- This topic has 1,189 replies, 48 voices, and was last updated 1 month, 3 weeks ago by
.
-
Posts
-
For the record I am strongly against work related punishment for non work related behavior. This is especially true when there is no legal conviction involved. As a military officer I used to field complaints from spouses for various things. My answer when I could get away with it was always take it up with the police or with a lawyer. If it nt serious enough or enough evidence for the justice system to do something then it is ridiculous to think employers know better.
For the record I am strongly against work related punishment for non work related behavior. This is especially true when there is no legal conviction involved. As a military officer I used to field complaints from spouses for various things. My answer when I could get away with it was always take it up with the police or with a lawyer. If it nt serious enough or enough evidence for the justice system to do something then it is ridiculous to think employers know better.
What USMC base? My son and daughter-in-law were USMC officers. Son-in-law a Naval officer. They were all based at KBay, HI at one point.
I’ve been thinking about the Cubs pursuit of Harper and how it relates to the luxury tax. Supposedly Theo met with Boras and asked him not to sign with anyone until the Cubs had a chance to shed some payroll. I would assume that the CBT was the main reason for that request. But should it be?
The Cubs are currently over the CBT slightly. Let’s say they sign Harper and end up $40M over the tax line. At a 20% rate that would be a $8M penalty. Is $8M really that big of a deal to a team worth around $3 Billion? If not, then why are they acting like it is a big deal?
A couple of possible reasons:
1. They are bluffing. They may end up just spending whatever they need to get Harper and go along their way.
2. The CBT was supposedly put in place to give the smaller market teams a better chance at competing. But what if another reason was that it gives the owners a convenient excuse not to spend over a certain amount? They could go to their fans and say yes we would love to get the players you want but if we go over the tax line bad, evil things will happen. And maybe the Cubs owners don’t want to alienate the other owners by knocking down this facade.
In a related note average MLB player salaries decreased from 2017 to 2018. That is only the fourth time in the last 50 years for that to happen. I view that as an ominous sign as we get closer to the next CBA negotiations.
The #Cubs today named Mark Loretta as bench coach.
Additionally, the Cubs have named Bob Tewksbury coordinator, mental skills. pic.twitter.com/ZsVQHzN6SS
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) January 2, 2019
I guess a ‘mental skills coordinator’ is a person who teaches millennials how to think.
Hope it works.
I guess a ‘mental skills coordinator’ is a person who teaches millennials how to think.
Millennials get crapped on all the time and its bs.
I had never heard of something called mental skills before. That’s probably the basis for my rather crude comment which I would delete now if I could. Anyway, I wondered if ‘mental skills’ is a term that could be searched, and found out that it is. Here’s what I found:
https://www.sportpsych.org/nine-mental-skills-overview
These are pretty good topics. Not sure the kids are going to put a lot of work into them, though. Mostly, they are going to be interested in their stats, their health, and all the things that young men are generally interested in.
Anyone know about these gentlemen?
Congratulations to David Howard and Willie Fraser, who are hired by the #Cubs to be their new pro scouts.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) January 9, 2019
The #Cubs also promoted Kyle Evans to their senior director of player personnel and Jeff Greenberg will be the director of pro scouting and baseball operations.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) January 9, 2019
Willie Fraser used to be a ML hurler….I think. I wish all 4 of these gentlemen tremendous good fortune in their personal lives…..and terrible luck in their new professions.
If it is the same David Howard, he played briefly for the Cardinals in the late 1990s.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/howarda02.shtml
Fan bases are upset across baseball.
Not sure why the cubs year after year have to be beholden to the luxury tax threshold. They’ve been great at staying under, so their tax would be pennies. With new TV network they’ll be printing money. And right now, they might be 3rd best in tough division. https://t.co/tiyge3QmMA
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) January 18, 2019
gscottar
The Cubs are currently over the CBT slightly. Let’s say they sign Harper and end up $40M over the tax line. At a 20% rate that would be a $8M penalty. Is $8M really that big of a deal to a team worth around $3 Billion? If not, then why are they acting like it is a big deal?
