4/13 Cubs (Jackson) at Cards (Wacha) 1:15 WGN

[davell]

I mean, it's not even mid April yet and we've been all but eliminated. :hello:

 

We were eliminated on Sept. 28, 2011, when Epstein decided he was tired of all that pressure to win every year and wanted to go to a franchise that would let him play Farm System Hero.

 

Stop that [expletive] [expletive]. If Ricketts had money to spend, they certainly would be spending it. But he doesn't and they can't. And you [expletive] know it.

 

Why even bother responding to Kyle when he posts [expletive] like that?

 

It's about every 100 times or so. I'm getting better.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

I don't understand why people bother reading Kyle's posts.

 

Because I'm insightful. Or inciteful. Homonyms are hard...

[Hairyducked Idiot]

 

Why even bother responding to Kyle when he posts [expletive] like that?

 

Because it's scary that I might be right.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

I wonder who sent the franchise down this path.

 

Was it the guy who said this:

 

"One thing we've seen in baseball over the last few years is that turnarounds can happen pretty quickly. So I don't think it's fair to describe a year as a rebuilding year or reloading year. That fact is you get the right players on the team and they stay healthy and they play hard, a team can go from 70 wins to 90 wins."

 

"It can happen pretty quickly. Look at the Diamondbacks and even the Cubs a few years ago. So that's how we look at it."

 

Or the guy who said this:

 

“I think so. In 10 years, you’re going to have misses. I do think this. I think taking a step back, if you take a look at what our baseball group was best at, we were best at drafting and developing young talent and finding some undervalued players. I think we were the best drafting team of the decade and all that. That’s a very patient, organic approach. Pure . . .

 

“We joked about it all the time in the front office. We’d say, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if we could just say, screw free agency altogether. We’re going with a purely home-grown lineup. We’re going with old-school, Branch Rickey-style, pre-free agency, pre-draft whatever?’

 

“Middlebrooks at third, Lowrie or Iglesias at short, Pedroia at second, Rizzo at first, Lavarnway catching, Ellsbury in center, Reddick in right, Kalish in left. Wouldn’t that have been fun?

“We kind of clung to that in the back of our minds, knowing it was impossible, recognizing that there was an inherent tension between that approach and bigger business. I kind of kick myself for letting my guard down and giving into it, because that might be a better team in some ways and resonate more with the fans than what we ended up with.

 

“When you make a mistake in the draft, you just keep drafting. You keep finding another player to develop. When you make a mistake in free agency, you’re stuck with it for the duration of the deal and it can be a real impediment."

 

 

 

Ricketts has surely fumbled just about everything there has been to fumble, but don't for a second fool yourself into thinking he's holding Epstein back and forcing him into this. Epstein is loving every moment of this, living out his dream.

[gscool89]

:roll:

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Here's a subject on which you *should* stop listening to me:

 

Our bullpen's net WPA is 27th in the league right now.

 

There's going to be a point next offseason where I start to convince myself that we'll have a good bullpen. I will be wrong and do not listen to me or anyone else who says it.

[mul21]

Here's a subject on which you *should* stop listening to me:

 

Our bullpen's net WPA is 27th in the league right now.

 

There's going to be a point next offseason where I start to convince myself that we'll have a good bullpen. I will be wrong and do not listen to me or anyone else who says it.

 

Well, you're definitely wrong about when it will be good. But you're late. By June, this pen will be pretty lights out because Veras will have figured it out or be gone and Vizcaino, Fujikawa, and Rosscup will be pitching in it. Which means no Wright, Parker or Schlitter and less Russell.

[davell]

Who [expletive] cares what Theo said back when he thought we'd have renovation money to spend almost immediately?

 

Remember in that very first offseason when they had to use 3 [expletive] calendar years to give Carlos Pena 10 million dollars? The clamps being put on had NOTHING to do with that, did it? The way things have gone is not remotely how Theo envisioned it and he's said as much.

 

You holding things over his head from when he first signed on is the dumbest thing you've ever done on this site by far.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Who [expletive] cares what Theo said back when he thought we'd have renovation money to spend almost immediately?

