This made me feel better about Soriano

by pageian on Dec 1, 2006 9:44 AM CST

The quick and dirty is that in present day value Fonsie's contract is worth approximately $12.5 million a year. The contract is backloaded heavily and when we're paying him $18 million a year a few years from now $18 million just won't be worth as much as it is now. Heck, by then Rich Hill will probably be making at least $18 million a year given what mediocre at best guys like Adam Eaton are getting this year.

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What

made me feel better about Soriano's contract was that when Pujols was crying about not being the MVP he also mentioned that he thought the Cards would get Soriano, but they couldn't afford him.

by kessinger on Dec 1, 2006 10:14 AM CST reply actions

Lol

Yeah, it's almost like the Cubs are saying "So the white sox and cardinals won the World Series, big deal, look what we can do! Pay attention to us now!".

Take that stupid cardinal fans! ;)

by pageian on Dec 1, 2006 10:18 AM CST up reply actions

Yeah, that was one of the highlights of my morning

n/t

by Mark H @ Bleed Cubbie Blue on Dec 1, 2006 11:58 AM CST up reply actions

and here I thought..

edmonds had the market cornered on whining.

Baby, you got a stew goin'

by Thelonious on Dec 1, 2006 9:06 PM CST up reply actions

I'm not in that happy zone yet...

If his salary is pretty much in line with what we'd expect then the Cubs should not pull back from the pursuit of 2 more starters, extending Z, and another bat...The Cubs payroll constraint will tell more about the sanity of this signing than present values. (although they could both be aligned.)

If they are NOT aligned then the Cubs may have said something like: "How do we want to spend the X million that we cleared for payroll this year?" If the answer to that is that 85% goes to a 31 year old coming off a career year then it was a profoundly bad deal. Even if the PV in backloaded years keeps pace with market value, so long as it acts as a spending constraint on the Cubs that's self-imposed it's not good. The guy is unlikely to be an effective player 4 years from now, not to mention years 5-8...And no matter what the salary looks like then compared to market the question will be "Why is this dead weight taking up roster space and blocking us from other moves to improve the club."

If the Cubs hit their self-imposed constraint on payroll or very close to it from the Soriano deal, then it was a bad decision. The team has more needs.

by DudeVf1 on Dec 1, 2006 10:19 AM CST reply actions

Z

I read today in the Trib that the Cubs are going to offer Zambrano arbitration. That doesn't rule out them giving him a long-term contract, maybe in spring training. But it isn't exactly encouraging news.

by danimal15 on Dec 1, 2006 10:24 AM CST up reply actions

You're reading too much into that.

It's strictly a procedural move. The Cubs haven't gone to an arbitration hearing in over ten years. They'll sign him, and likely to a long-term deal. Offering him arbitration means nothing.

by Al Yellon on Dec 1, 2006 10:27 AM CST up reply actions

arbitration

Thanks for clearing that up, Al. Who was the last player they actually went to an arbitration hearing with the Cubs? Just curious.

by danimal15 on Dec 1, 2006 10:55 AM CST up reply actions

Under MacPhail............

.........they NEVER went to arbitration. He saw it as a "lose/lose" situation creating bad blood with the player.

by tville on Dec 1, 2006 11:05 AM CST up reply actions

Came close last year

Ohman of all people came extremely close last year. I believe there was a simular situation with somebody else, but i can't remember who. Luis Gonzalez maybe?

So far, so good. Now let's save a little money for starting pitching, Jim Spendry!!

by fuzzycubfan on Dec 1, 2006 3:01 PM CST up reply actions

This article has a point, but is a little silly

His assumption of 10% inflation in baseball salaries isn't borne out by recent history. He could have made his point just fine by using actual inflation. Even a couple percentage points, compounded over 8 years, is a pretty hefty discount factor.

On the other hand, if labor stoppages and collusion put artificial brakes on salary inflation, and baseball avoids both for the next 8 years, we may see salaries rise at a higher rate than in the past.

The call of the Cub fan, c. 1893: "one long, ravaged, derisive yell...a cyclonic whoop!"

by cubzfan on Dec 1, 2006 11:47 AM CST reply actions

This made me laugh about Soriano...

Rotoworld's take on the Cubs not wanting Soriano to play winterball:

The Cubs don't want Alfonso Soriano playing winter ball in the Dominican Republic.

Soriano just signed on for eight years of October-less baseball, so it's understandable that he'd want some December action to make up for it. Still, the Cubs don't want him to risk an injury. "I told him I would prefer he not play," GM Jim Hendry said. "And he was agreeable to that."

LEE!

by airweino on Dec 1, 2006 12:37 PM CST reply actions