The Cubs Hot Stove Action Thread

[CSF77]

My onl issue is that Choo will probably get closer to $20 than $15.

Was figuring 15 mil as a starting point.

 

[CSF77]

Quote Originally Posted by beckdawg View Post
And with that same logic, what's the point in making a bid on any FA? Why would they want to come to a loser?
And that's the problem. And not just for the Cubs. But let's keep it to them shall we.

The Cubs have attracted a top Free Agent once in the past 7 years. (Soriano) Why is that?

Again this ties to the motivations of the F/A's. For one any player tied to Boras is looking at payday. Why even tie yourself to this ****** unless you want to get paid well.

So it ties to Choo. He is buy-able.

Now if they did this it puts a signal to the 2015 F/A crowd that the Cubs will spend. That is a start. Right now the signal is lower payroll and if you sign expect to get traded. Or you are signing into a rental where the Cubs are just looking to dump part of the contract at the end of the year for a few so-so or has been or injured farm depth.


Lets call it for what it is. The Rickett's can not afford to run the Cubs as the market dictates. The whole notion of paying off the debt is laughable. The Dodgers went out and spent after dumping a whole lot more than the Ricketts did.

So why is this the case?

The fact that they are spending on new facilities shows that they have some cash to spend.

I believe that it boils down to is the team was awarded to the wrong group with a very conservative approach. Which makes sense is the guy awarding the bid was the ex-owner of the rival Brewers. That mentality would push the Cubs down vs giving it to a upbeat guy like Cuban who has proven that he will fund a champ.

Last thing a rival in the NL central needs is the CUBS ACTING LIKE THE MARKET DICTATES.

 

[CSF77]

But they went the wrong way about it.

If they want leverage to get the city to knuckle down to what they want they have to be coming at it from a position of strength.

This is the way it is right now.

Popular loser team wants to renovate. We have little funds to support this. Team sucks anyways deal with it.


Now if this was the NYY we were talking about you better believe the answer would be: Yes sir. No but we can work with you. No it would ruin that district if you moved out we will write new code to comply to your needs.


Pretty basic stuff here.

Position of weakness no one cares.

Position of strength people make things happen.


The whole WGN thing.

Loser team? So it is not like they are watching quality championship baseball.

Champ team...uhm we are making a killing on the national viewership of watching a champ play. Big name announcers are always trying to get that gig etc.


Face it if it was the Phils we were talking about fans would want to watch Roy or Lee pitch on their days vs watching a rerun.


It really boils down to that. The Conservative approach is making the Cubs more of an relic than it was.
It is a nice piece to talk about in jest. Gives a reason to wipe the dust off of it. Nothing too valuable.

That is a core problem when talking about the 4th largest market.

 

[chibears55]

all the talk from us fans about the cubs signing big name long term FAs is moot...

any star FA is not going to sign with the cubs right now unless the cubs go far above what a more stable team is offering..
for example with choo, the rangers are interested.. so if the rangers are offering say 5 yrs 100 mil, its probably going to cost the cubs at least 6 or 7 yrs at 132-155 mil to get him interested..

I agree that the majority of the players look for cash and stability, but if all money and yrs is somewhat equal their signing with the team that has a better chance to win.
that's why at this stage, the cubs unless they overpay are long shots at signing any significant FAs..
that why this upcoming season is very important for the cubs with their top prospects { baez, bryant, olt,soler} as they need them to take that next step at some point during the season so they can be part of the core 2015 and the cubs can be players for top FAs next off season, otherwise they will be in the same boat next off season where unless they overpay, the top dogs are not going to want to sign with a team that still trying to sort it out..

 

[chibears55]

I heard that the Tigers might consider moving Austin Jackson (27 in FEB ) who will be a FA after 2015, the assumption is that the Tigers may feel they wont want to extend him or meet his asking price ( Boras client ).. he a comparable player to Brett Gardner but younger, gardner has more speed but Jackson more XBH pop..

wouldn't mind the Cubs kicking the tires there to see what the Tigers might want in return...

 

[CSF77]

Cubs Claim Liam Hendriks
By Steve Adams [December 13 at 1:03pm CST]
The Cubs have claimed right-hander Liam Hendriks off waivers from the Twins, reports La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star Tribune (on Twitter). Hendriks had been designated for assignment last week to clear a spot on the 40-man roster for Phil Hughes.

Hendriks, still just 24 years old, makes for a nice buy-low option for the Cubs. The 25-year-old ranked sixth and seventh on the Baseball America's Top 10 Twins prospects lists from 2010-11 and has a solid minor league history. The Australian righty has a 3.61 ERA with 6.2 K/9 and 1.8 BB/9 in 254 career innings at Triple-A and a career 2.99 ERA in the minors as a whole.

Hendriks has been unable to put it together in three Major League stints, however, as evidenced by his bloated 6.06 ERA in 156 innings. He's averaged 5.8 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9 in those 156 frames to go along with a below-average 40.4 percent ground-ball rate. Hendriks barely averages better than 90 mph on his fastball, leading to too much hard contact when it's in the zone, as evidenced by a 23.3 percent line-drive rate from his opponents that has helped bloat his career BABIP to .330.

