I thought I had seen it all

[Boobaby1]

Apparently their is another organization that wants to take a chance on a lousy player.

Dodgers Sign Ian Stewart

By Jeff Todd [July 5 at 5:45pm CST]

The Dodgers have signed third baseman Ian Stewart, tweets Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com. Since being jettisoned by the Cubs, Stewart was most recently rumored to be in discussions with the Yankees.

Stewart never made it to the bigs this season, as he was outrighted to Chicago's highest minor league affiliate after struggling during an early-season rehab stint. His cumulative line this season (all for Triple-A Iowa) is just .168/.286/.372. In 2012, Stewart managed just a .201/.292/.335 slash for the major league Cubs.

The 28-year-old Stewart had a less-than-amicable end to his tenure in Chicago, after being non-tendered but re-signed by the Cubs this past offseason. He never regained the power stroke that he showed during his time with the Rockies. To add insult to injury to the Cubs, one of the players the club dealt to Colorado for Stewart -- 24-year-old infielder DJ LeMahieu -- could be in the midst of establishing himself as a big league regular.

Whoa!

 

[Mr. Cub]

How desperate can one team be when you are taking the players that the CUBS didn't even want? haha

 

[The Bandit]

Que the hot streak with a .350 BA 15 HR and 50 RBI

 

[Boobaby1]

Que the hot streak with a .350 BA 15 HR and 50 RBI

Nah! Only if he went to the Cardinals, but they aren't stupid enough to waste a single dime on a worthless player.

 

[Flacco4Prez]

Dodgers are crazy desperate. I guess throwing cash at every player with a nice last name doesn't actually work eh? It takes time to build a team, not one month.

 

[Franko725]

Dodgers....

 

[KBisBack!]

Dodgers are crazy desperate. I guess throwing cash at every player with a nice last name doesn't actually work eh? It takes time to build a team, not one month.

And yet they are only 3.5 games out of first place despite playing without Hanley Ramirez, Carl Crawford and Matt Kemp for extended periods of time and only having two starting pitchers not miss any starts.

They are also tied for the second best record in the NL over the last 30 games.

They still have a very good shot at making the playoffs.

 

[Boobaby1]

And yet they are only 3.5 games out of first place despite playing without Hanley Ramirez, Carl Crawford and Matt Kemp for extended periods of time and only having two starting pitchers not miss any starts.

They are also tied for the second best record in the NL over the last 30 games.

They still have a very good shot at making the playoffs.

Plus having a pretty extraordinary player in Puig moving forward that is controlled until 2018.

Mattingly's job was in jeopardy a few weeks ago, and a 22 year old Cuban may have just saved it. I know that he has inspired the team to say the least, and if they get healthy, they could be a tough team come playoff time especially with Kershaw, Greinke, Ryu, Lily (rehabbing), and a pitcher like Garza or Nalasco possibly to bolster the rotation.

Long way to go, but they are trying to win whatever the cost.

 

[CSF77]

LAD should get scarry pretty fast if they ink Garza or Nas. I can not see them picking Nas. Over Garza on a rental. They spent heavy over the past year and they are looking like an all in mentality. Garza makes sense. On top of it they have deep enough pockets to make Garza very rich and one of the highest paid #3 starters in the league. It makes allot of sense only if they have the prospects required to pull it off.

 

[chibears55]

Long way to go, but they are trying to win whatever the cost.

thats what an 8.5 billion dollar tv deal will do for you, it keeps you comfortable enough to not worry to much about the cost

 

[KBisBack!]

Long way to go, but they are trying to win whatever the cost.

Trying to win whatever the cost??

What a terribly stupid concept.

 

[patg006]

Trying to win whatever the cost??

What a terribly stupid concept.

Seriously. Isnt it all about rebuilding the farm and ONLY rebuilding the farm? Expensive free agents handcuff the front office with albatross salaries!

 

[KBisBack!]

