Edwin Jackson Signs w/ Cubs: 4 years/$52 M

[jersey cubs fan]

Please. You have started to like what we are doing, and you don't know how to react now that these warm fuzzy feelings have started to creep in.

 

The silly bastard warning was on high for a long time around here. It has started to level off and will continue to go down until all silly bastards are on board with what we are doing.

 

Well, this is idiotic.

 

Rob has decreed it's ok

 

I sure did. What's the point of being right if there's no gloating?

 

What do you think you were right about?

[Hairyducked Idiot]

By the way..is this for sure? Don't want a repeat of earlier deals.

 

In theory a physical could still derail it.

[Rob]

 

Rub noses in what? Nothing has been accomplished. Nothing at all. Last year sucked and it didn't have to.

 

You are still holding to the ridiculous "we are awful and the front office isn't oing to sign anybody until 2015" mantra?

 

I've never held that mantra, just picked apart the notion that many people have spewed that we should wait to sign people until we're ready to be good.

 

Regardless, nothing has been accomplished. It looks on paper like they have managed to make this team moderately respectable next season. That isn't an accomplishment.

 

Who exactly was supporting that notion around here?

[Rob]

Please. You have started to like what we are doing, and you don't know how to react now that these warm fuzzy feelings have started to creep in.

 

The silly bastard warning was on high for a long time around here. It has started to level off and will continue to go down until all silly bastards are on board with what we are doing.

 

Well, this is idiotic.

 

Rob has decreed it's ok

 

I sure did. What's the point of being right if there's no gloating?

 

What do you think you were right about?

 

That the front office would find reasonable ways to spend the money. That it wasn't the ridiculous "they won't spend until the team is good and even then we'll get outbid by everybody" situation that had developed into a mantra around here.

[neely crenshaw]

I think signing him for 4 years shows that they will sign guys that they think will help and be around in 2015. Most of their deals have been low cost/ high possible reward short deals.

I just think it's smart to not sign someone, just to sign someone. Why pay a guy you really don't want after this season, if it's going to take multiple years to get him.

Cody Ross might help this year but do we want to be tied up in him for 4 years?

Jackson may be at the top of our rotation now, but if he's 4 or 5 at the end of the deal, you have a pretty good staff.

[Bryants Disco Ball]

Regardless, nothing has been accomplished. It looks on paper like they have managed to make this team moderately respectable next season. That isn't an accomplishment.

 

This is idiotic.

[waffle]

man, training camp is going to be very very very interesting. Probably a few more very's

[davell]

I've definitely been outspoken and didn't think we'd see any longterm deals handed out. But is E-Jax even a longterm deal? Its 4 years and he'll be 32 at the end of it. The big question for me was whether it'd be 2014 or 2015 when we looked like a contender heading into the year. A signing like this makes 2014 much more likely, in my mind. I really didn't invision us getting 4 of the top 15 FA SP. It's really methodical and now they can wait for a desperate team to give up the goods for Garza.

[neely crenshaw]

I think this signing really means they are moving Wood to OF fulltime...

 

and I have to agree Davell

Edited December 20, 2012 by neely crenshaw

[jersey cubs fan]

 

Rub noses in what? Nothing has been accomplished. Nothing at all. Last year sucked and it didn't have to.

 

You are still holding to the ridiculous "we are awful and the front office isn't oing to sign anybody until 2015" mantra?

 

I've never held that mantra, just picked apart the notion that many people have spewed that we should wait to sign people until we're ready to be good.

 

Regardless, nothing has been accomplished. It looks on paper like they have managed to make this team moderately respectable next season. That isn't an accomplishment.

 

Who exactly was supporting that notion around here?

 

lots and lots of people have been gung ho in support of not signing people until the internally developed core is good.

[Little Slide Rooter]

 

Rub noses in what? Nothing has been accomplished. Nothing at all. Last year sucked and it didn't have to.

 

You are still holding to the ridiculous "we are awful and the front office isn't oing to sign anybody until 2015" mantra?

 

I've never held that mantra, just picked apart the notion that many people have spewed that we should wait to sign people until we're ready to be good.

 

Regardless, nothing has been accomplished. It looks on paper like they have managed to make this team moderately respectable next season. That isn't an accomplishment.

 

Not so much "ready to be good" as waiting for the right players at the right price. Jackson and Villanueva filled that criteria. There's little question that we could have been more aggressive in pursuit of Darvish and Cespedes, but for whatever reason, we weren't. Beyond that, nothing has enticed them. Cincy's scary, but with 2 Wild Cards, we might just end with more reason to watch this summer than a fight for a top 5 draft pick.

[jersey cubs fan]

Regardless, nothing has been accomplished. It looks on paper like they have managed to make this team moderately respectable next season. That isn't an accomplishment.

 

This is idiotic.

 

Okay.

 

Which part do you disagree with? Do you think like they've managed to accomplish more than make this team look moderately respectable, or do you think that is an accomplishment?

 

 

Signing Jackson is the type of thing this team had to do. They didn't pull off some miracle by doing that. They have money and needed to spend it.

[Little Slide Rooter]

I think this signing really means they are moving Wood to OF fulltime...

 

and I have to agree Davell

 

Interesting transition, but he can't be much worse than Mather. :lol:

[Rob]

 

Rub noses in what? Nothing has been accomplished. Nothing at all. Last year sucked and it didn't have to.

 

You are still holding to the ridiculous "we are awful and the front office isn't oing to sign anybody until 2015" mantra?

 

I've never held that mantra, just picked apart the notion that many people have spewed that we should wait to sign people until we're ready to be good.

 

Regardless, nothing has been accomplished. It looks on paper like they have managed to make this team moderately respectable next season. That isn't an accomplishment.

 

Who exactly was supporting that notion around here?

