Cub Offseason Moves/Rumors

woodyk1 said:
Ramirez was never going to accept arbitration. Pena was a maybe. I think it turned out OK to younger at 1B and see what Stewart can do at 3B. This will be a long process.
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Ramirez was never offered arbitration, it was a mutual 15 million option year. Both he and Pena grossly over estimated their value out on the open market. Ramirez is now with the Brewers where over the next 2 years he will make 16 million. He would have had more money up front and still signed with another team for a decent amount after this season. Pena would have gotten an estimated 9 to 10 million in arbitration and he ended up signing with Tampa Bay for 7.25 million. Boras made a 2 million dollar mistake having him turn down arbitration.

I am fine with what happened I just think if the Cubs had more money invested in this years team they would have made other moves to help the team this year. After the year LaHair had last year I am glad they are giving him a chance to play and if that don't work out you have some exciting prospects coming up. Stewart is a big step backwards offensively but is much better with the glove. So we will see how this all works out.
 
ssckelley said:
Pena would have gotten an estimated 9 to 10 million in arbitration and he ended up signing with Tampa Bay for 7.25 million. Boras made a 2 million dollar mistake having him turn down arbitration.
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One thing you need to remember w/ Pena is that he is still collecting $5M from the Cubs this year. Half of his 1 year, $10 million contract last year was deferred to this year. So while he probably did make a mistake in turning down arbitration, he's actually making $12.25 million this year on a one year deal.
 
ssckelley said:
You did not mention why they dropped DeWitt. They claimed Adrian Cardenas off waivers from the A's, I'd say nice trade off. He is a career .300 hitter in the minors with a little speed and can play several positions. A former 1st round draft pick, bats left handed, and comes with a little cheaper price tag than DeWitt.
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But what is his OBP, since we know that is all that matters anymore.
 
ssckelley said:
Ramirez was never offered arbitration, it was a mutual 15 million option year. Both he and Pena grossly over estimated their value out on the open market. Ramirez is now with the Brewers where over the next 2 years he will make 16 million. He would have had more money up front and still signed with another team for a decent amount after this season. Pena would have gotten an estimated 9 to 10 million in arbitration and he ended up signing with Tampa Bay for 7.25 million. Boras made a 2 million dollar mistake having him turn down arbitration.

I am fine with what happened I just think if the Cubs had more money invested in this years team they would have made other moves to help the team this year. After the year LaHair had last year I am glad they are giving him a chance to play and if that don't work out you have some exciting prospects coming up. Stewart is a big step backwards offensively but is much better with the glove. So we will see how this all works out.
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Actually, Ramirez was offered arbitration, but it was never going to happen because Ramirez wanted a multi-year deal. Also, the Cubs get compensatory picks when the player signs elsewhere.

Chicago Cubs offer Aramis Ramirez and Carlos Pena arbitration - ESPN Chicago
 
cjhawks said:
One thing you need to remember w/ Pena is that he is still collecting $5M from the Cubs this year. Half of his 1 year, $10 million contract last year was deferred to this year. So while he probably did make a mistake in turning down arbitration, he's actually making $12.25 million this year on a one year deal.
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Still he would have collected at least 9 million for next year had he accepted arbitration.

Hawkeye11en1 said:
But what is his OBP, since we know that is all that matters anymore.
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In the minors he is a career .368, much higher than Dewitt.

woodyk1 said:
Actually, Ramirez was offered arbitration, but it was never going to happen because Ramirez wanted a multi-year deal. Also, the Cubs get compensatory picks when the player signs elsewhere.

Chicago Cubs offer Aramis Ramirez and Carlos Pena arbitration - ESPN Chicago
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I stand corrected, I missed the memo he was offered arbitration after he turned down the option year. Still a dumb move as he could have gotten even more money in arbitration. But it does not surprise me that Ramirez just wants to collect paychecks instead of having to work for his next contract. It would not surprise me to see his production drop next season.
 
ssckelley said:
Still he would have collected at least 9 million for next year had he accepted arbitration.



In the minors he is a career .368, much higher than Dewitt.



I stand corrected, I missed the memo he was offered arbitration after he turned down the option year. Still a dumb move as he could have gotten even more money in arbitration. But it does not surprise me that Ramirez just wants to collect paychecks instead of having to work for his next contract. It would not surprise me to see his production drop next season.
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Now that I think I agree with.
 
ssckelley said:
Still he would have collected at least 9 million for next year had he accepted arbitration.
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True, but he was also doing the Cubs a favor by not accepting. Pena is a smart guy and more than likely he and Boras could see the direction the Cubs were headed. He ended up on a team that he had success with in the past as well as a team that will be in the hunt for the playoffs. To him, that may have been worth the $2M trade-off.
 
cjhawks said:
True, but he was also doing the Cubs a favor by not accepting. Pena is a smart guy and more than likely he and Boras could see the direction the Cubs were headed. He ended up on a team that he had success with in the past as well as a team that will be in the hunt for the playoffs. To him, that may have been worth the $2M trade-off.
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This. There's more to life in baseball than money.
 
Pena commented several times that he wanted to be back with the Cubs but he was talked out of accepting arbitration by Boras who thought he could get a multi year deal on the open market.
 
It's kind of crazy how the Cubs went from having no first base prospects for a long time to having two guys who I love a lot (Rizzo and Vogelbach)

I also wonder if they'll try to trade Vitters at some point.
 
I don't know how much value Vitters has right now, but I think if they could trade him they would, but he might be kind of a throw in type of player. I would have liked to see what he could have done if he was healthy. His value, even in the cubs organization has dropped significantly every year.
 
I've actually heard he is being considered as compensation for Theo. Not sure how I feel about that.
 
Section136 said:
Cant believe pitchers and catchers report on Saturday already. ESPNChicago is previewing each unit this week. Here is the starting pitching preview.

Cubs spring preview: Starting rotation - Chicago Cubs Blog - ESPN Chicago
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That article seems surprisingly upbeat about that rotation. Myself, I see a lot of question marks. If some of those guys bounce back, they could be ok. Otherwise, it could be a little rough. Guess I'm not sure what to expect out of that group, but I am keeping my expectations low for 2012.
 
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