The Cubs’ Financial Stuff Lingers and Other Bullets

joker burning moneyA reminder that Sahadev is on The Game 87.7 for an hour this morning, starting at 10am CT. Check it out.

  • Don’t get me wrong, I definitely think it’s cool when something I’ve written is cited approvingly in an ESPN article, but I don’t much care for the way my financial piece was used as part of the backbone of an article saying things that are entirely contrary to what I believe to be well-reasoned analysis. Setting aside everything else in that column by Nick Friedell, which is a fairly standard “grr, spend more money, I’m tired of waiting” piece, I just want to point out that, yes, while I concluded that the Cubs probably won’t be able to exercise the full weight of their financial might until after 2019, I also laid out how the financial picture should be improving year to year from now until 2020. Further, that “full weight of financial might” is so freaking strong that it will provide far more money than the Cubs could ever even use. In other words, it’s entirely possible – probable? – that we’ll see the Cubs as one of the top five spending teams in baseball (not necessarily just payroll, but overall baseball expenditures) long before 2020. The restrictions on spending are very real, but the efforts to increase revenue in the near-term are equally real.
  • Yesterday, I discussed the tricky Darwin Barney situation the Cubs are in, and there is more on the situation from Cubs.com and CSN, with quotes from Barney and Ricky Renteria. You know the gist: it’s hard to play Barney regularly with Emilio Bonifacio starting every game, and Javier Baez looms on the horizon in the infield. Barney understands the situation, and is doing his best to remain a valuable part of the team. Can’t be easy.
  • It so Jeff Samardzija to love being hated by Cardinals fans and wanting to play a great team like the Cardinals all the time. (CSNChicago) I know he’s probably not long for this team, but I sure do enjoy him being here now.
  • The Cubs say Jake Arrieta will need at least one more start at AA Tennessee, and I’d think it’s probably going to be two more. He threw 66 pitches on Thursday, which should put him in line for about 80 the next time out. I suppose he could come back to Chicago at that point, but maybe one more rehab start just to be sure? That would have him pitching at Tennessee on Tuesday, April 15, and possibly back with the Cubs April 20th or 25th (depending on how they coordinate with Carlos Villanueva’s starts).
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    Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

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