5/18 White Sox (Humber) @ Cubs (SHARK) 1:20 WGN

[Bryants Disco Ball]

 

Do you have a story to prove this?

 

Andre Dawson and CJ Wilson

 

and countless other examples of players choosing to go where they want to go.

 

I bet I can come up with more examples of the highest bidders winning. Which means in this discussion, I'd have a higher percentage of being right that had the Cubs really, really wanted Pujols or Fielder, they'd have them right now.

[MSG T]

 

Yes, but none that the Cubs planned to sign. As much as the fans might have been hoping that Prince Fielder would be signed or some stud pitcher was going to be traded for, that was never the plan this offseason.

 

I'm just confident that on Jan. 13, with spring training a month away, that Kerry Wood did not re-sign with the Cubs thinking that a bunch of pieces were soon going to be in place for this team to be any sort of good.

 

Clearly, you know this.

 

 

That's why they bid on Darvish. That's why they reportedly made offers to both Pujols and Fielder (both of whom they were, unsurprisingly, outbid on because AL teams have more leeway to go nuts on guys like that).

 

But, since it didn't happen, that was never in the plans.

 

The Cubs didn't sign any of them. Had they wanted to, they could have. That's my evidence.

 

Where is yours?

 

Would you seriously have wanted the Cubs to sign any of those guys to bigger contracts than they got? Cause that's what it would have taken. I'd love to have seen Prince or Albert playing 1B, but not for the contracts they signed.

[Guest]

 

Do you have a story to prove this?

 

Andre Dawson and CJ Wilson

 

and countless other examples of players choosing to go where they want to go.

 

I bet I can come up with more examples of the highest bidders winning. Which means in this discussion, I'd have a higher percentage of being right that had the Cubs really, really wanted Pujols or Fielder, they'd have them right now.

 

Them not wanting to outbid the ridiculous contracts that they got (which would be farrrrr more ridiculous in the NL) doesn't mean that they didn't want those players and wouldn't have put up a huge sum of money to get them.

[Bryants Disco Ball]

By the way, Yu's bid was won in December. Which means Kerry Wood knew the Cubs weren't getting him when he re-signed in January.

[Guest]

By the way, Yu's bid was won in December. Which means Kerry Wood knew the Cubs weren't getting him when he re-signed in January.

 

My argument didn't really have anything to do with jersey's. Just your contention that you knew the Cubs offseason plans were to sign nobody really good.

[Bryants Disco Ball]

 

Do you have a story to prove this?

 

Andre Dawson and CJ Wilson

 

and countless other examples of players choosing to go where they want to go.

 

I bet I can come up with more examples of the highest bidders winning. Which means in this discussion, I'd have a higher percentage of being right that had the Cubs really, really wanted Pujols or Fielder, they'd have them right now.

 

Them not wanting to outbid the ridiculous contracts that they got (which would be farrrrr more ridiculous in the NL) doesn't mean that they didn't want those players and wouldn't have put up a huge sum of money to get them.

 

Of course, agreed.

 

What I'm saying is that Cubs management probably was smart enough to know that the contracts were going to get out of control. Sure, had they come at a really nice price, Theo would have been all over them. But I am confident in saying that I feel he knows how the market works, and he knew both players likely would be out of the range he'd want.

 

Thus, in his mind, he never probably thought he was going to be a major player for either.

[Bryants Disco Ball]

By the way, Yu's bid was won in December. Which means Kerry Wood knew the Cubs weren't getting him when he re-signed in January.

 

My argument didn't really have anything to do with jersey's. Just your contention that you knew the Cubs offseason plans were to sign nobody really good.

 

Gotcha.

[Little Slide Rooter]

 

Do you have a story to prove this?

 

Andre Dawson and CJ Wilson

 

and countless other examples of players choosing to go where they want to go.

 

I bet I can come up with more examples of the highest bidders winning. Which means in this discussion, I'd have a higher percentage of being right that had the Cubs really, really wanted Pujols or Fielder, they'd have them right now.

