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GoatSeeGuy
Dec 26, 2003

What if Jerome Walton made me a champion?


Craptacular! posted:

Will/Can we see 10+ year contracts for people who haven't even played a game in the majors yet? Basically, I don't even know if it's against the rules or not. Because if a young Todd Van Poppel/Brien Taylor/Bam Bam Muelens/Cameron Drew/Roger Salkeld/Sam Militello/Gary Scott/David Nied/Brandon Wood/Ben Davis/Doug Million fell out of a time warp from 1993 and I got to draft him, I'd feel much more comfortable hamstringing my budget right now to keep him with my team for his effective career, rather than nickel and dime him for a shorter span of time.

To add on to what other people have said, check that list of scouting reports and prospect write ups to see why this may not be a good idea. Not to mention the collection of Kevin Maas/Alex Cole/Starlin Cas types that come up and had a great half a season or so before the league adjusted and they proved beyond a doubt that they couldn't.

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GoatSeeGuy
Dec 26, 2003

What if Jerome Walton made me a champion?


Groucho Marxist posted:

Cubs fans are kind of right to be pissed about the payroll. That's the only place you can really spend money anymore, and the team is a cash cow. It's not like ownership is going to rollover the savings for extra high budget years.

To take things in a more general direction- with the changes in the amateur draft to make it harder to lure tough college bound signs with large checks in the late rounds, free agency compensation leading to draft pick losses, and hard limits and penalties on international free agent signings we're bound to see more Astros and Cubs style rebuilds going forward...for teams that can afford it.*

The Astros aren't exactly in Green Bay but have payroll so low the union and commissioner's office stepped in and this year you're seeing the team throw a little more cash towards the payroll for appearances. Mostly in bullpen arms that don't cost a whole lot and are usually in demand come trade deadline time or at worst can be flipped for lottery tickets. Why throw 10 million a year at 3rd starter when you could take that money like the Cubs did last year and go apeshit with international free agents? Speaking of which- can the Cubs (who are barred from signing any IFA for more than 250,000 this year due to going wildly over the preset spending limit last year) still trade their excess IFA budget- which they can't really use much of, for prospects this year?

In the process of cheaping out the 3-5 wins you lose a year by throwing hot garbage out on the field instead of a middling free agent you didn't sign actually helps you long term since a team like the Astros turned a couple of realllly bad years into Mark Appel, Carlos Correa, Lance McCullers Jr., and likely Carlos Rodon with the number one pick this year. The crapshoot nature of MLB prospects may not encourage tanking like the NBA, but in the grand scheme of things is a 65 win season any different than 75-80, other than costing you 5-10 spots in the draft? Sure the Cubs took an attendance hit last year, and the Astros actually pulled a 0.0 TV rating for a game last season but as a Cubs fan I feel a hell of a lot better about the future going forward than I did after our last postseason appearance. If the Cubs and Astros successfully pull this off, expect to see a lot more teams race for the bottom since historically most owners have never needed much convincing to slash payroll and suffering fan bases will be more likely to keep their season ticket plans if they buy into "The Plan".


*Offer not valid in Oakland, Tampa, and The Bronx.

GoatSeeGuy
Dec 26, 2003

What if Jerome Walton made me a champion?


Groucho Marxist posted:

I could really care less about tanking. I just think it's pretty lovely of the ownership of a team that's top 5 in revenue to be trotting out a sub 100m payroll. If you want to tank, take on some bad contracts for some B level prospects or something.

Not to be Cubs specific, but in a case like this why would you? Winning a dozen more games means you draft Hunter Renfroe instead of Kris Bryant, which to me is a loss. Why be a so-so mediocre team with some big names (Which the Tribune became masters of, with the occasional "look at that, we're going to the post season on the back of Gary Gaetti!" thrown in) thrown in when the rules encourage you to be either really good, or really not good? The time to bitch about payroll and not spending money is when a Lester or Price make it to free agency during your "window" and they're not showing up on day one with a Brinks Truck and a smile.

GoatSeeGuy
Dec 26, 2003

What if Jerome Walton made me a champion?


I'm no TheoJed but to me the thinking is you get more long term from throwing Junior Lake, or even Brett Jackson types out there and seeing what you have vs. a Vernon Wells. A worst (and most likely) you get a bad player playing badly, but unlike our pal Vernon you may end up with a tradable asset or a filler piece for your next good team.

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