Random Cubs Musings

[bukie]

Very valid points, and much more reasonable than "the Cubs have no position holes (except for maybe catcher)."

 

Agreed. They very likely could be holes. But, that's what makes next year exciting and terrifying at the same time.

But that's not what Tim said. There may be holes, but there's no reason to spend heavily on them this off-season because of all the young talent available.

[Sammy Sofa]

Very valid points, and much more reasonable than "the Cubs have no position holes (except for maybe catcher)."

 

Agreed. They very likely could be holes. But, that's what makes next year exciting and terrifying at the same time.

But that's not what Tim said. There may be holes, but there's no reason to spend heavily on them this off-season because of all the young talent available.

 

Nobody said to spend heavily on position talent.

[bukie]

Very valid points, and much more reasonable than "the Cubs have no position holes (except for maybe catcher)."

 

Agreed. They very likely could be holes. But, that's what makes next year exciting and terrifying at the same time.

But that's not what Tim said. There may be holes, but there's no reason to spend heavily on them this off-season because of all the young talent available.

 

Nobody said to spend heavily on position talent.

Which would leave a good 40 million a year to spend on starting pitching.

[Aaron_Kennelly]

Very valid points, and much more reasonable than "the Cubs have no position holes (except for maybe catcher)."

 

Agreed. They very likely could be holes. But, that's what makes next year exciting and terrifying at the same time.

But that's not what Tim said. There may be holes, but there's no reason to spend heavily on them this off-season because of all the young talent available.

 

I agree with Tim. What I am saying is we don't know if they are holes until we play the young talent, which we are definitely going to do so. So I agree with him that there is no need to really spend on free agents at all of the current holes. But, to say there are no holes is a little disingenuous, when we don't know if there are or not. We don't know what holes will need to be filled in the future, but we do know that no more than one will be filled this off-season by free agents.

[Sammy Sofa]

Which would leave a good 40 million a year to spend on starting pitching.

 

And praying for no holes.

[Aaron_Kennelly]

Which would leave a good 40 million a year to spend on starting pitching.

 

And praying for no holes.

 

Yeah, pretty much. Hop aboard!

 

But, we are better positioned next year, if a couple of spots end up being holes. We have Valbuena, Coghlan, and Ruggiano in place as back-up plans (or at least being relied upon less/in lesser roles), instead of Joe Mather and Donnie Murphy. Now any of them could pull a Schierholtz on us and suck. But, I think we are in much better position to weather the storm if there are holes.

[Guest]

Very valid points, and much more reasonable than "the Cubs have no position holes (except for maybe catcher)."

 

Agreed. They very likely could be holes. But, that's what makes next year exciting and terrifying at the same time.

But that's not what Tim said. There may be holes, but there's no reason to spend heavily on them this off-season because of all the young talent available.

 

Nobody said to spend heavily on position talent.

Which would leave a good 40 million a year to spend on starting pitching.

Thank you. Do I owe you money as my agent or anything?

[Sammy Sofa]

Imagine the scrambling when that $40 million isn't spent. Get read for another Jackson-esque signing and some scraps.

[Guest]

Which would leave a good 40 million a year to spend on starting pitching.

 

And praying for no holes.

Pretty much.

 

I'm not against signing Castillo for the OF along with a starter. Heck, my perfect offseason might be Maeda + Castillo. We've got tons of depth on the infield. I believe in our OF guys, too, but Castillo would just add to the ridiculousness.

 

Well, my perfect offseason would include a trade of Edwin Jackson for something useful. But that's highly unlikely.

[Guest]

Imagine the scrambling when that $40 million isn't spent. Get read for another Jackson-esque signing and some scraps.

Were you born under a bad sign or something?

[Sammy Sofa]

Imagine the scrambling when that $40 million isn't spent. Get read for another Jackson-esque signing and some scraps.

Were you born under a bad sign or something?

 

http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--TD65lQUj--/c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_636/18j4z6k55jio1jpg.jpg

[sneakypower]

Which would leave a good 40 million a year to spend on starting pitching.

 

And praying for no holes.

yeah, good luck with that

 

Chris Davis hit 53 HR last year, and he's sitting at replacement level right now

Proven Veterans™ Matt Kemp, Jay Bruce, Allen Craig, Carlos Gonzalez, Prince Fielder, Billy Butler, Alfonso Soriano, Aaron Hill, Eric Hosmer, Carl Crawford, Carlos Beltran, Shin-soo Choo and like 100 other players with a track record, have all been pretty dismal this year...and this is to say nothing of the volatility of pitching

 

looking only at prospects that have floundered and drawing broad conclusions is ignorant of the greater unpredictability in player performance and serves as confirmation bias for an ill-informed mindset

[Gilby]

I know some always feel the need to point out prospects bust sometimes, but we can be pretty confident we won't have holes at the positions Russell, Soler, and Bryant end up given their profiles.

