Cubs have $0 committed past 2015

I guess it would be based on when you/they believe a young player should be “locked up”. (All info based on Cot’s future commitments page)
Heading into the 2015 season…

All of the 2011 draftees… some of whom might be ready to help in 2015… would be pre-arbitration.

Anybody else at AA or below (Soler if he’s signed, Szczur, Ha, McNutt, Vitters, Lake, Torreyes, Whitenack, Rhee, etc.) is still well under club control.

Carpenter, Dolis, Rizzo, and Jackson still have at least three years of arbitration left. No reason to sign them long-term yet.

Castro would still have two arbitration seasons left. He’d be in prime territory for an extension, if one isn’t done by then.

I believe Castillo will be taking over for Soto by 2014… he’d still be in pre-arb or arbitration.

Barney would be in his second year of arbitration (if he has progressed enough to still be around as his salary starts to rise).

If Ian Stewart “finds it”, he’d be looking at his first FA year. He’s a good candidate for a multi-year contract if he comes around (has to produce at least the next two years before you even consider it).

Travis Wood would be in arbitration two. Decisions would have to be made on Wells and Volstad, who would both be entering FA. Decisions on Garza and (less likely) Marmol have to be made sooner.

So, while fully acknowledging that not all of these guys will “make it” the Cubs could have this kind of roster in 2015: C Castillo, 1B Rizzo, 2B Barney/Torreyes, SS Castro, 3B Stewart/Vitters, LF Jackson, CF Szczur, RF Soler, SP1 Garza, SP2 McNutt, SP3 TWood, SP4 Volstad/Wells SP5 Whitenack/Rhee/etc., Bullpen: Carpenter, Dolis, and the usual “take your pick” assortment of young guys and veteran FAs.

Again, obviously not all of those pieces will work out… and the “contender-ability” of that team could be questioned (not sure it is fair to say yes or no, given that there is three full years of development between now and 2015).

But among those pieces the only ones who would have to be “dealt with” contractually are Garza, “SP4”, and Stewart. That’s it. That gives the Cubs incredible financial flexibility to pursue more expensive pieces between now and 2015.

A team like the Cubs ought to be able to carry five “expensive” (say $12-20M) players. What if you take that roster and (while keeping Garza and Castro as two of those pieces) add a FA SP this off-season (Cain, Hamels, etc.), David Wright the following year (Mets have a ‘13 option you’d think they’d pick up), and an “expensive run producer” in the OF (despite the length of this post, I’m too lazy this morning to see who that might be) the following year?

All of a sudden, that line-up looks like:
CF Jackson/Szczur
SS Castro
LF “expensive run producer”
3B Wright
1B Rizzo
C Castillo
RF Soler/Jackson/Ha
2B Barney
SP Cain/Hamels, Garza, McNutt, TWood, Wells/Volstad/but probably a younger guy for budget reasons… no reason to pay your 5th starter that well
BP Carpenter, Dolis, others

That team should be within the Cubs’ budget… and be good enough to be a pretty strong contender (even without any contributions from the strong ’11 draft class).

Sorry to get rambling… but with spring training now under way, I guess I allowed myself to dream of sunnier days for our Cubs.