Free Agents

The Chicago Cubs' front office finds itself charting the middle ground again in the aftermath of a 74-88 season. With the most-valued prospects not yet ready for prime time, Hoyer and company has continued to add in places via free agency but appears not to have been given a green light to spend like a real competitor. The Cubs biggest move so far has clearly been the addition of shortstop Dansby Swanson on a 7-year contract that will see him through his age 35 season.

Ken Rosenthal is reporting that the Cubs signed Yu Darvish to a six year, $126m free agent contract. The year-by-year breakdown is not yet know, but the $21m AAV means the Cubs remain $11m under the 2018 Luxury tax cap, with only the back-up catcher spot remaining to be accounted for.

by Moshe W.

Giancarlo Stanton was traded from the Florida Marlins to the Yankees. The move will cost him $32m because while Florida has no state income tax, New York city and state both do.

by Moshe W.

Brandon Morrow and Tyler Chatwood have been added to the financial tracker. Morrow’s final contract numbers are $9m per year in 2018 & 2019, plus a vesting option in 2020 for $12m with a $3m buyout.

According to the Mayan calendar, the Cubs will win the World Series in 2012, causing an apocalypse about six weeks later.

So since it's getting late, here's a look ahead at what the Cubs roster might look like in about six months, and what the player payroll obligations will be going into the historic 2012 season.

This does not address potential free-agents the Cubs might pursue or players the Cubs might target in a trade, although it should give you some idea of how much the Cubs might have available to spend for free-agents.

Time for that Player A, Player B, Player C contrivance, using the average of the five different 2009 projection systems available at FanGraphs.

Player A also has 13 Gold Gloves, 12 All-star Game appearances, an MVP award and a World Series ring.

Player B also has...  well...  uh...  A Funny Middle Name.  He's 7 months younger than player A, too.

Player C also has... well...  uh...  A Funny First Name.  And middle name.  He's hurt just a bit in this comparsion because he's so incredibly anonymous that he didn't get included in Bill James' projection system, which usually has a tick or two higher offensive projections than the other four projection systems.

If you haven't figured it out yet...

OCTOBER-DECEMBER 2008:

CHICAGO CUBS RESERVE LIST (40-MAN ROSTER) AS OF 10/7/08:

* bats or throws left
# bats both

NOTE: There are presently 40 players on the Cubs RESERVE LIST (40-man roster), plus two additional players on the 60-day DISABLED LIST (players on 60-day DL do not count against the roster limit) 

Rich Harden just hit five years of MLB service time this past Sunday.

Why is that important?

For those of you who might be interested in looking ahead a little bit, he are projections for the Cubs 2009 payroll, potential Cubs free-agents, Cubs players eligible for salary arbitration, 2009 minor league option status for Cubs players presently on the 40-man roster, potential post-2008 Cubs minor league free-agents, and Cubs minor league players who will be eligible for the December 2008 Rule 5 Draft.   

Remember, these are projections based on the way things stand right now, and are very much subject to change.