The Cubs aren't cheap. They had the highest payroll in the National League in 2019 and one of the highest in MLB. Ownership simply didn't allow the front office to go the extra mile last offseason to fill obvious holes on the roster, creating a less room for error and the result was an 84-win season, missing the playoffs for the first time since 2014.
The Cubs are currently over $200 million for their 2020 payroll and Ken Rosenthal delivered a gut punch to fans expecting to see them spend more than they did last free agency. The Cubs are reportedly struggling to negotiate with lower tier free agents because they have to move other payroll first.
Via The Athletic.
A reunion with free-agent outfielder Nicholas Castellanos? Not a chance, at least for the moment. Club officials are telling representatives of even low-budget free agents that they need to clear money before engaging in serious negotiations.
It's evident the Cubs are trying to move money, as Kris Bryant is very available in a trade right now. Yet, you can at least make the argument that the Cubs would be getting a huge return in a trade for Bryant and could then also spend the money saved from his salary. Fine. Whatever.
But the latest rumors coming from the Winter Meetings go beyond getting young talent for the future. Here's what Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote after the first day of the Winter Meetings in San Diego, as an agent showed how dire the Cubs' financial situation is right now.
Via the Chicago Sun-Times.
“We offered them a middle-of-the-rotation guy that wouldn’t have cost them more than $4 or $5 million, and they said they couldn’t do anything until they cleared some payroll,” one agent said upon arriving at the meetings.
Could that agent be representing Josh Lindblom, who was the 2019 KBO MVP?
Nope!
Anyway, whoever it was, agents are always going to exaggerate things, as no middle-of-the rotation pitcher is going to cost $4 million. Obviously over-selling how good that player was, but that quote is also pretty depressing for Cubs fans. They can't afford a $4 million starting pitcher without moving payroll first? Woof.
Wittenmyer also throws out the following possibility. Are the Cubs so desperate to get out of a big contract that they'd completely diminish one of their big trade chips just to save money?
The first is that any significant move in the free-agent market is dependent upon how much projected 2020 payroll they can move off the current roster — whether that means a trade of star third baseman Kris Bryant or packaging a lower-cost star such as Willson Contreras with a big contract such as Jason Heyward.
Just how we made fun of Joel Sherman for suggesting that the Cubs should trade Kris Bryant with Jason Heyward to the Phillies to save money in a salary dump trade, the Cubs pairing Contreras to Heyward in a salary dump trade would also be infuriating.
What a mess.
