The Bryce is Right, Bitch

[Sammy Sofa]

I have no feeling towards the Ricketts as owners one way or another.

 

What a weird thing to say.

 

Why?

 

I think they have been fine.

 

Stuff like that.

 

Like, I never get the determination some people have to make it seem like they have no opinion about someone or something.

[imb]

like all these things are simultaneously true

 

the ricketts' ownership has been an improvement in many ways

the ricketts are largely butt as a family

the cubs are spending a lot of money

the cubs should be spending more money

the cubs may not be allowed to sign bryce harper

the cubs have the money to sign bryce harper at any cost

bryce harper may not even want to sign here

 

the whole point of "the tank" was not to just lose and accumulate picks, it was to allow them to accumulate assets and then spend big on exactly this type of scenario to ensure a decade-ish long window. Whiffing on the heyward, chatwood, and darvish (tbd) signings should not preclude you from trying to sign bryce horsefeathering harper. he was the whole point of the god damn tank.

[Bluescale]

Well, your assumption is wrong. I do think white straight guys enjoy privileges or advantages in life. I do consider myself lucky in life, but I'm not going to feel bad about myself for being a white straight guy.

 

This is a common misconception, and I think one of the reasons having conversations about privilege get heated so fast. There is absolutely no need to feel shame for having privilege. The important thing is to acknowledge it (which you did), and not be defensive about it (you were maybe just a little defensive). It's also important to understand that people with less privilege are going to be upset that society can really suck for them.

[Tim]

 

What a weird thing to say.

 

Why?

 

I think they have been fine.

 

Stuff like that.

 

Like, I never get the determination some people have to make it seem like they have no opinion about someone or something.

He does have an opinion. In his opinion, on the balance, they've been meh.

[Sammy Sofa]

 

Why?

 

I think they have been fine.

 

Stuff like that.

 

Like, I never get the determination some people have to make it seem like they have no opinion about someone or something.

He does have an opinion. In his opinion, on the balance, they've been meh.

 

YES, TIM, THAT'S THE horsefeathering POINT.

[Bryants Disco Ball]

 

What a weird thing to say.

 

Why?

 

I think they have been fine.

 

Stuff like that.

 

Like, I never get the determination some people have to make it seem like they have no opinion about someone or something.

 

I just don't have any sort of strong feeling one or another about them as owners. I think they have done a solid job, culminating in a long-awaited championship. But I also think the next owner who comes in and has a $200 million payroll also has a chance to do a solid job.

 

Like, when the Tribune Company owned the Cubs, that was a strong "these guys totally suck as owners" feeling.

[jersey cubs fan]

 

I've constantly read on here that this is the best time ever to be a Cubs fan. Who all got to see them win a World Series just a few years ago. They remain, according to many on here, one of the best teams in baseball coming off a 95-win season.

 

Using their all-time record is clearly distorting things, and you know it.

How? They've been owners for 9 seasons and started off with huge tank with the promise of spending a hell of a lot more later to win a lot and often. We lived through that time and still lined their pockets. They don't get a free pass for the tank if they suddenly can't afford top free agents (let alone relievers, per most recent reports).

[Butterscup]

wonder what The Cat is up to right now

[Bluescale]

Let's also not forget that last year Tom Ricketts said he would "rather have dry powder a year from now." He was talking about staying under the LT threshold then, so we could spend like drunken sailors this off season. And that's exactly what they did last season. I don't know what the horsefeathers they are going to do, but I sure as horsefeathers know what they should do.

 

Maybe all of this is a clever ploy to keep Boras from getting them into a bidding match against themselves. Let's hope. But at the moment, it sounds like a group of billionaires have decided they want a few more hundred dollar bills in their vault when it's time for them to swim through their riches a la Scrooge McDuck.

[Bryants Disco Ball]

 

I've constantly read on here that this is the best time ever to be a Cubs fan. Who all got to see them win a World Series just a few years ago. They remain, according to many on here, one of the best teams in baseball coming off a 95-win season.

 

Using their all-time record is clearly distorting things, and you know it.

How? They've been owners for 9 seasons and started off with huge tank with the promise of spending a hell of a lot more later to win a lot and often. We lived through that time and still lined their pockets. They don't get a free pass for the tank if they suddenly can't afford top free agents (let alone relievers, per most recent reports).

 

I guess I just don't agree with you that their promise of spending money hasn't happened and won't continue to happen. They have been one of the biggest players for the biggest fish in free agency since 2015.

 

And, if you believe Charles the Cat, they are also a player for Bryce Harper.

 

What's the issue here?

[Banedon]

now they want us to believe they can't afford a reliever

 

[tweet]

[/tweet]

 

BREAKING: Cubs need to shed salary before adding new popcorn vendors.

[Brian]

wonder what The Cat is up to right now

 

hanging out with Marlins Man

[tweet]

[/tweet]

[jersey cubs fan]

 

I guess I just don't agree with you that their promise of spending money hasn't happened and won't continue to happen.

 

The fact is they didn't spend for half a decade and only started spending a lot two years ago. Those are just facts and it doesn't matter if you agree or not.

