It begins.... Spring Training pics.

[Brian]

Tim Sheridan headed over to Fitch today and got some pics.

 

http://journal.boysofspring.com/

[Bote McBoteface]

Awesome. Of all potential 90 loss seasons, I'm looking forward to this one the most.

[StylesClash]

Awesome. Of all potential 90 loss seasons, I'm looking forward to this one the most.

 

I don't know why that is. Other than Ian Stewart none of the Theo Epstein pickups have a well above average upside. Plus there are no pitching prospects waiting to be promoted who have ace potential (or anything close to it). To make matters worse Brett Jackson is the only positional prospect who will be seen in the big leagues this year that has a realistic chance to make a significant impact. And that's without mentioning his high strikeout levels. I have a very hard time believing Jackson can have sustained success in the Majors without cutting back on his K's. Granted players like Adam Dunn have done it before, but cases like his are far from the norm.

 

Our lousy teams back in the early 2000's were much more easy to be excited about. Cruz, Prior, Choi, Patterson and others were being promoted at the time with a massive amount of hype attached to them. So am I excited about Theo acquiring a bunch of back of the rotation innings eaters, a corner outfielder with a career OPS below 800, and a farm system known more for depth than having players with real star potential? Not really.

 

Nor do I think we should automatically believe in everything Theo does. Granted its easy to mock the Crawford signing now, but I can honestly say I thought it was a massive overpay at the time. We're talking about a corner outfielder who doesn't take walks and doesn't have massive power. Not exactly a player I would jump to give 142 million dollars to. I would have prefered raiding Atlanta to fill our GM and farm director roles. They constantly are drafting dominant young starting pitching without the benefit of picking in the top five.

[17 Seconds]

Other than Ian Stewart none of the Theo Epstein pickups have a well above average upside.

 

anthony rizzo?

 

im pretty sure everybody hated the crawford signing, but i'm not sure why you're even talking about that.

 

"hey i don't really know anything about theo epstein and jed hoyer but everyone loves them too much so im going to make a post questioning them. hmm like i said i dont know anything about what they're about but i'll bring up carl crawford because that contract was pretty bad"

 

oh and brett jackson is nothing like adam dunn.

[StylesClash]

Other than Ian Stewart none of the Theo Epstein pickups have a well above average upside.

 

anthony rizzo?

 

im pretty sure everybody hated the crawford signing, but i'm not sure why you're even talking about that.

 

"hey i don't really know anything about theo epstein and jed hoyer but everyone loves them too much so im going to make a post questioning them. hmm like i said i dont know anything about what they're about but i'll bring up carl crawford because that contract was pretty bad"

 

oh and brett jackson is nothing like adam dunn.

 

Rizzo's numbers outside of the hitter friendly PCL arent that impressive for a First Baseman. Plus we gave up a pitcher with number two starter potential. That's not a trade I would be all that excited about. Also once you go beyond the first few years of the Epstein era his free agent signing track record really isn't all that great (Lackey, Lugo, Renteria, Dice-K, etc).

 

Epstein will also have a lot to live up to in terms of making as many one sided deals as Hendry. You guys can mock him all you want, but outside of the Juan Pierre deal Jim Hendry's trade track record was phenomenal. I still remember all you guys going crazy when Mark DeRosa was dealt. Guess what. That situation was handled PERFECTLY. DeRosa was dealt after having a career season and his numbers subsequently declined afterwards. Plus we picked up Chris Archer, who was one of the two prospect centerpieces for Garza. Heck, even Archer was dealt at a good time. Everything about his game declined when repeating Double-A this season for Tampa.

 

And from a hitting standpoint Dunn and Jackson are fairly alike (or atleast were before Dunn declined last season). Both strikeout a lot and also take a lot of walks. Granted Jackson is obviously better defensively, but Dunn also had more power. Maybe a better comparison would be BJ Upton with less speed. Granted that's a nice player to have. But certainly not a franchise changing bat.

[JockJones]

Other than Ian Stewart none of the Theo Epstein pickups have a well above average upside.

 

anthony rizzo?

 

im pretty sure everybody hated the crawford signing, but i'm not sure why you're even talking about that.

