2020 Team

[Kid]

[rok]

Kind of surprised with the Hultzen non-tender, but not shocked.



Fuck off, Russell.

[rok]

"We decided to non-tender Addison Russell today simply because the role we expected him to play for the 2020 Cubs was inconsistent with how he would have been treated in the salary arbitration process," Epstein said in Mondays statement released by the Cubs. "In the year since we decided to tender Addison a contract last November, he has lived up to his promise to put in the important self-improvement work necessary off the field and has shown growth as a person, as a partner, as a parent and as a citizen. We hope and believe that Addison's work and growth will continue, and we have offered our continued support of him and his family, including Melisa."

[MrSheps]

Can someone interpret the first line about arbitration treatment for me? I assume the floor he's looking at in arbitration is too high for the Cubs, because I'd think they'd win any argument in a dispute. Is that what they're saying? Or are they suggesting he'd be treated unfairly relative the role they'd expect him to play? Maybe I'm just tired, but something about the wording is off to me.

[Kid]

The absolute minimum that any player who is tendered a contract can be paid is a 20% reduction on their prior year's salary, and it's very rare that there is any reduction.  Russell's contracted base salary in 2019 was $4.3 million (although he made less than that because of the suspension).  He also received about $300K in roster bonuses.  I don't know whether the bonuses get factored in to what he could make in arbitration, but either way, the least an arbitrator could award him would be somewhere between about $3.4 - $3.7 million.  The way arbitration works is that the arbitrator has to select one of the two options presented to him by the team or the player.  The arbitrator cannot pick any kind of middle ground.  That leads to both sides having incentives to not go as low or as high as possible because the arbitrator is supposed to pick whichever option more fairly compensates the player in the market.

 

So, the absolute least Russell would have made if he had been tendered a contract would have been $3.4 - $3.7 million, but more likely he probably would have received a contract in line with the one he had last year. 

[rok]

And some had estimated up to $5.1 million under normal circumstances. Too big of a monetary risk to take for a backup IF who is a terrible human being.

[rok]

Nothing new here, but still depressing.



https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/12/o...bs-10.html

[rok]

Who?



https://twitter.com/ByRobertMurray/statu...8229238790

[funkster]

Dumpster bin signings galore!

[VanSlawAndCottoCheese]

The Fonz.

 

Actually, before last year, his limited major league career was pretty impressive.

[funkster]

Jesse Rogers claiming Cubs fine coasting to a .500 season this year to sell off at the deadline.  Can’t tell whether to believe or laugh since it’s Rogers.

[rok]

Well, between comments from Passan claiming the FO is "manic" and "motivated" to trade someone, and Rosenthal adding the Cubs won't entertain signing even low or mid-level FA's until they can clear salary to get under the first CBT threshold, I would prefer a mini-rebuild over doing nothing and hoping the roster will just fix itself. This organization is in purgatory.

[Butcher]

It's giving me whiplash how quickly the Rickettses changed their tune when it comes to spending/investing in the team.

[funkster]

Maybe I’m a shitty fan, but if the bare minimum happens again this off season, not sure how much time I will be investing into baseball this year.

[1060Ivy]

I’ll be disappointed if the Cubs front office don’t make significant changes to roster this offseason. If changes don’t occur, I’ll still be a Cub and baseball fan but expectations for team will be tempered so as opposed to ‘Cubs will make playoffs’ mindset as in last 4 seasons, I’ll return to ‘Cubs could make playoffs if ...’ I’ll still enjoy baseball, Wrigley, and Cub wins but interest in club will wane