David Price to the Cubs? Why not? - MLB

To be clear, this is not a trade rumor. This is more like matchmaking. The matchmaker is Ken Rosenthal and you gotta admit that he makes some good points here:

The Cubs are deep enough in position prospects to make the right offer. And the Cubs, though they don’t always act like it, play in a large market, which means they can afford Price’s projected $20 million salary next season.

Oh, and one other thing: When Price said at the All-Star Game that Chicago “would be the coolest city to win a championship in right now,” he wasn’t referring to the White Sox.

He adds that the Cubs hired Derek Johnson as the clubs’ minor league pitching coordinator a couple of years ago and Johnson used to be Price’s college pitching coach, but that’s superficial stuff. It’s the “CC Sabathia lives in California so of course he’ll sign with the [insert California team here]” of 2014. The better part is noting the the Cubs match up pretty well with the Rays in that they have a lot of hitting prospects that the Rays would no doubt covet.

It would be weird for a team as bad as the Cubs to make a trade for an ace that every contender would kill for right now, but it’s not like the Cubs are going to come up with a guy internally who will be as good as Price can be expected to be in 2016 when, I figure, is the earliest they can be legitimately interesting.

Then again, no one expected the Rays to be legitimately interesting as quickly as they were back in 2008.

CARSON CITY, Nev. — The Nevada Senate adjourned Thursday without voting on a financing bill for a proposed $1.5 billion Las Vegas Strip stadium for the Oakland Athletics, extending the special legislative session into the next week amid negotiations over whether to contribute $380 million in public funding to the project.

The measure can still be amended by lawmakers, and if it passes the Senate it would still need approval from the Assembly before going to the desk of Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo, who has expressed support for it. Both the state Senate and Assembly are adjourned until Monday.

In a hearing that began Wednesday and stretched into the early morning hours Thursday, lawmakers peppered tourism officials and a representative from a firm partnering with the ball club with questions about the feasibility and benefits of financing such a deal.

Public funds for the stadium would mainly come from $180 million in transferable tax credits and $120 million in county bonds. Backers have pledged that the creation of a special tax district around the proposed stadium would generate enough money to pay off those bonds and interest. The plan would not directly raise taxes.

The A’s would not owe property taxes for the publicly owned stadium. Clark County, which includes Las Vegas, would also contribute $25 million in credit toward infrastructure costs.

A’s representatives and some tourism officials say a deal would further grow Las Vegas’ developing sports scene and act as an economic engine, but a growing chorus of economists and some lawmakers warn that the project would bring minimal benefits for the hefty public price tag.