 

"hey i don't really know anything about theo epstein and jed hoyer but everyone loves them too much so im going to make a post questioning them. hmm like i said i dont know anything about what they're about but i'll bring up carl crawford because that contract was pretty bad"

 

oh and brett jackson is nothing like adam dunn.

 

Rizzo's numbers outside of the hitter friendly PCL arent that impressive for a First Baseman. Plus we gave up a pitcher with number two starter potential. That's not a trade I would be all that excited about. Also once you go beyond the first few years of the Epstein era his free agent signing track record really isn't all that great (Lackey, Lugo, Renteria, Dice-K, etc).

 

Epstein will also have a lot to live up to in terms of making as many one sided deals as Hendry. You guys can mock him all you want, but outside of the Juan Pierre deal Jim Hendry's trade track record was phenomenal. I still remember all you guys going crazy when Mark DeRosa was dealt. Guess what. That situation was handled PERFECTLY. DeRosa was dealt after having a career season and his numbers subsequently declined afterwards. Plus we picked up Chris Archer, who was one of the two prospect centerpieces for Garza. Heck, even Archer was dealt at a good time. Everything about his game declined when repeating Double-A this season for Tampa.

 

And from a hitting standpoint Dunn and Jackson are fairly alike (or atleast were before Dunn declined last season). Both strikeout a lot and also take a lot of walks. Granted Jackson is obviously better defensively, but Dunn also had more power. Maybe a better comparison would be BJ Upton with less speed. Granted that's a nice player to have. But certainly not a franchise changing bat.

 

This guy is right. I don't want Theo anymore. Bring back the worlds greatest trader, Jim Hendry!

[UMFan83]

Actually I'm pretty sure the majority of this board was perfectly fine with the DeRosa trade and were happy that Hendry sold high for once. The Aaron Miles signing is a different matter.

 

Hendrys trades were fine for the most part but everything else was spotty at best. The man did not have a long term vision for the club and each offseason was a new plan.

 

Anyways there are hundreds of pages of writing about Hendry on this board. Why don't you go ahead and read them before you group this boards opinions with the meatball fans we all despise.

[Sammy Sofa]

All you guys.

[Tryptamine]

Apparently if a player doesn't have superstar potential he's not worth watching. I'm excited to see if some of these moves work because they may fill holes with above average to average players very cheaply and that allows the Cubs to spend money on superstars. It will also be exciting to see if some of the people brought in can play well and net a good prospect at the break. By the way, what was wring with the Dejesus signing? I can't believe anyone would be unhappy with what 99% of people were calling a good signing for the Cubs.

[SouthSideRyan]

We must've won a lot of games under this Hendry guy.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Rizzo's numbers outside of the hitter friendly PCL arent that impressive for a First Baseman.

 

I'll just pick out this one thing off of the long, long list of incorrect points you made.

 

Rizzo has been young for his age at every stop. So to the unsophisticated, his numbers at each look good but not great. But when you consider his age and progression, it's pretty darn impressive. He's consistently been the best young hitter in each league.

 

His age 19 season OPS was the second best by any player 20 or younger in the league that year.

His age 20 season OPS was the best by any player 21 or younger in the Eastern League that year.

His age 21 season OPS was the second best by any player 23 or younger in the PCL that year.

 

I'm really not sure what more you want from him. He's not a "franchise-changing bat" or whatever weird, made-up standard you want to use. But he's a darn good prospect who will very likely be a darn good, cost-controlled major leaguer very soon.

[jersey cubs fan]

those aren't spring training pics

[Little Slide Rooter]

Actually I'm pretty sure the majority of this board was perfectly fine with the DeRosa trade and were happy that Hendry sold high for once. The Aaron Miles signing is a different matter.

 

 

Any somewhat knowledgeable fans were happy wit the DeRosa trade. The "meatballs" were the ones unhappy with it and seem to think that he would have saved the 2009 season after Aramis went down. Who knows, maybe he would have helped keep us afloat while Aramis was gone as he did have a pretty good first half with the Indians before he was sent to the Cardinals, but there's no reason not to like the trade, except for the fact that it was made to free up salary for Milton Bradley.

