Bleacher Bums Forum

Justyn-Henry Malloy DFA'd by Detroit. Formerly a very good prospect, .955 OPS at AAA last year, still only 25. Struggled in limited MLB time with a 32% K-rate, but has an .820 OPS against lefties. He's noww a 1B/DH only so that limits his value, but somebody will likely jump the waiver queue and make a trade for him.

Definitely seems like someone Hoyer would be interested in. He could add a former high-upside prospect who some of the fan base would get excited about. And he can play corner outfield...if he suddenly turns into a good MLB player, he could replace half of Kyle Tucker.

Remember Kyle Tucker? He played for the Cubs in 2025. He's the best free agent on the market, and Hoyer isn't even pretending to try to re-sign him.

don't know anything about him, but he'd seem to kinda align with the Justin Turner RH pH/1B/DH wannabe profile.  Cubs just signed Austin for that role.  Obviously Austin is no safe thing.  So I suppose Hoyer could hypothetically sign Malloy as competition for Austin, and keep whichever looks better in camp.  Doubt it, but maybe. 

Other factor with DFA guys, of course, will be options.  Looks like Malloy has one left.  So yeah, I guess could sign him, stick him at Iowa, and if Austin fails you'd have an option. 

i focus on lux $$, not actual $$.  do we know how Hoyer does it?  Like, if cubs sign Imai too big deal, two Q's: 
1.   is posting fee included in any lux calculations? 
2.  Would Hoyer count the posting fee into his 2026 budget? 

1. No
2. This is Ricketts, are you kidding? Jed's coffee service and the office toilet paper purchases counts towards the budget.

LOL, the financial penalty for spending $275M looks less than $10M.

A question:

Hypothetically, if Cubs 2026 CBT payroll is $265-270 M, would that satisfy EVERYONE here that Cubs are spending what they “should” be spending?

That figure likely would put Cubs #6 in CBT spending behind Dodgers, Mets, Yankees, Phils, Jays.

.Hypothetically, if Cubs 2026 CBT payroll is $265-270 M, would that satisfy EVERYONE here that Cubs are spending what they “should” be spending?...

Yes for me.  But I'm not EVERYONE. 

I do think the difference between $265-270 versus $231 (last years lux account) vs $201 (present estimated lux cost if they don't add any significant tickets) vs $142-154 (Reds, Cardinals, Brewers) all matter.  Sure, reb, you can kinda say, "well, $25-30M, that's barely 10%, does that really make that much difference?"  And blue can kinda say, Ricketts is making Hoyer play it like the Brewers, Hoyer's extra $90 doesn't really matter if he's trying to be a $240 Brewers/Tampa.  But I think each of those increments make a difference. 

If cap is sub-lux, there is only space for one more good starter.  If it's $270, I think there would be space for two.  With $270, could perhaps fit both Imai and Bregman, or Imai and Bellinger, and still hold your prospects for future use.  If it's $235, there's room for just one ticket.  The one extra guy could perhaps make a lot of difference?  One extra Bregman might have gotten one key hit in Brewers series.  One extra Imai might have gotten one extra well-pitched game, hypothetically?  Obviously adding both Imai and Bellinger would not assure any great season, I get that.  But I think adding two good players could really help, and could position the team with more depth and capacity to withstand the unpredictable challenges of a season. 

His K rate is kinda scary, but that is a good gamble for the White Sox.
I think most people would be happy with that. 

If the Cubs were bring up the core of the 2016 team I don’t think anybody would care what the Cubs payroll was.  I just want a better team.

CBJ, you’re exposing the critical flaw of the ignore system…

I think it’s important to distinguish between “happy” and satisfied”. I would’ve very happy with the Cubs spending $265M pre-tax, because I know it’s never going to happen and it would be a pleasant surprise. I’d be happy if they spent right up to the tax line, because most years they don’t even do that, and they were way under this year.


I would be satisfied if they were right at #4-5 in baseball in payroll, where their value and profitability says they should be. Every credible estimate we have puts them behind only the Dodgers and the NY teams in value, and Forbes had them ahead of the Mets in revenue. Only shills and Rickettses claim otherwise. So their payroll should be behind only those three teams, level more or less with teams like Philly and Toronto (which actually have less franchise value). Obviously it’s going to fluctuate from year to year but over time, that’s where they should be.

Willson Contreras traded to the Red Sox.