Theo on The Score @ 10:40AM

[Guest]

With all this cheap labor the Ricketts will be in heaven. Think of the cost per win here. The Cubs will be winners of the most bang for the buck trophy given out by the Walton family.

 

The Cubs almost have to spend on a big name FA pitcher, right?

 

yes.

 

theo isn't a moron. the overall situation (roster, payroll, market, etc) is such that i'd be shocked if they didn't acquire a significant pitcher in the offseason. seriously.

[Guest]

Yeah I really don't get some people's viewpoints sometimes. I could see if fans of, say, the Yankees were going through this, but this has been a piece of [expletive] organization consistently for decades. They are turning this from a subsidiary of a newspaper company into a real baseball organization and people are getting pissy it's not happening overnight.

lol, The Ricketts family has the distinction of owning the worst string of Cubs teams in over 100 years. They are the epitome of "wait till next year" with next year getting pushed back to some fuzzy time in the future.

[SouthSideRyan]

Yeah I really don't get some people's viewpoints sometimes. I could see if fans of, say, the Yankees were going through this, but this has been a piece of [expletive] organization consistently for decades. They are turning this from a subsidiary of a newspaper company into a real baseball organization and people are getting pissy it's not happening overnight.

 

We should be thankful for every dollar our generous overlords are spending.

[Banedon]

I should just not talk to real life people about the Cubs anymore. Had a co-worker tell me today that calling up Soler messed with the chemistry of a team that was on a 4 game winning streak.

[SouthSideRyan]

Weird, I'm surprised about the negativity because I think thats the most optimistic quote on near future spending I've seen from Theo yet.

 

I'm surprised at the near universal positivity about an interview where Theo left 15 outs for the FO should we fail to spend money this offseason

[davell]

I should just not talk to real life people about the Cubs anymore. Had a co-worker tell me today that calling up Soler messed with the chemistry of a team that was on a 4 game winning streak.

 

Seriously, I'm basically to that point too.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

I can't believe you guys didn't reach that point 10 years ago.

[Guest]

Yeah I really don't get some people's viewpoints sometimes. I could see if fans of, say, the Yankees were going through this, but this has been a piece of [expletive] organization consistently for decades. They are turning this from a subsidiary of a newspaper company into a real baseball organization and people are getting pissy it's not happening overnight.

lol, The Ricketts family has the distinction of owning the worst string of Cubs teams in over 100 years. They are the epitome of "wait till next year" with next year getting pushed back to some fuzzy time in the future.

And yet we're positioned to see the best run of baseball any of us has ever seen. Not everything they've done has been terrible.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

And yet we're positioned to see the best run of baseball any of us has ever seen. Not everything they've done has been terrible.

 

Are we? 2003-2008 was pretty good. I don't think it's a slam dunk we beat it.

[Brian]

I should just not talk to real life people about the Cubs anymore. Had a co-worker tell me today that calling up Soler messed with the chemistry of a team that was on a 4 game winning streak.

 

Not real life, but I saw someone reply to one of Len's tweets about Castro last night calling Castro's contract terrible and unmovable.

[davell]

Weird, I'm surprised about the negativity because I think thats the most optimistic quote on near future spending I've seen from Theo yet.

 

I'm surprised at the near universal positivity about an interview where Theo left 15 outs for the FO should we fail to spend money this offseason

 

I'm not going to go [expletive] crazy if Lester gets 7/175 and Scherzer gets 8/200 and we miss. It just puts more pressure on us the following deadline and/or offseason to get some things done.

 

On the other hand, as silly as those prices on Lester and Scherzer may appear-if we did pay that to get one if them-I'm not going to complain either.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Weird, I'm surprised about the negativity because I think thats the most optimistic quote on near future spending I've seen from Theo yet.

 

I'm surprised at the near universal positivity about an interview where Theo left 15 outs for the FO should we fail to spend money this offseason

 

I'm not going to go bat [expletive] crazy if Lester gets 7/175 and Scherzer gets 8/200 and we miss. It just puts more pressure on us the following deadline and/or offseason to get some things done.

