Random Cubs Musings

[Guest]

would still love to know why the [expletive] we didn't draft matt wieters. i mean he's not been as great as i thought he'd be, but he was a sure bet to be a good catcher, which is something we could use right now.

 

i thought the consensus around here when that draft came down was that Vitters was going to be the pick because Hendry had no money to spend on the draft.

 

Wilken came out much later and said Wieters was his #1 choice but they didn't have the financial resources to sign him. But that was definitely after the fact. Supposedly the Cubs would have gone Moustakas if KC hadn't picked him and the other guy they were considering besides Vitters was Jarrod Parker.

[Gmoney08]

i want to see if someone can go as far back to argue that alex gonzalez booting that ground ball in game six against florida, and mark prior's trek to cooperstown being derailed by a series of arm injuries, were actually good because without those things then we wouldn't have gotten kris bryant.

 

Its probably good we got rid of Maddux in 92. We would have built a competitive team through the 90s and altered the franchise to the point we never would have got the number 2 pick and Kris Bryant.

[Derwood]

The funny thing is, if you go back to the 2013 draft thread, a LOT of you guys were unhappy with the Bryant pick

[Hairyducked Idiot]

The funny thing is, if you go back to the 2013 draft thread, a LOT of you guys were unhappy with the Bryant pick

 

NOT ME! Screw pitchers.q

[Guest]

http://www.cubsinsider.com/theo-board-sizzle/

uhh, could this guy possibly have misinterpreted what ricketts meant by these comments any worse?

 

But then came the topic of TV deals, and it was on that note that Ricketts would offer up a particularly illuminating comment:

 

The next big financial change to the Cubs will be the new television contract. What you’ve seen in baseball over the past handful of years is that the teams that are most aggressive in signing free agents, or teams that are spending more, are teams that have recently renewed their television deals.

 

There’s a very important and convenient confluence of events coming together on the North Side. Three years of drafting, flipping and outright sucking on purpose have infused the Cubs organization with a deep base of young, cost-controlled talent. Three years of trimming payroll fat has produced tremendous financial flexibility. And, as importantly as anything else, breaking the shackles of the WGN contract has spurred the long-awaited push toward 21st century revenue from 21st century TV money.

 

ricketts meant tv deal -> spending money, not spending money -> tv deal

 

i'm not saying adding players (and maddon) and the surrounding excitement might not help down the stretch with this tv contract, but that's definitely not what he was saying.

[Guest]

http://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2014/11/8/7177555/2015-bill-james-handbook-cubs-projections

 

James projections for the cubs next year

 

 

uhh that's a lot of offense

[treebird]

http://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2014/11/8/7177555/2015-bill-james-handbook-cubs-projections

 

James projections for the cubs next year

 

 

uhh that's a lot of offense

 

b& for linking yellon

[Hairyducked Idiot]

http://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2014/11/8/7177555/2015-bill-james-handbook-cubs-projections

 

James projections for the cubs next year

 

 

uhh that's a lot of offense

 

James projections are always super crazy.

[Andy]

http://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2014/11/8/7177555/2015-bill-james-handbook-cubs-projections

 

James projections for the cubs next year

 

 

uhh that's a lot of offense

 

James projections are always super crazy.

Yeah, I used them in a fantasy baseball draft one year. It was right around the time he projected Will Middlebrooks for like 25 homers and a .800 OPS that I realized his projections are the functional equivalent of a crackhead.

[Guest]

http://mlbpaa.mlb.com/mlbpaa/events/heartandhustle/index.jsp

 

lmao

[gscool89]

http://mlbpaa.mlb.com/mlbpaa/events/heartandhustle/index.jsp

 

lmao

Surprised Castro didn't get nominated

 

/kapman

[TruffleShuffle]

http://mlbpaa.mlb.com/mlbpaa/events/heartandhustle/index.jsp

 

lmao

 

should be named after david eckstein.

[Backtobanks]

http://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2014/11/8/7177555/2015-bill-james-handbook-cubs-projections

 

James projections for the cubs next year

 

 

uhh that's a lot of offense

 

James projections are always super crazy.

