So, IOW, they were right there in it and instead of trading away pieces, they made sure Price was there to help them out. Yeah. Sounds worthless.:bizarro:
We don't need to agree, however Epstein is on record as hoping that this is the last year they are obvious sellers at the trade deadline. That means he either expects to be somewhat competitive next season or he blew smoke up your skirt.
My point was they are paying him an extra 20 million and they didn't make the playoffs. I'm not saying it's worthless, it's just a huge price to pay for not making the playoffs.
I know Theo said that and I don't think they will sell next year, however, I also don't think we'll be in contention. Obviously I'd love to be wrong, but we are a long way from winning as we stand right now and to think that Bryant, Baez, Soler?, Alcantara, and whoever else will be what they think they will be next year, is wrong.
I understand the importance of holding baez n bryant down til May 2015.
my thing is how would that affect the off season as far as not knowing for sure what positions baez n bryant are going to play, even Alcantara...
not knowing for sure where they will play between 2B,3B,CF, and RF means your not sure of what position player to go for in off season.
Also not having them start the season means you need to add 2 extra players to opening day roster and then do what release them when they promote come may ?
I just think it would be better for the team to bring them up now and start figuring out who gonna play where and let them all (the core) get used to playing with one another in Castillo, Rizzo, Baez, Castro, and Bryant. Deal with contract stuff when that time comes in 6 yrs, if their that good their gonna be extending them before then anyways.
I think it's more around early July. Under the next CBA it's top 22% with 2+, whereas under the old one it was 17%.
I could see them having them all start the season with the team. But if that's the case, we should see call ups now. I think it's more realistic to see them up around Super 2 time next year. I wish I had a better idea of what they were going to do, because I can see it playing out in several different scenarios.
As far as their placeholders, I think you use Olt, Villanueva, Valbuena if he's still here, Vitters, BJax, Ruggiano, Sweeney, etc.
It's easy to say deal with that contract stuff when it comes up now, but when it does come up, no one is going to like having to pay them ridiculous amounts of money. They have to monitor this stuff now, so it doesn't become an issue down the road.
Waah.
If the third largest market in baseball can't pay allegedly premier talent, then this rebuild isn't going to work.
Who says we can't pay them?
Again, why overspend if we don't have to? It just means another piece we can add to the puzzle.
It would cost the Cubs Baez for starters, and a whole lot more. Frankly, I'd rather pay for Lester and keep the farm in tact to be able to use them down the road for trading purposes.
The Cubs could give Lester basically Tanaka's money (maybe a little more), pick up Hammel in the off season, and be right back where they were this year with a legit TOR arm.
They could pick up a corner outfielder, and still stay way under 100 million in payroll while the kids earn their places on the team.
Resigning Hammel seems like a bad idea. He's going to be 32 and want at least 3 years. He's going to get it too. I think there are better options out there for us.
