Quote:
Originally Posted by Hoover
Sucks for the Cubs sure. But they don’t pay dick for any of their position players. I mean JHey and Zorbrist are the only dudes pulling in legit salaries as position players. The Cubs are fine. If they have to pay a little luxury tax so be it.
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Kris Bryant will probably get around $16 million in Arb2 next year and if Baez ends up winning the MVP or coming in 2nd, he'll end up around $10 million as well. Schwarber in Arb1 will likely get around 6-8.
Yeah, those guys are below market still, sure - but they're not free either. The Cubs are at $150 million in obligations for 2019
before Bryant, Schwarber , Baez and Russell. Those guys are probably going to get near another $40 million on their own.
Add in Hendricks and fill out the remainder with team control guys and you're looking at the luxury tax threshhold without a single major addition. And do you think the Cubs would be wise to go into next season WITHOUT a single major addition to their starting rotation? I certainly don't.
Unfortunately Heyward has played well enough that they can move him if they so choose and at least get a little salary relief. Not a ton, but they could probably clear half his salary pretty easily (unlike the Cardinals and Fowler).
The Cubs have been leaning heavily on their young position players being cheap for awhile now and it's not entirely accurate anymore. Those guys are starting to cost real money and it may well start catching up to them a bit when it comes to trying to make additions to firm up that starting staff. Someone like Corbin or maybe even a Happ are going to be difficult additions to them if they're facing luxury tax penalties for the privilege of doing so.