Theo on The Score @ 10:40AM

[davell]

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?

 

A team in a division that doesn't have to worry about anyone else flat out buying one and has a ridiculous amount of young talent.

[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?

 

A team in a division that doesn't have to worry about anyone else flat out buying one and has a ridiculous amount of young talent.

 

Lots of other teams in the division have ridiculous amounts of young talent.

 

I'm glad to know The Plan has made us magically immune to runs of injuries or negative variance.

[davell]

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

 

5 of 10 and for it to be in good enough shape to expect no less than 3 of the next 5 after that.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

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

 

5 of 10 and for it to be in good enough shape to expect no less than 3 of the next 5 after that.

 

Once it starts, that's 8 out of 10. The only team to do 8 out of 10 since the 1990s Braves was the Yankees.

 

That's a ceiling, not a reasonable expectation.

[davell]

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?

 

A team in a division that doesn't have to worry about anyone else flat out buying one and has a ridiculous amount of young talent.

 

Lots of other teams in the division have ridiculous amounts of young talent.

 

I'm glad to know The Plan has made us magically immune to runs of injuries or negative variance.

 

No one has our young talent base and injuries are accounted inside that. One horrible year full of injuries and one year we may have some or just may not play well enough to get it done. And this is not taking into account that we could make the playoffs next year.

 

Not to mention that if you look at the East or West, no one is scary moving forward. It wouldn't shock me if both WC's come from our division fairly often over this period of time.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

The Cardinals' talent base is close enough to ours to give them a good shot at taking us down a few times.

[davell]

The Cardinals' talent base is close enough to ours to give them a good shot at taking us down a few times.

 

That's fine. Again, there's the WC. This way still set us up much better for years 6-10 than trying to piece things together for one POTENTIAL playoff possibility prior to now.

[SouthSideRyan]

No one has our young talent base and injuries are accounted inside that. One horrible year full of injuries and one year we may have some or just may not play well enough to get it done. And this is not taking into account that we could make the playoffs next year.

 

Not to mention that if you look at the East or West, no one is scary moving forward. It wouldn't shock me if both WC's come from our division fairly often over this period of time.

 

This seems irrationally optimistic. If not for injuries you're EXPECTING us to go to the playoffs 9 out of 10 seasons?

[Hairyducked Idiot]

No one has our young talent base and injuries are accounted inside that. One horrible year full of injuries and one year we may have some or just may not play well enough to get it done. And this is not taking into account that we could make the playoffs next year.

 

Not to mention that if you look at the East or West, no one is scary moving forward. It wouldn't shock me if both WC's come from our division fairly often over this period of time.

 

This seems irrationally optimistic. If not for injuries you're EXPECTING us to go to the playoffs 9 out of 10 seasons?

 

It's either that or admit that being terrible for three years sucks and isn't awesome.

[Guest]

Thinking about the amount of young offensive talent we have at every single position and thus every single spot in the lineup when baseball is deprived of offense makes it easy to get carried away thinking about how much of a powerhouse the team can be even if things don't break 100% right. We seriously have 8 dudes who most teams would be excited about as future middle of the order bats in this day and age. 8 dudes who all can play on the field at one time (7 if Schwarber can't catch).

 

That's admittedly a stretch with Alcantara...but beyond that...

[Burt Macklin, FBI]

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

 

5 of 10 and for it to be in good enough shape to expect no less than 3 of the next 5 after that.

 

Once it starts, that's 8 out of 10. The only team to do 8 out of 10 since the 1990s Braves was the Yankees.

 

That's a ceiling, not a reasonable expectation.

 

From 2004-2013 the Cards have averaged 90 wins and won the division 5 times. I feel like that's a reasonable ceiling for any team in a competitive division. Asking for more than that is wishful thinking. True dynasties are insanely hard to come by, especially when a lot of the competitive advantages teams have exploited in the past are drying up.

[Guest]

No one has our young talent base and injuries are accounted inside that. One horrible year full of injuries and one year we may have some or just may not play well enough to get it done. And this is not taking into account that we could make the playoffs next year.

 

Not to mention that if you look at the East or West, no one is scary moving forward. It wouldn't shock me if both WC's come from our division fairly often over this period of time.

 

This seems irrationally optimistic. If not for injuries you're EXPECTING us to go to the playoffs 9 out of 10 seasons?

 

It's either that or admit that being terrible for three years sucks and isn't awesome.

 

Admit that you've been similarly intoxicated lately

 

I'm this close to recanting and declaring the rebuild to be the best idea ever.

[davell]

No one has our young talent base and injuries are accounted inside that. One horrible year full of injuries and one year we may have some or just may not play well enough to get it done. And this is not taking into account that we could make the playoffs next year.

 

Not to mention that if you look at the East or West, no one is scary moving forward. It wouldn't shock me if both WC's come from our division fairly often over this period of time.

 

This seems irrationally optimistic. If not for injuries you're EXPECTING us to go to the playoffs 9 out of 10 seasons?

 

I don't know how to account for injuries versus performance issues. But the bottom line is I do expect 5 playoff appearances over their initial 10 year run. How it happens, how we miss going forward, doesn't matter to me.

[davell]

No one has our young talent base and injuries are accounted inside that. One horrible year full of injuries and one year we may have some or just may not play well enough to get it done. And this is not taking into account that we could make the playoffs next year.

 

Not to mention that if you look at the East or West, no one is scary moving forward. It wouldn't shock me if both WC's come from our division fairly often over this period of time.

 

This seems irrationally optimistic. If not for injuries you're EXPECTING us to go to the playoffs 9 out of 10 seasons?

