The market for free agents has skyrocketed with scarcity and abundance of money to throw around. A 3rd starter with occasional 2 stuff appears to be in 12-15 million range. The Cubs aren't going all in as much as they are paying the market rate for a guy that'll bridge them to their competitive years.

This is why JORR is probably right in keeping Floyd. He's being paid a below-market rate.

@JonHeymanCBS: Cubs are out on anibal. #tigers look like tiger are likely winner

Good. Seems to go totally against what they've been preaching. Is it really time to start adding big money deals?

LOL, what a joke:

Ken Rosenthal ‏@Ken_Rosenthal
Source: #Cubs increase five-year offer to Anibal Sanchez to $77.5M. #Tigers at $75M. Negotiations continue.
Details


These are like 15 min apart.

Dammit, that means the Sox are still owning the off-season buzz in Chicago with the Keppinger signing.

I think don't think this would be a bad signing for the Cubs. It's a little too long and too much money but that's the going rate for starters. Sanchez isn't blocking a younger player and they certainly have the money to spend. Sanchez would make some much needed starts and eat some much innings for the next 2-3 years. If he falls off in year 4 or 5 he can be pitching depth or they can cut him loose. This deal would help them in the short term and it doesn't hurt them in the long term.

Good point, agree. I just don't see this as "all in."

It is all in when you consider the years and the total money. The Cubs should be shopping for guys like Kevin Correia, who was just signed by the Twins yesterday...guys happy to get 2 years and 5-7.5 per.

Stick with the plan.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

I think there is a false sense that we know and understand what the plan is.


This is a guy that can eat innings now, and be around during the next few years doing what he does. Not crippling, not taking money from others, not blocking young people.

How does this negatively affect the hypothetical plan?

Bob Nightengale ‏@BNightengale
Agent Gene Mato Sanchez agrees to 5 year,$80 million deal w #Tigers

If someone signed Gavin Floyd for 5 and 77, everyone here would find it ridiculous, but Sanchez is the same damn guy and he gets compared to Greinke?

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

Imaginary posting.

To save you the trouble, let's talk about it when Gavin gets 5 and 77.

Sanchez didn't even have an arm injury... what was Theo thinking?

Why shouldn't he use any leverage he can to get his client the best deal? That is how the business works.

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Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

I wonder who Sanchez' agent is .... and I wonder who else he represents .... maybe helping to drive up the price will be quietly repaid down the road.

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

While some could call it dirty, Sanchez got what he wanted.

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I said that he did his client right. Just dirty the way it was so public in the media. You rarely see that. Just dirty....sanchez.

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Team Cutler.

Maybe agents try to do this all the time and the Cubs (or Cubs media) just happen to fall for it...again.

I really don't know. Maybe there is something shady going on, maybe its just some dumbfuck in the media (with or without the Cubs) who is reporting this type of crap.

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_________________
Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

/

_________________
Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

I don't have a copy of the plan but all evidence points to not taking on any long term contracts until all the current bad contracts are off the books and then choosing FA signings discreetly to blend in with the more overarching plan of building from within.

If Sanchez takes one inning away from Travis Wood, his presence damages the plan.

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Yea, I guess that's just a guess and not necessarily what it is, as evidenced by this offer.


And to be honest, I don't see that at all. You don't have to wait for the old contracts to expire before setting yourself up for the future. You can do both at the same time.

quote="good dolphin"]

I don't have a copy of the plan but all evidence points to not taking on any long term contracts until all the current bad contracts are off the books and then choosing FA signings discreetly to blend in with the more overarching plan of building from within.

If Sanchez takes one inning away from Travis Wood, his presence damages the plan.[/quote




Travis Wood, aka Mr Gopher Ball, blows. I never liked that Sean Marshall deal.

What a Dirty Sanchez......so I would like a big deal the Cubs are trying to do to become official before it gets reported for once.....Bruce Levine needs to start stabbing fools that break bad stories....Here is something to make everybody feel better...

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Travis Wood does not blow. I like the way he pitches, just not at Wrigley.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

You don't have to have a copy of the plan to have a good guess to what it is. They have not signed a single contract for nor taken on a free agent with significant money. Every free agent contract has been for between 1-2 years. They have looked to move every significant contract on their books, regardless of prodcution. They have not even been linked to a premium free agent before this. Everything seems to be geared toward the day they are no longer burdened by Soriano's contract...and then we get Sanchez. I don't see how it can be biewed as anything other than a divergence.

I guess we will see how the rest of FA goes. If they are breaking from the plan there should be another Sanchez level player they are looking to sign. If not, this should be chalked up to temporary insanity and not signing him is a blessing.

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Am I the only person who thinks Garza is a better pitcher than Sanchez?

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

You can't sign everybody in one off-season. At some point, you have to start signing guys that can be a part of the puzzle. A 2/3 starter that will be under contract until 2017 and still be 33(?) by then could definitely be part of the plan.

The issue would be whether he's worth that contract. I guess that debatable but it would seem that these guys think so. You rightly point out that their track record isn't that great with this stuff so, who knows, but they are going to start signing people and he eats up innings.

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You know me like that.

bottom line,75 million saved. Maybe they can buy 4 or 5 more free agent one year types with half that money for this year.

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."