 

Remember in that very first offseason when they had to use 3 [expletive] calendar years to give Carlos Pena 10 million dollars? The clamps being put on had NOTHING to do with that, did it? The way things have gone is not remotely how Theo envisioned it and he's said as much.

 

You holding things over his head from when he first signed on is the dumbest thing you've ever done on this site by far.

 

So you're going to ignore the part where you insisted Epstein would spend money if he had it, but he had money this offseason and didn't spend it?

 

You can disagree if you want to put forward a coherent disagreement, but you should probably at least address it. Ricketts botching the finances and Epstein living out his fantasy rebuild are not mutually exclusive propositions.

 

The generic aggression and "dumbest thing you've ever said!!!!!" is just stuff people turn to when I'm hitting a nerve.

[davell]

Here's a subject on which you *should* stop listening to me:

 

Our bullpen's net WPA is 27th in the league right now.

 

There's going to be a point next offseason where I start to convince myself that we'll have a good bullpen. I will be wrong and do not listen to me or anyone else who says it.

 

Please. You have any issues with Grimm and Rondon? Even Strop moving forward? Between Parker and Schlitter, we could have a long term middle reliever. Between Vizcaino, Ramirez, and Rivero, we'll get one or two long term pieces out of it.

 

Fujikawa could still figure in the mix. Between Russell, Wright, Rosscup, and Rusin-I'm not even worried about finding 2 lefties.

 

I really, really like the pen moving forward and won't listen to 11games worth of [expletive] stats to make sure I get my daily doom boner.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

I could definitely see any or all of Rondon, Grimm and Strop succumbing to toomanywalksitis.

[SouthSideRyan]

Does it really matter whether this was Theo's Baseball Mogul dream or not? If he didn't come here to carry out THE PLAN!!!, then Rick Hahn would have been here running the team for nickels. What does it matter?

[mul21]

 

So you're going to ignore the part where you insisted Epstein would spend money if he had it, but he had money this offseason and didn't spend it?

 

 

So now you're bitching that he didn't spend just to spend? Meatballier by the day Kyle.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

 

So you're going to ignore the part where you insisted Epstein would spend money if he had it, but he had money this offseason and didn't spend it?

 

 

So now you're bitching that he didn't spend just to spend? Meatballier by the day Kyle.

 

That's an out-of-context, bad interpretation of what I said.

 

I said it was Epstein's dream to rebuild like this and that's why we're doing it. One of the dav's started yelling about how it was only because Ricketts hasn't given him any money to spend and if he had money he wouldn't have done it.

[mul21]

 

So you're going to ignore the part where you insisted Epstein would spend money if he had it, but he had money this offseason and didn't spend it?

 

 

So now you're bitching that he didn't spend just to spend? Meatballier by the day Kyle.

 

That's an out-of-context, bad interpretation of what I said.

 

You've repeated it multiple times now and don't seem to have any real context to it other then SPEND MOAR MONEY, so how am I supposed to interpret it?

[Hairyducked Idiot]

You've repeated it multiple times now and don't seem to have any real context to it other then SPEND MOAR MONEY, so how am I supposed to interpret it?

 

I explained it in an edit as you were replying.

 

 

Me: Epstein always wanted to do a scorched-earth rebuild like this. It's his dream.

 

Dav: You're crazy! If he had money he would spend it!

 

Me: Didn't he have money he didn't spend this offseason?

 

Dav: *crickets*

 

You: So you wanted him to spend money for spending it's sake?

[davell]

Who [expletive] cares what Theo said back when he thought we'd have renovation money to spend almost immediately?

 

Remember in that very first offseason when they had to use 3 [expletive] calendar years to give Carlos Pena 10 million dollars? The clamps being put on had NOTHING to do with that, did it? The way things have gone is not remotely how Theo envisioned it and he's said as much.

 

You holding things over his head from when he first signed on is the dumbest thing you've ever done on this site by far.

 

So you're going to ignore the part where you insisted Epstein would spend money if he had it, but he had money this offseason and didn't spend it?

