When You Had a Bad Day...
You've heard the news by now, that Theo's white whale got away, snatched up from the open sea by his old nemesis the S.S. Yankees. The contract numbers are absurd (7 years/$155M, opt out after 4 years), but we knew that eyeball popping was going to be required once the dust settled. There's been no confirmation that the Cubs were willing to be as absurd, although the whispers from Peter Gammons and Jeff Passan seem to indicate that no one was all that close to the Yankees offer. That being said, we're not sure how much back and forth there were in these negotiations either or what the final push was for Tanaka to pick New York over the other clubs. It may have been simply the money, maybe the glory of Yankee pinstripes, maybe the city of New York, maybe a combination of all three. What we do know is that the consolation prize (most likely) is either Paul Maholm or Jason Hammel and you kind of hope that the Cubs just don't even bother going back to pick either one up.
Regardless, I'm not to worked up about losing out on Tanaka. A $22M a year salary is nothing to scoff at and maybe Tanaka will be worth it or nearly worth it, or maybe he'll blow out his arm and miss a few seasons and be less effective after that. You don't want those things to happen to a player, but it's the risk involved and it seems more times than not, teams are grateful they didn't land the big free agent signing than did. And while I'm probably just trying to convince myself that this doesn't suck, I think there are some truth behind those thoughts, even if filled with just a bit of sour grapes.
Right after the Tanaka news hit, there was the blurb that negotiations have broken down with the rooftop owners and lawsuits are most likely forthcoming. As the Cubs spokesman said, this will certainly force delays on the renovations, i.e revenue, i.e did Theo sign a 15 year contract by any chance? I don't wish to take sides in a dispute I know little about. What I seem to have pieced together is that the Cubs and the rooftop owners made a deal a few years back where the Cubs would get some kickback from the rooftops. I don't know if anything formally was agreed upon, but at least informally I'm sure the rooftop owners thought maybe the Cubs won't FUCKING BLOCK THEIR VIEW. But that seems to be exactly what the Cubs intend to do, although they are P.R'ing it in a way that any hindrance to views will be minimal. I'm not sure how a 95 foot sign won't block views, but maybe there's some new space age translucent video board material I'm unaware of. That being said, Cubs rooftop owners have been making a lot of money doing a lot of nothing over the years, so 'eff them as well. There are no winners here.1
As for the offseason, I don't think an 'F' would do it justice. It's not that I was expecting a ton of signings, but I was hoping for a little creativity. At least a little more than Jose Veras and a trade for Justin Ruggiano. I'm short on solutions, but overflowing with apathy at this point. I know the plan is to wait for the prospects and by all signs, these kids are about as a good as you can hope to get. But in the meantime I'm going to have watch Darwin Barney and Donnie Murphy take at-bats and that's just not okay. I'll wait, and I understand the process, but I just can't get too worked up about anything until that process turns into something resembling a winning team.
1 - There's your Cubs 2015 slogan.
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