In their most recent write-up of Hendriks (prior to the 2011 campaign), Baseball America noted that Hendriks had the ceiling of a No. 3 starter if he could continue to keep his fastball down in the zone to pair with a solid slider and above-average changeup.

 

[CSF77]

Cubs Sign Ryan Roberts
By Steve Adams [December 13 at 2:01pm CST]
The Cubs announced that they've signed infielder Ryan Roberts to a minor league contract with an invitation to Major League Spring Training. Roberts is represented by the Beverly Hills Sports Council.

The 33-year-old Roberts batted .247/.295/.377 with five homers in 173 plate appearances for the Rays in 2013. Though he hasn't matched a strong 2011 season that saw him post a .249/.341/.427 line with 19 homers and 18 stolen bases, Roberts remains a solid defensive player with some pop in his bat. He has experience at second base, third base and in the outfield corners. Roberts does most of his damage against left-handed pitching, as evidenced by his .261/.341/.444 line against southpaws.

 

[CSF77]

Word was they were looking for more back filler right now and that is back filler.

 

[CSF77]

all the talk from us fans about the cubs signing big name long term FAs is moot...

any star FA is not going to sign with the cubs right now unless the cubs go far above what a more stable team is offering..
for example with choo, the rangers are interested.. so if the rangers are offering say 5 yrs 100 mil, its probably going to cost the cubs at least 6 or 7 yrs at 132-155 mil to get him interested..

I agree that the majority of the players look for cash and stability, but if all money and yrs is somewhat equal their signing with the team that has a better chance to win.
that's why at this stage, the cubs unless they overpay are long shots at signing any significant FAs..
that why this upcoming season is very important for the cubs with their top prospects { baez, bryant, olt,soler} as they need them to take that next step at some point during the season so they can be part of the core 2015 and the cubs can be players for top FAs next off season, otherwise they will be in the same boat next off season where unless they overpay, the top dogs are not going to want to sign with a team that still trying to sort it out..

One of the smartest posts I've seen in a while.

This year should be significant. This will be the first year any of the legit prospects could emerge. Lake was a long term prospect that finally matured enough to get a shot. Jackson and Vitters both busted. (So far)

It is becoming put up or shut up time.

PS: They should have: Javier Baez, Arismendy Alcantara, Matt Szczur, Niel Ramirez, Brett Jackson, Christian Villanueva, Mike Olt, Arodys, Alberto Cabrera, Jae-Hoon Ha .....all on MLB's top 20 list all competing for jobs either at the Cubs level or Iowa.

Say the least this S/T should be very intersting how things shake out. (That not even getting into Vitters who fell out of the top 20 and Kyle Hendricks who did not even break into it. )

 

[beckdawg]

Now if they did this it puts a signal to the 2015 F/A crowd that the Cubs will spend.

You talk about signals. The cubs haven't used any misdirection in their off season speak. They said they weren't going big on FA and they haven't. They said they would be targeting back end guys and they've done that. And they've said Tanaka is a priority for them. Whether or not that is mutual between Tanaka and the Cubs isn't really something in the FO's control. But to not try because you might fail? Come on man.

 

[beckdawg]

Pirates DFA'd Jerry Sands. He's 26, hit .244 with a .325 OBP in 251 career PA's. In 2012 and 2011 with the dodgers he had 26 and 29 HRs in AAA. I think that was PCL so it is inflated but still probably has 20+ power potential. He's a former top prospect IIRC too.

 

[beckdawg]

Cubs signed Ryan Kalish and John Baker too. Kalish is an upside play from the Red Sox. He's been sidelined with injuries but has 20/20 OF potential. I like the Baker signing. He's been a half way decent catcher and is nice depth behind castillo.

 

[CSF77]

You talk about signals. The cubs haven't used any misdirection in their off season speak. They said they weren't going big on FA and they haven't. They said they would be targeting back end guys and they've done that. And they've said Tanaka is a priority for them. Whether or not that is mutual between Tanaka and the Cubs isn't really something in the FO's control. But to not try because you might fail? Come on man.

The issue is in the urgency to win. Right now there is none. Box office took a major hit last year. Fans are not stupid and get the fact they are tossing out 100 loss team while putting out the rewarding journey crap.

Call it for what it is. The Rickett's are at 56% debt and are spending 32 mil per year on the business end. So they are cutting back on players and redirecting those assets into infrastructure and debt pay off.

They are trying to get out of the crappy WGN deal. That is fine.

I'm just saying spending on funding a winner will give them leverage to get the city to give into their demands. It would force WGN to restructor their contract because of the fan draw.

No one likes a loser except some demented Cubs fan that buy into the hogwash.

So ya they has shot strait. So what the targets were low value. Why even bother talking about them? Every move is back filler. No significant deals. If they don't get Tanaka (And I believe at least 30 teams post the 20 mil) the Cubs have a tiny chance of getting him.

55 hit it on the head. Until the Cubs start acting like a play off contender vs a over haul no legit free agent is going to bother unless they well over pay his value.

