Rusney Castillo linked to Cubs, White Sox, others

[2323]

If you think that's true then I can't help you. You just can't read between the lines. Everything the Cubs have done is not about trying to win. Why do you think he trades away his best players every year before the trade deadline?

That's what Theo said. There was no ambiguity.

 

[Bear Pride]

That's what Theo said. There was no ambiguity.

Which is why you insisted I said Kirk was a Great player, and then preceded to tell me the 40 different meanings of my thread title. Dude, this is an internet MB. If you gonna argue words that closely, you should be a contract attorney. You can argue all you want what some article said, just do it with someone else!

 

[2323]

Which is why you insisted I said Kirk was a Great player, and then preceded to tell me the 40 different meanings of my thread title. Dude, this is an internet MB. If you gonna argue words that closely, you should be a contract attorney. You can argue all you want what some article said, just do it with someone else!

So you're admitting the a Cubs haven't been completely forthright the whole time. Glad we got there.

 

[Bear Pride]

So you're admitting the a Cubs haven't been completely forthright the whole time. Glad we got there.

No not at all. You're not that smart Pal. I know what I heard, and it wasn't that they were trying to field a winner. here's some quotes from Theo about people like you:

"There is going to be a time when we are a financial superpower again," Epstein says. "We'll have the entire landscape available to us. In this interim, we have to be focused on scouting and development."



When he took the Cubs job, Epstein predicted that everyone would love him at the beginning but that by year three or four, affection would turn to expectation. People would start to wonder when -- or if -- his magic would be visible above the surface.

The third year, this year, would come with the impatient finger-drumming of a fan base eager to see results in Wrigley, not Class-A Kane County.

"A lot of local beat writers ask us all these pessimistic questions," Epstein says, with an air of pre-emptive inevitability. "Everyone must assume we're miserable because we haven't done a good job in the big leagues the last two years. The questions always start, 'How depressing is it being here?' or 'How likely are you to leave once your contract's up?' or 'How disappointing is ...'"



Epstein shakes his head and leaves the last question hanging, open to the world's fertile imagination. The prodigy who took over as GM of the Red Sox at the impossibly young age of 28 has acquired a world-weariness that he chases with a tone approaching giddy disbelief.



"There's definitely a dichotomy with how we're perceived from the outside and how we feel about ourselves as an organization," he says. "There's a great vibe around here. The sense of progress and potential is palpable. We all feed off that and enjoy coming to work each day, so those questions stand out as being a bit disconnected."

It's a big change from the previous regime, whose old-school methods prompted the overhaul. When one of Epstein's hires told scouts they'd be using Microsoft Excel for scheduling, one asked, "Sorry, but what is Excel?" When McLeod took over player development, just eight of 24 area scouts had email linked to their smartphones.

"Hendry is a great guy, but this was the Stone Age," says a player-development source no longer with the team. "A report would be, 'Plus-plus makeup -- I love this kid.' What does that even mean?" Scouts did not take video of players -- a basic and invaluable task with today's technology.

Epstein's long answer was interesting, even as he largely kept on message about the need to drive new revenue through a renovation of Wrigley Field, new television deals, and the like.

He said that, until, the club can generate new revenue, it is placed in an "untenable position": the Cubs are "fighting upstream" against division competitors that get competitive balance draft picks, but are simultaneously unable to increase payroll to keep pace with the top of the division.

“It’s not a choice. We are not making a fundamental choice to only focus on the future. We’re not withholding dollars from this year’s team. We are spending every dollar that we have on this baseball team.

We maxed out our payroll last year and we maxed out our payroll this year. It’s not a choice. It’s not like we’re making a conscious decision to say, ‘Hey, let’s withhold $15-20 million from the 2012 or 2013 payroll because we don’t think we’re quite good enough or it’s not worth it to spend it there. Let’s save it for a rainy day.

Or let’s save it so we can get that free agent in 2016.’ The baseball department is spending every dollar that is allocated to baseball operations. Yeah, we’re spending it in the draft and we’re spending it in the minor leagues. There’s only so much you can spend there. We’re also spending every dollar we have available on the Major League payroll."

But Epstein also told CSNChicago.com in late March:


“Our ability to leverage our market size into financial advantages is more difficult than I expected. “I thought that would have been something that was easier for us to do, and do now. Instead, it’s something that is out of necessity probably several years away.


“But given the timeline we’re on, that’s not the worst thing in the world, as long as we get there.”
National-TV revenues will increase for all teams starting next year, with between $20 million and $25 million more going into the Cubs’ coffers. The team is expected to leverage its opt-out clause with WGN to substantially increase local over-the-air revenues by 2015.


And if the Cubs get the Wrigley Field renovations done according to plan, their own estimates at one point last year suggested at least $95 million of additional annual revenue, according to a team source.
Even the financing of the renovations, according to internal club documents, will result in tens of millions of dollars in Stadium Investment Credit against their revenue-sharing bill through MLB.


“What [Tom Ricketts] is doing is what most owners would do,” Zimbalist said, adding that the real judgment day will come when Epstein says the team is ready to win, pending a free agent or two, and Ricketts has to decide whether to write the check.

---------------

It's not anyone has helped the Cubs rebuild faster. Theo's pretty much saying, when they can generate the money they expected to have already started doing, they will be able to spend more.

The Cubs have a plan, and that includes a financial plan. It's easy for impatient fans to just want the Cubs to spend a $150 mil on a player, but that's not part of the plan right now. What's hard to understand about that?

