This Friday is the Cubs Convention, and also happens to be the deadline for teams and arbitration-eligible players to submit their salary figures for 2023 (other key dates remain but this is probably the biggest one coming up). The gist is that if they can’t come to a compromise, the team submits one number, the player submits another, and then …
Diving Into the Bargain Bin
The Cubs have probably finished building their roster via free agency for the most part, and we covered the biggest signing plus the basic plan for 2023 in our last podcast. Based on the official signings and Cots Contracts, the Cubs still have about $20MM to spend (if they choose to) before they hit the first luxury tax threshold, but …
Rhymes With Schmollusion
The Athletic (I think it was Evan Drellich) published a piece today about owners complaining that Steve Cohen is a rich bastard, and for those of us blocked by the paywall, this was the snippet that was being floated around: It actually is kind of hilarious when we basically know that there are something like 20 owners (including the bottom …
Where We Stand: Cubs Roster Reset
As you all saw the other day, the Cubs reportedly agreed to a contract with sort-of-consolation-prize shortshop Dansby Swanson, and now have a few more things they need to do if they want to at least pretend to contend. So let’s see what we’ve got! The 40-Man Roster If you look on the official website’s roster page, there are 38 …
Is There a Plan?
At the beginning of this offseason, we knew the Cubs needed the following: And that was just the bare minimum. A few weeks later, with many big names coming off the board, the Cubs still need: That really depends on how much you think Cody Bellinger bounces back to at least solid-to-All-Star level production, what you make of Jameson Taillon’s …
Correa to the Giants
We didn’t need a banging garbage can to see this coming. Carlos Correa and the San Francisco Giants have agreed to a 13-year, $350 million deal with a full no-trade clause giving the free-agent shortstop and admitted baseball cheater an $8 million/year pay-cut from last season with the small-market Minnesota Twins. Sucks getting old, doesn’t it? Plenty of teams, including …
The Evolving Narrative
I will start by saying that social media is great for many things, despite the efforts by certain proprietors of websites to destroy it or make it totally not fun. It helps us connect with friends and fellow fans, it makes folks of authority and celebrities more accessible to us mere peasants, and it allows us to learn more about …
Avoid Being Average
There was a tweet from Marquee’s Tony Andracki (cool dude) that probably caused several aneurysms the other day, and Brad on Twitter attempted to put it into context: If we assume that Seiya Suzuki takes a step forward after an adjustment year and Cody Bellinger can at least find some kind of a groove, then it does look a bit …
Let the Dominos Fall…Please?
Among other rumors flying around, the big one that got everyone’s interest was this bit from Kaplan (and others): Whether you believe it is because the Cubs don’t want to deal with another season of losing/biblical losses, or that Papa Ricketts’ heart grew three sizes that day and Tom got an advance on his allowance, the consensus once again is …
2022 MLB Winter Meetings Reset
The Winter Meetings go from Sunday to Wednesday this week and I’m guessing plenty of texts and conversations have been conducted even before everyone arrives in San Diego. Ken Rosenthal on his Athletic mailbag podcast suggested that the new CBA seemed to give teams more confidence to spend, which accounts for the higher-than-usual price tags we’ve seen for the relievers, …