Bleacher Bums Forum

Thanks for thoughts on lux line, everybody.  Agree with deeg, it seems poor (mis)management to go just barely over.  But point well taken, reb, that if nibbling at the threshold, elect to add a Paredes, and have injuries, that can slip you over.  I hadn't heard Ricketts interview saying we were over, without qualifications.  So it is, I guess. 

I am a hypocrite to fault Hoyer for just going over, I confess.  In past, I've disliked the concept of staying $5-10 under to give space for mid-season acquisitions.  I've thought better off to spend near the line at the start.  Maybe you won't need to be trading for guys at deadline if you spent effectively at the start.  And if you spend smart at start, maybe by deadline the team is good and winning is focus, such that nobody cares about lux line.  So, maybe this season is a lesson why Hoyer/Theo have been justified in trying to keep some cushion.  Hoyer did what I've recommended; I'm a hypocrite to fault him for it now! 

Part of my logic in spending near the line, is that *IF* you aren't a good team, you can offload some salary at the deadline.  I'd thought if things went "sell", that Hendricks, Smyly, Gomes, Neris, Taillon, Wisdom might all be contracts you could sell at the deadline.  But Hoyer elected to keep Taillon; Neris was apparently the only salary he was able to offload. Hendricks, Wisdom, Smyly, Gomes, Bote, none of these vet salaries were guys anybody else would take. 

In retrospect, I was surprised last winter that they brought Wisdom back.  I wonder if without him we'd have been under?  That proved a mistake, I think. 

It’s not hypocritical to blame Hoyer for going over.  If the Cubs aren’t committed to being and staying over the CBT line then wasting a season on an 83 win team is a mistake.

I think there is too much emphasis on the Cubs spending this amount of this.  The problem is the Cubs aren’t devloping star players and they aren’t buying or trading for them.  The way the Cubs are set up they have little choice than to be well above the CBT to catch the Brewers.  If the Cubs aren’t going to do that they aren’t catching the Brewers.  If they don’t do it 2027, they won’t catch the Brewers.  After that the payroll resets so maybe there is a chance if the young guys really come on.