So am I getting this right?

[Fred Hornkohl]

....will da bum ever be freed?

 

Not in your lifetime.

[El Duderino]

I wish I had been here for this elusive "bum" everyone talks about all the time

[SouthSideRyan]

I guess we have to kill Truffle.

[XZero771679666304]

I wish I had been here for this elusive "bum" everyone talks about all the time

 

No you don't. There were moments where he was funny (unintentionally), but the vast majority of the time he was an insufferable [expletive].

[UMFan83]

The subject of fandom is a double edged sword in terms of our rivals perception of our fans. If we suck and still draw well, they go on and on about how our fans are really going to get drunk and be at Wrigley Field and have no idea what's going on at the game. If we suck and draw a lot less, than we are fair-weather fans like the White Sox.

 

Not that stereotypes are true, but that's how it will be perceived.

[E.J.]

The Bum is dead in some oil field somewhere. It's been years. Let it go already.

[Soul]

The Cubs really aren't going to be worth watching this year, are they?

We'll see, according to some it is still early in the offseason.

 

Give it up. It's a rebuilding year.

[TruffleShuffle]

I guess we have to kill Truffle.

 

can we make it "not during fred's lifetime?" that could be a matter of hours.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

A .500 season will be nice, and I think that's definitely within reach (at least unless Garza is dumped for A-ballers).

[NOLA]

BTW, if attendance really does drop off dramatically in the first year of the Theo regime, then Cubs fans ARE as bad as White Sox and Cards fans say we are.

 

Why? Most people don't want to pay to watch crappy baseball.

 

We HAVE been watching crappy baseball, and I for one had next to zero hope that things would get any better anytime soon. Maybe at best the Cubs might could win a Wildcard one year, get swept, then back to sucking for a few years.

If attendance drops noticeably this year then yes, we stinks as a fanbase. We got the front office we almost universally were hoping to get, and he seems to have an actual plan on how to build a franchise. You might not agree with it, but he knows what he's doing. I for one will watch to see how this complete shift in philosophy plays out. If we don't tune in if the Cubs suck in YEAR FREAKING ONE, then I think that's terribly short sighted and BS.

Incidentally, I don't care what Cards fans think either. I am surrounded by them and mainly tune them out. It doesn't make them wrong, however, if things happen this way.

I don't think anyone ever suggested that we should blindly fall in line just because Theo is sitting upstairs.

[SouthSideRyan]

Oh hi 18th iteration of the same guy

[Little Slide Rooter]

Just out of curiosity, what did Da Bum do to get such a severe banning?

[Little Slide Rooter]

BTW, if attendance really does drop off dramatically in the first year of the Theo regime, then Cubs fans ARE as bad as White Sox and Cards fans say we are.

 

Why? Most people don't want to pay to watch crappy baseball.

 

We HAVE been watching crappy baseball, and I for one had next to zero hope that things would get any better anytime soon. Maybe at best the Cubs might could win a Wildcard one year, get swept, then back to sucking for a few years.

If attendance drops noticeably this year then yes, we stinks as a fanbase. We got the front office we almost universally were hoping to get, and he seems to have an actual plan on how to build a franchise. You might not agree with it, but he knows what he's doing. I for one will watch to see how this complete shift in philosophy plays out. If we don't tune in if the Cubs suck in YEAR FREAKING ONE, then I think that's terribly short sighted and BS.

Incidentally, I don't care what Cards fans think either. I am surrounded by them and mainly tune them out. It doesn't make them wrong, however, if things happen this way.

I don't think anyone ever suggested that we should blindly fall in line just because Theo is sitting upstairs.

 

If people stop going, it's not necesssarily to stick it to ownership and management, it's just that people aren't going to want to pay the highest ticket prices in baseball to watch Jeff Baker and Reed Johnson. As for Theo and his decisions, I'm not quite sure what people were expecting. People were acting like we'd just won the World Series when he came over and then Hoyer came along. All of the sudden, we don't get Pujols, don't ger Darvish, and it seems like we might not be getting Fielder either and people turn on them. Newsflash: Jim Hendry could have thrown a 10 year contract at Pujols or an 8 year contract at Fielder and bid 60 mil on Darvish. That's why Theo was signed for as much as he was and Ricketts went through all the Luchino crap to get him.

