on the verge of a teardown and rebuild, and can't match the money being offered by some of the big boys, he'd be giving a non-contender a hometown discount and ignoring both the big money and the jewelry.

Possible, I guess -- people have all sorts of motivations that make no sense to me -- but doesn't seem likely...

Well its like Grienke said when he signed with Arizona and the retort to my comment about why the hell would Wade Davis choose Colorado, for some it is about the money.

I just figured that most teams figured Jake and Yu were going to both be getting 30 million, at least for a few of the years of the deal and never even kicked the tires. Its just mindboggling that more teams are not in on them at this 25-27 rate max.

 

[TC in Mississippi]

I think FA's are looking for two things: big money and jewelry, and not necessarily in that order. Cubs have been to the NLCS each of the past three years, and the WS once. Note Yu's list was all contenders, with the Cubs having one of the best chances of getting into post-season play of all of them. So, if he goes back to the Rangers, who are on the verge of a teardown and rebuild, and can't match the money being offered by some of the big boys, he'd be giving a non-contender a hometown discount and ignoring both the big money and the jewelry.

Possible, I guess -- people have all sorts of motivations that make no sense to me -- but doesn't seem likely...

Good points. The Texas thing for me is this, Darvish would put them at roughly $170 mil for 2018 and they'd still likely be the fourth best team in that division after Houston, Anaheim and Seattle. Hard to see the sense in that. Minnesota offers the chance to be a God in the frozen north if they make it to a World Series but in say the next four years who has more deep October runs, Minnesota or Chicago? I think he'll be a Cub.

 

[chibears55]

You would think that there would be a couple teams that wont be players next year competing for the high priced FAs attempting to try and grab Darvish Arrieta Cobb JD Martinez from the cubs yankees dodgers etc that are making low offers to maintain a reasonable payroll for next year crop..


Also...

Looking at next year top pitching FAs Kershaw 32 Price 34 Gio gonzalez 33..

Tells me the cubs would be only interested in adding Harper over adding any of the pitchers if part of the reason for maintaining a fairly low offer for Darvish and Arrieta is to save room for next few years to take on Harper salary..

Also..

Looking at the ages of next year FA group, outside of Andrus Harper and Machado everyone else are into their 30s... i would think like what going on this year with Darvish Arrieta, teams will be hesitant offering up the years on those guys too...


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

 

[beckdawg]

Sounding like the giants are trying to get Mccutch. I'm not entirely sure how given their farm system is horrible at this point. It's probably worse than the cubs and many view the cubs as a bottom 5 or 10 system. Think the giants may be making a bit of a mistake going all in. Like I get the idea being your sorta have to maximize your window with the core they have but i'm just not sure that core is good enough and they are trying away their future pretty hard. Their farm system could look worse than the cubs pre-2012 soon.

 

[chibears55]

Giants got McCutchen pending physical

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

 

[TC in Mississippi]

You would think that there would be a couple teams that wont be players next year competing for the high priced FAs attempting to try and grab Darvish Arrieta Cobb JD Martinez from the cubs yankees dodgers etc that are making low offers to maintain a reasonable payroll for next year crop..


Also...

Looking at next year top pitching FAs Kershaw 32 Price 34 Gio gonzalez 33..

Tells me the cubs would be only interested in adding Harper over adding any of the pitchers if part of the reason for maintaining a fairly low offer for Darvish and Arrieta is to save room for next few years to take on Harper salary..

Also..

Looking at the ages of next year FA group, outside of Andrus Harper and Machado everyone else are into their 30s... i would think like what going on this year with Darvish Arrieta, teams will be hesitant offering up the years on those guys too...


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

You forgot Keuchel in your list of pitchers. He'll be 31 and he will get paid.

 

[chibears55]

You forgot Keuchel in your list of pitchers. He'll be 31 and he will get paid.

List i saw didnt have Keuchel...



Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

 

[chibears55]

Im guessing since there been no mentions except that one piece on Cain that supposedly was false, the cubs are going to go with Caratini as back up catcher as i said, and Almora gonna get his shot in CF..

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

 

[beckdawg]

TR Sullivan
✔
@Sullivan_Ranger
Jon Daniels said adding another front line starting pitcher is not likely this winter

So yeah... at this point it seems inevitable darvish ends up with the cubs if we assume that the rangers minny and houston are all out of serious consideration and the Yanks/dodgers need to clear salary.

 

[chibears55]

So yeah... at this point it seems inevitable darvish ends up with the cubs if we assume that the rangers minny and houston are all out of serious consideration and the Yanks/dodgers need to clear salary.

