Cubs Offseason 2014: So, what did your team do this offseason? Isn't that cute.

[Eli]

Someone mentioned this on Twitter, but given how elite FA contracts are always larger than expected, would you guys rather give up prospects to have Hamels for 4/$96 mil or sign Lester outright for 7/$185 mil?

Think it depends on the prospects.

OK, frame it another way -- what prospect package would you give up to have Hamels at that contract rather than sign Lester to a huge 7-year deal?

[PenFoe]

Someone mentioned this on Twitter, but given how elite FA contracts are always larger than expected, would you guys rather give up prospects to have Hamels for 4/$96 mil or sign Lester outright for 7/$185 mil?

Think it depends on the prospects.

OK, frame it another way -- what prospect package would you give up to have Hamels at that contract rather than sign Lester to a huge 7-year deal?

I'll trade Baez, Almora and Edwards for Hamels and then still pay 7/$185 for Lester.

[Eli]

Someone mentioned this on Twitter, but given how elite FA contracts are always larger than expected, would you guys rather give up prospects to have Hamels for 4/$96 mil or sign Lester outright for 7/$185 mil?

Think it depends on the prospects.

OK, frame it another way -- what prospect package would you give up to have Hamels at that contract rather than sign Lester to a huge 7-year deal?

I'll trade Baez, Almora and Edwards for Hamels and then still pay 7/$185 for Lester.

Well, now you just sound like me.

[PenFoe]

Someone mentioned this on Twitter, but given how elite FA contracts are always larger than expected, would you guys rather give up prospects to have Hamels for 4/$96 mil or sign Lester outright for 7/$185 mil?

Think it depends on the prospects.

OK, frame it another way -- what prospect package would you give up to have Hamels at that contract rather than sign Lester to a huge 7-year deal?

I'll trade Baez, Almora and Edwards for Hamels and then still pay 7/$185 for Lester.

Well, now you just sound like me.

[Chuck to Chuck]

Someone mentioned this on Twitter, but given how elite FA contracts are always larger than expected, would you guys rather give up prospects to have Hamels for 4/$96 mil or sign Lester outright for 7/$185 mil?

Think it depends on the prospects.

OK, frame it another way -- what prospect package would you give up to have Hamels at that contract rather than sign Lester to a huge 7-year deal?

I'll trade Baez, Almora and Edwards for Hamels and then still pay 7/$185 for Lester.

Sounds good. I'd also make the offer Baez or Castro, their choice. Assuming payroll has a limit, getting Castro's money back helps offset the Hamels/Lester money.

[PenFoe]

Someone mentioned this on Twitter, but given how elite FA contracts are always larger than expected, would you guys rather give up prospects to have Hamels for 4/$96 mil or sign Lester outright for 7/$185 mil?

Think it depends on the prospects.

OK, frame it another way -- what prospect package would you give up to have Hamels at that contract rather than sign Lester to a huge 7-year deal?

I'll trade Baez, Almora and Edwards for Hamels and then still pay 7/$185 for Lester.

Sounds good. I'd also make the offer Baez or Castro, their choice. Assuming payroll has a limit, getting Castro's money back helps offset the Hamels/Lester money.

Well, I don't think Baez's value is as high as Castro's (or at least I don't think it should be) but I'm okay if they move Castro in a Hamels deal. I just don't want to give up Almora and Edwards in that same deal. 

[Eli]

Well, I don't think Baez's value is as high as Castro's (or at least I don't think it should be)

When reading another Chuck post about Castro:

[Chuck to Chuck]

Someone mentioned this on Twitter, but given how elite FA contracts are always larger than expected, would you guys rather give up prospects to have Hamels for 4/$96 mil or sign Lester outright for 7/$185 mil?

Think it depends on the prospects.

OK, frame it another way -- what prospect package would you give up to have Hamels at that contract rather than sign Lester to a huge 7-year deal?

I'll trade Baez, Almora and Edwards for Hamels and then still pay 7/$185 for Lester.

Sounds good. I'd also make the offer Baez or Castro, their choice. Assuming payroll has a limit, getting Castro's money back helps offset the Hamels/Lester money.

Well, I don't think Baez's value is as high as Castro's (or at least I don't think it should be) but I'm okay if they move Castro in a Hamels deal. I just don't want to give up Almora and Edwards in that same deal. 

If you add Hamels and Lester and you have Arrieta and Hendricks, the need for Edwards is a lot lower. Almora looks like he won't be ready until at least mid-2016.  I can see a load of value in having Hamels for all of 15 and 16 over Almora.

