They're starting to post stuff like this and it's making me nervous

[MRubio52]

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2013/01/cafardo-on-cubs-ellsbury-morneau-dodgers.html

 

[dabynsky]

What makes you nervous?

 

[DewsSox79]

What makes you nervous?

the fact that they had one core player last year in castro and now they consider barney and shark core pieces for starters.

edwin jackson for years to come is another issue.

 

[dabynsky]

the fact that they had one core player last year in castro and now they consider barney and shark core pieces for starters.

edwin jackson for years to come is another issue.

Thanks Rubio.

 

[Capt. Serious]

Thanks Rubio.

I see i'm still in your sig. How old are you???

 

[nwfisch]

I see i'm still in your sig. How old are you???

69.

 

[dabynsky]

I see i'm still in your sig. How old are you???

[video=youtube;Qh2sWSVRrmo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qh2sWSVRrmo[/video]

 

[mountsalami]

Nice to see that Epstein has identified ONE core player and hasn't even brought in a number TWO to assist with an anemic offense.

We are further along time wise, but not further along talent wise.

Nice to see that we have more positional prospects than pitchers, as the rumor mill is still leaning towards a Garza trade this winter.

Garza is more than likely going to recover fully from his injury, is still quite young, and yet is not likely to be signed to an extension.

WOW !!! I wonder if core player number TWO will result from prospects that could come in a return in a Garza trade.

I guess Jackson will be around to hold us at the 60-70 win total, while this rewarding journey continues not to only amaze us as fans, but to amaze themselves at the bank.

 

[MRubio52]

Nice to see that Epstein has identified ONE core player and hasn't even brought in a number TWO to assist with an anemic offense.

We are further along time wise, but not further along talent wise.

Nice to see that we have more positional prospects than pitchers, as the rumor mill is still leaning towards a Garza trade this winter.

Garza is more than likely going to recover fully from his injury, is still quite young, and yet is not likely to be signed to an extension.

WOW !!! I wonder if core player number TWO will result from prospects that could come in a return in a Garza trade.

I guess Jackson will be around to hold us at the 60-70 win total, while this rewarding journey continues not to only amaze us as fans, but to amaze themselves at the bank.

LOLZ at the implied "I can GM better than Theo."

Dabs, I don't want Michael Bourn and this almost seems like a "sign Bourn" call.

Dews, that's a big part of it, although I have calmed on the Jackson signing. Not saying he will be great, but it's not worth being upset about.

 

[dabynsky]

LOLZ at the implied "I can GM better than Theo."

Dabs, I don't want Michael Bourn and this almost seems like a "sign Bourn" call.

Dews, that's a big part of it, although I have calmed on the Jackson signing. Not saying he will be great, but it's not worth being upset about.

I appreciate that position, and I too worry about giving a long term deal to a player's whose main virtue is speed. I am still not convinced that the Cubs are really in on Bourn.

 

[mountsalami]

Not implying anything but the obvious.

Last I checked wins at the major league level trump having multiple lottery tickets available at the minor league level.

If some want to base their retirement buying lottery tickets alone, than so be it.

Where's Chris Archer ?

That's the kind of player we would get in return for Garza.

At least we will solidify another top draft pick while tanking another ML season.

I guess Tommy Nickles is saving up for the WS run.

 

[Jntg4]

Not implying anything but the obvious.

Last I checked wins at the major league level trump having multiple lottery tickets available at the minor league level.

If some want to base their retirement buying lottery tickets alone, than so be it.

Where's Chris Archer ?

That's the kind of player we would get in return for Garza.

At least we will solidify another top draft pick while tanking another ML season.

I guess Tommy Nickles is saving up for the WS run.

Chris Archer ranked at TB's #1 prospect for 2013 by BA (Cubs list comes to out tomorrow actually IIRC), so I wouldn't say he is a lost cause at all.

 

[dabynsky]

Not implying anything but the obvious.

Last I checked wins at the major league level trump having multiple lottery tickets available at the minor league level.

If some want to base their retirement buying lottery tickets alone, than so be it.

Where's Chris Archer ?

That's the kind of player we would get in return for Garza.

At least we will solidify another top draft pick while tanking another ML season.

I guess Tommy Nickles is saving up for the WS run.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/a/archech01.shtml

 

[Anno Catuli]

Not implying anything but the obvious.

Last I checked wins at the major league level trump having multiple lottery tickets available at the minor league level.

If some want to base their retirement buying lottery tickets alone, than so be it.

Where's Chris Archer ?

That's the kind of player we would get in return for Garza.

At least we will solidify another top draft pick while tanking another ML season.

I guess Tommy Nickles is saving up for the WS run.

Tell me... what is Archer doing right now in TB?

