This Wasn't Jed's Finest Moment

[Diehardfan]

I know you have a serious hard on for Jed, and you have plenty of moves you can legit be unhappy with. Signing Swanson isn't one of them.

You've criticized them for "almost being too late" and "only getting him because of his wife". C'mon. That's just sticking to an agenda and refusing to give credit where it is due.

Taillon, Mancini, Hosmer.....swing away. Criticism is well deserved. But not Swanson.

Are you really saying signing Swanson was not good because fans wanted someone else?

What part of "Swanson was another solid addition" did you not understand. It was a good one but imop....I don't think he was the guy they were going after, but the guy they had to take.

 

[JP Hochbaum]

I'll give Hoyer credit for building the farm mostly by trading off the stars of 2016, a few others and making some solid picks. But to say he won FA is a joke.

Bellinger a huge, HUGE win for the Cubs and a very wise move by Hoyer.
Swanson another solid addition but only because he was the only one left as the Cubs were close to being locked out in the SS derby.
Candy is a rental who will NOT be paid $20 million to hang around.
Fulmer a bust who was only successful in low pressure middle inning work, mostly when the game was already decided.
Boxberger another bust that cost the team about $3 million for about 14 innings of work.
Hosmer was DFA'd early in the season....enough said.
Mancini gave them little for a multi year deal also DFA'd....huge fail.
Taillon signed for $68 million over 4 years.....save for a handful of starts...brutal all year.
Barnhardt signed as a BU.....quite good defensively....one of the worst hitters in MLB. Another DFA.
Smyly started off well but is drowning now....if a fading lefty was your plan, Miley wouldv'e been a better choice.

How is that a winner?

****Not free agency but a **** up of biblical porportions.....holding onto Stroman so long that it not only killed his substantial trade value but now the Cubs are stuck with him for another $20 million whether he can pitch next year or not.

What numbers would you consider a win?
WHile there were failures, they weren't ones that hurt them.
The numbers don't really lie, the Cubs had the highest WAR free agents on the market for this season.
Every team is going to have fails with their signings.

 

[JP Hochbaum]

Of all the bad signings, the only one that lingers is Taillion. Everybody else is either off the books this years or next and mostly for very little money.

THis is the sensible take. And Taillon could easily become a positive in years 2-4 of his deal.

 

[Diehardfan]

What numbers would you consider a win?
WHile there were failures, they weren't ones that hurt them.
The numbers don't really lie, the Cubs had the highest WAR free agents on the market for this season.
Every team is going to have fails with their signings.

7 out of 10?

Flipping a coin will get you 5 out of 10

Bwahahaha....how sensible

 

[Castor76]

7 out of 10?

Flipping a coin will get you 5 out of 10

Bwahahaha....how sensible

This is baseball. Being successful 3 out of 10 swings makes you a Hall of Famer.

 

[Diehardfan]

This is baseball. Being successful 3 out of 10 swings makes you a Hall of Famer.

OMG.....LOL.

As a hitter yes, as a defender it gets you DFA'd and as a GM it gets you looking for another job.

 

[Castor76]

OMG.....LOL.

As a hitter yes, as a defender it gets you DFA'd and as a GM it gets you looking for another job.

You know this from your many years as a GM I take it.

It's more about risk management. As has been pointed out, most of those misses were short term and low risk. The Cubs are also very much in the playoff race. You want to get rid of a guy because of his small failures despite his greater successes?

It's kind of like a portfolio. If I gave a guy a million bucks to invest for me and he made 10 deals in total and 7 of 10 tanked but the 3 that hit were bigger pieces of the million and made me more money overall, I should fire him just because the 7 little deals failed?

 

[Diehardfan]

You know this from your many years as a GM I take it.

It's more about risk management. As has been pointed out, most of those misses were short term and low risk. The Cubs are also very much in the playoff race. You want to get rid of a guy because of his small failures despite his greater successes?

It's kind of like a portfolio. If I gave a guy a million bucks to invest for me and he made 10 deals in total and 7 of 10 tanked but the 3 that hit were bigger pieces of the million and made me more money overall, I should fire him just because the 7 little deals failed?

