2012 - Throw away/Go for it?

[manbearcub]

What do we think they will do? I, personally, will be fine if they decide to bail on next year and go for it in 2013.

[tfarks]

[expletive] go for it. Pujols and Wilson asap

[Sammy Sofa]

[expletive] go for it. Pujols and Wilson asap

 

[expletive] yeah. They've got "[expletive] you"-money courtesy of the motherfucking Ricketts and the monster talent is available now, with more of both available after next year, too. DO EVERYTHING.

[Guest]

I do want them to grab one of the 1B's, preferably Pujols... but I'm really not sure about committing FU money to CJ Wilson.

 

Then again, maybe the shitty playoffs will drive his price down.

[Sammy Sofa]

I do want them to grab one of the 1B's, preferably Pujols... but I'm really not sure about committing FU money to CJ Wilson.

 

Then again, maybe the [expletive] playoffs will drive his price down.

 

The shitty playoffs also gives us the added bonus of freaking out the meatballs.

[Guest]

This could sound really stupid, but isn't it possible Maholm would come as a much better value than CJ?

 

Just slot him in after Garza and Demp.. *shrug*

 

Also, how much are CJ's numbers aided by Texas's [expletive] awesome infield defense?

 

How do his DIPS look?

[Sammy Sofa]

This could sound really stupid, but isn't it possible Maholm would come as a much better value than CJ?

 

Just slot him in after Garza and Demp.. *shrug*

 

Also, how much are CJ's numbers aided by Texas's [expletive] awesome infield defense?

 

How do his DIPS look?

 

How much more impressive are CJ's numbers based on Arlington arguably having the most hitter-friendly park in MLB?

[Guest]

This could sound really stupid, but isn't it possible Maholm would come as a much better value than CJ?

 

Just slot him in after Garza and Demp.. *shrug*

 

Also, how much are CJ's numbers aided by Texas's [expletive] awesome infield defense?

 

How do his DIPS look?

 

How much more impressive are CJ's numbers based on Arlington arguably having the most hitter-friendly park in MLB?

 

I suppose that all depends on whether he's more of a FB pitcher or a GB pitcher. I know little to nothing about him other than the fact that he's pretty awesome at exercise/nutrition.

[Sammy Sofa]

This could sound really stupid, but isn't it possible Maholm would come as a much better value than CJ?

 

Just slot him in after Garza and Demp.. *shrug*

 

Also, how much are CJ's numbers aided by Texas's [expletive] awesome infield defense?

 

How do his DIPS look?

 

How much more impressive are CJ's numbers based on Arlington arguably having the most hitter-friendly park in MLB?

 

I suppose that all depends on whether he's more of a FB pitcher or a GB pitcher. I know little to nothing about him other than the fact that he's pretty awesome at exercise/nutrition.

 

Same here. I'm too drunk on awesomeness to worry about the details.

[KingKongvs.Godzilla]

This could sound really stupid, but isn't it possible Maholm would come as a much better value than CJ?

 

Just slot him in after Garza and Demp.. *shrug*

 

 

Indeed.

 

Balls out...Pujols + CC + trade for BJ Upton + trade for Justin Upton + Yu Darvish for the Eastern overseas market. Both CC and Pujols go into the HOF as Cubs.

Edited October 22, 2011 by KingKongvs.Godzilla

[17 Seconds]

sign albert or prince, then save the to rest get one (or 2) of hamels/cain/greinke/danks next offseason

[Sammy Sofa]

KEMPKEMPKEMP.

 

OR UPTONUPTONUPTON.

 

OR BOTHBOTHBOTHBOTH.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Improve your pitching staff, look for guys who can be cost-effective and fill rotation slots for multiple years.

 

Kick the tires on Pujols and Fielder but don't get sucked into a bidding war.

 

Make Brett Jackson the every day CF.

 

Profit.

[Guest]

Improve your pitching staff, look for guys who can be cost-effective and fill rotation slots for multiple years.

 

Kick the tires on Pujols and Fielder but don't get sucked into a bidding war.

 

Make Brett Jackson the every day CF.

 

Profit.

 

 

Maholm?

[Sammy Sofa]

Improve your pitching staff, look for guys who can be cost-effective and fill rotation slots for multiple years.

 

Kick the tires on Pujols and Fielder but don't get sucked into a bidding war.

 

Make Brett Jackson the every day CF.

 

Profit.

 

SNORE.

