Our middling form has continued into the second half and I think it is time for us to start making plans for next season. I am more concerned with the downside risk of doing so prematurely than I am with cutting bait too early on promotion, mainly because there's no way I see this group acquitting themselves in the Penthouse at their current level and composition.
We pick up via waivers a strong leadership-type toolsy catcher in Jim Driscoll, which then precipitates the following trade:
Jeff has been fantastic for us, especially in the first half of this year but I have explained my mindset on him previously. A shop netted plenty of options but in the end I went with Tom Baker, with that high retain level the kicker. We have him for three years at an all-in cost of $6m, which makes him a fairly cheap punt. His reputation precedes him as a bit of an odd-bod loner, but we've been loaded up with cleanskins and are still sitting in mid-standings so maybe a bit of spice will shake things up a bit. With Joe Kostelac's arb est having plummeted, we might now extend him as a cheap backup. But one of those young'uns will be on our OD 1993 roster.
We also dangle Rawly Eastwick, along with his 8 ERA and $7m commitment for the rest of this season and the next, on the WW and he gets snapped up. Trade returns were minimal for him so this is purely a sally dump manoeuvre.
The Cubs waste no time in signing LaMarr on a 3/$25.2m deal.