Chicago Cubs 2021 season

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#626      
bdutts
LongLiveTheChief said:
The team didn’t live up to expectations. The Cubs haven’t been one piece away from the World Series. They’ve barely done anything since 2016. Let’s not act like this is all just because they didn’t spend. Players didn’t execute. Hard to keep winning when the players don’t execute. There’s no player they could’ve signed that would’ve gotten them a second World Series. They never got that close. Let’s stop blaming a lack of spending for what happened here. The Cubs peaked in 2016. The stars aligned. Everyone played their best year. No way to predict what happened with Russell or that nobody would have good seasons at the same time again. It happens. This is the smart thing to do because a lot of these guys are nearly MLB ready so they may even be setting up to be good in 2-3 years again, while hendricks is still here, maybe Contreras if they extend him. This is what retooling actually looks like. They won’t be terrible next year.
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So they were not close in 2017 when they went to the NLCS?
 
#627      
champaignchris
bdutts said:
You could say the same thing about this year…except the top 10 farm team. They should be spending like the Dodgers instead of the Royals.
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Nobody else is spending like the Dodgers. There’s a bigger difference - about $89 million - between the Dodgers and the #2 payroll team, the Yankees, than there is between the Yankees and the #18 Rockies.

Yes, the Cubs should be spending more. They should have about $40 million more in the payroll and be a top 5 payroll team.

Prior to COVID, they maintained a top 5 payroll for several years. They lose the COVID excuse next year. Not sure how they would explain not spending when they have obvious needs, money to burn and a television network to sell.
 
#629      
Emerson Bigguns
champaignchris said:
Nobody else is spending like the Dodgers. There’s a bigger difference - about $89 million - between the Dodgers and the #2 payroll team, the Yankees, than there is between the Yankees and the #18 Rockies.

Yes, the Cubs should be spending more. They should have about $40 million more in the payroll and be a top 5 payroll team.

Prior to COVID, they maintained a top 5 payroll for several years. They lose the COVID excuse next year. Not sure how they would explain not spending when they have obvious needs, money to burn and a television network to sell.
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They ended up having to spend A LOT more on the Wrigley Renovation that they thought. The original budget was around $500 million for the park and improvements around Wrigleyville. They ended up spending over 550 million on the park alone, only to have it sit empty for a year. Up until this season the Ricketts have spent as much as anyone not named Yankees or Dodgers.

If you continue to exceed the luxury tax, for a number of consecutive years, the penalties get worse every year. Since the core of the team has obviously regressed to the point that even the most casual fan can see that the roster needs re-tooled, it only makes sense for the team to try to hit the reset button on the luxury tax as well. (The Yankees have done the same thing. Which is why they made us pay Rizzo) Only the Dodgers and Red Sox are over the tax this year.

It's feels crappy right now, but its all in the best long-term interest of the franchise.
 
#631      
GilThorpe
it was fairly apparent the team lost their mojo in 2018. its been a fairly inconsistent period for many of the players since then. Not usre what went wrong. in 2016, we all thought they would get back to the WS at least once more - alas, not to be.
 
#632      
IlliniBrave75
Kyle Hendricks looking around the clubhouse at the end of today...
awkward pulp fiction GIF
 
#633      
spotter
I knew this had to happen, and I am encouraged at the young prospects the Cubs are getting back.

But, this is sadder than I thought it would be.....
 
#635      
IanKEvans2
Javy was my favorite Cub. Sad to see him leave, but excited to see him play with Lindor.
 
#637      
KBLEE
Bryant to the Giants
 
#638      
GilThorpe
not sure if I can recall a more thorough house cleaning / dumping of quality players in one 3 days stretch of time in my life!
Chafin , Tepera, Williams, Kimbrel , Baez, Rizzo, Bryant.
 
#640      
champaignchris
Emerson Bigguns said:
They ended up having to spend A LOT more on the Wrigley Renovation that they thought. The original budget was around $500 million for the park and improvements around Wrigleyville. They ended up spending over 550 million on the park alone, only to have it sit empty for a year. Up until this season the Ricketts have spent as much as anyone not named Yankees or Dodgers.

If you continue to exceed the luxury tax, for a number of consecutive years, the penalties get worse every year. Since the core of the team has obviously regressed to the point that even the most casual fan can see that the roster needs re-tooled, it only makes sense for the team to try to hit the reset button on the luxury tax as well. (The Yankees have done the same thing. Which is why they made us pay Rizzo) Only the Dodgers and Red Sox are over the tax this year.

It's feels crappy right now, but its all in the best long-term interest of the franchise.
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Right. And they re-set the property tax this year by being about $60 million under the cap.

With the contracts they have left, they'll be about $110 million under the luxury tax heading into the offseason. They can spend an absolute crap ton on free agents next year and come nowhere close to the luxury tax. Even if they don't think they'll complete until 2023-24, the free agent class this year is so deep and the next couple so shallow that they will pretty much have to spend this off season if they plan on doing any major improvement to their roster via free agency.
 
#646      
Alfonz24
GilThorpe said:
not sure if I can recall a more thorough house cleaning / dumping of quality players in one 3 days stretch of time in my life!
Chafin , Tepera, Williams, Kimbrel , Baez, Rizzo, Bryant.
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Charles O Finley in 1976, SOLD Rollie Fingers and Joe Rudi to the Red Sox and Vida Blue to the Yankees. These were nulled 3 days later by Commissioner Bowie Kuhn.
 
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