I'm sorry but, I find that to be utter bullshit unless they ran into major structural issues with the stadium or some other serious items.

my guess is they kept adding items not included in the original bid items. the same bid list and budget they used to select a contractor. these kinds of things are not designed and approved without knowing how much it will cost. If the budget doubled, the CUBS fucked up badly.

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@audioidkid

My understanding is that they want to get below the salary cap for a season to reset the luxury tax penalties.

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Part of the budgeting that could easily gotten screwed up royally was how much they intended to pay for all the buildings and property around versus the actual amount.

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Elections have consequences.

Bingo. The penalties are progressive. Plus the extra tv revenues are expected to kick in more down the road.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

They didn't realize how bad their pockets would get picked working with Illinois Unions.

Rumor has it that Willson is being shipped to SD, Theo wanted the whole farm.. i could get behind this move.. package up Quintana and Willson to SD for a nice haul.

I still want KB gone vut this done quick. SD has a great farm.

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What's going with San Diego, Dave Dombrowski take over their front-office? They're doing deals like they think they'll contend this coming season.

Bryant prolly headed to DC to replace Rendon, now that the Nationals ate up their free agent budget on Strasburg.

The Cubs pitching is so thin it makes total sense to do a mini rebuild.

I am really tired of hearing about the Cubs, the Ricketts, Payroll, and Budget. They started 2019 with the 2nd highest payroll in MLB…$194 million. It doesn’t take a genius to quickly figure out where the problem is. Theo fucked it up. This hardly looks like a WS Contender...
Jon Lester $27.5 million
Jason Heyward $22.5 million
Yu Darvish $20 million
Cole Hamels $20 million
Tyler Chatwood $12.5 million
Brandon Morrow $9 million

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100% might be bs but they were definitely over budget and not on time. People forget how bumbling the Ricketts children were at running the business before Theo showed. They were constantly making missteps.

They expected some public financing when they first envisioned the project as well.

I do think that their property acquisitions, while probably not on the same ledger as the NL Ball Club Corp., are more of a burden than envisioned. Any of the owners who bought at current market rate were losing money. Then the Cubs bought at market rate. That is a loss a true real estate investor is ok with absorbing as you always buy adjacent property when it becomes available...always.

I'm sure they don't own that hotel across the street but instead it is a ground lease so that shouldn't be a drain. They couldn't have been stupid enough to get in the hotel business on their own, correct? Can that place really be doing well?

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

2nd in payroll to start 2019.
4th in payroll to start 2020.
They're spending plenty of money on the field. There is plenty to be angry about....how much they're spending is NOT it.

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Exactly. How they are spending is the problem not how much.

Theo will have a hard time finding a trading partner dumb enough like he was to trade the two top organizational prospects. And he did it for a #4-5 starter.

"You want Wilson Contreras? Great....let me introduce you to Wilson plus your new Right Fielder."

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“Mr. Trump is unfit for our nation’s highest office.”- JD Vance
“My god, what an !diot.”- JD Vance tweet on Trump
“I’m a ‘Never Trump’ guy”- JD Vance

Wish I was wrong

Fire Theo
Fire Jed
Make Ricketts sell to someone who wants to win more than once.

This distinction is meaningless though isn't it?

At the end of the day, they aren't putting out a good enough team. Whether the spending is dumb or just not enough doesn't matter

Cubs are being run like a Jerry outfit now? That’s hilarious

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

David Ross is the first nepotism (in the family) hire

No it's not meaningless. Theo no longer has an open checkbook due to his own giant FA signing whiffs. Now he has to start trading assets. It's not really surprising.

This is great!

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Elections have consequences.

You've had some bad posts, shit.. let's be honest, down right awful.. this might just be the worst. The Cubs will spend every year.

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Red Sox and Astros in similar situations as Cubs. Wanting to avoid luxury tax and not adding payroll. Astros losing Cole maybe shopping Correa. Red Sox will end up trading at least one, maybe two out of Price, Betts, and Bradley.

Astros loaded with young talent, they have 2 guys in AAA who start on 25 plus teams day one.

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Cubs aint trading anybody.

It was all bullshit ploy by Theo to make the fanbase think he was gonna "do something". The reality, he doesnt wanna trade any of these guys for what theyre actually worth.

The only thing he's done is the shit that dont matter: Coaching staff and behind the scenes changes. Big fucking whoop.

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Fine with me. Rather keep Bryant or Contreras if the Cubs are not getting full value.

im surprised bernstein doesnt get more shit for his 2+ years worth of "money doesnt matter to the cubs".... ?

An open checkbook isn't needed. They're SPENDING plenty. Be pissed all you want...that's fine. The team on the field is trending downward, but be pissed about the General Managing, not the Ricketts checkbook.

I'm starting to think that the Bryant thing rides itself out. Regardless of the Cubs, Dodgers, Angels, or any team.....Bryant will hold on a long term deal until he's a Free Agent. I don't see a team wanting to give up the haul for a 2 year player that year to year ties up a good chunk of money.

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The fact that Ricketts is crying poor is a joke. They are printing money and they've netted a 1B+ increase in net value. I do however realize that he may essentially be telling drunken sailor Theo to start developing some f'ing young talent. Remember their Dominican Academy and Sloan Park investments? It's no coincidence that they've invested money in batting/pitching technologies, etc. to try to get the player development pipeline going again in addition to "moving" Jason McLeod out of that side of the business.

If they wanted to extend Bryant and Baez, they could.