Bruce Levine was on the radio this morning. He agrees with my philosophy that there really is no good reason for the Cubs to build up their minor league system while still fielding a competitive major league team through development and free agency.
Levine notes that one reason could be the Cubs having financial difficulties.
The circumstantial evidence as set forth in this blog and other media reports lends some credence to that statement. A financially sound club would not be looking for outside investors. A financially sound club does not have the huge debt-to-equity ratio the Cubs have since the sale. A financially sound club would not have to cut payroll each of the past four seasons.
But part of "the plan" of the front office is to be "bad" in order to get high draft picks, and under the new CBA, a larger "signing bonus pool." So the team has decided that it was going to spend their millions on unknown kids and hope to "beat" the low odds that prospects will turn into impact major leaguers. One avenue of increasing the odds was merely adding more prospects to the system, through trading off 40% of the annual starting rotation (that is why Samardzija put his house on the market; and we assume Hammel was only renting.)
But Levine makes another good point. In these rebuilding years, the Cubs have been so bad that major free agents would not want to sign with the team. The Cubs could have offered the same amount of money as the Yankees for Tanaka, but the Japanese star did not need an interpreter to determine that if he wanted to be successful here, the Yankees were the better team and opportunity.
We all know about college football and basketball recruiting; it is a highly charged and competitive endeavor. But even in pro sports, recruiting is important. If members of your own team are unhappy, word will get around to other team's players. Even though there are a limited number of major league roster spots, even second tier free agents normally have a choice. (In fact, several decided to sign minor league deals with a good team rather than taking a full major league season with a team destined to be at the bottom of the standings. Example, former Cub Scott Baker.)
So, the growing consensus is that the Cubs have done a poor job of recruiting free agents. The team has focused on rehabbing broken pitchers with the prospect of flipping them at the trade deadline. And when it is time the prospects make it to the major leagues, the Cubs stigma may still keep free agents away.
