I hope you don’t mind me skipping over the all important Wade Miller transaction (probably not going to be worth the money, love that it’s incentive based, hate the thought of even penciling him in for rotation spot, fear for the team if he makes more than 5 starts) to get the actual important news.
Agent Paul Kinzer told ESPN.com it will take a six-year deal for a team to sign Ramirez once the Cubs’ negotiating window expires this weekend and the third baseman hits the open market.
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. When asked if the total dollar figure for a six-year deal for Ramirez could approach $100 million, Kinzer replied, “That’s a good assumption — hypothetically speaking.”
Uh, at 6 years, $16+ per, A-Ram’s going to be wearing a Angels cap next year, that I’m sure of. It’s a shame, because I think he’s a better bet over the longer term for the same or more money than Soriano (better OBP, more consistent player, younger) and Carlos Lee (two years longer, more useful defense), but I’m sure the Cubs will not be down with paying Ramirez an extra $10 mil for two years they thought they already had on contract.
And if you don’t have A-Ram, what do you have? Either you overreach for Lee or Soriano or someone like them, or you don’t really have the power in your lineup to compete. I mean, it’ll be nice that they won’t be able to bench both Theriot and Murton (one of them ought to be able to try to transition to third if their spots get taken), but this team was already going to be stretching to be playoff bound if they kept everyone and just added a player or two – I’m not sure what they can realstic expect to do now that they’ve lost their second best offensive player.
You’re not going to replace the offense, or at least smartly replace the offense in a way which won’t hurt you in the future. So the Cubs can do one of two things
1) Just play young guys and wait it out till you get better offense (no measure of rebuilding is going to go on with Pinella just signed and Hendry battling for his contract, so this is out.)
2) If you can’t get runs, stop them. Spend the big money on pitching – there are far more appealing options out there than hitters this year anyway. Live with Cesar at SS if he can live up to his defensive rep, keep Cedeno around, find a good fielding 3B (Lugo?), and try to balance it with bench players who can hit even if they can’t do much more.
I’ve put off talking about this year’s free agency, because I believed everything revolved around A-Ram’s decision. (Maybe Pierre, to a lesser extent because there’s more guys with his skills available.) I hope they’ve got a plan – just doing what they would’ve if A-Ram’s around is going to be a failed experiment.
I hope I’m freaking out about nothing – the best chance win includes A-Ram – and this is just agent talk, but I think this is quite a turning point for the Cubs and the next couple years.
Well, this explains why there hasn’t been