 

Take a look at baseballs top 4 teams over the past few years: Yankees, Red Sox, Phillies, and Rangers. All 4 have gotten where they uilizing free agent spedning, trades, and the farm system. Any team with money can spend big on free agents. The difficult part is producing guys like Cano, Jeter, Rivera, Pedroia, Papelbon, Youklis, Lester, Bucholtz, Ellsbury, Hamels, Utley, Howard, Victorino, Rollins, Wilson, Feliz, and Kinsler through the farm system all while having enough additional prospects and assets to trade for guys like Granderson, A Gon, Beckett, Halladay, and Hamilton.

 

we don't have that kind of farm system and even at it's best our top prospects seemed to fizzle one by one but hopefully we will be able to develope one through the draft, trades, and international FAs and we have the money to go after some big free agents as well. I'm not going to lie, I'd love to sign Fielder even if it is at 7 or even 8 years but I'm not going to judge the entire regime by whether or not it happens.

 

The past 2 years were very tough to swallow, and 2012 likely will be just as much so, especially since we'd had the longest tretch of teams somewhat in contention 2001-2009(minus '06 and '02) in my lifetime, and it sucks to go back. I'm not going to abandon the team, but I'm not going to hand on every game as I had in that time frame.

[Sammy Sofa]

BTW, if attendance really does drop off dramatically in the first year of the Theo regime, then Cubs fans ARE as bad as White Sox and Cards fans say we are.

 

Why? Most people don't want to pay to watch crappy baseball.

 

We HAVE been watching crappy baseball, and I for one had next to zero hope that things would get any better anytime soon. Maybe at best the Cubs might could win a Wildcard one year, get swept, then back to sucking for a few years.

If attendance drops noticeably this year then yes, we stinks as a fanbase. We got the front office we almost universally were hoping to get, and he seems to have an actual plan on how to build a franchise. You might not agree with it, but he knows what he's doing. I for one will watch to see how this complete shift in philosophy plays out. If we don't tune in if the Cubs suck in YEAR FREAKING ONE, then I think that's terribly short sighted and BS.

 

Why? The Cubs have the highest ticket prices in baseball. Why should anyone feel obligated to shell out for that if the product is garbage? Hey, great, they want to build for the future; I'll actually pay to watch them in the future as well, but not now if the team is bad. If someone wants to go, good for them, but you shouldn't begrudge people if they don't want to pay while the team sucks.

Edited January 3, 2012 by Sammy Sofa

[jersey cubs fan]

Hey, maybe the Cubs might could figure out this rebuild thing.

[Guest]

I sort of got ripped on during last season because I expressed concern about whether the payroll would stay up where it had been two years ago, but even my concern about that got relieved when Ricketts went out and bought the best possible GM and staff available, which said to me that he isn't going to just sit on his hands and turn this into a money machine.

 

It's been somewhat of a disappointing offseason as far as the talent I wanted to see added to this team, but I'm still putting my trust in this group to turn it around quickly. They did inherit a pretty big mess. Luckily, most of the mess will be off the roster sooner rather than later.

 

I do like the Stewart pick up. I also believe a lot of the veterans on the roster can be moved at the deadline for more young talent. Maybe some of them can still be moved before the season starts.

[NOLA]

BTW, if attendance really does drop off dramatically in the first year of the Theo regime, then Cubs fans ARE as bad as White Sox and Cards fans say we are.

 

Why? Most people don't want to pay to watch crappy baseball.

 

We HAVE been watching crappy baseball, and I for one had next to zero hope that things would get any better anytime soon. Maybe at best the Cubs might could win a Wildcard one year, get swept, then back to sucking for a few years.

If attendance drops noticeably this year then yes, we stinks as a fanbase. We got the front office we almost universally were hoping to get, and he seems to have an actual plan on how to build a franchise. You might not agree with it, but he knows what he's doing. I for one will watch to see how this complete shift in philosophy plays out. If we don't tune in if the Cubs suck in YEAR FREAKING ONE, then I think that's terribly short sighted and BS.

 

Why? The Cubs have the highest ticket prices in baseball. Why should anyone feel obligated to shell out for that if the product is garbage? Hey, great, they want to build for the future; I'll actually pay to watch them in the future as well, but not now if the team is bad. If someone wants to go, good for them, but you shouldn't begrudge people if they don't want to pay while the team sucks.

 

I don't begrudge anyone, unless they start with the whole "we suck, more of the same old [expletive]" chorus. I live in LSU country, home of the worst fans in the sports. Sure things are great now, but as soon as things go south they bitch and moan and rip on the team at every chance.

