TCR Weekend Notes
After a nice little run where the Cubs took 6 of 9 versus the baseball bottom-feeders (Astros, Brewers & Mariners), the Cubs are back to playing the major league teams and have promptly dropped 3 of 4 including yet another loss to Fransisco Liriano this afternoon. 3 More months of this fun...
- The Cubs reportedly will sign 16-year odl OF Eloy Jimenez out of the Dominican Republic for a cool $2.8M plus a $250K college scholarship. I'm not sure if that one is official yet, but INF Gleybar Torres and his $1.7M deal is:
The Cubs held a big press conference in Venezuela for signing No. 2 prospect Gleyber Torres pic.twitter.com/oBTJa1SwtU
— Ben Badler (@BenBadler) July 5, 2013
Those two were ranked one, two or three on most of the prospect lists, so some nice talent added to the system, even if it won't affect the major league team until 2020 or later. After all the trades a few days back, the Cubs international pool money went up to $5,520,300. But they've spent about $6.42M so far and once the deals become official, they won't be able to trade for anymore space. If nothing changes, the Cubs would easily surpass the max penalty (over 15% of their cap) and that would cost a 100% tax on the overage (a little less than a million so not that big a deal), but they also would not be allowed to sign anyone for over $250K next season in the international market that is under age 23. Considering the Cubs will very likely have quite a bit of international cash again next year because of their current poor record and forthcoming fire sale, that seems a bit short-sighted by the acclaimed front office. But let's see how the cards fall before we rush to judgement. They still might be able to pull off a deal to avoid the stiff penalties (they need to add about $600K in space to keep the overage to 5% or less) or they just decided the players they signed this year were worth the penalthy. I'm sure they have a decent idea on who will be available next season and felt this was the year to go for it and these were the talents to spend on. They may also be confident in their ability to unearth some cheaper options next season, plus it would give them quite a trading chip of a lot of international pool money next season if they wanted to go that route.
- In the Matt Garza sweepstakes, Buster Olney was saying this morning that the Cubs made "progress" in their Matt Garza talkss and name drops the Dodgers, Blue Jays, Red Sox, Indians, Rangers and even the Orioles. Jayson Stark says the Cubs may wait until their asking price is met (which seems the prudent move since they can make him a qualifying offer). And that so far that asking price was INF Jonathon Schoop and LHP Eduardo Rodriguez from the Orioles, a price the O's weren't willing to meet, thus settling on Feldman. That's not the most insprining package, but guess the Cubs shouldn't expect more for a 3-month rental...both are talented players, but hardly top of the heap talent either. Personally, I just hope the whole ordeal gets done soon before the shine wears off Garza's recent run or Cubbery hits. Give us Mike Olt and let's call it a day....
Comments