Wow....you should really look into another direction for your baseball fix. 7 little deals that will cost the owner millions with no return on the investment then hanging onto a gold mine in Stroman too long which not only cost the team in potential assets but will now most likely cost the team another $20 million whether he pitches or not next year.

You appear to be playing the Fat Daniel game of posting anything, no matter how stupid, just to get a response. Well, I've done my bit....you can keep being you but without my responses. Boring and senseless earns you a spot on the ignore list. With the massive total of 183 liked posts in 5 years, I'm apparently not the first one to do so.

 

[Castor76]

Wow....you should really look into another direction for your baseball fix. 7 little deals that will cost the owner millions with no return on the investment then hanging onto a gold mine in Stroman too long which not only cost the team in potential assets but will now most likely cost the team another $20 million whether he pitches or not next year.

You appear to be playing the Fat Daniel game of posting anything, no matter how stupid, just to get a response. Well, I've done my bit....you can keep being you but without my responses. Boring and senseless earns you a spot on the ignore list. With the massive total of 183 liked posts in 5 years, I'm apparently not the first one to do so.

How ever will I recover from your sick burn of pointing out that I don't have tons of post or likes and that should be something I care about?

In the grand scheme of baseball, those deals don't mean that much versus the return on the deals that have hit. The owner signed off either directly or indirectly. And if you are choosing to ignore me, then I must be posting way to close to a hurtful truth for your sensitive ass to handle. Que sera sera.

 

[JP Hochbaum]

7 out of 10?

Flipping a coin will get you 5 out of 10

Bwahahaha....how sensible

It is the 3 that are good that matters though, as they lead the best of the FA class in WAR.

You are conveniently leaving out facts to fit your narrative. No one buys it.

The failures were guys that have no bearing on the season or the future (outside of Taillon, who can be good still).

I'll welcome the Harold react from you like a badge of honor, those usually come from Karen's here. It is a giant compliment.

 

[Diehardfan]

Hey Harold.....the GGlover sends you his best.

 

[JP Hochbaum]

How ever will I recover from your sick burn of pointing out that I don't have tons of post or likes and that should be something I care about?

In the grand scheme of baseball, those deals don't mean that much versus the return on the deals that have hit. The owner signed off either directly or indirectly. And if you are choosing to ignore me, then I must be posting way to close to a hurtful truth for your sensitive ass to handle. Que sera sera.

He's a definite troll.

 

[JP Hochbaum]

Hey Harold.....the GGlover sends you his best.

 

[CSF77]

Ask the White Sox about that.......ask the Pirates about that....ask the Padres about that.....ask the Angels about that....ask the Tigers about that.....ask the Royals about that....ask the Marlins about that...ask the A's about that....and that's just who comes to mind. I'm sure there are more. There are a lot bad ways to build.

Another great take.....LOL.

Pirates are limited in payroll. So dumb on your part. They can't afford top end and have to self produce and trade when too expensive

Angels are historically poor spenders. They love tossing the bank at position while ignoring their rotation. Can't fix stupid. How I feel about your takes.

A's yet again can't not sustain a play off roster and have to rip apart and reinvest.

Marlins have 2 WS already. They can't sustain a major payroll. Fla has poor attendance in general.

So there is not bad way to build. But bad front office. Poor development. Overspending on talent

Pretty much every case it falls on poor decision making and ownership either being greedy to fill the seats and jack up the cost to sit at a game vs put together a fundamentally sound play off quality team.

Cubs have a fundamentally sound front office. Development system
Scouting department

And so on.

JP and I feel it is too soon on Taillon. Most pitchers end up with their career avg over time. So I'm not making much out of one year. This year he added a sweeper. So there was adjustments going on. Most will take everything and put the work in in the off-season. End up better for it.

I'm not too concerned as he has a track record going and one bad year doesn't outweigh years of production.

For some reason you have a hair up your ass on this. Not sure why. Most players are off and on. Injury like Stroman. Adjusting to higher talent like Mervis.

All I can say is Jed is involved. He yanked Smyly and replaced him with Wicks. So he is not sitting back and accepting losses. So expect the leash short on Taillon next game. When he comes around the rosters go up to 28 and Jed would be smart to add 2 pen arms to jump in early with out worrying about burn out.

