Theo is on W&S right now

[David]

Saying all kinds of awesome Theo things.

 

First talked about his charity deal at Metro this week.

 

Raving about Castro's defensive improvement.

 

Talking about the kind of relentless hitters he wants up and down the lineup, making pitchers work hard, etc.

 

Says Rizzo is almost ready. They asked him directly if it was about team control, but he dodged that part. Said they want guys to have a full year at each level. Talking about his high maintenance swing and how he has "found some rhythm to his load" and improved his mental approach.

 

I'll post the podcast/link as soon as it's up.

[Guest]

http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/cubs/post/_/id/10933/epstein-rizzo-almost-ready-for-promotion#more

 

Here's some of what he said.

 

Still no audio.

[bukie]

104 days before the end of the season comes out to June 22, the day after IL play ends.

 

That's an extremely convenient coincidence.

[Guest]

No direct link to the interview yet but here is the whole show

 

http://espn.go.com/espnradio/chicago/play?id=8048154

 

Interview starts at 2:02:07

[Vanilla Ice]

104 days before the end of the season comes out to June 22, the day after IL play ends.

 

That's an extremely convenient coincidence.

They've also been talking about wanting him to get a full seasons worth of at-bats at AAA. He's currently played 153 games at AAA, so he needs 9 more games to get to 162.

 

June 22 is in 9 days.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theatre; Kennedy was shot by Lee Harvey Oswald in a Lincoln automobile, made by Ford.

[Clem Fandango]

=D> Well played

[Guest]

104 days before the end of the season comes out to June 22, the day after IL play ends.

 

That's an extremely convenient coincidence.

They've also been talking about wanting him to get a full seasons worth of at-bats at AAA. He's currently played 153 games at AAA, so he needs 9 more games to get to 162.

 

June 22 is in 9 days.

 

Do they have 9 games the next 9 days? :shock:

[bukie]

104 days before the end of the season comes out to June 22, the day after IL play ends.

 

That's an extremely convenient coincidence.

They've also been talking about wanting him to get a full seasons worth of at-bats at AAA. He's currently played 153 games at AAA, so he needs 9 more games to get to 162.

 

June 22 is in 9 days.

 

Do they have 9 games the next 9 days? :shock:

1. No, they have 8

2. Rizzo didn't play today, anyway.

 

However, the timing of the end of IL play is convenient for the front office, because they can play up that angle and play down the free agency year angle by bringing him up the 22nd.

[Electron Blue]

Those on the board that so closely follow the minors and player development: is the "full year" at each level strategy actually a good one (or in this case, is it even honest)? Or is promoting as they seem ready more common/effective?

[Hairyducked Idiot]

There was a surprising amount of real content inside all the Theospeak there.

 

Said that going into the season, they weren't sure if Castro could develop into a MLB SS long-term, but he answered those questions well and they really like him there now.

 

Really emphasized building a team from the minors and letting the fans see it grow from draft day to playoffs.

 

More or less admitted that Rizzo's call-up will coincide with someone getting dumped.

[Guest]

There was a surprising amount of real content inside all the Theospeak there.

 

Said that going into the season, they weren't sure if Castro could develop into a MLB SS long-term, but he answered those questions well and they really like him there now.

 

Really emphasized building a team from the minors and letting the fans see it grow from draft day to playoffs.

 

More or less admitted that Rizzo's call-up will coincide with someone getting dumped.

 

This was the one part that kind of threw a flag for me. First, I'll say that I can see how that's fun and I would enjoy that process. That said, I hope that's not some way of softening the blow and doesn't mean they don't plan on improving the ML team significantly before those prospects come up.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

This was the one part that kind of threw a flag for me. First, I'll say that I can see how that's fun and I would enjoy that process. That said, I hope that's not some way of softening the blow and doesn't mean they don't plan on improving the ML team significantly before those prospects come up.

 

 

It may be Stockholm Syndrome, but I've just accepted that it may be a possibility that's their intent.

[davell]

Theo has said previously the time to go big into free agency is when you think it's a piece that really puts you over the top. Until then, FA is used to accentuate your team. The more I think about it, I'll admit I doubt we're big players in FA in 2013. Maybe Upton, if he comes in cheaper than we think and we have moved Soriano and LaHair too.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Theo has said previously the time to go big into free agency is when you think it's a piece that really puts you over the top. Until then, FA is used to accentuate your team. The more I think about it, I'll admit I doubt we're big players in FA in 2013. Maybe Upton, if he comes in cheaper than we think and we have moved Soriano and LaHair too.

 

I agree, but then on the other hand it's just so hard to imagine the Cubs just letting so much payroll disappear. If Garza is traded and we do another Pittsburgh Pirates offseason, the payroll might not reach $65 million.

 

If they want to just sit on that money and save it for future seasons, that'd be a pretty novel approach. Has any major sports team ever done that?

[davell]

Not that I'm aware of. I guess it's possible we could spend money on over 23 year old IFA's. Of course, there'd have to be some worth spending on. It's kind of dependent on what happens with Garza, I guess. If he IS traded, you're right, it won't be easy to even get 80 mill, if we take the same approach as last year. It would be cool, if we have a surplus of 50-60 mill that we could throw towards seasons in the future.