 

His pitching projections certainly hint that we ought to save our money on Lester:

 

Jake Arrieta: 31 GS, 195 IP, 18 HR, 66 BB, 174 K, 12-10, 3.55 ERA

Kyle Hendricks: 28 GS, 176 IP, 8 HR, 39 BB, 135 K, 12-8, 3.17 ERA

Edwin Jackson: 28 GS, 164 IP, 18 HR, 64 BB, 130 K, 7-11, 4.50 ERA

Eric Jokisch: 27 GS, 174 IP, 16 HR, 46 BB, 140 K, 10-9, 3.57 ERA

Neil Ramirez: 66 G, 60 IP, 7 HR, 26 BB, 66 K, 3-3, 0 SV, 3.75 ERA

Hector Rondon: 64 G, 66 IP, 6 HR, 20 BB, 61 K, 4-4, 40 SV, 3.05 ERA

Pedro Strop: 66 G, 64 IP, 3 HR, 28 BB, 68 K, 4-3, 0 SV, 3.09 ERA

Jacob Turner: 27 G, 19 GS, 114 IP, 12 HR, 39 BB, 76 K, 5-7, 4.26 ERA

Tsuyoshi Wada: 27 GS, 151 IP, 18 HR, 45 BB, 133 K, 8-9, 4.05 ERA

Travis Wood: 31 GS, 185 IP, 20 HR, 72 BB, 146 K, 9-11, 3.99 ERA

 

And just for grins:

 

Jon Lester: 33 GS, 217 IP, 20 HR, 56 BB, 198 K, 13-11, 3.36 ERA

[Janelle-Alexis]

Here are some of his pitching projections for last year.

                   G   GS   IP   H   BB   SO   HR   W   L   SV   ERA
Jake Arrieta       20   20  117 114   53   99   14   5   8    0  4.31
Edwin Jackson      31   31  190 199   62  148   20   9  12    0  4.07
James Russell      66    0   48  51   15   34    7   2   3    0  4.50
Jeff Samardzija    32   32  211 198   76  194   24  11  13    0  3.80
Pedro Strop        67    0   65  56   32   68    3   4   4    8  3.46
Carlos Villanueva  40   14  125 116   41  107   17   6   7    0  3.74
Travis Wood        31   31  197 183   66  155   21  10  11    0  3.70

[Hairyducked Idiot]

The story I always remember with the Bill James Projections is a couple of years ago when someone on a Detroit fan site adjusted them for playing time, plugged them into a WAR calculator, and came up with 91 wins. This provoked an excited couple pages of comments among Tiger fans until someone did the same thing for the entire AL and 91 wins was barely out of last place.

[jersey cubs fan]

http://www.cubsinsider.com/theo-board-sizzle/

uhh, could this guy possibly have misinterpreted what ricketts meant by these comments any worse?

 

But then came the topic of TV deals, and it was on that note that Ricketts would offer up a particularly illuminating comment:

 

The next big financial change to the Cubs will be the new television contract. What you’ve seen in baseball over the past handful of years is that the teams that are most aggressive in signing free agents, or teams that are spending more, are teams that have recently renewed their television deals.

 

There’s a very important and convenient confluence of events coming together on the North Side. Three years of drafting, flipping and outright sucking on purpose have infused the Cubs organization with a deep base of young, cost-controlled talent. Three years of trimming payroll fat has produced tremendous financial flexibility. And, as importantly as anything else, breaking the shackles of the WGN contract has spurred the long-awaited push toward 21st century revenue from 21st century TV money.

 

ricketts meant tv deal -> spending money, not spending money -> tv deal

 

i'm not saying adding players (and maddon) and the surrounding excitement might not help down the stretch with this tv contract, but that's definitely not what he was saying.

 

I think you misinterpreted what you quoted at least as badly as you think that person misinterpreted Ricketts.

[KingCubsFan]

http://www.cubsinsider.com/theo-board-sizzle/

uhh, could this guy possibly have misinterpreted what ricketts meant by these comments any worse?

 

But then came the topic of TV deals, and it was on that note that Ricketts would offer up a particularly illuminating comment:

 

The next big financial change to the Cubs will be the new television contract. What you’ve seen in baseball over the past handful of years is that the teams that are most aggressive in signing free agents, or teams that are spending more, are teams that have recently renewed their television deals.

 

There’s a very important and convenient confluence of events coming together on the North Side. Three years of drafting, flipping and outright sucking on purpose have infused the Cubs organization with a deep base of young, cost-controlled talent. Three years of trimming payroll fat has produced tremendous financial flexibility. And, as importantly as anything else, breaking the shackles of the WGN contract has spurred the long-awaited push toward 21st century revenue from 21st century TV money.

 

ricketts meant tv deal -> spending money, not spending money -> tv deal

 

i'm not saying adding players (and maddon) and the surrounding excitement might not help down the stretch with this tv contract, but that's definitely not what he was saying.