[TruffleShuffle]

Other team with $92m payrolls don't lose as much as we do.

 

and within about 2 years, teams with $92m payrolls won't be winning as much as we are. stop being such a kyle.

[Guest]

I know some always feel the need to point out prospects bust sometimes, but we can be pretty confident we won't have holes at the positions Russell, Soler, and Bryant end up given their profiles.

I'm not sure why you leave Baez off that list. Have you seen replacement level at 2B?

[Sammy Sofa]

Which would leave a good 40 million a year to spend on starting pitching.

 

And praying for no holes.

yeah, good luck with that

 

Chris Davis hit 53 HR last year, and he's sitting at replacement level right now

Proven Veterans™ Matt Kemp, Jay Bruce, Allen Craig, Carlos Gonzalez, Prince Fielder, Billy Butler, Alfonso Soriano, Aaron Hill, Eric Hosmer, Carl Crawford, Carlos Beltran, Shin-soo Choo and like 100 other players with a track record, have all been pretty dismal this year...and this is to say nothing of the volatility of pitching

 

looking only at prospects that have floundered and drawing broad conclusions is ignorant of the greater unpredictability in player performance and serves as confirmation bias for an ill-informed mindset

 

So your argument against me being wary of thinking the all prospect team is a lock...is to point out the fluctuation in "proven" talent? Alright then.

[Guest]

Which would leave a good 40 million a year to spend on starting pitching.

 

And praying for no holes.

yeah, good luck with that

 

Chris Davis hit 53 HR last year, and he's sitting at replacement level right now

Proven Veterans™ Matt Kemp, Jay Bruce, Allen Craig, Carlos Gonzalez, Prince Fielder, Billy Butler, Alfonso Soriano, Aaron Hill, Eric Hosmer, Carl Crawford, Carlos Beltran, Shin-soo Choo and like 100 other players with a track record, have all been pretty dismal this year...and this is to say nothing of the volatility of pitching

 

looking only at prospects that have floundered and drawing broad conclusions is ignorant of the greater unpredictability in player performance and serves as confirmation bias for an ill-informed mindset

 

So your argument against me being wary of thinking the all prospect team is a lock...is to point out the fluctuation in "proven" talent? Alright then.

1) Nobody is suggesting that the "all-prospect team" is a lock

2) People are suggesting that any "all-veteran team" is not a lock, either

[Sammy Sofa]

Fine, I just imagined the no holes thing.

[Guest]

Fine, I just imagined the no holes thing.

I get a concession from you and B2B in one day?!?

 

Inconceivable.

[TruffleShuffle]

So your argument against me being wary of thinking the all prospect team is a lock...is to point out the fluctuation in "proven" talent? Alright then.

 

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SV2t29C9Hc4/Udip0f3dFUI/AAAAAAAAAS4/6Kjr827vRPw/s1600/Strawman+playbackups+com.jpg

[Sammy Sofa]

Go sniff a cork.

[Guest]

Go sniff a cork.

Is that to me, truffle or both?

[Sammy Sofa]

So your argument against me being wary of thinking the all prospect team is a lock...is to point out the fluctuation in "proven" talent? Alright then.

 

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SV2t29C9Hc4/Udip0f3dFUI/AAAAAAAAAS4/6Kjr827vRPw/s1600/Strawman+playbackups+com.jpg

 

Nooooooooooooope.

 

Unless that's some kind of Austrian thing that means something sideways over there.

[TruffleShuffle]

you were arguing against a position that nobody is taking; that's the definition of strawmanning.

[Guest]

The Cubs have a ton of money to spend, and 3 elite prospects that are MLB ready by opening day or shortly thereafter for service time purposes. The 'holes' comment is not referring to 'don't spend here we got top o' the line production secured for the next decade', it's referring to the idea that something has to give. Rizzo, Castro, Bryant, Alcantara, Baez, and Soler will all* be needing MLB playing time very soon, with Russell soon behind. They'll either be occupying space on the MLB roster(in which case you won't want to spend a ton of money intentionally blocking them), or they'll be used as currency just like the ton of money would.

 

* I'm excluding Castillo here for simplicity, but adding him as a constant gets you to 7 positions on the field 'covered'. They won't all be superstars or even good, but they'll need playing time to sort that out. In which case it doesn't make a ton of sense to spend on Pablo Sandoval when they can better allocate that money elsewhere, like pitching, the point of the original comment.