 

lots and lots of people have been gung ho in support of not signing people until the internally developed core is good.

 

I've seen some writers say that. Maybe Kyle (but does he really count?). Most other people just want the guys we sign to still be young-ish and effective when the core starts showing up.

[neely crenshaw]

I don't know if they were for it or just thought that was the way it would play out.

I,for one, wasn't against signing someone but I didn't think they should or would sign someone just to be better right away.

I thought it would be a careful approach, trying to get guys they thought would help now, and in the future. For example, they seem to have targeted sanchez and jackson, who are young enough to help down the road and not go after Lohse, who would be better this season and probably next but certainly drop off after that point.

[Rob]

Regardless, nothing has been accomplished. It looks on paper like they have managed to make this team moderately respectable next season. That isn't an accomplishment.

 

This is idiotic.

 

Okay.

 

Which part do you disagree with? Do you think like they've managed to accomplish more than make this team look moderately respectable, or do you think that is an accomplishment?

 

 

Signing Jackson is the type of thing this team had to do. They didn't pull off some miracle by doing that. They have money and needed to spend it.

 

The major league squad is better than the 2011 version. The farm system is much improved. And there are reasons to suspect the player development side is much improved as well.

 

Everything is headed the right direction. It takes a while to turn a big ship around.

[davell]

Nah, Jersey's talking about me (among others)and its true. I didn't think, nor want guys signed to longterm deals before we were ready to compete. No defending that either. E-Jax isn't old though, nor a ton of money. I doubt anyone thinks his 29-32 seasons will see a bunch of decline. I'm happy we got him and think it pushes us up a season from where I had been thinking.

[davell]

By the way, one GIANT mistake I've made was misreading the market. I thought prices would go up and for the most part, they haven't. Edited December 20, 2012 by davell

[Bryants Disco Ball]

Regardless, nothing has been accomplished. It looks on paper like they have managed to make this team moderately respectable next season. That isn't an accomplishment.

 

This is idiotic.

 

Okay.

 

Which part do you disagree with? Do you think like they've managed to accomplish more than make this team look moderately respectable, or do you think that is an accomplishment?

 

 

Signing Jackson is the type of thing this team had to do. They didn't pull off some miracle by doing that. They have money and needed to spend it.

 

Theo Epstein was hired a little over a year ago, and during that time the organization has been gutted down and started to get built back up in a fantastic way. There have been so many quality moves the past 12 months, but I'm not going to list them all because it will fall on your two deaf ears.

 

People like you are the bratty kids portion of the fan base. You want all the biggest toys and throw a fit when you either don't get them or have to wait a little bit to get them. If you don't see the improvement this ORGANIZATION has made in just one year, then you are an idiot.

[jersey cubs fan]

The major league squad is better than the 2011 version. The farm system is much improved. And there are reasons to suspect the player development side is much improved as well.

 

Everything is headed the right direction. It takes a while to turn a big ship around.

 

I have stated on multiple occasions that things are heading in the right direction but there was no reason to be so absurdly conservative with the timeframe for trying to make the major league team better. They did a crap job with the major league team last year and are doing better this year. I never insinuated, let alone stated, that the farm system was getting worse or the ship was heading in the wrong direction.

[SouthSideRyan]

 

This is idiotic.

 

Okay.

 

Which part do you disagree with? Do you think like they've managed to accomplish more than make this team look moderately respectable, or do you think that is an accomplishment?

 

 

Signing Jackson is the type of thing this team had to do. They didn't pull off some miracle by doing that. They have money and needed to spend it.

 

Theo Epstein was hired a little over a year ago, and during that time the organization has been gutted down and started to get built back up in a fantastic way. There have been so many quality moves the past 12 months, but I'm not going to list them all because it will fall on your two deaf ears.

 

People like you are the bratty kids portion of the fan base. You want all the biggest toys and throw a fit when you either don't get them or have to wait a little bit to get them. If you don't see the improvement this ORGANIZATION has made in just one year, then you are an idiot.

 

And if we didn't sign Jackson, and we said this isn't good, you would've made the same sanctimonious speech.

[Bryants Disco Ball]

Yeah, I should have just responded with what Rob wrote and not called some stranger an idiot in my reply. But, heck, it was fun.

[Bryants Disco Ball]

The major league squad is better than the 2011 version. The farm system is much improved. And there are reasons to suspect the player development side is much improved as well.

 

Everything is headed the right direction. It takes a while to turn a big ship around.

 

I have stated on multiple occasions that things are heading in the right direction but there was no reason to be so absurdly conservative with the timeframe for trying to make the major league team better. They did a crap job with the major league team last year and are doing better this year. I never insinuated, let alone stated, that the farm system was getting worse or the ship was heading in the wrong direction.

 

Then you are a lot smarter than I gave you credit for, and I am encouraged that you realize we are going to be awesome.

[Exile on Waveland]

Great signing. But, hey, some of us wanted Jackson last year . . .

[Rob]

The major league squad is better than the 2011 version. The farm system is much improved. And there are reasons to suspect the player development side is much improved as well.

 

Everything is headed the right direction. It takes a while to turn a big ship around.

 

I have stated on multiple occasions that things are heading in the right direction but there was no reason to be so absurdly conservative with the timeframe for trying to make the major league team better. They did a crap job with the major league team last year and are doing better this year. I never insinuated, let alone stated, that the farm system was getting worse or the ship was heading in the wrong direction.

 

Fair enough. And I agree that there were things that should have been done last offseason. Darvish and Cespedes both would have made sense (though they may be excusable mistakes if certain reports are true. If not, less so).

 

Weirdly enough, one guy I really wanted the Cubs to sign last offseason was Edwin Jackson.

Edited December 20, 2012 by Rob