Seriously. Isnt it all about rebuilding the farm and ONLY rebuilding the farm? Expensive free agents handcuff the front office with albatross salaries!

And somehow young players, performing at below average levels, signed to long term contracts aren't holding back the franchise at all.

 

[JosMin]

Keep in mind the Dodgers have $7 billion TV deal that essentially pays for whatever payroll expenditures they have for the next 25 seasons, so they truly are one of the MLB teams that don't have to bat an eyelash whenever they consider adding salary. Could you imagine having $280 million EVERY SEASON without even having to think about ticket sales, corporate sponsorships, merchandise, etc? Either way, this is one team that's battled injuries all season long and figure to be in the thick of things once the playoff crunch really sets in. Hanley has been tearing the cover off the ball and Puig is a revelation on both sides of the ball. Adding Nolasco yesterday further cements a very deep rotation -- barring another string of catastrophic injuries, they figure to be in the hunt until the end, especially considering that nobody in the NL West seems to want to run away with anything.

 

[KBisBack!]

Keep in mind the Dodgers have $7 billion TV deal

Keep in mind that even though the Cubs have yet to cash in on the recent local TV deals that they are still one of the top revenue generating teams in baseball and can afford a higher payroll than probably at least 25 of the other MLB teams yet sit pretty much in the middle of team payrolls.

 

[JosMin]

Keep in mind that even though the Cubs have yet to cash in on the recent local TV deals that they are still one of the top revenue generating teams in baseball and can afford a higher payroll than probably at least 25 of the other MLB teams yet sit pretty much in the middle of team payrolls.

I'm not disagreeing with that, but most people would admit that other than the Yankees and Dodgers because of their absurd TV revenues, the other 28 teams still have to be mindful on how they disperse their payroll. I still don't think the Cubs raising their payroll $25 million would've made any difference this year between making the postseason or not.

The Cubs pulled in less than $50 million last season from CSN Chicago and WGN. The team’s deal with regional sports network CSN Chicago, which is 20%-owned by the Cubs, runs through 2019. But in 2015 the team is poised to ink a much bigger deal with WGN -- Forbes

That's a startling number. $50 million? Yeesh.

 

[KBisBack!]

I still don't think the Cubs raising their payroll $25 million would've made any difference this year between making the postseason or not.

We will never know since the team didn't even try.

Thinking it probably won't happen is a dumb excuse to not even try.

That's a startling number. $50 million? Yeesh.

And yet probably still ranks in the top 10 for local media deals.

Don't let 2-3 mega deals signed in the last three years or so to fool you into thinking the Cubs deal is one of the worst in the league. It isn't. It just looks bad compared to the new deals that started the new trend of the big local media deals.

The Cubs should never be making what teams like the Yankees or Dodgers make, because NY and LA are larger markets.

 

[Boobaby1]

Keep in mind that even though the Cubs have yet to cash in on the recent local TV deals that they are still one of the top revenue generating teams in baseball and can afford a higher payroll than probably at least 25 of the other MLB teams yet sit pretty much in the middle of team payrolls.

Also keep in mind that Shark said the team is close to being a contender (meaning a couple of pieces I gather), but the front office has to want to field a team that can compete. I think everyone would be surprised at the level of play that the Cubs would endure if they indeed sought some talent. Talent makes everyone better around you and the focus is not where Rizzo and Castro's numbers are or aren't.

If the same ole thing goes on next year, they will have trouble convincing anyone on the Cubs, or anywhere for that matter that they are trying to win a WS. What competitor wants to be part of that? opcorn:

 

[chibears55]

If the same ole thing goes on next year, they will have trouble convincing anyone on the Cubs, or anywhere for that matter that they are trying to win a WS. What competitor wants to be part of that? opcorn:

I agree.. Have to include fans like myself who accepted what they've done the last 2 yrs but will turn the page if they go the same route over piecing together more core players through system trade or FA this off season.