I figured I'd start a new offseason thread for next season, with the free agency period really kicking into gear. @Boik14 , congrats on the Mets getting Soto. 15 years, 765m. Holy cow. Kind of wild that he'll be on his 4th team in four years, but I guess not going anywhere else for quite a while. Meanwhile, my Cubs are apparently content to play down to the level of their division, rather than at least try to be at least the third biggest team in the NL like they should be.
Yeah some really big news in Mets land with Juan Soto now patrolling the OF/DH for likely the next 15 years. I'm happy with it. Word is they're not out on Pete and Manaea and are looking at Burnes Buehler and Eovaldi as well. After years of acting and spending like a mid market team, Stearns and Cohen is going after the big fish. Imo we do need a SP to lead the starting staff. Burnes may be that guy with his ties to Stearns imo but Stearns clearly hates giving SP long term deals, understandably so.
I can't disagree. Pitching contracts can be scary. I'd much rather sign my own guy to an extension than risk huge money on an external long term deal. Even more so with relievers.
The biggest contract the Cubs have ever given out was still to Jason Heyward back in 2015. They used to be a big market club, but winning the WS seems to have removed their need to operate as one. Plus every bigger contract they've given out since then has ended badly.
The cubs have always been a weird team to me payroll wise. They certainly have the ability to play in the upper echelon financially yet rarely do. Same can be said for the Twins. While the ownership has a right to make a profit, 1 of the things that bothers me in situations like this has been the lack of historical transparency from owners as every last 1 of them brings up salaries but never opens up their books. If Judge Judy can make 41m (as of 2012) what's the issue with Soto making 51? Yeah those types of contracts can bite ya, but you need good players to win.
When the Tribune Company owned the Cubs outright, they were often pretty cheap, and interested in being just good enough to draw interest and ratings. When they went bankrupt and were bought out, the interim owners had no desire to keep the Cubs around, and it was a weird period of limbo that actually included one of the best seasons in decades in 2008. When the Ricketts family bought the team, the thought by almost everyone was that they were going to get things straightned out with Wrigley and the foundational aspects of the team, which they did, and then once the team had its young talent developed, they'd easily extend them and then build on that, easily out spending the rest of the NL Central. The first few steps went just as hoped, including the WS title in 2016. But almost immediately after that, things started to go south, they didn't extend ANY of the core, and then they didn't make much of an effort to sign any of the big free agent bats that everyone thought that they'd get a few of, like Harper or Tre Turner. They even traded for Nick Castelanos, who they'd been connected to for years, only to let him walk. Now we're in year five of declining spending since then. They technically have a top ten payroll, but none of it is invested in either top players or long term solutions. Just good enough to stay around .500. EDIT: Now word is that the Cubs are a strong contender to trade for Kyle Tucker, but will absolutely not give him an extension if they do, and likely wouldn't sign him as a free agent after the year either. So, yet another tease.
@Unlucky 13 looks like the cubs are nearing a trade for Tucker. Report: Cubs close to acquiring Astros' Tucker for Paredes, 2 others https://thescore.com/mlb/news/3158672
I have no issue giving up on Padares or Wisnewski, but Smith was the team's first round draft choice last season, and to give him away before he even ever plays a full season in the minors for one year of Tucker seems absurdly short sighted. But, its doing what ownership wants and making some people think that they're serious....about being maybe the 5th best team in the NL I guess, if everything goes right. A lot went wrong last year, and we have to hope that guys bounce back to what they were previously capable of, putting the bat on the ball. The assumption is that if they do the Tucker deal, they'll then move Bellinger to the Yankees, and Will Warren, an over-aged minor league pitcher, is possibly the return. This also gives Matt Shaw, the Cubs prospect closest to the majors, a shot at the 3B job in ST. He's likely a better fit at 2B, however with Smith dealt, there's no one else in the system to compete with at third. On the Astros end, Padares is a good get, as the one thing he does really well is pull the ball hard to left field, and they have one of the shortest porches in the bigs at Enron. He could hit a lot more HR there than a lot of other places.
yeah Tucker could be a tricky one if the cubs don’t intend to resign him or if they fall out of the race in June/July and get a sense Tucker wanted to test FA. Conversely, maybe they soured a bit on Smith? Or are simply subscribed to the belief that if you can’t develop stars then you have to take the risk and trade for them. And they haven’t developed much since the rizzo Bryant Baez years.
Smith hit immediately last season as soon as he suited up in the system, and the thought was he'd be at AA quickly this year, so that's probably not it.
Da Fins shared this on Twitter. I thought I'd share here because over the past 15 years, the Cubs and Mets are the two closest franchises to .500 in all of MLB. Though the Cubs do have ONE more win, lol. Also note the Dodgers absolute dominance that's only going to grow as they keep spending more money.
It’s all irrelevant, the Steve Cohen era has begun. It took George a few years to understand how to spend the money and on whom…with Stearns help, the future is bright in Flushing.
Yeah the Wilpons did that for a long time making a half assed effort to compete while raking in fat profits from SNY (the Mets TV station)
The Cubs had been attached to Marlins SP Luzardo for a while, and I was not excited about the proposed deals at all. He's now been traded to the Phillies for their 4th and 23rd best prospects, and man am I glad the Cubs avoided that.
Pretty quiet since the Mets re-signed Manaea. Seems like a lot for a guy who Stearns could probably get just as much from if he signed another reclamation project. But with Senga coming back and hopefully Sasaki or another good SP (Flaherty? Castillo trade?) He is viable as a #3/4sp type.