 

It's either that or admit that being terrible for three years sucks and isn't awesome.

 

 

50 years from now......

 

Here lies Kyle, who's long life was still cut 5 years short because the Chicago Cubs only averaged 63 wins between 2012-2014 and not 73.

[SouthSideRyan]

Everyone who was a fan of losing on purpose for 3 years will be granted immortality because the world is cruel and unjust

[Guest]

Thinking about the amount of young offensive talent we have at every single position and thus every single spot in the lineup when baseball is deprived of offense makes it easy to get carried away thinking about how much of a powerhouse the team can be even if things don't break 100% right. We seriously have 8 dudes who most teams would be excited about as future middle of the order bats in this day and age. 8 dudes who all can play on the field at one time (7 if Schwarber can't catch).

 

That's admittedly a stretch with Alcantara...but beyond that...

 

seriously THINK ABOUT THIS [expletive] AND DAYDREAM ON IT

 

like, that's not even homeristic hyperbole... any organization would be looking at any of russell, bryant, soler, rizzo, baez, and schwarber as future lynchpins of their lineup. any one. and castro and alcantara are (or project to be for the latter) pretty good hitters too.

 

lets stop arguing about this [expletive] and enjoy the fact that this team is starting to be exciting again

Edited August 28, 2014 by David

[davell]

Everyone who was a fan of losing on purpose for 3 years will be granted immortality because the world is cruel and unjust

 

I'm not a FAN of it. But with our limitations, I do think it was the better option.

[davell]

And yeah, what David just said. I don't even care if I am being irrational.

[jersey cubs fan]

No one has our young talent base and injuries are accounted inside that. One horrible year full of injuries and one year we may have some or just may not play well enough to get it done. And this is not taking into account that we could make the playoffs next year.

 

Not to mention that if you look at the East or West, no one is scary moving forward. It wouldn't shock me if both WC's come from our division fairly often over this period of time.

 

This seems irrationally optimistic. If not for injuries you're EXPECTING us to go to the playoffs 9 out of 10 seasons?

 

It's either that or admit that being terrible for three years sucks and isn't awesome.

 

 

50 years from now......

 

Here lies Kyle, who's long life was still cut 5 years short because the Chicago Cubs only averaged 63 wins between 2012-2014 and not 73.

 

In order to average 73 during those years they would need 92 wins this year, that would have been awesome.

[davell]

I knew you'd bring that up. Damnit.

[jersey cubs fan]

Thinking about the amount of young offensive talent we have at every single position and thus every single spot in the lineup when baseball is deprived of offense makes it easy to get carried away thinking about how much of a powerhouse the team can be even if things don't break 100% right. We seriously have 8 dudes who most teams would be excited about as future middle of the order bats in this day and age. 8 dudes who all can play on the field at one time (7 if Schwarber can't catch).

 

That's admittedly a stretch with Alcantara...but beyond that...

 

seriously THINK ABOUT THIS [expletive] AND DAYDREAM ON IT

 

like, that's not even homeristic hyperbole... any organization would be looking at any of russell, bryant, soler, rizzo, baez, and schwarber as future lynchpins of their lineup. any one. and castro and alcantara are pretty good hitters too.

 

lets stop arguing about this [expletive] and enjoy the fact that this team is starting to be exciting again

 

Yes, that is hyperbolic. 8 dudes everybody else would be excited about as middle of the order hitters? No.

 

I'd rather day watch winning baseball than daydream about prospects who will not come close to living up to some of the absurd expectations people have for them.

[Guest]

 

Yes, that is hyperbolic. 8 dudes everybody else would be excited about as middle of the order hitters? No.

 

I'd rather day watch winning baseball than daydream about prospects who will not come close to living up to some of the absurd expectations people have for them.

 

 

There is not a team in baseball who would have any one of Rizzo, Soler, Bryant, Baez, Russell, or Schwarber right now and not project them as one of their future middle of the order guys. I admitted that Castro and Alcantara aren't those types of bats but are still productive everyday players given some combination of positional value and stuff like defense and baserunning.

 

How can you possibly dispute this? Have you seen what offenses look like now?

 

Yes, some aren't going to be all that good. Some are going to be OK. Some will probably reach every bit of their ceilings. That's why we have a lot of them and we have them at every position (yes, debatable when it comes to Schwarber).

Edited August 28, 2014 by David

[Bryants Disco Ball]

I've always thought this, but I think I'm willing to give up the last three seasons, seasons in which I'm not even sure we'd have made the playoffs had we even tried due to all the crappy free agents we would have signed, for what might be about to come.

 

I think things are about to become real fun.

[jersey cubs fan]

 

Yes, that is hyperbolic. 8 dudes everybody else would be excited about as middle of the order hitters? No.

 

I'd rather day watch winning baseball than daydream about prospects who will not come close to living up to some of the absurd expectations people have for them.

 

 

There is not a team in baseball who would have any one of Rizzo, Soler, Bryant, Baez, Russell, or Schwarber right now and not project them as one of their future middle of the order guys. I admitted that Castro and Alcantara aren't those types of bats but are still productive everyday players given some combination of positional value and stuff like defense and baserunning.

 

How can you possibly dispute this? Have you seen what offenses look like now?

 

Yes, some aren't going to be all that good. Some are going to be OK. Some will probably reach every bit of their ceilings. That's why we have a lot of them and we have them at every position (yes, debatable when it comes to Schwarber).

 

Would they have them in their system? Sure. Of [expletive] course. What kind of statement is that? It's meaningless.

[Guest]

i immediately regret using the phrase "every bit of their ceilings"

 

you know what i mean