 

Did you not see the contacts that each was given? There aren't enough reallys in the world for them to have thought that to be a good idea.

[Bryants Disco Ball]

 

Do you have a story to prove this?

 

Andre Dawson and CJ Wilson

 

and countless other examples of players choosing to go where they want to go.

 

I bet I can come up with more examples of the highest bidders winning. Which means in this discussion, I'd have a higher percentage of being right that had the Cubs really, really wanted Pujols or Fielder, they'd have them right now.

 

Did you not see the contacts that each was given? There aren't enough reallys in the world for them to have thought that to be a good idea.

 

And I believe Theo knew it would end up that way the whole time. Sure, he'd have been interested at a good price. But my man Theo is too smart to think it was going to happen. He also knew he had a guy better than both already at first.

[jersey cubs fan]

The bottom line remains: I don't believe Kerry Wood really thought the Cubs were going to add a bunch of pieces after he signed in the middle of January.

 

And I don't think he thought this team was going to be on pace to lose 100 games. he probably thought they could be respectable and he thought he could be as well, but the team sucks and he's sucked so he lost his desire to continue

[salukifudd]

The best thing to come out of today is when Humber threw behind LaHair, a fan behind home plate stands up and yells, but quickly sits down after his girl taps him to shut up.

[PriortoTheoIhadWood]

The best thing to come out of today is when Humber threw behind LaHair, a fan behind home plate stands up and yells, but quickly sits down after his girl taps him to shut up.

 

Wouldn't want to be her on the car ride home, eh? EH?

 

...

[salukifudd]

The best thing to come out of today is when Humber threw behind LaHair, a fan behind home plate stands up and yells, but quickly sits down after his girl taps him to shut up.

 

Wouldn't want to be her on the car ride home, eh? EH?

 

...

 

Somebody get rid of this idiot.

[Sammy Sofa]

The best thing to come out of today is when Humber threw behind LaHair, a fan behind home plate stands up and yells, but quickly sits down after his girl taps him to shut up.

 

Wouldn't want to be her on the car ride home, eh? EH?

 

...

 

Somebody get rid of this idiot.

 

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_k07pirzBU34/S2zfC91rjnI/AAAAAAAADlE/NSzq5Cj_XrE/s400/Spartacus.jpg

[PriortoTheoIhadWood]

The best thing to come out of today is when Humber threw behind LaHair, a fan behind home plate stands up and yells, but quickly sits down after his girl taps him to shut up.

 

Wouldn't want to be her on the car ride home, eh? EH?

 

...

 

Somebody get rid of this idiot.

 

Who wouldn't love to see the easily and eagerly offended catered to once again? In this case probably everyone.

[Sammy Sofa]

You think people are "offended" by you? Jesus, everything about your posts screams coked-up shock jock.

[salukifudd]

The best thing to come out of today is when Humber threw behind LaHair, a fan behind home plate stands up and yells, but quickly sits down after his girl taps him to shut up.

 

Wouldn't want to be her on the car ride home, eh? EH?

 

...

 

Somebody get rid of this idiot.

 

Who wouldn't love to see the easily and eagerly offended catered to once again? In this case probably everyone.

 

It is one thing to be a meatball some laugh at and another to being a complete piece of [expletive].

[PriortoTheoIhadWood]

You think people are "offended" by you? Jesus, everything about your posts screams coked-up shock jock.

 

The easily/eagerly offended are rarely actually offended. It's mostly using a moment in time to further a connected cause.

 

Even if I'm some caaaaaarazy out there shock jock you're my entire audience here.

[Sammy Sofa]

Whut.

[salukifudd]

Whut.

 

He forgot a comma, but he used "you're" correctly.

[CubmanPi]

It was cool when they cut to AJP and showed him applauding. That might be the only time I ever look at him without thinking he's a complete raging douchebag. I'm so glad that Kerry went out with the K, and with that curveball looking as sick as ever. So awesome.

[davell]

Teases two days in a row. [expletive].

