Why are Cards adding stars and Cubs shedding payroll?
With the Cubs in St. Louis over the weekend, it's interesting to compare the two teams financially.
According to spotrac.com, the Cardinals have a higher overall payroll than the Cubs this year, $164 million to $154 million. And St. Louis added Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt over the past few years.
That figure could be misleading, though, since Colorado is reportedly picking up the tab for $50 million of the $199 million left on Arenado's contract.
From the Cubs' standpoint, it's obviously uncertain whether the team will re-sign Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo and Javy Baez, let them walk as free agents or trade them before the deadline. Jed Hoyer talked this week about the challenges of keeping an older nucleus together.
“Early in this window, so to speak, when we started winning in 2015, you're able to pack so much talent on the roster because you're getting great performance out of all those young guys we brought up to the big leagues, the Bryants and Baez and Solers and Rizzos, etc., etc.,” he said. “That allows you to go out and spend in free agency and pack the roster with more talent.
“We haven't necessarily had that ability the last few years. As these guys have become more expensive in free agency and as we haven't been able to layer in young players, other than (David) Bote and Nico (Hoerner) — by definition, not having (younger) players makes it more challenging on your payroll.”
One theory is the Cubs could pencil bullpen stars Keegan Thompson and Justin Steele into next year's starting rotation and along with Adbert Alzolay, have three of the five on relatively low salaries, with top prospect Brailyn Marquez joining the group in a couple years, theoretically.
The Cubs do not appear to have any position players in their system who will be ready to join the big-league lineup in the next couple of years.
Re-signing Bryant, Rizzo and Baez wouldn't necessarily be a huge added expense for the Cubs. All three players have been through arbitration, so Bryant is currently making $19.5 million, Rizzo $16.5 million and Baez $11.65 million.
The Cubs' highest-paid player is Jason Heyward, who is currently hitting .183 and on the injured list. He's due to make $22 million for two more seasons.
Twitter: @McGrawDHBulls