It is getting harder to slash through the propaganda thicket of the Cubs public relations department. One of the soothing fairy tales making the rounds this year is that the Cubs will be in excellent shape to go out and acquire top pitching free agents.
The story goes that since the Cubs failed to get Tanaka or another major free agent last year, the $75 million plus price tag has been "saved" for future acquisitions.
Except, that cannot be possibly true.
Ricketts and the business side of the club does not give Theo and company a pot of money each season to "bank" and spend whenever they choose. Since the various articles dealing with the Cubs finances have been making the rounds, a pattern has emerged that the Cubs loan covenants that tie payroll to attendance hogtie the team from making any major moves. Loan covenants are complex and one sided assurances written by banks to protect their money. An approval of an annual budget, including payroll, would be a standard covenant for bank approval. So the baseball operations is not "banking" in a free agency savings account millions of dollars while the team tanks.
The other part of the story is that the Cubs will be aggressive buyers this off-season. They will be players in the free agent pitching market, going after Jon Lester or James Shields. But the reality is that the Cubs don't have $100 million to spend on one player. And the reality is that spending $100 million on a starting pitcher for 2015 does not make the club any better or thrust it into divisional contention. Besides, the business model has been to trade away expensive starting pitching (Garza, Dempster, Maholm, Feldman, Smardzija and Hammel).
The Cubs have to have some story to keep the fans coming to the park through the end of the year. The Cubs need to have a better story to get season ticket holders to renew this winter. The team can't be as bold as Jerry Jones of the Cowboys who printed and sent playoff tickets to his 2014 season ticket holders.
The current core pitchers, Arrieta, T. Wood and E. Jackson, won't be around when the time comes to actually build a contending pitching staff. The team won't spend a fortune on starters until the inexpensive home grown talent takes root at Wrigley. The plan is to have low cost position players as starting fielders. Then, the team can buy proven veteran pitchers instead of developing a staff. But if the Cubs prospects don't pan out as a class, then the incentive is increased to not spend any money at all. Then, the Cubs will have to start over again.
