NEWSLETTER
I promise you, I’m writing this whole post with a wry smile on my face. Not a happy smile. But the kind of smile you have when you can’t believe you’re watching your uncle, clutching his 9th glass of eggnog, berate a poster of Jon Lester about a “contraggle fwimpith an doster bywall butkay mmm.” It’s embarrassing. It’s also obviously a little funny, but mostly embarrassing. And kinda sad when you really get down to it.
As we discussed recently, the Cubs are looking at second baseman Joe Panik as an extreme high-contact option for the opening at second base, where the Cubs are loaded with bench-ish options, and where Nico Hoerner may not be ready for full-time big league duties quite yet. As a part-time guy, or even better, a minor league signing, Panik makes plenty of sense for the Cubs. I’m totally fine with that rumor, however unsexy it might be.
But the catch, as I wrote at the end of that one: the Cubs might not be able to afford Panik right now. With a plan in place not to add any big league salary until other payroll is moved out (to get under the luxury tax in 2020), the Cubs aren’t going to commit any kind of significant – or even modest – bit of payroll to a guy like Panik, however much they might like his bat.
If the Cubs can sign him to a minor league deal soon – or a split contract with a huge difference between the minor league rate and big league rate – then sure, they can bring him into the fold. But if Panik gets a big league contract, as I suspect he might, then the Cubs will be out of the race for now.
Moreover, even if he does have to settle for a minor league deal, there might be a preferred suitor in the mix.
Enter Buster Olney, who reports, “Joe Panik may land with the Yankees on a non-roster contract. Panik could wait for a full-time job elsewhere, but there is mutual interest between the Yankees and the left-handed-hitting infielder, who could theoretically help to balance a very right-handed roster of position players.”
Not only is Panik a good fit for the Yankees’ righty-heavy roster, but Yankee Stadium could be really good for a lefty trying to add some loft to his swing (as Panik apparently was trying to do recently … but in San Francisco, where lefties go to die). And if you’re a guy like Panik, trying to rebuild some value at age 29, popping some dingers at Yankee Stadium could certainly help more than being a caddie for Hoerner and the Cubs.
In other words, it is possible it would take a big league contract to get Panik to choose the Cubs, and that’s not something the Cubs can apparently do right now. This is the Cubs’ world right now: possibly missing out on a merely useful bench bat because they cannot offer him a big league contract, and he might prefer a minor league deal elsewhere.
