Castro and Cubs reach a seven year deal

[nwfisch]

Great post by CO

mind = blown that I agree with him about something

Maybe all the feedback I provided him helped.

 

[Jntg4]

Maybe all the feedback I provided him helped.

Not sure what referencing or if serious.

 

[nwfisch]

Not sure what referencing or if serious.

How do you think his rep turned red son :smh:

 

[Jntg4]

How do you think his rep turned red son :smh:

lol

 

[mountsalami]

I forgot if we did this in this thread, but look at this link:

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2011/04/2013-mlb-free-agents.html

Then tell us who you would sign.

I would make a run at getting at least two of the five on offense, .....Bourne, Swisher, BJ Upton. To fill third I'd make a run at Wright or Youk.
It's not going to break the bank.
On the pitching side of things I would like to see McCarthy and Marcum, extend Garza.
Vizcaino can hopefully recover and be effective as a setup/closer.
We are the worst in the league or close to it statistically in almost every catagory offensively and pitching.
How long do you want to wait.
At some point in time pieces have to be added to help the youngsters on the team now or we could be looking at a record season in losses next year.
There is no excuse to field a garbage team at the ML level to build your farm. Cubs have the resources to do both.

 

[Jntg4]

I would make a run at getting at least two of the five on offense, .....Bourne, Swisher, BJ Upton. To fill third I'd make a run at Wright or Youk.
It's not going to break the bank.
On the pitching side of things I would like to see McCarthy and Marcum, extend Garza.
Vizcaino can hopefully recover and be effective as a setup/closer.
We are the worst in the league or close to it statistically in almost every catagory offensively and pitching.
How long do you want to wait.
At some point in time pieces have to be added to help the youngsters on the team now or we could be looking at a record season in losses next year.
There is no excuse to field a garbage team at the ML level to build your farm. Cubs have the resources to do both.

Worse Record = Better Draft Picks = Better Future

 

[mountsalami]

So you wanted Ricketts to spend, spend, spend? How would that have cured an already old, declining team? Ricketts came in in a bad situation and while yes, he has been a master of PR, that's about all he can do. He can't take over and make sudden rash changes. We've seen how that plays out. It doesn't work. He took his time and started with the behind the scenes and getting a complete overhaul there. Which makes sense, does it not? They're the ones who are going to be directly running this team. If you give a crappy GM a good team, he's still a crappy GM. But if you give a crappy team to a good GM, something can be done. One of the things that I really admire in Ricketts is his patience and while in the mean time, he has been running the team like a business, that's a good thing. He has been promoting the team to get people in there. Without the people showing up when we suck, it's going to be harder to get the money that we need to succeed. When a CEO takes over a failing company, he doesn't immediately fire everyone does he? No. He takes his time and learns what he needs to learn so he can make an educated decision on who to fire and who to keep.

No. I wanted Ricketts to add a key free agent or two last offseason to help this team forward. They signed nothing but garbage and picked up more trash of the scrap heap during the season.
I only care about wins and not obtaining the highest draft pick possible.
So far with the exception of Rizzo to this point, the rest of their moves have been pathetic.
We will soon see about Soler.
I am not too excited about him at this point.

 

[mountsalami]

Worse Record = Better Draft Picks = Better Future

Welcome to Pittsburgh, Kansas City, and San Diego. That plan has worked out great for them.

 

[mountsalami]

Let's not forget that the majority of the superstar players were selected in the later rounds.
With all this great scouting we are supposed to have I guess they can't do BOTH, field a quality major league ballclub AND build the farm system to support it AT THE SAME TIME.
I guess that's just too much to ask.

 

[ZDemp34]

You can't develop entire teams (KC, SD, PIT) but you also can't rely solely on free agent signings. You have to have a healthy balance, which is what the Cubs will do, but right now this team is full of scrubs so they're developing guys now and then they'll sign impact free agents when they're ready to do so.

 

[Rice Cube]

Let's not forget that the majority of the superstar players were selected in the later rounds.
With all this great scouting we are supposed to have I guess they can't do BOTH, field a quality major league ballclub AND build the farm system to support it AT THE SAME TIME.
I guess that's just too much to ask.

Who? Albert Pujols?

I just wanted to point out two years...2005 and 2006.

In 2005, Andrew McCutchen was selected in the first round, among others:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/d...&year_ID=2005&draft_round=1&draft_type=junreg

In 2006, Evan Longoria was selected in the first round, among others:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/d...&year_ID=2006&draft_round=1&draft_type=junreg

It is much more likely that you will get a major league player who is useful and impactful in the first and second rounds than in the later rounds, especially now that the CBA has forced the better players to actually be picked in the early rounds.

 

[mountsalami]

You can't develop entire teams (KC, SD, PIT) but you also can't rely solely on free agent signings. You have to have a healthy balance, which is what the Cubs will do, but right now this team is full of scrubs so they're developing guys now and then they'll sign impact free agents when they're ready to do so.

Then we agree. They should do both.
I just don't like to see wasted seasons like this year. There is no excuse for it.
I also just don't assume that everything the Cubs brass touches turns to gold either.
Very few prospects ever make at the ML level no matter how good they were in the minors.

