Oct 16 2008
Thoughts on Hendry, past deals, and the future of the Cubs
I have some thoughts I’d like to share about the current state of the Cubs. While we have some pretty great players, I think that one thing that is starting to come and bite us are all of these long-term, no-trade clause contracts. When thinking of some of these big contracts, these people come to mind:
Alfonso Soriano began an eight year, $136 million contract in 2007.
Aramis Ramirez began a five year, $75 million contract in 2007.
Carlos Zambrano began a five year, $91.5 million contract at the end of 2007.
Derrek Lee began a five year, $65 million contract in 2006.
Kosuke Fukudome began a four year, $48 million contract in 2008.
There are a lot of these. While most of the figures are not this ridiculous, many come with no-trade clauses. I worry about the future of the Cubs as a lot of these guys are stuck with us for the long haul. At the time of the deal, it seemed great. Someone like Alfonso Soriano would be the next superstar for the Cubs. Then, reality set in as he has no plate discipline, is often hurt, can’t steal bases like he used to, and is an overall obnoxious player to watch after he hits home-runs. Someone like Soriano is only going to get older and will ultimately produce less then he has in the past. Unfortunately for Cubs fans, we are stuck with this guy for another six years.
Another reason that I think that we had a great chance to do something this year was due to the kind of numbers being put up by people like Mark DeRosa, Ryan Dempster and Ryan Theriot. You could probably even throw Jim Edmonds into that list given his slow start and his age. The unfortunate thing is that it’s unlikely that we will see another year like the kind Mark DeRosa had. Can we count on Ryan Dempster to have another seventeen win season? Will Theriot hit .307 again next year?
The overall state of this team is just one big question mark. We don’t know if we can count on these older players to continue to produce as they have. We don’t know if some of these players just had career years. I think it’s a little ridiculous for these sports writers to crown the Cubs the NL Central Champs in 2009 so quickly. There’s been some sports writers that are projecting the Cubs win 100+ games next year as they will return their core group of players; however, they are concerned at how they will do in the playoffs. I say it is way to early to even think about that. We need to get through this World Series first and then we can speculate on things. There’s a lot of big names on the free agent market this winter and who knows what teams like the Cardinals or the Brewers are going to do. Cincinnati is up and coming (although I still don’t trust Baker). And you never know with Houston.
It isn’t going to be as easy as people think.
My source is ESPN
If we don’t find the money to keep Soto, Marmol and Theriot in Cubs uniforms for the years to come, it’s going to be a serious blow. I think Theriot really IS a .300 hitter, but it’s tough to see Dempster or DeRosa repeating their success from this year.