Not sure if there are still financial ramifications in place from purchase of Cubs by Ricketts, but the lux tax threshold for 2018 is $197M. Have to figure there's some spending flex between 2017's $172 payroll and that lux cap, especially given how strong our core is and how significant our needs are in this offseason.
This is a details question. But I have a vague recall that there are expenses that count towards lux tax that go beyond "payroll"? Is that false? I just seem to recall the lux tax number being considerably higher than what I'd thought the actual payroll had been. Not sure whether that was health and benefits being counted in; or whether that was signing bonuses being prorated or something.
My vague point being, that if Jeff has Cubs current commitments at ~$120, and the lux line is $197, I'm not sure the Cubs really have ~$80 to spend without hitting the lux.
(If it's a matter of pro-rating, rather than benefits, then I suppose they might have >$80. If they give some big signing bonuses that get pro-rated, that might back-load. This is routine in NFL salary-cap management: a small 1st-year salary and a large signing bonus makes the first-year cap hit relatively modest.)