[dew1679666265]

Theo has said previously the time to go big into free agency is when you think it's a piece that really puts you over the top. Until then, FA is used to accentuate your team. The more I think about it, I'll admit I doubt we're big players in FA in 2013. Maybe Upton, if he comes in cheaper than we think and we have moved Soriano and LaHair too.

 

There's very, very few things I disagree with Theo on, but that's one. What if that FA class is really poor? Do we overpay a less-than-stellar FA just because we feel we need to (Carl Crawford, Alfonso Soriano-esque?) or do we just put off truly being great for a year because we didn't feel like signing the really good FAs available the year before?

 

If we were the Pirates, Royals, etc, that strategy makes really good sense. As an elite market team that can turn things around in 1-2 offseasons (even with as bad as the talent pool has gotten for the Cubs), that's a really questionable strategy. I'm pretty much convinced at this point there just isn't money available at this point, likely because of Wrigley renovations, McDonalds, and the Dominican Academy.

[Clem Fandango]

Out of curiosity I noticed the Cubs TV deal expires in 2014 with WGN. Is that before or after the 2014 season? Aren't the Cubs aiming for their own Network ala Red Sox, Yankees, Angels, etc.?

[davell]

Out of curiosity I noticed the Cubs TV deal expires in 2014 with WGN. Is that before or after the 2014 season? Aren't the Cubs aiming for their own Network ala Red Sox, Yankees, Angels, etc.?

no idea if it runs out before or after the 2014 season. Still, they have their Comcast deal, that I believe runs through 2019. I guess they could redo their CSN deal, to get more money, once the WGN deal runs out, but the really big money probably can't come until 2020.

[pitchcs]

I think people are missing one very realistic option regarding payroll....acquiring a bunch of talent during this season and then sorting through what we want to keep and can trade for someone more MLB ready (and thus more expensive) in the winter.

[davell]

Dew, I figure it also means high priced trade candidates. But I'd like to think they already have an idea on what the FA landscape could look like, for at least each of the next 3-4 offseasons. I don't see this group getting caught off guard, wanting to spend and not seeing anything out there that helps them. I guess that's the whole parallel fronts thing, he's talked about. Either way, I'm thinking what we do with Garza really helps determine any additions for next year.

[Gilby]

No direct link to the interview yet but here is the whole show

 

http://espn.go.com/espnradio/chicago/play?id=8048154

 

Interview starts at 2:02:07

 

Interesting. Thanks for posting that.

 

Rizzo reaching the 162 game mark at AAA will line up perfectly with the late June, which is the reason they appear to be going with for keeping him there. That's pretty smart; I was wondering what they would come up with. I do enjoy listening to Theo.

[Sammy Sofa]

Out of curiosity I noticed the Cubs TV deal expires in 2014 with WGN. Is that before or after the 2014 season? Aren't the Cubs aiming for their own Network ala Red Sox, Yankees, Angels, etc.?

no idea if it runs out before or after the 2014 season. Still, they have their Comcast deal, that I believe runs through 2019. I guess they could redo their CSN deal, to get more money, once the WGN deal runs out, but the really big money probably can't come until 2020.

 

Getting out of the WGN deal is a huge step to maximizing television revenue even before being able to start a network since the Ricketts own 25% of Comcast SportsNet Chicago.

[dew1679666265]

Dew, I figure it also means high priced trade candidates. But I'd like to think they already have an idea on what the FA landscape could look like, for at least each of the next 3-4 offseasons. I don't see this group getting caught off guard, wanting to spend and not seeing anything out there that helps them. I guess that's the whole parallel fronts thing, he's talked about. Either way, I'm thinking what we do with Garza really helps determine any additions for next year.

 

Could is the key word there, though. We're seeing more and more young, really good players getting locked up before they hit FA, making it far more difficult to project who will and who won't hit the market. I'm sure the Theo regime has far more info on this stuff than I do and maybe that means they have a much more concrete idea of who will and won't hit FA, but it feels like a really big gamble to pass on talent that is definitely available just because it came available a year before we really felt like we could contend.

[davell]

My main thing, so far at least, is I'm not regretting us actually "missing" on someone yet. Fielder and Pujols? I'm glad we've got Rizzo instead. No, not because I think he's going to be better than either of them, but because he's super cheap and should be extremely productive, leaving us THAT money to spend elsewhere. Cespedes? He's not looked like a gamechanger and we got Soler, who's not already in his prime. Wilson was a total pipedream, we didn't have a real shot. Darvish? If I'm upset at all, it'd be over him, but he's been having issues himself and doesn't appear to be some kind of definite "ace" right now and for the money outlay, he definitely needed to be. We've got a few solid trade chips to pawn off right now, which could give us enough currency to buy a younger guy or two in a trade over the offseason as it is. I guess we'll see how it all plays out, but I'm pretty happy right now. But I'm much more of the personality, to where if we're not going to contend, I'd rather be where we are, for the picks and extra IFA money.