 

[mountsalami]

It is much more likely that you will get a major league player who is useful and impactful in the first and second rounds than in the later rounds, especially now that the CBA has forced the better players to actually be picked in the early rounds.

True but the odds are they will amount to nothing.
I have read the new CBA rules, it doesn't force the team to pick the "better" player at their said drafting position.
It also doesn't force the player to sign with the team that drafted him.

 

[Rice Cube]

Second round pick- Joey Votto, former MVP (currently injured but felt I should point it out): http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/v/vottojo01.shtml
Sixth round- Matt Kemp (MVP candidate, slightly injured): http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/k/kempma01.shtml

Here's the WAR leaderboard this year from FanGraphs:

http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.as...2&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0

Whether you believe in WAR or not I'm sure you can tell which guys are actually good at baseball and which are not.

First round- Mike Trout: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/t/troutmi01.shtml
Already talked about McCutchen
First round (comp)- David Wright: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/wrighda03.shtml
First round- Ryan Braun, former MVP, de-steroided: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/braunry02.shtml
Fourth round- Michael Bourn: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/bournmi01.shtml
Amateur free agent- Miguel Cabrera: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/cabremi01.shtml
First round- Jason Heyward: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/heywaja01.shtml
First round- Buster Posey (former ROY): http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/poseybu01.shtml
Amateur free agent- Robinson Cano: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/canoro01.shtml
Second round- Chase Headley: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/headlch01.shtml
Fourth round- Yadier Molina: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/molinya01.shtml
Eight round- Austin Jackson: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/j/jacksau01.shtml
Amateur free agent- Melky Cabrera: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/cabreme01.shtml
Seventh round- Matt Holliday: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/hollima01.shtml
17th round- Josh Reddick: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/reddijo01.shtml
Amateur free agent- Miguel Montero: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/montemi01.shtml
6th round- Ben Zobrist: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/z/zobribe01.shtml
Amateur free agent- Elvis Andrus: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/z/zobribe01.shtml

I suppose I could keep going, but note the number of first and second rounders.

 

[mountsalami]

It's truely surprising that I may be the only one on this board that hasn't bought into the Theo regime' way of thinking.

 

[mountsalami]

Second round pick- Joey Votto, former MVP (currently injured but felt I should point it out): http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/v/vottojo01.shtml
Sixth round- Matt Kemp (MVP candidate, slightly injured): http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/k/kempma01.shtml

Here's the WAR leaderboard this year from FanGraphs:

http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.as...2&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0

Whether you believe in WAR or not I'm sure you can tell which guys are actually good at baseball and which are not.

First round- Mike Trout: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/t/troutmi01.shtml
Already talked about McCutchen
First round (comp)- David Wright: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/wrighda03.shtml
First round- Ryan Braun, former MVP, de-steroided: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/braunry02.shtml
Fourth round- Michael Bourn: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/bournmi01.shtml
Amateur free agent- Miguel Cabrera: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/cabremi01.shtml
First round- Jason Heyward: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/heywaja01.shtml
First round- Buster Posey (former ROY): http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/poseybu01.shtml
Amateur free agent- Robinson Cano: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/canoro01.shtml
Second round- Chase Headley: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/headlch01.shtml
Fourth round- Yadier Molina: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/molinya01.shtml
Eight round- Austin Jackson: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/j/jacksau01.shtml
Amateur free agent- Melky Cabrera: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/cabreme01.shtml
Seventh round- Matt Holliday: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/hollima01.shtml
17th round- Josh Reddick: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/reddijo01.shtml
Amateur free agent- Miguel Montero: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/montemi01.shtml
6th round- Ben Zobrist: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/z/zobribe01.shtml
Amateur free agent- Elvis Andrus: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/z/zobribe01.shtml

I suppose I could keep going, but note the number of first and second rounders.

I'm not going to accuse you of cherry picking.
But there are only about 750 players in the major leagues.

 

[Rice Cube]

It's truely surprising that I may be the only one on this board that hasn't bought into the Theo regime' way of thinking.

You don't have to agree with everything that's been done by the Theo regime, but you do have to realize how terrible the team was when it was inherited and how thin the free agent class was and will be going forward as more teams lock up their impending free agents and less elite guys are available. So the alternative is basically what we've been arguing: build your own because you can't rely on the free agents being available that you will need.

 

[Rice Cube]

I'm not going to accuse you of cherry picking.
But there are only about 750 players in the major leagues.

Yes, and the majority of them are picked in the first 10 rounds, with a particular emphasis on the top five rounds. The best of the best are from the first or second rounds, contrary to what you have claimed in a previous post.

 

[mountsalami]

Whether you believe in WAR or not I'm sure you can tell which guys are actually good at baseball and which are not.

I do not believe in WAR.
That's a whole nother topic, those conversations are about as bad as discussing religion.

 

[Rice Cube]

I do not believe in WAR.
That's a whole nother topic, those conversations are about as bad as discussing religion.

That's fine. But based on what you do know, do you argue that the guys leading that chart are bad at baseball and/or are not superstars?