I said this in the Harper thread:
They are really far over the tax due to signing bonus penalties. I have them at $205M in salary but the luxury tax hit is like $5M more + $16M in extra spending (40-man, benefits) for a total of $226M.
The thresholds are 206 – 226 – 246 so my initial guess is that the 226 is the “limit”. Any Harper deal, no matter the manipulations would affect the Lux tax hit the same as an AAV, which is looking like $35M/year most likely.
That would mean Theo/Hoyer would have to clear $35M to make it work under the $226M threshold.
——————————-Basically, if they broke through Tier 2, putting Tier 3 as the “limit”, then the penalties get much worse and their are draft pick consequences too.
Another big factor is that they are looking at $180M base payroll in 2020 (despite losing FAs Zobrist, Hamels, Strop, Kinzler, Cishek, Duensing, and Morrow) and the tax gets worse still if you are over year-to-year.
So, is it fair to conclude that the Cubs’ problems are as much in future years as 2019? If so, that seems to be the opposite of the Cards, whose books are fairly clear in the years ahead.
I wouldn’t come to that conclusion. The Cubs are willing to spend up to and over the CBT. The Cardinals are not. One team likes to save dry powder and the other likes to use it.
Having payroll flexibility is really not an actualized strength if you don’t use it. It is just a potential strength. And by use it I mean put the hammer down and maximize the capabilities. I don’t think our FO has the killer instinct that the Cubs FO has.
What’s interesting about their core is that they will theoretically be losing all of them at the same time, after the 2021 season –> Rizzo, Bryant, Baez, Russell, Schwarber, and Lester. That’s crazy.
Seems to confirm the rumor as to why Cubs hitting coach Chili Davis was sacked.
Kris Bryant admits he and Chili Davis did not match up philosophically.
— Jesse Rogers (@JesseRogersESPN) January 18, 2019
Kris Bryant and ex-Cub Ryan Dempster tag-teamed the Cardinal organization recently and Ben Fredrickson wrote about it in today’s PD.
Bryant wasn’t to cordial in his remarks about the Cards and St. Louis.
“…Who would want to play in St. Louis? Boring. So boring. I always get asked, ‘Where would you like to play? Where would you not like to play?’ St. Louis is on the list of places I don’t like to play. It is rough.”
Dempster chimed in on his distaste for the Cards and the Loo.
“I remember when I was getting traded, and they were like, ‘Hey, how about St. Louis?'” Dempster said. “I’m like, zero chance in hell. Nothing. No way. Won’t even go there as a free agent. Not happening.”
Boring? And yet the Card’s organization is constantly promoting the team as being very exciting. Maybe the FO isn’t listening to what people are saying about their team. Management is concerned about the environs that is St. Louis, they want fans to feel safe going downtown to the stadium and that wonderland that DeWitt build next to it. There have been stories written about the police being over-whelmed in trying to prevent the crime that makes the Arch City infamous.
This may be a reason some players will not sign on with the Cards. Having to move their families into the area would take some guts, and convincing wives that the suburbs are a great place to live. IMO, people hear St. Louis and almost automatically they think the worst. It has become problematic.
Seemingly, the City’s PR Department has given up, it is like shoveling sand against the tide.
What do you expect the Cubs to say about St. Louis? That they aspire to play there instead of Chicago? I guess Andrew Miller did not get the memo. Sheesh.
Agreed Brian. I wouldn’t read too much into Bryant’s remarks. It was at their version of WWU so I imagine he was trying to fire up their fans who are no doubt disappointed in their offseason so far. Chances are that Bryant won’t be a Cub after 2021 anyway.
As for Dempster I guess he had to pile on to impress his new employer. I was never impressed with him on MLB TV either. He never said anything that insightful.
Put the shoe on the other foot. How would it look if a few Cards started rapping another team? (Cubs).
I don’t think that Card fans living outside that area get that whole rivalry thing with Chicago. I know something exists. Is there anything going on with the Blues/Blackhawks?
When I was going to school in STL, I didn’t pick up on that vibe. Maybe because Attila was pitching and Moses was catching.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.