[Quality Start Machine]

So Martin to the Blue Jays? Am I hearing this correctly?

What now, Theo? How many more tears?

I liked Martin well enough but I'm fine with not getting him for that contract. He can DH some for the Blue Jays in the later years of the deal, so it may be a bit easier to absorb for them.

Is anyone that upset about the Cubs "missing" out on Martin for 5/$82?  

Probably not Martin specifically, but it was a position of semi-need and they had the money to spend. And it's another good player who ended up not on the Cubs, so it's probably just general angst more than anything else.

Stupid Garpax.

Yeah. I think there's a lot of people waiting on the edge of their seats for Theo and Jed to DO SOMETHING that will let them quiet the voice in their heads that says Ricketts will never spend. I don't even think those people care who it is at this point. Just throw a bunch of cash at someone to prove you can. Cub fans are smart.

It's weird - in this case it wasn't a case of not having the money. They clearly didn't want to go that many years and I'm not upset about it.

I do wonder if they had any conversations with Atlanta about Heyward before saying hey let's get that Italian guy instead.

Probably. But anyone who talks to the Cubs is going to try prying one of the gems away (nobody's calling the Cubs looking for Mike Olt), and for cost/benefit, I don't know how much of an upgrade in RF Heyward would be over Soler over the next couple years anyway.

I don't see how the Cubs having a bunch of really good prospects would have deterred Atlanta from taking a similar package from the Cubs for Heyward that they got from St. Louis. You don't think the Cubs could have thrown some decent relief prospects their way? I doubt they were like "well they won't give us Bryant/Soler/Russell/Baez so fuck them, lets make a deal with St. Louis that doesn't involve players of that caliber either".

I'm not sure the Cubs had a similar package to put together, assuming the Braves were looking for mlb-ready pitching prospects.   Hendricks is really the only one who fits that bill and I doubt that would have been enough.

Anyway, my point wasn't "what could the Cubs have offered for Heyward" my point was to point out how bizarre Fork's "no one would trade with the Cubs unless they were trying to acquire one of the Big Five (or whatever the hell we're calling them)" stance was, when that wasn't even close to similar to what the Braves got.

Well yeah...I mean, Fork.

But no, Miller is not a reliever.  He pitched some in relief for the Cardinals, but that's not the plan.

I'm not saying the Braves would hold fast to getting one of the guys, that's just where the bargaining would begin. And the Cubs didn't just have a right fielder turn into road pizza, so they probably weren't that interested.

But any GM would get Jepstink on the phone and doesn't at least ask, "What would it take to move Baez?" isn't very good at his job.

[Chuck to Chuck]

But any GM would get Jepstink on the phone and doesn't at least ask, "What would it take to move Baez?" isn't very good at his job.

The answer is, "A ball in the dirt."

[R-V]

So according to Mooney and Cafardo, Cubs were the runners-up for Martin. After Anibal Sanchez & Tanaka, I think I've reached my limit of stories on how the Cubs front office went all-out to snag a FA target only to fall just short because of (insert excuse).

[Eli]

And the Cubs didn't just have a right fielder turn into road pizza, so they probably weren't that interested.

Heyward is only 25 and has averaged just over 5 WAR a year since 2012. Or, another way to look at it:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/play-index/share.cgi?id=FFb98

I sure as hell hope they were interested.

[Eli]

So according to Mooney and Cafardo, Cubs were the runners-up for Martin. After Anibal Sanchez & Tanaka, I think I've reached my limit of stories on how the Cubs front office went all-out to snag a FA target only to fall just short because of (insert excuse).

Just wait until the Red Sox re-sign Lester and the Cardinals sign Scherzer to replace Shelby Miller.

[PenFoe]

So according to Mooney and Cafardo, Cubs were the runners-up for Martin. After Anibal Sanchez & Tanaka, I think I've reached my limit of stories on how the Cubs front office went all-out to snag a FA target only to fall just short because of (insert excuse).

Don't worry, they responded to the Anibel Sanchez situation by giving essentially the same deal to Edwin Jackson.

This will all turn out just fine once the Cubs sign J.P. Arencibia for 4/$65.

[Slaky]

So according to Mooney and Cafardo, Cubs were the runners-up for Martin. After Anibal Sanchez & Tanaka, I think I've reached my limit of stories on how the Cubs front office went all-out to snag a FA target only to fall just short because of (insert excuse).

Just wait until the Red Sox re-sign Lester and the Cardinals sign Scherzer to replace Shelby Miller.

I am actually positive that this is going to happen. But Masterson for 1/6 and maybe Jason Hammel.