 

This is the era of being bold and brassy.

[EpsteinCubs]

We tried to win it all quickly after 2006 and that failed miserably and left us with this shitty product. Slow and steady wins the race. Let's do this [expletive] in 3 years.

[TruffleShuffle]

We tried to win it all quickly after 2006 and that failed miserably and left us with this [expletive] product. Slow and steady wins the race. Let's do this [expletive] in 3 years.

 

i tend to agree, in that there's no reason to hand out a bunch of monster contracts and screw the organization for years if 35 year old pujols or 35 year old sabathia aren't that good any more. i don't care about adding a big contract, but mortgaging the future to try to win immediately is a dumbass move when your core is pretty lacking.

[Guest]

Improve your pitching staff, look for guys who can be cost-effective and fill rotation slots for multiple years.

 

Kick the tires on Pujols and Fielder but don't get sucked into a bidding war.

 

Make Brett Jackson the every day CF.

 

Profit.

 

Are there any mid-rotation guys available this year who would be good signings. Wilson is obviously the top pitching FA (unless CC actually does hit the market) but getting anybody who isn't completely terrible (i.e. all the trash we threw out there in place of Wells/Cashner this year) seems like it would be a big upgrade.

[SouthSideRyan]

We tried to win it all quickly after 2006 and that failed miserably and left us with this [expletive] product. Slow and steady wins the race. Let's do this [expletive] in 3 years.

 

The only problem, literally the only problem with the '06 offseason was signing Soriano. Every other move was good. That '06 offseason also left us with the best team in the NL 2 years later.

[TruffleShuffle]

We tried to win it all quickly after 2006 and that failed miserably and left us with this [expletive] product. Slow and steady wins the race. Let's do this [expletive] in 3 years.

 

The only problem, literally the only problem with the '06 offseason was signing Soriano. Every other move was good. That '06 offseason also left us with the best team in the NL 2 years later.

 

November 15, 2006 Signed catcher Henry Blanco to a two-year contract with a mutual option for 2009.

[Cubswin11]

Sign Pujols or Prince this offseason, 1 of Hamels/Cain next offseason (both if possible), and also make Matt Kemp next offseasons #1 priority.

[toonsterwu]

This could sound really stupid, but isn't it possible Maholm would come as a much better value than CJ?

 

Just slot him in after Garza and Demp.. *shrug*

 

Also, how much are CJ's numbers aided by Texas's [expletive] awesome infield defense?

 

How do his DIPS look?

 

How much more impressive are CJ's numbers based on Arlington arguably having the most hitter-friendly park in MLB?

 

I suppose that all depends on whether he's more of a FB pitcher or a GB pitcher. I know little to nothing about him other than the fact that he's pretty awesome at exercise/nutrition.

 

He gets a healthy amount of groundballs. His GB% has largely been around 50% for his career, and it's been roughly the same the last two years as a starter. 49.2 in 10, and 49.3 in 11.

[toonsterwu]

Can I straddle the fence and say I simply hope for smart decisions? I'm not against going after big ticket signings (and we should include Aramis in that group I guess), but I don't think I want to give FU money (which suggests to me contracts like Soriano), as it's so put, to players. Now, if it's contracts like, say, Sabathia's (with the early opt-out to allow CC to get more money) or Furcal (when he signed with the Dodgers over us, IIRC, he took a higher AAV short term rather than 1 more year with us), I'm more okay with that, but only Fielder would seem like the guy that might consider something like that (and my guess is that Boras won't do that type of deal, knowing the concerns people have about Fielder long term). I'd obviously lean towards giving money over years.

 

I'm just not sure a championship core can be put in place one offseason, and the goal should be towards putting that core together, rather than a brief window (in saying that, if we win it all just once, then okay, it's worth it). At earliest, perhaps the core could be in place in 2013 (I mean, honestly, I really only see 2 guys that feel like potential key pieces to a championship core in Garza/Castro). We don't have the farm system right now to swing big deals either, to add to whatever needs that may arise during a season. Now, I'm not a believer, as some non-Cubs fans have posted elsewhere, that the Cubs should be torn down and rebuilt either. I don't believe we need to do that, and I'm not sure that is in the Cubs best interest. I do think the club needs to be competitive in the short term. But some of the key free agents look like they could start to wear down significantly in 3-4 years, when hopefully, some of the low minor talent has risen and we have started to piece together a solid core group of guys. If so, I don't want contracts that could eventually have a Soriano-esque influence when we should be in the full-swing of our window, assuming all goes well. Again, I'm simply hoping for smart decisions for the long term health of the club.