The Cubs could go all out and try to buy a World Series. They tried in 2007.... and failed. Tried again in 2008, and failed. Now they are stuck behind expensive contracts (just Sori left) and are acquiring assets. If you do not understand thoughts behind how a rebuild works, you are beyond help.

 

[mountsalami]

Where's the improvement???

Last offseason we were all told was far too soon to expect any improvements made to the major league team.

Now a year later we will probably be told the same thing.

It shouldn't be too hard to improve on a 100 loss season should it?

Looks like it is.

Let's look at the team shall we??

The offense/everyday 8 are virtually unchanged. No improvements here.

Starting Pitching?? Worse.

Garza and Shark are both back, so they are equal to last year.

Ryan Dempster is gone. Plug in Edwin Jackson. Nice to see the team actually spending some money, but he will not be an improvement over the 2.25 ERA Dempster provided in the 105 innings pitched before being traded. Downgrade.

Paul Maholm is gone. Probably the most pleasant surprise of last year. Plug in Scott Baker once he gets healthy. Maholm provided a nice 3.74 ERA for the Cubs in 120 innings pitched before being traded. That would be asking an awful lot out of Baker to duplicate coming off Tommy John surgery. Baker has only bettered that 3.74 twice in 5 seasons pitching over 100 innings per injury.

Chris Volstad is gone. Whew. Plug in Scott Feldman. Now here is probably an improvement actually. Volstad posted an ugly 6.31 ERA in 111 IP's last year as an improvement over Carlos Zambrano. Sadly however Feldman has posted an ERA above 5.00 in three of his four seasons logging at least 100 IP's. That would still actually be an improvement. So the Cubs have improved here as they will only lose 5-2 this year instead of the 6-2 they lost last year.

The bullpen is virtually identical and still not as good as it was at the end of the 2010 season.

Where is the improvement??

So far a full year into the 5 year Epstein plan and 2 offseasons of the 5 year plan, there are still no signs of improvement at the major league level and one or two more lottery tickets in the minors in Vizcaino and Soler.

Vizcaino was rated the #40 prospect by Baseball America before reconstructive elbow surgery. According to the research done of the Top 100 rankings from the years 1990-2003, that give Vizcaino about a 22.4% chance of providing at least a WAR of 1.5 at the major league level and a 4% chance of providing at least a WAR of 2.5.

MLB.com had him at #68, but I went ahead and used the better number so as not to be accussed of having an agenda.

Soler was ranked #69 last year by MLB.com. That gives him the same 22.4% chance of providing at least a WAR of 1.5 at the major league level and a 7% chance of providing at least a WAR of 2.5

Javier Baez was ranked #23 last year by MLB.com. That gives him a 37.7% chance of providing at least a WAR of 1.5 at the major league level and an 18.2% chance of providing at least a WAR of 2.5.

Albert Almora was ranked #45 last year by MLB.com. That gives him a 32.1% chance of providing at least a WAR of 1.5 at the major league level and a 16.7% of providing at least a WAR of 2.5.

No one is claiming these numbers are exactly the chances these players will have, but it is a very good starting point and probably in the ballpark of what REALISTIC expectations should be of this rewarding journey.

So that gives the Cubs top 4 prospects roughly a 4%, 7%, 18.2% and 16.7% chance of becoming quality major league players.

Less than 1 in 5 for any one of them individually.

Yet people are banking on ALL FOUR developing into the future core of the major league team.

One major league season has already been sacrificed playing these odds and a second season being thrown away is on the horizon.

 

[Anno Catuli]

Did you listen to ANYTHING Theo said when he was hired?

 

[mountsalami]

There is no reason at all that EVERY effort should be made EVERY season to field the best team possible.

Can you say every effort was made last year to field the best team possible?

Can you say every effort is being made this year to field the best team possible?

Anyone who answers yes to these questions is either very foolish or just flat out lying to themselves.

Expecting a big market team that is in the top 5 in revenue to make every effort is not being unreasonable at all.


Soriano's contract at 18 million producing 30/100 seems to be the thorn in the ownerships side ? Really.

Can't wait to see what kind of production we would get in return on Soriano and paying at least the 26 of the 36 million owed.

Brilliant !!!! Charging top five highest ticket prices and being a big market top ten revenue team all is weighed on the back of Soriano.

Dumb.

 

[dabynsky]

Were you happy in 2009 and 2010?

 

[mountsalami]

Did you listen to ANYTHING Theo said when he was hired?

Yes.

One of the first things he said was that the goal every year was to win the WS. Each and every one.

But I guess all GM's say that and we should believe everything else there after.

 

[mountsalami]

Were you happy in 2009 and 2010?

The Cubs have slashed over 50 million in payroll since 2009 and Soriano's contract is stil hindering the teams progression to move forward.

Do I have this right ?