If all these other teams are out and not interested , wouldnt they let Darvish agent know..

I get he may be waiting for cubs or another team to up the offer but wouldnt that be a risk considering the cubs etc. may just go elsewhere to get a SP over waiting for him..
Then he stuck with maybe taking a low offer with a team he probably wasn't considering to begin with..

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

 

[TC in Mississippi]

So yeah... at this point it seems inevitable darvish ends up with the cubs if we assume that the rangers minny and houston are all out of serious consideration and the Yanks/dodgers need to clear salary.

I wonder about the Twins. They've basically made him their #1 priority all offseason. I didn't think it was likely but here they sit with only the Cubs and Yankees along with them for Darvish's services. This business about the Yankees shopping Robertson and Gardner to free up money has me nervous along with Mark Gonzales Tweet today that he thinks Cobb is the real target (which would piss me off).

 

[beckdawg]

If all these other teams are out and not interested , wouldnt they let Darvish agent know..

I get he may be waiting for cubs or another team to up the offer but wouldnt that be a risk considering the cubs etc. may just go elsewhere to get a SP over waiting for him..
Then he stuck with maybe taking a low offer with a team he probably wasn't considering to begin with..

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

I mean that's the game isn't it? Keep in mind there was a report recently that the only thing stopping the cubs from having him today was the length and that if they added another year to their offer he'd sign. My guess is his side knows the cubs want him most of the remaining guys and that they aren't likely to move until he says yes or no to their offer.

 

[TC in Mississippi]

If all these other teams are out and not interested , wouldnt they let Darvish agent know..

I get he may be waiting for cubs or another team to up the offer but wouldnt that be a risk considering the cubs etc. may just go elsewhere to get a SP over waiting for him..
Then he stuck with maybe taking a low offer with a team he probably wasn't considering to begin with..

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

All of it is a game. Teams and agents use the media and whatever tools they have at their disposal. With Darvish I really think he wants to be a Yankee, and might take less to play there, but that seems to be less and less likely but he's going to hold until they officially say they aren't pursuing him. I still think he signs this week.

 

[beckdawg]

All of it is a game. Teams and agents use the media and whatever tools they have at their disposal. With Darvish I really think he wants to be a Yankee, and might take less to play there, but that seems to be less and less likely but he's going to hold until they officially say they aren't pursuing him. I still think he signs this week.

Based on what?

 

[Diehardfan]

If we're talking Jake or Darvish....I'm passing on both. If the Cubs are truly interested in bringing Harper in here next year, I surely wouldn't want any long term contracts to pitchers in decline hanging over my head. Can't say that's for sure with Darvish but his playoff showing last year isn't exactly the highlight of his resume. Jake...well, I think we've seen enough of to know that any big money he gets will be more for what he's done in the past rather than what he will give you in the future. They may or may not be short a starter at this point but even if they sign one of these guys...they may be short on starting pitching. Just not worth the investment to me. Roll out a few kids, one or two may surprise.

 

[beckdawg]

If we're talking Jake or Darvish....I'm passing on both. If the Cubs are truly interested in bringing Harper in here next year, I surely wouldn't want any long term contracts to pitchers in decline hanging over my head. Can't say that's for sure with Darvish but his playoff showing last year isn't exactly the highlight of his resume. Jake...well, I think we've seen enough of to know that any big money he gets will be more for what he's done in the past rather than what he will give you in the future. They may or may not be short a starter at this point but even if they sign one of these guys...they may be short on starting pitching. Just not worth the investment to me. Roll out a few kids, one or two may surprise.

Think it's more about how much you pay them. Now maybe I'm wrong but it's mid january and nobody has signed. If they were getting typical market value surely they would have signed with someone already. For the sake of argument let's say in a typical year Darvish would get $25 mil AAV. At this point I'd be surprised if he got that. And clearly you have to have pitching which is something the cubs have been bad at developing thus far. If you can get Darvish who at worst is a #2 pitcher below market value because of the circumstances I think you have to do that and figure the rest out later.

Keep in mind that doing nothing the cubs are saving $12 mil on Heyward and Zobrist in 2019. That plus the luxury tax level is going to go up probably several million dollars. That alone is likely close to half what Harper may get and presumably if you're getting harper you're probably committing to go over the luxury tax.

 

[TC in Mississippi]

Based on what?

Talk I’ve heard on MLB Radio mostly and the fact that most players want to be Yankees given their druthers.

 

[anotheridiot]

I guess they dont mind waiting to see if some front line pitcher cuts his hand open with a knife this off season and more offers start rolling in.