 

3 of the 4 losses on this losing streak have been by 1 run. ugh

 

Overall, exactly half of our losses this year have been by 2 runs or less (12 out of 24 losses)

 

It sucks but the competitive games makes me think that with some moves they have a shot at being good next year.

 

There's a lot of pieces we've discovered this season. Samardzija, LaHair and Stewart all look like they could be legitimate contributors going forward. I definitely think they can be a very good team very quickly, if they want to be.

Most important thing said. Right there. We're finding pieces, some of which appear to be very important moving forward. If we do this, and get a very high draft position as well, which also means we'd have one of the highest IFA budgets next year as well.....Then, as a rebuilding season, it's going better than any of us imagined, looking at this roster on opening day. And yes, we have probably moved the process along quicker than anticipated, because of how well some of these guys have done.

[mul21]

Most important thing said. Right there. We're finding pieces, some of which appear to be very important moving forward. If we do this, and get a very high draft position as well, which also means we'd have one of the highest IFA budgets next year as well.....Then, as a rebuilding season, it's going better than any of us imagined, looking at this roster on opening day. And yes, we have probably moved the process along quicker than anticipated, because of how well some of these guys have done.

 

And honestly, as many good surprises as there have been, there have been just as many disappointments. Soto, Barney, and Volstad all being much worse than expected, Marmol forgetting what the strike zone looks like, Kerry not being very good, and Soriano not bouncing back as hoped. Far from everything has gone right and I'm really not all that disappointed in how the season has gone thus far.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Most important thing said. Right there. We're finding pieces, some of which appear to be very important moving forward. If we do this, and get a very high draft position as well, which also means we'd have one of the highest IFA budgets next year as well.....Then, as a rebuilding season, it's going better than any of us imagined, looking at this roster on opening day. And yes, we have probably moved the process along quicker than anticipated, because of how well some of these guys have done.

 

And honestly, as many good surprises as there have been, there have been just as many disappointments. Soto, Barney, and Volstad all being much worse than expected, Marmol forgetting what the strike zone looks like, Kerry not being very good, and Soriano not bouncing back as hoped. Far from everything has gone right and I'm really not all that disappointed in how the season has gone thus far.

 

I like the 1-2 attack of DeJesus-Campana more than I ever thought I would. However, we don't have much to follow through when they get on base. Even Castro is going to need to boost that OBP before he can be considered a 3 hitter. LaHair's been a nice 4, but I think he'll ultimately be a .260/.380/.450 type of hitter. The rest of the lineup is...lacking. Stewart could surprise us, and between Barney and Cardenas, we could be OK at 2nd.

 

Aside from Volstad, starting pitching has exceeded expectations. However, the time to move Dempster is approaching.

 

The bullpen is a mess, but it should really be expected. Of our top 5 guys from last year, only Russell now remains and we havn't had much luck piecing together the rest.

 

What we have is your typical team at phase 1 of a rebuilding process. New pieces are emerging while old pieces still linger. There is help coming from the farm in the very near future, but how much remains to be seen. We can compete as soon as next year, but we'll have to spend a few bucks and make some trades.

[CubColtPacer]

Most important thing said. Right there. We're finding pieces, some of which appear to be very important moving forward. If we do this, and get a very high draft position as well, which also means we'd have one of the highest IFA budgets next year as well.....Then, as a rebuilding season, it's going better than any of us imagined, looking at this roster on opening day. And yes, we have probably moved the process along quicker than anticipated, because of how well some of these guys have done.

 

And honestly, as many good surprises as there have been, there have been just as many disappointments. Soto, Barney, and Volstad all being much worse than expected, Marmol forgetting what the strike zone looks like, Kerry not being very good, and Soriano not bouncing back as hoped. Far from everything has gone right and I'm really not all that disappointed in how the season has gone thus far.

 

Barney's been on a hot streak. Right now, everything about him this year has been better than last year. Better walk rate, better strikeout rate, more extra base hits, more line drives, less popups, and excellent defense. He'll probably get a little worse as the season goes along, but so far he's been a valuable player.