Re: New GM/Cubs Future News Articles

[Prizefight]

Q: Read how you built the team in Boston, uniqueness of ballpark and area. Compare to Wrigley with changing seasons, day games, wind etc.

 

 

A: 'It's a riddle for me right now' Going to have to dig deep into the situation to figure it out. Going to be very complex, but we will figure it out. Understanding the environment you play in, both your park and other parks in division, very important to team building and lineup construction

[Banedon]

He's good at giving the same answers to similar questions. The "Wrigley Riddle" answer was on CTL last night, too.

[Prizefight]

Q: Talking about Francona and the drama going on with Red Sox, how much responsibility does he take for all of that as GM

 

A: 'I take full responsibility' As the GM, the buck stops with me so it's all on me. Talked about instances of unacceptable behavior. Says it wasn't just a September thing, had to be going on all year. Upset at himself and Francona that they didn't discover the problems developing early on in the year. Learned that just b/c you are playing like the best team in baseball, can't get apathetic and not be focusing on the organization every single day

[Prizefight]

Q: When you initially took over in Boston, you might have had a competitive advantage with Sabermetrics stuff. Now there are a lot of teams using the same types of statistical analysis, how does theo keep a competitive advantage?

 

A: 'Landscape is getting much more flat' When he first started, AVG. was valued higher than OBP. Marketplace is more efficient. Creates a challenge to separate as an organization. Need to outwork other teams, R & D to find small insights that the other 29 teams don't have. The challenge makes it more interesting.

[Prizefight]

Q: Who sold who on the job?

 

A: They both sold each other. Tom obviously watched Theo from afar. Theo listened to Tom about his vision. Theo was very intrigued by the Cubs recent draft. Not necessarily the players, but the money the Cubs were willing to spend. Actions showed more than words. Best money spent is on the draft and development.

 

 

'who wants to show up at an organization that's already built?' Part of the appeal of the job to Theo was the amount of work to be done. The reward will be that much greater

Edited October 26, 2011 by Prizefight

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Again said the Cubs' aggressive 2011 draft philosophy caught his attention and helped him believe it might be a good fit.

[tfarks]

Again said the Cubs' aggressive 2011 draft philosophy caught his attention and helped him believe it might be a good fit.

 

Greatest draft ever.

[Prizefight]

Q: Asking about the 'Cubs Way' Vertical Integration and all that.

 

A: Fundamentally important. Needs to start from rookie ball on up. Gave example of overly aggressive hitter in rookie ball. Talked that the organization will have a coach in place that will teach the hitter to work counts, get himself into hitters counts. Once he moves up to A ball, stressed importance of having a coach in place there that uses the same techniques and words as he previous coach in order not to stunt the development of player....Awesome. =D>

[Prizefight]

Q: Ryne Sandberg is in town. Are you talking to him?

 

A: 'Not talking to him at all' Mike Quade is the guy we are going to be talking to in the next few days and decide where to go from there.

[Theo]

Listening to the interview, it's getting hard, not to get hard.

[jersey cubs fan]

I think we need to be very careful with Pujols, the more I read. He's going to most likely give the Cards last shot and I'm pretty sure I heard somewhere yesterday that it'll take a sizable difference for him to leave the Cards to begin with. Think the analogy was 20 mill more overall wouldn't get him out of St. Louis.

 

The Cards reported max so far was 9 years/$195 million right?

 

No problem.

While I definitely agree with that, what if he mulls it over, and the Cards up their offer some?

 

If the worst thing that happens is that a division rival with a smaller budget pays a hell of a lot more than they wanted to in order to keep the status quo, then I can live with that.

[jersey cubs fan]

By the way, Kaplan was at his [expletive] worst at the end when Rogers and Van Dyck indicated they expected Soriano to be back and Phil thought Z would be. He was like, "If Mike Quade, Soriano, and Zambrano are still on this team next year, I'm not going to be happy."

 

I may be remembering that a bit wrong but that was the gist.

 

 

They all seemed incredibly annoyed at him.

 

Van Dyck wasn't exactly bringing the A game with those nonsensical questions.

[Guest]

By the way, Kaplan was at his [expletive] worst at the end when Rogers and Van Dyck indicated they expected Soriano to be back and Phil thought Z would be. He was like, "If Mike Quade, Soriano, and Zambrano are still on this team next year, I'm not going to be happy."

 

I may be remembering that a bit wrong but that was the gist.

 

 

They all seemed incredibly annoyed at him.

 

Van Dyck wasn't exactly bringing the A game with those nonsensical questions.

 

Definitely not.

 

 

He almost seemed amused at what Theo was saying when he was laying out his philosophies.

