Crane Kenney on Cubs' willingness to pay luxury tax: 'Probably is something we exceed at the deadline if we’re competitive'

(670 The Score) As the Cubs have started their new season and prepare to host the Rockies in their home opener Monday afternoon at Wrigley Field, president of business operations Crane Kenney indicated the organization will be willing to surpass the $237-million competitive balance tax threshold later in the season if they’re “competitive.”

“We’re a whisker below the CBT threshold, the first threshold, so that probably is something we exceed at the (trade) deadline if we’re competitive,” Kenney said on the Mully & Haugh Show on Monday morning. “The (Ricketts) family, again, has allowed us to put all of our resources forward.”

The context around Kenney’s comment was the fact that left-hander Jordan Montgomery recently agreed to a one-year, $25-million deal with the Diamondbacks after lingering on the free-agent market all offseason. His contract also includes a vesting player option for a second season. The Cubs were never involved in the Montgomery sweepstakes because it would’ve skyrocketed them past the luxury tax threshold, which is $237 million in 2024. The Cubs have around $231 million in total tax allocations committed currently, according to Spotrac’s calculations.

The Cubs have invested more money in their entire baseball operation in 2024 than any other year in their history, Kenney said.

“This is an old story that I’ve been sharing for 15 years now that the Ricketts family has been here,” Kenney said. “We run the business at a break-even level, so the family has allowed us to put all the resources we get from every source back into the – I would call it the overall player pool, which includes facilities as well as payroll, scouting, free agency, player development, etc. We’ll actually have this year, our total baseball spend will be the highest in our team’s history – so more than we spent in 2019 and during the great run we had from ’15 to ’19 – when you look at all investments in the baseball operations side, which includes the manager and everyone else. So we’re setting a record in terms of how much we’re spending in terms on the baseball product.”

After losing two of three games against the Rangers to open the season, the Cubs host the Rockies in their home opener at 1:20 p.m. Monday. The game can be heard on 670 The Score and by downloading the Audacy app.