 

[Castor76]

You know a guy who started out looking like a possible bust signing that turned out okay for the Cubs. Yu Darvish. Sure, he was ultimately a trade chip, but he worked out.

 

[Diehardfan]

Pirates are limited in payroll. So dumb on your part. They can't afford top end and have to self produce and trade when too expensive

Angels are historically poor spenders. They love tossing the bank at position while ignoring their rotation. Can't fix stupid. How I feel about your takes.

A's yet again can't not sustain a play off roster and have to rip apart and reinvest.

Marlins have 2 WS already. They can't sustain a major payroll. Fla has poor attendance in general.

So there is not bad way to build. But bad front office. Poor development. Overspending on talent

Pretty much every case it falls on poor decision making and ownership either being greedy to fill the seats and jack up the cost to sit at a game vs put together a fundamentally sound play off quality team.

Cubs have a fundamentally sound front office. Development system
Scouting department

And so on.

JP and I feel it is too soon on Taillon. Most pitchers end up with their career avg over time. So I'm not making much out of one year. This year he added a sweeper. So there was adjustments going on. Most will take everything and put the work in in the off-season. End up better for it.

I'm not too concerned as he has a track record going and one bad year doesn't outweigh years of production.

For some reason you have a hair up your ass on this. Not sure why. Most players are off and on. Injury like Stroman. Adjusting to higher talent like Mervis.

All I can say is Jed is involved. He yanked Smyly and replaced him with Wicks. So he is not sitting back and accepting losses. So expect the leash short on Taillon next game. When he comes around the rosters go up to 28 and Jed would be smart to add 2 pen arms to jump in early with out worrying about burn out.

There is no wrong way to build.

Who made that embarrassingly inane statement?

A team that can't spend, a team that can but does it poorly and a team that hasn't done a thing in 20 years. But they are all doing a great job in rebuilding their teams....and don't forget the team on the oher side of town. Wasted 5 years, they still stink, still can't draw flies and now the owner is firing everyone and talking about moving the team. But there's no wrong way, right?

Maybe you should just try and admit that you make some really moronic statements. I make mistakes all the time....it actually feels good to admit it when I do because I really don't give a **** what people think anyway.

 

[CSF77]

Like I said. There is no wrong way to build. As in saying each method 'can' produce talent.

You are going off on a asshole tangent vs looking at the words.

Just because some teams hire morons doesn't change the fact that each method has produced talent

I'm sorry that you have a man crush on me and all. Get over it

 

[Probie2429]

68 million is cheap for MLB these days. Not a good look for his first year, but he’ll be better next. It was a mistake to mess with his mechanics.

 

[Discus fish salesman]

He's a definite troll.

Not true at all. He's just more objective on the cubs than you.

I agree with some things you say, but im not sure I've ever seen you make a negative comment about the team. Hoyer has been mostly bad without epstein to make the pitch to FAs for him. Maybe he's moving in the right direction but I'll be interested to see his process the next couple years during their window

 

[JP Hochbaum]

Not true at all. He's just more objective on the cubs than you.

I agree with some things you say, but im not sure I've ever seen you make a negative comment about the team. Hoyer has been mostly bad without epstein to make the pitch to FAs for him. Maybe he's moving in the right direction but I'll be interested to see his process the next couple years during their window

I've said a lot of negative things. I have been railing on the Cubs in the THeo tenure on how they relied way too much on .OPS and it killed the team in the playoffs when they faced elite pitching.

So far from Hoyer I don't have a lot of negative things to say because I see him learning from the previous regime. The pitching in the minors is vastly improved, the hitting is much more balanced through the system, etc...

Was Mancini and Hosmer a miss? You bet! But they were signed in a way where they can be moved on from mid season and not effect the future. And objectively speaking the Cubs had the best off season in the MLB, this is why I reference the total WAR they signed as this is objective evidence.

And I am giving Taillon a break because the Cubs forced a new pitch on him and it drastically increased is walk rate. And his last few outings were bad because of one bad inning. I think he's generally turned the corner and is reliable.