 

The worst question was the one Kaplan asked about players moonwalking to first base or whatever the hell he said. Because David Ortiz has never watched a fly ball. You could tell Theo was just paying lipservice to that trash.

[Guest]

Theo actually remembers who Tom Waddle is (or some media relations person told him, lol).

[jersey cubs fan]

Definitely not.

 

 

He almost seemed amused at what Theo was saying when he was laying out his philosophies.

 

The worst question was the one Kaplan asked about players moonwalking to first base or whatever the hell he said. Because David Ortiz has never watched a fly ball. You could tell Theo was just paying lipservice to that trash.

 

Van Dyck was more impressed with Dallas Green because he talked to neighborhood groups about lights.

 

Yeah, the baserunning thing made me think he wanted to say "look, over the course of 6 months and nearly 700 PA, you will occasionally see a guy mistake how far he hit the ball, the important thing is to not overreact and make things worse, because you know, he did hit the ball hard in the first place and that is what matters."

[Banedon]

Van Dyck wasn't exactly bringing the A game with those nonsensical questions.

 

He was the worst. He had this whole "who does this punk kid think he is?" attitude through the show.

 

I hope Theo's arrival means that the Chicago media actually starts to learn some things about baseball.

[jersey cubs fan]

Theo actually remembers who Tom Waddle is (or some media relations person told him, lol).

 

He should, he was probably in his prime sports watching age when Tom Waddle was playing.

[Guest]

Basically he's saying, with regard to the big league club, when it comes to moves that marginally improve the club in the short term and hurts the long term (i.e. giving up a lot of prospects or devoting too big a chunk of payroll in the future), he's going to err on the side of the long term.

 

How people are reading that to mean he won't sign Fielder or Pujols is beyond me.

 

 

To me that precludes you from making a signing like Mark DeRosa for $8M or something. Or trading a top 5 prospect to fill the back end of the rotation. Not signing elite talent.

[jersey cubs fan]

Van Dyck wasn't exactly bringing the A game with those nonsensical questions.

 

He was the worst. He had this whole "who does this punk kid think he is?" attitude through the show.

 

I hope Theo's arrival means that the Chicago media actually starts to learn some things about baseball.

 

I doubt that very much. Kaplan sucked up to the guy because that is what he does as he's attracted to men with power and jocks. Van Dyck probably showed how most old timers will treat it, the punk kid attitude was accurate. Sullivan will continue to highlight the skeptical smart ass contingent, etc.

[Guest]

Van Dyck wasn't exactly bringing the A game with those nonsensical questions.

 

He was the worst. He had this whole "who does this punk kid think he is?" attitude through the show.

 

I hope Theo's arrival means that the Chicago media actually starts to learn some things about baseball.

 

I doubt that very much. Kaplan sucked up to the guy because that is what he does as he's attracted to men with power and jocks. Van Dyck probably showed how most old timers will treat it, the punk kid attitude was accurate. Sullivan will continue to highlight the skeptical smart ass contingent, etc.

 

Yep. His success up until now hasn't convinced them, so why would him being around here change anything?

 

The only thing that's going to change that is younger people coming in. We're already starting to see that with some of the younger bloggers and even with guys like Bernstein. They're not exactly geniuses, but they're far more willing to buy in and understand the new wave stuff.

 

Old crotchety people are going to remain that way.

Edited October 26, 2011 by David

[Guest]

Theo knows his Starlin Castro already.

[Guest]

Is nobody else listening to him on Waddle and Silvy? Much better than the WSCR interview.

[Theo]

I'll have to check the Waddle and Silvy podcast, and as Prizefight mentioned, Mully and Hanley are a complete joke when it comes to interviews. (the stupid jokes that nobody gets, laughing, it completely disrupts the interview.) Edited October 26, 2011 by Theo

[jersey cubs fan]

Yep. His success up until now hasn't convinced them, so why would him being around here change anything?

 

The only thing that's going to change that is younger people coming in. We're already starting to see that with some of the younger bloggers and even with guys with Bernstein. They're not exactly geniuses, but they're far more willing to buy in and understand the new wave stuff.

 

Old crotchety people are going to remain that way.

 

It'll be interesting to read how Miles covers this, as he's been the only writer in town consistently pointing out the flaws of Hendry's strategies.

[davell]

Even though Callis is pretty sure nothing's going to change with the amateur draft, Selig appears to really want to cut out overslotting. If this actually happens, it's going to really put a crimp in Theo's plans. I hope like hell nothing changes, because I'm not sure what other avenues are really out there to improve the system, unless it's literally just throwing boatloads of cash at IFA's. Which I'm fine with, but it's not nearly as safe as the draft is. And it's not like the draft is safe to begin with.