October 20, 2015; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Cubs right fielder Jorge Soler (68) hits a single in the fifth inning against the New York Mets in game four of the NLCS at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports
In the Midst of Monumental Contract Deals, a Possible Trade Idea for the Cubs, Braves
Lots of explosive news in the past couple of days with David Price, John Lackey, and Zack Greinke – the shocker of them all – getting big contracts. Initial reactions – including mine – pretty well erased these teams (Boston, the Cubs, and Arizona) off of the list of possible trade partners for the Braves.
But then there is this, from Cubs beat writer Gordon Wittenmyer, posted just last night for the Sun-Times:
"As they continue their search for a center fielder, more starting pitching depth and bullpen help, big-ticket free agents such as pitcher Jeff Samardzija and outfielder Jason Heyward are almost certainly off the table without moving salary to free more budget space."
I think the Atlanta Braves might be able to help them out a bit here.
Where the Cubs Are
Last year, the Cubbies had an Opening Day payroll of just over $120 million. Their spending limit for 2016 is unknown, but the all-time high was $144 million in 2010. Currently, their committed payroll is sitting at just under $101 million with 6 arbitration guys to deal with – one of those being Cy Young winner Jake Arrieta. Add up all of those estimated numbers and you get $33.7 million…. if MLBTR is dead-on accurate with their projections.
So that projects to around $138 as of today after adding in the minimum salary guys… and they still think they have some work to do.
Enter John Coppolella, who seems to know how to use a spreadsheet to his advantage.
Let’s say that the Cubs do want Jason Heyward. Curiously enough, the context in which we’re hearing this is in the discussion of “center field”, which is interesting, given that we know he’s truly not a CFer. Yes, he can handle that for a week at a time or so, but RF is his domain, and if I’m spending $200 million to land him, I’m definitely not going to play him out of position.
There is now an effort to see if man-without-a-position Javier Baez can play center field. That would be interesting, but frankly speaking, a couple of weeks in a Winter League probably isn’t going to be sufficient to make that happen.
So here’s the Chicago issues:
- Need to upgrade CF (to replace Dexter Fowler)
- Need Starting Pitching Depth
- If they want Heyward, the payroll blows up to around $158 million
- If they want Heyward, then Jorge Soler is left out in the cold.
Options they’ve discussed, according Wittenmyer: Miller, Teheran, and the Padres’ Tyson Ross.
Next: So How Do We Help Them Fix This?