I dont see the frugal owners doing this even if they are on Tanaka's list.

Even MLB network felt this way about the situation. They predicted 30 teams post. Tanaka picks his top 4 and goes into negotiations. I'll bet the 4 are play off teams.

http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/cubs/post/_/id/20159/attendance-in-2013-lowest-in-last-15-years

CHICAGO -- The Chicago Cubs finished a disappointing season with a club-record 50 home losses, which is almost criminal considering the prices they charge for tickets.

At least there weren’t that many witnesses.

The Cubs finished their homestand with a 4-2 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday in front of an announced crowd of 26,171. That cemented their worst season of attendance since 1998.


The Cubs drew 2,642,682 in paid attendance, their worst total since 2,623,194 paid to get into Wrigley Field during Sammy Sosa’s magical home run season.

This year, there were no Sammy heroics and very few victories.

The ’98 season sparked a renaissance at Wrigley, and the Cubs drew at least three million fans from 2004-11, thanks in part to a steady influx of tourists in the summer months.

But four straight losing seasons have atrophied local interest in the franchise that the Ricketts family bought in 2009 for $845 million.

The Ricketts era has seen the club lose 372 games in four seasons, with a final series in St. Louis still to go. Ticket prices have stayed mostly the same since the Ricketts took over from the Tribune, but attendance is way down.

The team set a franchise attendance record with 3,300,200 in 2008, back when they had the best record in the National League. That was an average of 40,743 per game.

This year, the Cubs drew an average crowd of 32,625, down around 3,000 from last year's 101-loss season.

For those who wonder why this matters, consider the cost of losing.

The Cubs have lost an average of 8,118 fans a game in the past five seasons. Given that the average ticket price is $44.55 (not including the club seats), that's a big drop in revenue.

This drop isn't lost on the Cubs' front office. While the baseball operations department won't get a big increase in spending, like it did in 2007, the ticket department has hired new sales people to plumb the lengthy season ticket waiting list for sales.

But the sales pitch of "Wait 'Til Next Year" just might not work anymore until fans see real on-field results.

 

[chibears55]

Gavin Floyd Close To Signing

By Charlie Wilmoth [December 13 at 9:01pm CST]

Pitcher Gavin Floyd is close to signing a one-year deal with an unknown team, Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun tweets. Encina indicates that that team is not the Orioles, who were known to be interested in Floyd.

Floyd missed most of the 2013 season after having Tommy John surgery in May. In 168 innings with the White Sox in 2012, he posted a 4.29 ERA with 7.7 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9.

sounds like a cubs move....

 

[SilenceS]

Correct me if I am wrong, but doesn't every team in MLB get 25 million dollars extra this year for TV contract?

 

[beckdawg]

The issue is in the urgency to win. Right now there is none. Box office took a major hit last year. Fans are not stupid and get the fact they are tossing out 100 loss team while putting out the rewarding journey crap.

I think you're being pretty cavalier suggesting fans aren't stupid. Most have no concept of roster construction. In most fans view, you either sign a player they've heard of or you're not doing anything which is clearly the situation the cubs are in at the moment. You think many pirate fans were heaping praise on them for signing Liriano last off season? All he did was pitch like one of the best pitchers in the league for $1 mil. Most fans only care about the season in front of you and not a long term plan.

There's a difference between urgency and desperation. Signing players because you're a losing team is a desperate move. You sign players because they move you closer toward a championship. The cubs clearly need a lot more help than 1 or 2 players. So, why shouldn't they target multiple "minor" signings? Koji Uehara had a huge year for the Red Sox for $4.25 mil. I already mentioned Liriano. Navarro had a good year for the cubs for $1.175 mil. Frasor had a very solid year for $1.5 mil as did Nate McLouth for $2 mil, James Loney for $2 mil, Schierholtz for $2.25 mil, Colon for $3 mil, Scott Feldman for $6 mil....etc. I can go on and on here. If the cubs had gotten Liriano, Uehara, McClouth, and Colon instead of Jackson for roughly the same money they would have probably been a .500 team or at leas a hell of a lot closer than they were. That's the point I'm trying to make here. The amount a player is paid doesn't make him a significant roster move, his play does. There are over 100 guys still out there that could be these type of players.

As for Tanaka, you have to try to negotiate with him. If he choose someone else that's the breaks. But to not even take part in the process because you don't think he'll come to a loser is beyond pathetic.

 

[beckdawg]

Correct me if I am wrong, but doesn't every team in MLB get 25 million dollars extra this year for TV contract?

Supposedly yeah.

 

[beckdawg]

sounds like a cubs move....

I wouldn't hate it. If healthy he'd be an improvement over Justin Grimm no?

 

[chibears55]

I wouldn't hate it. If healthy he'd be an improvement over Justin Grimm no?

I wasn't complaining. . they mentioned an unknown team and it just fits as something they would do. .

 

[beckdawg]

I wasn't complaining. . they mentioned an unknown team and it just fits as something they would do. .

Wasn't saying you were. Just meant I'd rather have him on the 40 man roster than Grimm.