 

You can disagree if you want to put forward a coherent disagreement, but you should probably at least address it. Ricketts botching the finances and Epstein living out his fantasy rebuild are not mutually exclusive propositions.

 

The generic aggression and "dumbest thing you've ever said!!!!!" is just stuff people turn to when I'm hitting a nerve.

 

[expletive]. Just because you HAVE a little money to spend doesn't mean you HAVE to spend it. They liked Tanaka and evidently didn't have the funds to get him. They obviously didn't like Ellsbury or Cano or Choo enough to bid. Nor is it a known fact they had the money to even land one of them. Nor is it a fact that any of them were worth what they got.

 

They said they rolled money over-I'll hold them accountable if its not spent by this time next year. It can be used on a mid season deal bringing in a long term fit, an IFA that's expensive, at any point. Or thru regular FA next offseason.

 

Sorry, but those 3-4 extra wins you've been fiending over will have to wait til they see something that is a good fit. It'll get spent and then you can stop bitching about the one(singular) addition that got delayed a bit because there was only one of them last year and we couldn't outbid the Yankees.

[mul21]

Yep, and your reply is what? Talking in more circles? What exactly, after missing on Tanaka, did you want them to spend the money on?

[gscool89]

Taking anything Theo said to the media seriously is a mistake. The guy knows how to handle the media better than anyone out there.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

[expletive]. Just because you HAVE a little money to spend doesn't mean you HAVE to spend it.

 

How do you square that with your statement earlier that they would spend money if they had it?

 

They liked Tanaka and evidently didn't have the funds to get him. They obviously didn't like Ellsbury or Cano or Choo enough to bid. Nor is it a known fact they had the money to even land one of them. Nor is it a fact that any of them were worth what they got.

 

Their decisions on who they "like" or not are being heavily weighed on by the fact that they are in love with the idea of a super-rebuild.

 

They said they rolled money over-I'll hold them accountable if its not spent by this time next year. It can be used on a mid season deal bringing in a long term fit, an IFA that's expensive, at any point. Or thru regular FA next offseason.

 

Oh yay, it's another round of "It's not their fault now, but I promise I'll hold them accountable in the future." Haven't been hearing that for three years...

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Yep, and your reply is what? Talking in more circles? What exactly, after missing on Tanaka, did you want them to spend the money on?

 

My reply to what? "spending just to spend" is a strawman. You spend to help your MLB team win MLB baseball games, which is sort of your job.

 

Well, there wasn't much left "after" missing on Tanaka. They should have had a better read on the Tanaka situation and not wasted the whole offseason pining after him. We have a bad back of the rotation and a historically awful outfield. I bet we could have found a few players to spend that money on if our super-smart front office really wanted to win more games in the present.

Edited April 13, 2014 by Hairyducked Idiot

[davell]

Does it really matter whether this was Theo's Baseball Mogul dream or not? If he didn't come here to carry out THE PLAN!!!, then Rick Hahn would have been here running the team for nickels. What does it matter?

 

That's the truth. If we don't have the ability to carry more than around a 100 mill in payroll, none of this matters.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Does it really matter whether this was Theo's Baseball Mogul dream or not? If he didn't come here to carry out THE PLAN!!!, then Rick Hahn would have been here running the team for nickels. What does it matter?

 

That's the truth. If we don't have the ability to carry more than around a 100 mill in payroll, none of this matters.

 

A better front office making better decisions absolutely could have had this team in better shape right now with a $100m payroll.

 

It's counterfactual so there's no way to prove it, so feel free to sputter some vague insults at me over that statement.

[Guest]

Jesus Christ...I just said a damn page ago not to respond to Kyle and now look at this cluster [expletive]

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Jesus Christ...I just said a damn page ago not to respond to Kyle and now look at this cluster [expletive]

 

It's the game thread and we don't have another game until Tuesday. Any participants are willing. If you don't like it, don't.

 

I like it. I assume anyone who takes the time to respond enjoys it too, or they wouldn't respond. Not your problem.