 

[2323]

Ha. Nice. Like I said, Theo himself said what I referenced at his introductory press conference. No ambiguity. No filtered prisms. Straight from Theo on video.

 

[dabynsky]

Not true. The day Theo was hired, he said the goal was to win at the bug league level while developing the minor league system. Three years later it's, "wait until Baez/Bryant gets here".

Here is the quote from the press conference:

“There’s a parallel front to build up the major league team, because every opportunity to win is sacred. . . . I will say that every decision we make will be with the best interests of the Cubs in the long run in mind.’’

People who love the he lied about the rebuild narrative conveniently forget the thing he said right after every season is sacred.

 

[czman]

People who love the he lied about the rebuild narrative conveniently forget the thing he said right after every season is sacred.

People who think GMs, any GM, tell the truth are idiots. It does not matter what he said. We all know what the Cubs are doing. Why anyone would be hung up on what any GM says is beyond me. What they do is what matters.

What are in 2nd grade. He lied. Teacher.....teacher.....teacher. Theo is a liar. GTFO

 

[czman]

It is obvious the Cubs are rebuilding. No one knows how long they will be rebuilding, until they are done. We can either get over it or act like dripping cunts everyday. I know which one I choose.

 

[2323]

People who think GMs, any GM, tell the truth are idiots. It does not matter what he said. We all know what the Cubs are doing. Why anyone would be hung up on what any GM says is beyond me. What they do is what matters.

What are in 2nd grade. He lied. Teacher.....teacher.....teacher. Theo is a liar. GTFO

So nothing a GM says has any meaning. Good to know. People can go to jail on perjury charges so telling the truth doesn't become unimportant once you're past the second grade.

 

[2323]

It is obvious the Cubs are rebuilding. No one knows how long they will be rebuilding, until they are done. We can either get over it or act like dripping cunts everyday. I know which one I choose.

Why wouldn't you know how long? I mean, if you're capable of reading in between the lines on everything else, you should be able to pin this down, or?

 

[czman]

So nothing a GM says has any meaning. Good to know. People can go to jail on perjury charges so telling the truth doesn't become unimportant once you're past the second grade.

LOL......So a court of law=GMs talking to reporters.

All GMs are liars. All athletes are liars. If you believe the crap that comes out of their mouths, ESPN, sports reporters in general you are a fool. They are all salesman. Now you are just arguing to argue.

And yes, if you worry about GMs and athletes telling the truth you have the emotional maturity of a 8 year old. Possibly a mildly Special person one at that.

 

[czman]

Why wouldn't you know how long? I mean, if you're capable of reading in between the lines on everything else, you should be able to pin this down, or?

My guess is that nothing is set in stone and things change. Whatever their plan was a few years ago may be different now and may be different again in 12 months. The question comes down to the following:

Do you ever think they will try to compete.

If yes, you wait.

If no you find a new team.

There is no need to rehash the same shit over and over again. I think most people would like the Cubs to do well. I am sure the people that are not complaining believe that the Cubs will try to win at some point. It is obvious they are not trying to win now, just traded two of their best pitchers for prospects. That is the route they are going.

Find a new team or wait. There is no use acting like a dripping **** for 4 years. Who the hell wants to live like that?

 

[brett05]

Can't one wait for say....front office firings? New ownership?

Isn't the team bigger than management/ownership?

 

[chibears55]

Can't one wait for say....front office firings? New ownership?

Isn't the team bigger than management/ownership?

Lmao.. yea cant wait til Reinsdorf sells the sox and fire williams. That is your team to care about isnt it.. seriously why would you care about cubs ownership or management unless your worried the direction their taken will make them better then your sox in the near future

 

[SilenceS]

Lmao.. yea cant wait til Reinsdorf sells the sox and fire williams. That is your team to care about isnt it.. seriously why would you care about cubs ownership or management unless your worried the direction their taken will make them better then your sox in the near future

That isnt the hardest thing to accomplish

 

[brett05]

Lmao.. yea cant wait til Reinsdorf sells the sox and fire williams. That is your team to care about isnt it.. seriously why would you care about cubs ownership or management unless your worried the direction their taken will make them better then your sox in the near future

I like baseball. Something very few of the countless Cub fans that I've crossed paths with do.

 

[chibears55]

I like baseball. Something very few of the countless Cub fans that I've crossed paths with do.

I like baseball too as im sure most do on this page and you don't see any of us going over to the sox page to post our constant bias negative opinions on them do you ?

of course there probably not anyone there to read them but you get my point....

 

[brett05]

I like baseball too as im sure most do on this page and you don't see any of us going over to the sox page to post our constant bias negative opinions on them do you ?

of course there probably not anyone there to read them but you get my point....

You don't come because you don't care about non cub baseball. Mountains of difference there. But keep making stuff up that I only post negative comments on the Cubs. Never can have enough thanks from the sheep

 

[Bear Pride]

Can't one wait for say....front office firings? New ownership?

Isn't the team bigger than management/ownership?

Except we are in year 3 of a 4 year build that Management and Ownership agreed on. Yeah, it makes a lot of sense to fire everybody before they've completed the rebuild. Only a DBag sox fan would think like that!

 

[chibears55]

You don't come because you don't care about non cub baseball. Mountains of difference there. But keep making stuff up that I only post negative comments on the Cubs. Never can have enough thanks from the sheep

didn't say that all you post on here, just that its what you mostly do..

I don't go there to post because yea I don't care about the sox as you don't care about the cubs, but the difference between us is im not going to go there to bash the team as you do here..