I'm cool with your post except one thing.....
The Trib got this team as close as I've ever seen to a world series (I'm 26.) They got to the playoffs 3 times from 2000-2010 decade, something not too many teams can boast about. They brought an old, archaic type thinking about the game, kind of like the bears in the NFL--though the two teams were vastly different. They kept it simple, no advanced metrics/analytics--which I'm with Sir Charles Barkley about--they're misleading and fancy for the sake of being fancy.
FWIW, Charles said when someone asked him about analytics in the NBA: "All these guys who run these organizations who talk about analytics, they have one thing in common — they’re a bunch of guys who have never played the game, and they never got the girls in high school, and they just want to get in the game. They say that same crap in baseball, and they put these little lightweight teams together and they never win. They're always competitive to a certain degree and they don't win. It's the same thing in the NBA."
The first thing Theo/Ricketts did was lie. "The goal every year is to win the world series." And who could forget "every season is sacred"?
I knew the plan was to do the same thing--most people did, but they were anything but honest about it. They had season ticket holders to please and profits to make......
Couple of points here for me. I find it kind of funny, myself, that someone speaks about "old, archaic type thinking", when they likely have never known life w/o the internet.
You likely have never spent too much of your life w/o social media.
Also, if you think Theo lied to you, then I suggest you can't read between the lines. Ricketts provided no resources for him to do anything more than what he did. He never tried to tank so much as didn't have the weapons to do any better.
When he did acquire a pitcher or two that excelled, that's where he sold at the trade deadline. It was pretty obvious that they were rebuilding. They put their money into the farm system and scouting department and not into the big league team.
As far as the metrics convo ..... I pretty much agree with Barkley in a way. I'm more old fashioned as he is. I played the game at a high level and have taped up my share of pimply faced nerds along the way. I will alway believe in Heart, talent, and good old fashioned competitiveness over any type of metric.
But as I look at social media today and shake my head with utter disgust, I also realize that it's part of the new generation, just like saber metrics is. The key is to look at it as a tool, and not a way of life.
Any "weighted average" can manipulate a sample of stats, but the art is to understand raw stats for what they are worth. If you can do this, there is no reason that it can't be a good tool to help look at things in a different way.
Lastly, I always trust my eyes the most, just like when I played the game. I see what is going on on the field, and last year, I saw the best Cubs baseball I've seen in a while, mostly in the 2nd half. I also see what the Cubs are building as an organization.
I see them trying to correct the bullshit rooftop issues. I see them finally updating a shitty Wrigley field. I see them spending money now that they have it. I see them making the moves that are going to make the team better. And I've seen them do all this within the timeframe they told me they would.
I, for one, will continue to be optimistic with the product that they are putting on the field this coming year. And most of all, as I said before, I refuse to let weak minded people sway my optimism cuz they don't have the faith that the Cubs are not trying to do the "right thing".
