Denard Span

[FVBrewerFan]

He will be 32 entering next season. How in the world can he fit into their future plans? He would hurt them next year, since paying salary to any short-term FA next year is..well...stupid. Giving him playing time to prove himself just to trade him is a gamble not worth taking.

 

Wren was an extreme example, as there are better short term options for CF. With that said, if it was between him and Span I would take Wren and save the money. In reality, Santana has another month to prove he can play CF, at least part time. Reed would be another viable choice. He could be a 4th OF and play CF when Santana is not.

[bill hAll Star]

How many vets did the Cubs sign the last few years to one year deals and then flip at the deadline for prospects? A few. There is pretty much zero risk to do so.

 

You mean other than the player not performing and not being able to trade them? Even if Span can only get a one year deal, he could probably get a deal more than we would be willing to pay with a team better than us. I'm sure the Nats would take him back if he couldn't find a multi-year deal in free agency.

 

Even if we're using the Feldman/Arrieta example. At the time of that trade Arrieta was a 27 year old with a 5.50 ERA. I don't even think the Cubs thought he would basically turn into a Cy Young contender.

 

I'm not really seeing a whole lot of players at positions of need that would be willing to take a one year value building deal anyways.

 

We should be more focused on maximizing the value of Lind, Lucroy, Davis, Segura and maybe Braun instead of looking for one year value buys that we could maybe flip later.

 

Callaspo and Kelly Johnson turned into a few decent, younger prospects in the end for Atlanta.

 

These are the type of guys I'd be looking at. Joyce, De Aza, etc. types. Not necessarily a Denard Span type, as I've mentioned.

 

Of course, you're right that sometimes you can overspend to accomplish this.

[brewcrewdue80]

How much is Cheap for a 1year contract vet? Because Span is making 10mil+ next season and that's the point. He's not cheap for this Buy to Trade strategy. 2. you don't think that Span who's going to have his suitors is going to look at a 1yr contract with a Milw team that must scream 70wins to him vs I dunno maybe Seattle or better yet Texas offering 1 or 2yrs? Milwaukee coughs up 15mil for Span, fine I don't think those two would go that high. But 10-12mil I can see easily. He's turning 32 to begin next season, his defensive stats read in a decline the past 4seasons from his high pretty much a little worse every season. He's the kind like Lucroy will be after 30 you say thanks for your cheap service that gave value for it, but we'll let someone now overpay you to provide at or below value.

[brewcrewdue80]

How many vets did the Cubs sign the last few years to one year deals and then flip at the deadline for prospects? A few. There is pretty much zero risk to do so. I'd imagine a healthy Denard Span playing to his norms plus Wily Peralta or Krod could bring back a nice prospect and change in July 2016.

 

 

The Cubs are also working with a 175+mil payroll to make such signings. Span will be too expensive to lure here. If I were him 15mil minimum if not 18million per year to play for 70win teams the next 2years. He/or his agent can not possibly be stupid enough to look at the Brewers makeup for 2016 and not have an idea Span is being signed for a future Trade payoff. You want to do that? Show me some money. Again, Please just spend more money on Internationals than risk 10+ for 1 or 2years of Span.

[bill hAll Star]

Yeah, that's why I'm not necessarily a fan of Span coming here. I'd take guys who have a lower stock at this point.

[reillymcshane]

In our situation, I'm not a big fan of signing guys with the hope of flipping them in season for some talent. If the guy gets hurt (or doesn't come back from his injury) or plays badly, you're still stuck paying the $6M or $8M or $10M or whatever you're paying him.

 

And let's face it, if the guy is so desperate for a job that he signs with a bad team, he's probably not that good any how.

 

I'd rather the team used the money in other ways. Perhaps extend our young talent now (Nelson or Peralta for example) - using some of the money as a signing bonus. Or do what the Braves did - take on $10M in salary (Arroyo) in exchange for a decent prospect (Toussaint). In the latter case, the Braves just essentially used their financial flexibility to add a good prospect - no risk. There's no promise that if you sign a guy like Span that he's going to fetch anything that great.

 

It should be noted that adding a guy like Span now isn't my favorite thing. In other situations it would be a great move - such as if we thought we could content next year and needed to fill CF. But right now we aren't very good and won't be for a few years. Use the money is other ways to improve the franchise.

[gregmag]

Our trade for Lind looks like a viable model for the kind of strategy some are advocating here. Trade for a guy coming off a so-so year on a contract that won't kill you if he flops and will look very good if he bounces back. If you can pull the same thing through FA, great, although it's tougher when the player has more leverage. The irony is that we (presumably) got Lind with the idea we could contend, but now he's our best remaining trade chip.

[logan82]

I'm not so sure the Brewers thought they could contend this year. They left themselves pretty tin at starter when they traded Gallardo and Estrada.

[JohnBriggs12]

I'm not so sure the Brewers thought they could contend this year. They left themselves pretty tin at starter when they traded Gallardo and Estrada.

 

All the questions were about whether Nelson could handle a full time starting roll. If they knew he'd perform like he has, and I believe they had that in mind, on paper it was a solid rotation. Turns out the two veterans making good money were monumental failures. Had they performed to career norms, and the lineup hit at all the first month, they were good enough to hang around in the WC race into July in which case we never know what they would have done. My guess is they went into the season thinking they had a team good enough to be in the mix into July. Lack of offense, made worse by DL stints to some key guys, and the failure of the two highly paid starters, particularly Lohse, doomed them right from the start.

 

As for picking up veterans to fill in some gaps and or guys who would take short term deals to build back value, they have one of those in Lind who's option they can pick up for a modest $8 million. Santana's not really a CF but having both his and Davis' bats in the lineup along with Braun and Lind, gives them a powerful middle of the lineup. Enough to contend? Probably not, but they'd have plenty of trade candidates again in July and who knows, if a Perez blossoms at 3B and Arcia comes up and becomes a ROY candidate, they could be pretty good. I might even consider making a one year offer to a guy like Samardzija or Fister who will want to build back up lost FA value. Both are young enough to bounce back and have some real value at trade deadline. I'd be inclined to dump Garza though in either case.