Why you trying to pick a fight here? I have never said trying to get better is a bad thing. I've suggested throwing $10-15 mil a year at an average player is not the way to do it. I've suggested throwing $25 mil/year at Tanaka who's considered a #2 when Garza who's also considered a #2 gets $13 mil is not the way to do it. I've suggested Soriano who will be 38 IIRC and making $19 mil for 1 year is not the way to do it because I honestly feel some of the players they currently have are better long term bets.
What annoys me is many around here act like if you're not in for throwing tons of money at the problem then you're not in favor of getting better. I said long before Tanaka signed that if it approached $25 mil/year I would rather they backed out, signed a different pitcher as a stop gap and then get creative with their money by trying to trade for someone like Either who at $15 mil/year(assuming the dodgers would eat a little of his remaining money) is more than an average player. That's a good value. I have also said that I was against Cano/Ellsbury like deals.... at the moment. And the reason for that is you have to get the majority of the value of a deal out of the first 3-4 years and at present time that does nothing for the cubs until they are at least an average team which clearly they aren't. If they want to make those sorts of move in 2015 or 2016 once some of their prospects come up to address somewhere likely pitching then fine.
In other words, it's not the improving that I, and I assume others, have a problem with. It's the way you go about doing it. And for what it's worth, I'm in no way saying that all of the moves the cubs have made were right. I for one would like to see them more active in the acquiring MLB players via trade route which should be obvious by my suggestion of Either. Its hard to say what's actually out there but I would have liked to see them get Dexter Fowler for what little he fetched. Fister was another guy who went seemingly cheap. Fowler in particular would be an improvement to Sweeney/Lake in CF.
Pick a fight? Hardly.
Call it frustration, but it's disgusting being the bridesmaid in every deal with players moving this train wreck forward, and furthermore, it's even more disgusting that they are bringing in candidates who have arm troubles and paying them to boot. Talk about trying to catch lightening in a bottle, and for what, to ship them off IF they perform for another bullpen arm or two. Really? You can get those bullpen arms at any time.
They went from Tanaka to Hammel. Talk about dropping off a cliff. Because they waited and hedged everything on Tanaka and whiffed, they missed out on your Fister or other players, and now the Cubs have a team that is even worse than last years team with another year of assessing if Josh Vitter's can become a cheap alternative or a utility player down the road.
It's pointless to say that this guy or that guy is an upgrade regardless if they are a starter or utility player. The brass is doing it their way, and as Cubs fans, we have to take it.
In a nutshell, anything the Cubs have or was brought in that remotely is an upgrade is either traded, or on the trading block.
It seems as though a lot of people on here are talking a rebound from Castro, Rizzo, and E-Jax. Well, I ain't holding my breath because their is just as good of a chance that even if they progress, that players like Schierholtz, Wood, and Lake regress.
So where is the improvement? In the farm again with another top 5 pick?