 

On the other hand, as silly as those prices on Lester and Scherzer may appear-if we did pay that to get one if them-I'm not going to complain either.

 

So ... no failure conditions. Epstein has done such an amazing job grooming this fanbase.

[SouthSideRyan]

I'm not going to go bat [expletive] crazy if Lester gets 7/175 and Scherzer gets 8/200 and we miss. It just puts more pressure on us the following deadline and/or offseason to get some things done.

 

 

I bet those guys will be cheap.

[SouthSideRyan]

Yeah I really don't get some people's viewpoints sometimes. I could see if fans of, say, the Yankees were going through this, but this has been a piece of [expletive] organization consistently for decades. They are turning this from a subsidiary of a newspaper company into a real baseball organization and people are getting pissy it's not happening overnight.

lol, The Ricketts family has the distinction of owning the worst string of Cubs teams in over 100 years. They are the epitome of "wait till next year" with next year getting pushed back to some fuzzy time in the future.

And yet we're positioned to see the best run of baseball any of us has ever seen. Not everything they've done has been terrible.

 

Other than hiring Theo Epstein, prettty much everything they've done has been terrible.

[Guest]

Free agent pitchers in the new CBA getting at least 3 years with at least 10 million AAV*

 

*If someone wants that parameter adjusted let me know, I came up with it to approximate deals large enough in length and magnitude that people would be worried the FO wouldn't pay to get that player.

 

CJ Wilson, Darvish, Buehrle, Greinke, Anibal, Jaxon, Tanaka, Garza, Nolasco, Ubaldo, Feldman

 

If we extrapolate YTD for the rest of season for those guys, you end up with:

 

4 seasons of 4+ fWAR (Darvish x3, Anibal 2013)

5 seasons of 3-4 fWAR (Wilson 2013, Buehrle 2014, Greinke 2014, Anibal 2014, Tanaka 2014)

3 seasons of 2-3 fWAR (Buehrle 2013, Greinke 2013, Garza 2014)

8 seasons of 0-2 fWAR (the rest)

 

So of the biggest FA contracts handed out, 40% of the seasons have been below average.

 

The point of this is not to be a scary 'don't spend money on pitchers!' sentiment(although if you look at the names and the results there's some hints we can take on who to spend on), the point is not to fetishize spending money as a concept. Last offseason sucked because not specifically because they didn't spend money, but because they didn't add players in general. If they do the latter again this offseason will suck too, but spending money is not a pre-requisite. Especially given that right now we have either productive major leaguers or top of the line hitting prospects to fill in every spot in the lineup , and 3 different pitchers with 3-win seasons under their belt(4 if you want to round up with Doubront) plus Straily/Hendricks/Turner/Wada, there's very likely to be talent outgoing to help shape next year's roster.

[davell]

Weird, I'm surprised about the negativity because I think thats the most optimistic quote on near future spending I've seen from Theo yet.

 

I'm surprised at the near universal positivity about an interview where Theo left 15 outs for the FO should we fail to spend money this offseason

 

I'm not going to go bat [expletive] crazy if Lester gets 7/175 and Scherzer gets 8/200 and we miss. It just puts more pressure on us the following deadline and/or offseason to get some things done.

 

On the other hand, as silly as those prices on Lester and Scherzer may appear-if we did pay that to get one if them-I'm not going to complain either.

 

So ... no failure conditions. Epstein has done such an amazing job grooming this fanbase.

 

No, there is failure in my eyes. And that's if we haven't added 2 frontline starters by the trade deadline of 2016. My guess is we add one each year, but I'm not going to throw a fit if it doesn't work out that way.

[jersey cubs fan]

Yeah I really don't get some people's viewpoints sometimes. I could see if fans of, say, the Yankees were going through this, but this has been a piece of [expletive] organization consistently for decades. They are turning this from a subsidiary of a newspaper company into a real baseball organization and people are getting pissy it's not happening overnight.

 

THIS IS MIND NUMBINGLY WRONG.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

No, there is failure in my eyes. And that's if we haven't added 2 frontline starters by the trade deadline of 2016. My guess is we add one each year, but I'm not going to throw a fit if it doesn't work out that way.