 

I think you misinterpreted what you quoted at least as badly as you think that person misinterpreted Ricketts.

Yeah, I don't see what's wrong with the quote.

[Guest]

Did you guys actually read for context?

 

The implication is that the Ricketts was alluding to a Cubs need/want for some free agent "sizzle" to maximize what they can get out of an upcoming TV deal, when all Ricketts was saying is that teams that sign big free agents are the ones who are flush with recent mega TV deal cash - which is unbelievably obvious and not particularly illuminating.

Edited November 9, 2014 by David

[Guest]

The story I always remember with the Bill James Projections is a couple of years ago when someone on a Detroit fan site adjusted them for playing time, plugged them into a WAR calculator, and came up with 91 wins. This provoked an excited couple pages of comments among Tiger fans until someone did the same thing for the entire AL and 91 wins was barely out of last place.

 

lmao that's [expletive] great if true

[jersey cubs fan]

Did you guys actually read for context?

 

The implication is that the Ricketts was alluding to a Cubs need/want for some free agent "sizzle" to maximize what they can get out of an upcoming TV deal, when all Ricketts was saying is that teams that sign big free agents are the ones who are flush with recent mega TV deal cash - which is unbelievably obvious and not particularly illuminating.

That's, like, your interpretation man.

 

I don't see that in there at all.

 

Although it is blatantly obvious that all the leaks about "now is the time" are due in part to the timing of the tv deal. They have a product to sell and that product has been poorly rated for a long time. If I read anything into that it is that the tank job was due in part to force wgns hand to bail. But that's a stretch.

[Guest]

http://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2014/11/8/7177555/2015-bill-james-handbook-cubs-projections

 

James projections for the cubs next year

 

 

uhh that's a lot of offense

 

James projections are always super crazy.

Yeah, I used them in a fantasy baseball draft one year. It was right around the time he projected Will Middlebrooks for like 25 homers and a .800 OPS that I realized his projections are the functional equivalent of a crackhead.

 

What did they say about Ruggiano tho?

[Post Count Padder]

In case anyone was wondering, Hendricks got a couple NL ROY votes.

[SouthSideRyan]

Did you guys actually read for context?

 

The implication is that the Ricketts was alluding to a Cubs need/want for some free agent "sizzle" to maximize what they can get out of an upcoming TV deal, when all Ricketts was saying is that teams that sign big free agents are the ones who are flush with recent mega TV deal cash - which is unbelievably obvious and not particularly illuminating.

That's, like, your interpretation man.

 

I don't see that in there at all.

 

Although it is blatantly obvious that all the leaks about "now is the time" are due in part to the timing of the tv deal. They have a product to sell and that product has been poorly rated for a long time. If I read anything into that it is that the tank job was due in part to force wgns hand to bail. But that's a stretch.

 

Force WGN's hand? The Cubs had the opt out.

[biittner77]

Did you guys actually read for context?

 

The implication is that the Ricketts was alluding to a Cubs need/want for some free agent "sizzle" to maximize what they can get out of an upcoming TV deal, when all Ricketts was saying is that teams that sign big free agents are the ones who are flush with recent mega TV deal cash - which is unbelievably obvious and not particularly illuminating.

That's, like, your interpretation man.

 

I don't see that in there at all.

 

Although it is blatantly obvious that all the leaks about "now is the time" are due in part to the timing of the tv deal. They have a product to sell and that product has been poorly rated for a long time. If I read anything into that it is that the tank job was due in part to force wgns hand to bail. But that's a stretch.

 

Force WGN's hand? The Cubs had the opt out.

 

He did say it was a stretch.

[jersey cubs fan]

Did you guys actually read for context?

 

The implication is that the Ricketts was alluding to a Cubs need/want for some free agent "sizzle" to maximize what they can get out of an upcoming TV deal, when all Ricketts was saying is that teams that sign big free agents are the ones who are flush with recent mega TV deal cash - which is unbelievably obvious and not particularly illuminating.

That's, like, your interpretation man.

 

I don't see that in there at all.

 

Although it is blatantly obvious that all the leaks about "now is the time" are due in part to the timing of the tv deal. They have a product to sell and that product has been poorly rated for a long time. If I read anything into that it is that the tank job was due in part to force wgns hand to bail. But that's a stretch.

 

Force WGN's hand? The Cubs had the opt out.

I was thinking of it in terms of WGN opting out of their radio deal before the Cubs opted out of the TV deal. Not that it necessarily makes sense.