[BeerHere]

You can't evaluate Jim Hendry without taking into account the ridiculous contracts. Yes, his trades were pretty good, but the contracts to Soriano, Zambrano, Grabow and others were killers. He had a HUGE budget and used every penny. I would also say that his drafts were poor as well but scouting is a big part of that.

[Sammy Sofa]

Zambrano's contract wasn't a "killer." Nor was Grabow's.

[jersey cubs fan]

You can't evaluate an executive by ticking off good and bad moves he made. He was in charge for a decade and a major part of the organization for a decade before that, and they lost far too many games during that era. That's all that needs to be said.

[SouthSideRyan]

He had a HUGE budget and used every penny.

 

Um.

[BeerHere]

You can't evaluate an executive by ticking off good and bad moves he made. He was in charge for a decade and a major part of the organization for a decade before that, and they lost far too many games during that era. That's all that needs to be said.

Agreed

[BeerHere]

Zambrano's contract wasn't a "killer." Nor was Grabow's.

The organization is paying a large part of Zambrano's contract now while he plays for a competitor. I can't remember how much offhand but it is money that could have been used elsewhere more effectively. Grabow was terrible and barely pitched in his time here. I don't understand how you can defend either contract.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Zambrano's contract wasn't a "killer." Nor was Grabow's.

The organization is paying a large part of Zambrano's contract now while he plays for a competitor. I can't remember how much offhand but it is money that could have been used elsewhere more effectively. Grabow was terrible and barely pitched in his time here. I don't understand how you can defend either contract.

 

First, Zambrano's contract wasn't just for 2012. It was also for 2008 and 2009 (where he was an excellent value), as well as 2010 (where he was about par for his contract).

 

Second, for 2012, we got a pretty useful pitcher who is very underpaid in return for Zambrano, so you can't just count the entirety of Zambrano's contract as a negative without taking that into account.

[Tracer Bullet]

We must've won a lot of games under this Hendry guy.

 

We won the WS of Mark DeRosa trades though

[jersey cubs fan]

We must've won a lot of games under this Hendry guy.

 

We won the WS of Mark DeRosa trades though

 

And all you guys were too busy complaining to enjoy that title.

[Bote McBoteface]

Awesome. Of all potential 90 loss seasons, I'm looking forward to this one the most.

 

I don't know why that is. Other than Ian Stewart none of the Theo Epstein pickups have a well above average upside. Plus there are no pitching prospects waiting to be promoted who have ace potential (or anything close to it). To make matters worse Brett Jackson is the only positional prospect who will be seen in the big leagues this year that has a realistic chance to make a significant impact. And that's without mentioning his high strikeout levels. I have a very hard time believing Jackson can have sustained success in the Majors without cutting back on his K's. Granted players like Adam Dunn have done it before, but cases like his are far from the norm.

 

Our lousy teams back in the early 2000's were much more easy to be excited about. Cruz, Prior, Choi, Patterson and others were being promoted at the time with a massive amount of hype attached to them. So am I excited about Theo acquiring a bunch of back of the rotation innings eaters, a corner outfielder with a career OPS below 800, and a farm system known more for depth than having players with real star potential? Not really.

 

Nor do I think we should automatically believe in everything Theo does. Granted its easy to mock the Crawford signing now, but I can honestly say I thought it was a massive overpay at the time. We're talking about a corner outfielder who doesn't take walks and doesn't have massive power. Not exactly a player I would jump to give 142 million dollars to. I would have prefered raiding Atlanta to fill our GM and farm director roles. They constantly are drafting dominant young starting pitching without the benefit of picking in the top five.

 

Really? You've watched this organization try to patchwork together a competitor each offseason for the past decade with piss poor results and you don't see why one might be excited for an actual long term plan? You're upset that we didn't raid the front office of a less successful team?

[Irishoshea21]

Nor was Grabow's.

 

Not a "killer" contract, but I'd argue buying out Garbow's arbitration epitomized everything that was wrong with Hendry's approach to running a team. 100% asinine decision.

[SouthSideRyan]

I wish it was only as dumb as buying out arbitration, Grabow was a FA re-sign