The “Deferred Spending” Plan

In Commentary And Analysis by Rice Cube68 Comments

We’ve gotten to the part of the Winter Meetings where some news (like, actual maybe sort of legitimate news) might be finally leaking out and making the various beat folks confident enough to say that the Cubs are likely out on Shohei Ohtani (who’s probably going to be a Dodger but let’s wait and see) and Juan Soto (who looks to become a Yankee if they don’t screw this up). With Cody Bellinger possibly pricing himself out and no other free agents (at least those with a qualifying offer attached) that palatable (to me, anyway), the Cubs probably will work heavily in the trade market (another parenthetical just for fun).

I’ll probably look at trade possibilities and trade news as it happens, but the math from previously still works as the Cubs have spending space and money coming off the books by next offseason. There is a good core and floor to this team as currently constructed, which could be bolstered by quick one-year deals and trades, but what about that next offseason? And that isn’t to say they won’t do anything between now and Spring Training, as this division is imminently winnable with the Brewers possibly trading away their veterans, the Reds sort of stagnant even though they’ve added some solid rotation help, and the Cardinals doing whatever their plan is although they did add Sonny Gray to offset their other two acquisitions plus they might actually teach Willson Contreras how to catch.

Looking a bit forward, we have MLBTR’s free agent list for the 2024-2025 offseason, assuming nobody gets extended or decides to retire or go to Japan or whatever. The catchers (including Yan Gomes) seem like the type of deal to back up a still up-and-coming Miguel Amaya, so I’ll sort of ignore that and go for everything else. I feel like the only first baseman that would draw a competitive market would be Pete Alonso, although multiple Gold Glover Christian Walker could be a fun veteran signing.

With Nico Hoerner and Dansby Swanson sticking around for a few, it seems like the Cubs don’t need a starting-caliber middle infielder, but that shouldn’t stop them from finding someone for the bench. The problem is that I feel like even a guy like Brandon Drury would want to start, same with former Cubs prospect-turned-into-a-World-Series-title Gleyber Torres and super utility man Ha-Seong Kim. Would the Cubs just move one of them to third base? Or would they just sign an Alex Bregman, who would still be in his age 31 season at that point?

The outfield for the Cubs seems set for a while but that shouldn’t stop them from actually throwing some money at Juan Soto, and teach him how to play first base if necessary. That takes us to the pitching corps, and there are a ton of starters and relievers that would make sense and I definitely won’t go through them all, but that seems like a very good time to boost the rotation and supplement the bullpen depending on what they do in house. I suppose if it were up to me, and again depending on how Pitch Lab can churn out actual usable arms, I’d just let Pitch Lab fill the pitching staff and spend my money on some bats.

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  2. BVS

    I’ll reiterate that I’d rather trade for Logan Gilbert than Tyler Glasnow, but now that Morel appears out of the discussion with TB, I’m coming around.

    Hoskins, Inigawa, couple relievers of known quality. Maybe resign Jeimer. Not excited by Chapman unless dor 3 yr or less.

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  8. Author
    Rice Cube

    Fare thee well

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  11. Author
    Rice Cube

    Guess they never did close down Wrigley Wonderland for unknown reasons at any point eh

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  23. BVS

    Perkins,

    Rumor is the Mariners are willing to trade from their young pitching. How about Canario for Brian Woo? Or a package for Logan Gilbert. That’d be exciting. I think Hoskins would be a good get.

    Lots bullpen guys still out there too

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  24. BVS

    Cubs legend Brant Brown moves from Marlins hitting coach to Mariner bench coach.

    I wonder if he’s better at catching foul balls in the dugout than Don Zimmer.

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  28. Perkins

    BVS:
    Perkins,

    Rumor is the Mariners are willing to trade from their young pitching. How about Canario for Brian Woo? Or a package for Logan Gilbert. That’d be exciting. I think Hoskins would be a good get.

    Lots bullpen guys still out there too

    I’d be really happy if the Cubs got one of the Mariners’ young starters in trade. After that my preference would be Bieber over Glasnow, even if the latter has more electric stuff.

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  33. BVS

    Seems to me the Blue Jays make imminent sense, based on what we know about Ohtani. He’d have a whole country’s market to himself, essentially. The team has a lot of young stars and a good window of competitiveness. Canadians live less by day-to-day intrigue than New Yorkers, Angelenos, and the Bay. Dome stadium, recently remodeled, keeps spring and fall weather at bay.

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  35. Author
    Rice Cube

    BVS,

    I believe they’re doing even more renovations at Skydome/whatever they call it now so it may get better, but since there’s no concrete news I choose to believe the Cubs are still in

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  36. Author
    Rice Cube

    Weird that Jed would pick Toronto to sign this contract but sure

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  42. BVS

    Tyler O’Neil to Red Sox for 2 “last guy out of the bullpen RPs”.

    He must have really pissed off Marmol. I predict the RSox will have forgotten they traded Verdugo by April 30 as long as Tyler stays healthy.

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  53. Author
    Rice Cube

    andcounting,

    I imagine details are forthcoming but it sounds like it is massively deferred so he’s getting the $700MM, but it won’t actually be worth that much…

    I’m sticking to my opinion that he just didn’t want to move (dying laughing)

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  55. Smokestack Lightning

    Rice Cube: On the one hand you hope the Cubs had done it, on the other hand that’s a lot of eggs in one basket, so I’m only marginally disappointed

    Yep. Just assumed the Cubs never had a real shot. I mean if it were me, and I could baseball like Ohtani baseballs, I wouldn’t sign with the Cubs either, all else being equal. Or even slightly unequal.

    So, bummer, but also not.

    And it could be worse. We could be Blue Jays fans rn.

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  57. BVS

    Rice Cube,

    From the link:

    Because it’s just a matter of time until Ohtani does something else we haven’t since Tungsten Arm while Clayton Kershaw blows another big playoff game and the Dodger faithful go home saddened once again.

    Brutal!

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  59. Perkins

    Wherein knowledge of the aughts and tens teams came in handy. Really surprised Kimbrel was all the way at 8% for CHC-CWS though.

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  60. Author
    Rice Cube

    I doubt I can ever get this low again (dying laughing)

    ⚾️ Immaculate Grid 252 9/9:
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    Was good I remembered that former Cubs draft legend Hayden Simpson never actually got to the majors

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  64. berselius

    Rice Cube,

    From the headline I was hoping there would be equal weight given to Robothal and Olney ridiculously complaining about the secrecy around the negotiations being bad for baseball (instead of their clicks (dying laughing))

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