 

I think I would prioritize adding pitching first over positional talent (and the big ticket positional guys, Fielder/Pujols, will likely take awhile). There's a good looking potential FA pitching class in 2013 as of now, but you never know what may happen in a year, and you can never have enough pitching. Unfortunately, this isn't exactly a FA pitching class teaming with guys early in their prime. Most of it is the typical aging talent, guys at the end of their primes, like Ryan Dempster (if he doesn't pick up the player option). Originally, I had been leaning towards giving Dempster some sort of 2-year deal, but knowing the type of budget that Epstein has supposedly been given and his unwillingness to pay for past performance (justifiably so), if Epstein can't carry to an agreement on a longer deal with Ryan and Ryan wants to be back on that option, then ok. I think you need to add two guys on top of that, and we can live with back-loaded deals since Z and Soriano's contracts will be coming off the books in the near future. CJ Wilson at 5/75 sounds ... troubling, but perhaps livable knowing the type of budget that Theo may have (this was something a GM supposedly told Heyman in one of his columns). I think you push hard there, but the competition is likely to be heavy. If the AAV gets near 18-20 mil, though, or if he's looking at 6 years, I think you back out. Just too risky. I think you explore the trade market, but Plan B to CJ should ideally be a FA, to save our assets. Edwin Jackson would be next, but I'd have to have a strong pitching coach in place that tells him not to go to his fastball so much (that's about the only difference I can see from his D-backs/Cardinals performance to his White Sox performance, as he was noticeably better with the White Sox and went with the slider more). I could see Edwin get something similar to Dempster's last contract with us, something like 4/48-4/52, but that's just a guess on my part, and this is a weak market, so you never know what could happen. The other pitching signing can be a gamble of some sort, a short term deal for a guy. There's enough guys on the market that could fit that. If the price was right for 2 big ticket items (say CJ Wilson and Edwin Jackson) or 1 big ticket item and 1 trade (still, if we give Brett the job, it's hard for me to see us winning any sort of trade market for a key starter, unless we go ridiculous on the offer), okay, but you don't want to lock the rotation down too much.

 

Positionally, you take a run at Fielder/Pujols/Aramis, but if things get out of control in terms of years and AAV, then I think you take a step back and start to piece together a group. That said, not the easiest market to find good gambles, particularly at 3rd base.

[Butterscup1679666578]

You have to get Pujols or Fielder. Keep Aramis around for a couple years. Make a move at CJ. Set yourself up to get one of the slew of starters next year. And yes, KEMPKEMPKEMPKEMP.

[Little Slide Rooter]

You sign Prince or Pujols. This being said, we need to understand that this isn't the NBA or NHL where 1 big addition can completely turn your franchise around overnight. It will probably be about 3 years before we get where we really want to be. I'm not saying that we "throw it away", that should never be your state of mind going into the season whether your the Yankees or the Padres.

 

Could we go all in? Sure, we went from worst to 1st between '06 and '07 and got even better in 2008 by throwing a bunch of money at a bunch of guys. But what happened 2 years later? The clock struck midnight and we were stuck with a bunch of mice and pumpkins. Now Fielder and Pujols arent your average best available and we have a bunch of money burning a hole in our pocket so lets throw it at them guys. They're true elite players that could be cornerstones. If they werent available, I'd say don't spend any big money on free agents this year. We also have Brett and Castro who can be our 1-2 hitters for years to come, maybe develope into 2-3 hitters. Soto can be a solid pice as well, even in his off years he offers solid OBP and power for a catcher. That's 4 guys. We need 4 more not to mention pitching.

 

When Theo was with the Red Sox, they had all 3 things going: free agents, trades, and the farm system coming up with top players, although many of his FA signings were suspect at best. We have the money to sign free agents. We can make trades. What the problem for the Cubs has been is developing impact players. In my lifetime, theres been Maddux, Palmeiro, and Grace, and it's been over 20 years since Grace. Some will argue for Zambrano, Wood, and even Prior, but I wouldn't put them in the elite catagory, though all 3 could have been. Of course we have Castro, who could join their ranks, but time will tell.

 

We need to be patient and hope they can make treading water look good for the next 2 years. We have just struck the lottery in terms of suits. Coming soon: players.