I realize it's easy for me to say since I live on the other end of the country from Wrigley and I only attend one series a season. Maybe I harped too much on the butts in the seats and not enough on the general negativity I'm sure will come with a bad season record-wise. There will be plenty of good reasons to watch next year. Maybe the Cubs will be taking one step back, only to take 2 steps forward the next season...I hope. I've advocated a total rebuild for a few years now, something that yes, a big market team can do. Build a good foundation, then spend on the big pieces to put you over the top and really contend.

[Sammy Sofa]

There's nothing wrong with people being negative over a bad season. I've said I have confidence in the FO if they do decide to completely rebuild and it takes 2-3 seasons, but it's not going to be fun in the meantime and the optimism of how it could play out doesn't exactly make it palatable while they're wallowing in crap.

[Irrelevant Dude]

Oh, for [expletive]'s sake.

 

WANTING GUYS LIKE WILSON OR FIELDER OR PUJOLS OR DARVISH OR THE CUBANS ISN'T WANTING A "HENDRY-LIKE MANNER."

I agree with most of those, but I would argue that the Pujols signing was very Hendry-like.

[jersey cubs fan]

Oh, for [expletive]'s sake.

 

WANTING GUYS LIKE WILSON OR FIELDER OR PUJOLS OR DARVISH OR THE CUBANS ISN'T WANTING A "HENDRY-LIKE MANNER."

I agree with most of those, but I would argue that the Pujols signing was very Hendry-like.

 

WHY DO PEOPLE PRETEND THAT HENDRY ALWAYS WENT AFTER HALL OF FAMERS? JEBUS H. TEBOW DO YOU PEOPLE HAVE ANY CLUE ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED IN THE HENDRY ERA???????????????????????????????????

[Sammy Sofa]

No, it wasn't. The closest Hendry came to doling out a contract like that was Soriano's. Soriano's best single-season WAR just barely edges out Pujols' worst. The rest aren't even close.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Oh, for [expletive]'s sake.

 

WANTING GUYS LIKE WILSON OR FIELDER OR PUJOLS OR DARVISH OR THE CUBANS ISN'T WANTING A "HENDRY-LIKE MANNER."

I agree with most of those, but I would argue that the Pujols signing was very Hendry-like.

 

I agree that going after guys like that isn't "Hendry like", but if that was how they wanted to proceed this offseason, Hendry could have got it done. Theres this conception that Hendry, in a sweaty panic would have chugged to Scott Boras at the winter meetings with his shirt covered in BBQ sauce and whipped cream and offered Prince Fielder a 12/300 deal with full NTC and an opt out clause after every season, while Crane Kenney cackeled and ran a bus full of orphans and nuns off a cliff but I really don't think that would have happened. If the plan was to get Fielder/Pujols and Darvish/Wilson I don't think that Hendry or Theo would have made a difference and they may as well have let Hendry finish out his contract and sign Theo next offseason. Maybe Aramis would be back at a slight home town discount and Stewart trade wouldnt have happened and if the Marshall trade did it would have probably been straight up for Travis Wood. Kerry Wood would be back and Corpas, Johnson, and Sonnenstine would still be on the market. Also, I doubt he would have signed DeJesus as long as Byrd and Soriano were both still around. We might have ourselves another short term contender. Maybe not.

 

I'm not going to lie, I have no clue what the 2012 Cubs are going to look like much less 2013 but Fielder, Cespedes, and Solar are all still very much on the market. If Theo does sign Fielder, he'll patiently wait and see what the other top suiters are offering. If he feels that he can trump it and still go about his ling term plans, he probably will. If it's more than he plans on spending, then he'll move on.

[Rob]

If we spent $25 mil or so there's still enough out there on the market that we could be a .500 team and pray for some luck. But it's looking more and more like 2012 will be a rebuilding year, barring something unexpected.

 

I imagine I'll see more games in Peoria than Chicago this year.

[ManEatingTarp]

I'm not a Cubs fan, but I live about 10 minutes from Wrigley. I'm looking forward to some spur of the moment decisions to take in a game and grab some cheap tickets outside the stadium.

 

I figure during late August & September mid-week games there should be tickets laying around on the street for people.

 

This will only last for a season or so as they start getting more young players and a couple free agents mixed in.

[b_wiggy_66]

Best news about the upcoming season may be how far it allows me to move up the season ticket wait list. \:D/

 

Also, watching Theo build from the bottom up will be enjoyable.