 

That's the mid-year of their fifth season. Don't hurt yourself bending over to set the bar that low.

[davell]

No, there is failure in my eyes. And that's if we haven't added 2 frontline starters by the trade deadline of 2016. My guess is we add one each year, but I'm not going to throw a fit if it doesn't work out that way.

 

That's the mid-year of their fifth season. Don't hurt yourself bending over to set the bar that low.

 

Come on, we don't need to go through all that [expletive] again. If we're a consistent playoff team from 2016 moving forward, I'm happy enough. With the only caveat being if we don't win a WS during the regime, it's still a failure to me.

[Burt Macklin, FBI]

And yet we're positioned to see the best run of baseball any of us has ever seen. Not everything they've done has been terrible.

 

Are we? 2003-2008 was pretty good. I don't think it's a slam dunk we beat it.

 

From 03-08 we averaged 84 wins, which looks amazing after these last few craptacular seasons, but really isn't anything special. If that's all we manage from this prolonged rebuild I will be quite disappointed.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

No, there is failure in my eyes. And that's if we haven't added 2 frontline starters by the trade deadline of 2016. My guess is we add one each year, but I'm not going to throw a fit if it doesn't work out that way.

 

That's the mid-year of their fifth season. Don't hurt yourself bending over to set the bar that low.

 

Come on, we don't need to go through all that [expletive] again. If we're a consistent playoff team from 2016 moving forward, I'm happy enough. With the only caveat being if we don't win a WS during the regime, it's still a failure to me.

 

Apparently we *do* need to go through it again.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

And yet we're positioned to see the best run of baseball any of us has ever seen. Not everything they've done has been terrible.

 

Are we? 2003-2008 was pretty good. I don't think it's a slam dunk we beat it.

 

From 03-08 we averaged 84 wins, which looks amazing after these last few craptacular seasons, but really isn't anything special. If that's all we manage from this prolonged rebuild I will be quite disappointed.

 

I'll be disappointed too. But crap happens. The Texas Rangers' No. 1 farm system and awesome generation of young talent yielded them three playoff seasons and now they're in a dump again.

[davell]

No, there is failure in my eyes. And that's if we haven't added 2 frontline starters by the trade deadline of 2016. My guess is we add one each year, but I'm not going to throw a fit if it doesn't work out that way.

 

That's the mid-year of their fifth season. Don't hurt yourself bending over to set the bar that low.

 

Come on, we don't need to go through all that [expletive] again. If we're a consistent playoff team from 2016 moving forward, I'm happy enough. With the only caveat being if we don't win a WS during the regime, it's still a failure to me.

 

Apparently we *do* need to go through it again.

 

We really don't. If they set us up and we make the playoffs 5 times in a 10 year period, maybe 6, I'm not complaining. Especially since we'll likely not have a fall off after that either and there's no guarantee this group isn't here longer than 10 as it is.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

We really don't. If they set us up and we make the playoffs 5 times in a 10 year period, maybe 6, I'm not complaining. Especially since we'll likely not have a fall off after that either and there's no guarantee this group isn't here longer than 10 as it is.

 

Who makes the playoffs 5-6 straight years in the current parity-heavy environment?

[SouthSideRyan]

No, there is failure in my eyes. And that's if we haven't added 2 frontline starters by the trade deadline of 2016. My guess is we add one each year, but I'm not going to throw a fit if it doesn't work out that way.

 

That's the mid-year of their fifth season. Don't hurt yourself bending over to set the bar that low.

 

Come on, we don't need to go through all that [expletive] again. If we're a consistent playoff team from 2016 moving forward, I'm happy enough. With the only caveat being if we don't win a WS during the regime, it's still a failure to me.

 

Apparently we *do* need to go through it again.

 

We really don't. If they set us up and we make the playoffs 5 times in a 10 year period, maybe 6, I'm not complaining. Especially since we'll likely not have a fall off after that either and there's no guarantee this group isn't here longer than 10 as it is.

 

Do you mean 5 times out of 13 or 5 times out of 10?