Cubs should take Bryce Harper's advice: "That’s why you spend the money" |
The MLB playoffs are in full swing as we are in the championship series, and both series have started with 2-0 advantages. What those two teams, the Texas Rangers and the Philadelphia Phillies, have in common is that the organizations have gone all in to try and win.
The Rangers and Phillies are the fourth and fifth-highest payrolls in the MLB, and not much of their teams have been developed from within. Just over the last two offseason, the Rangers have spent a billion dollars to acquire Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, Jon Gray, Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi, and Max Scherzer — most of whom have been massive contributors to the Rangers' playoff run. The Rangers are as deep into the playoffs as they have been since 2011 — and night after night, big hits from Seager or Semien or an excellent start from Evoldi have been the story. The Phillies signed Bryce Harper to a $330,000,000 ahead of the 2019 season. Zack Wheeler came the offseason after. The last few off-seasons have included an extension for JT Realmuto and the signings of Nick Castellanos, Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner and Tijuan Walker. Wheeler has been one of the best pitchers in the MLB for the last few years. In 19 innings this postseason, he has 26 strikeouts and has allowed five earned runs. He has pitched to a 2.63 ERA in nearly 55 innings over the last two postseasons. Realmuto’s presence on the pitching staff cannot be overstated, but he has been no slouch at the plate. The Phillies have played seven postseason games, and Realmuto, Turner, Harper, Schwarber, and Castellanos combined for 17 home runs. Castellanos has a pair of two-homer games. Bryce Harper has been incredible at the dish. Trea Turner is locked in, and Kyle Schwarber has eight home runs since last year’s NLCS. This isn’t a plea or a picture painted that spending money equals success or that you can buy a championship. But you can’t deny that the easiest way to improve your team is to pay the most money for the best players to be on your team. For the Cubs, this has been especially difficult to watch. The Phillies feel like a roster constructed of the Cubs’ bad decisions over the last half-decade. The Phillies feel like a “what could have been” Cubs team. Night after night, the Cubs and their fans must watch Castellanos, Schwarber, Harper, and Turner do masterful things on the baseball field. When Harper was a free agent heading into the 2019 season, the Cubs were coming off of a wildcard game loss where their “offense broke” according to Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer. Harper was friends with Kris Bryant, had a dog named Wrigley and was a link to the Cubs. Obviously, due to a large contract, Tom Ricketts and the Cubs elected not to spend that money on Harper for a few reasons: A) The Cubs were due to pay the likes of Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, Javier Baez, Kyle Schwarber and Willson Contreras soon (ironically, that did not happen either) B) The Cubs most recent free agent deals had not paid off on the field, like Jason Heyward or Yu Darvish or Tyler Chatwood or Brandon Morrow The Cubs acquired Nicholas Castellanos at the 2019 trade deadline. The Cubs collapsed, similar to this 2023 September, and missed the playoffs. But Castellanos was the spark that made the playoffs seem possible for the 2019 Cubs. He hit .321 with 16 homers and 36 RBI in just 51 games. Castellanos seemed like an absolute no-brainer for the Cubs to retain as they tried to reload for the playoffs and contention in the future. Of course, Castellanos played himself into a pretty significant increase in contract due to his play, and the Cubs, once again, elected not to spend the money on Castellanos for a multitude of reasons: A) The Cubs were due to pay the likes of Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, Javier Baez, Kyle Schwarber, and Willson Contreras soon (ironically, that did not happen either) B) The Cubs' most recent free agent deals, like Jason Heyward or Yu Darvish, Tyler Chatwood, or Brandon Morrow, had not paid off on the field. C) Castellanos was not known to be a defensive specialist, nor was Schwarber. The Cubs did not want to have two defensive liabilities mixed with an aging Jason Hayward in an outfield that needed to make room for Ian Happ (of course, there was no DH in the National League yet) Kyle Schwarber is known in Chicago for his heroics that led to the club’s first World Series Championship in 108 years. However, the ending was not special. Schwarber was not offered a contract after the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season, and the Cubs let him walk for nothing. The Cubs, who decided to rebuild, elected not to pay Schwarber anything for a variety of reasons: A) The Cubs were due to pay the likes of Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, Javier Baez, and Willson Contreras soon (ironically, that did not happen either) B) The Cubs' most recent free agent deals had not paid off on the field, like Jason Heyward or Yu Darvish or Tyler Chatwood or Brandon Morrow Trea Turner was one of four All-Star shortstops available in free agency this past winter. He, alongside Xander Bogaerts, Carlos Correa, and Dansby Swanson, highlighted an elite class. The Cubs signed Dansby Swanson, who earned the least amount of money of the quartet and performed admirably in his first season in Chicago. However, Trea Turner's moments in the postseason certainly would have been a welcome star in Chicago. Here’s what I am getting at. If you, as an organization, are content with rebuilding instead of spending money, you will put your fanbase through hell pretty frequently. If you are too afraid of having a big contract look bad down the road, you will consistently miss out on the top tier of free agents. In this day and age of baseball, you will have to offer deals that look like overpays — but I can guarantee you the Texas Rangers and Philadelphia Phillies are not regretting any penny spent to construct these teams. The Cubs should keep that in mind when they try to resign Cody Bellinger, pull off trades for Juan Soto or Pete Alonso, or attempt to acquire another top-of-the-line starting pitcher. You have to be willing to spend the money to try and win. The Cubs have the resources, money, fans, and stadium. It isn’t always about batting average or ink on dotted lines. It’s about wins. Take it from Bryce Harper’s mouth when the Phillies punched their ticket to the NLCS behind their robust free-agent acquisitions: “That’s why you spend the money, baby.”
