All teams play by the same rules, but not all teams have the advantages that the Dodgers have. No team can spend like they can, even if they wanted too.
***Official 2024 Chicago Cubs Thread***
- Thread starter CycloneErik
- Start date
And what's your reasoning behind that? It a 3.8 billion dollar organization. They could spend if they chose to.
That just way too simplistic of a way to look at it. I don't think you realize how much money the ownership group (Guggenheim) has (it is many multiples of what the Ricketts family does), they have a local TV deal worth 3x Marquee and double any other team in baseball, they make $100+ mil of revenue annually from the Japanese market they have cornered (which is largely because they are in LA, something other teams can't replicate) and they have over a billion in deferred money that no other team would be willing to do because they aren't being run by a hedge fund/capital investors.
Could the Cubs spend a lot more? Yes. So could the Yankees and several other teams. Can they do it on this level sustainably? No. The only slightly comparable would be the Mets and that's only because Cohen is worth $20+ billion and he's fine with team losing hundreds of millions per year because it's his for his own fun.
The thing most infuriating about the Dodgers is that the Guggenheim group will have long sold them and cashed out on all of this before all the deferred money comes due. It's ********. They aren't spending anything they'll actually have to pay.
Bingo. Defer as much possible, raise the valuation (already almost tripled since they bought it) and sell before the checks come due. This is a hedge fund/capital investors textbook situation. Just so happens that the current CBA is set up perfectly for them to exploit it.
Last edited:
There’s a difference between acting big market and deferring over 700 million l in salary 10-20 years down the road
Yes, we will all get the last laugh when 10 years from now the Dodgers aren't competitive and all they have to show for it is 7 WS rings.
Nope. And that doesn't change the point at all. Acting like a big market team is not the same as acting like the Dodgers. If that's the standard then there is only one big market team.
Don't get why it's so complicated to understand that no one else can/will spend the way LA does.
What if 2024 is their only WS Title?
What the Dodgers have done is bold. Feel like it's either going to be a serious dynasty or ultimate crash & burn scenario.
IMO winning a WS is more random than any other professional sport. If the Dodgers can win 4-5 titles over the next decade their gamble has been a success.
Well they are +310 to win it right now, with the next highest odds being the Braves at +800. I like their chances...
I expect it is a function of agents to a degree. But feel like Jed doesn't do a great job of identifying guys who will come to Chicago when the money is close.
I have no issue in the Cubs passing on guys like Soto, Snell, etc if the Cubs as an organization don't want the be on the hook for a $250M contract. But then be first in line, wine & dine and show some love (aka a few $M more annually) for the guys who want $15-$25M annually. Would Tanner Scott have been a Cub if 30 days ago they made an aggressive offer? What about Buehler, Santander, Alonso, Bregman, etc.
I have no issue in the Cubs passing on guys like Soto, Snell, etc if the Cubs as an organization don't want the be on the hook for a $250M contract. But then be first in line, wine & dine and show some love (aka a few $M more annually) for the guys who want $15-$25M annually. Would Tanner Scott have been a Cub if 30 days ago they made an aggressive offer? What about Buehler, Santander, Alonso, Bregman, etc.
Had the Cubs not signed the '08 extension with NBCU/Comcast and gone out on their own at that point, then they could spend like the Dodgers.
I don't think people realize the massive gulf between the Dodgers and everyone else when it comes to TV revenue.
They are 70 further over the cap than any other team. They really don’t care. They are playing a different game than one else in the league. I saw baseball reference listed Ohtani at around 28 mil this year. Is that the number he’s counting against the cap this year even though he’s only being paid 3 mil?
No but nobody else is acting like the dodgers. I’m optimistic they will resign Tucker. If they do it’s a start. Albeit by bad math I believe we were one of only five or six teams that exceeded the cap. So many of the big market teams aren’t going over as well.