 

They have been one of the biggest players for the biggest fish in free agency since 2015.

They spent on free agency in 2015 but that doesn't mean they had a particularly high payroll.

 

 

I don't believe they have a good reason to not spend on Harper this offseason, but they want us to believe they do.

[Brian]

To play devil's advocate on that Gonzales report about needing to move stuff to bring in reliever(s), that may be more of a logistics issue

 

looking at the pitchers, let's just assume health for the starters for sake of argument

 

1. Lester, 2. Hendricks, 3. Darvish, 4. Quintana, 5. Hamels

 

then we have

 

1. Chatwood

2. Cishek

3. Duensing

4. Edwards

5. Kintzler

6. Montgomery

7. Morrow (obvisously on track to start the season on the DL, but in a perfect world that doesn't last that long)

8. Rosario (can be sent down)

9. Ryan (he was signed to a major league deal, so he makes the roster or is exposed to waivers right ?)

10. Strop

11. Wick (not sure if this guy has options ?)

[David]

this is what it looks like when you blindly buy into propaganda

[Cubfanintheknow]

Seriously, do people just ignore the fact that the Ricketts family led this team into the crapper, on purpose, for many years, to supposedly be able to provide a decade long string of successes? We went through the BS "debt servicing" years already. We went through the "woe is us I can't believe what state the tribune company left this team in" years.

 

We lived through that crap with the promise of massive spending later. They can't back down from that now.

 

The Cubs are 733-725 under the ownership of the Ricketts family, and average 81-79 per season. They've only been anywhere close to aggressive financially in 2 of 9 years. To have the audacity to claim that they've done all they can do in terms of payroll is [expletive] disgusting. They worked hard to suppress payroll for half a decade before even thinking about trying to win games. This is the first year they will flirt with the top of the payroll lists, after raking in tons of cash, and to get cold feet now is absolutely ridiculous.

 

Apologizing for their belt tightening is pathetic.

 

I'm willing to give the Ricketts the benefit of the doubt the first few years they owned the club. As much as I'd like to think I'd hit the ground running and create a championship caliber team overnight, I'd probably have a learning curve with everything that goes along with ownership, even with a couple billion dollars at my disposal. When Epstein came on board, he had a plan to turn the club into perennial contenders (though the "parallel fronts" line turned out to be a truckload of crap). That plan included spending money when the time came.

 

Well, now they are perennial contenders and now is that time. Bryce Harper is a guy who can turn what is now a very good ball club into a team that could be unstoppable. Not to mention the fact he'll generate revenue with his national following. Money should not be an object here. Get him.

[Brian]

This is certainly interesting

 

Da Cat - 18 hours ago

 

[tweet]

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The Reddit guy - 14 hours ago

 

RickGeresGerbilWheel

 

Not sure I believe the recent talk, but it sounds like the Cubs are attaching guys like Alozay to guys like Chatty or J-Hey to make things easier to swallow.

[WrigleyField 22]

So Chuck the Feline might be right, but PTR still reigns.

[imb]

I'm willing to give the Ricketts the benefit of the doubt the first few years they owned the club.

 

yes we all are, because the point of the tank (or reset if you wanna play it nice) was that you would take your lumps on the front end while they accumulated assets and turned the team into a cash machine so they could spend big on players exactly like bryce harper. the payroll in a vacuum is great but we did not lose for 5 years or whatever so we could sign chatwood and darvish and duensing but so we could sign 26 year old studs when they hit the market.

 

if they don't even try to sign harper then they're abandoning a large reason of why the tank was necessary

[Bluescale]

Not sure I believe the recent talk, but it sounds like the Cubs are attaching guys like Alozay to guys like Chatty or J-Hey to make things easier to swallow.

 

Does Heyward have a no-trade clause?

[Bertz]

This is certainly interesting

 

Da Cat - 18 hours ago

 

[tweet]

[/tweet]

 

The Reddit guy - 14 hours ago

 

RickGeresGerbilWheel

 

Not sure I believe the recent talk, but it sounds like the Cubs are attaching guys like Alozay to guys like Chatty or J-Hey to make things easier to swallow.

 

I would not be too keen on moving Alzolay, because I think he can be a big part of the 2019-2020 Cubs, but I'm totally down for them using Amaya for this. He's a fun prospect but he's quite far away and also I tend to think a lot of TINSTAAP principles apply to catchers as well as pitchers.

[Hunter]

Not sure I believe the recent talk, but it sounds like the Cubs are attaching guys like Alozay to guys like Chatty or J-Hey to make things easier to swallow.

 

Does Heyward have a no-trade clause?

 

A limited one.

[Brian]

Yeah he's about to go from complete no trade to 12 team no trade

 

- full no-trade protection for 2016-18, may block deals to 12 clubs in 2019-20, may block all deals after 2020 season as 10-and-5 player

 

Not sure would this be considered 2019 in baseball terms? Maybe they have a trade in place but have to wait till the new year so they don't have to ask him to sign off.

[Bluescale]

Not sure I believe the recent talk, but it sounds like the Cubs are attaching guys like Alozay to guys like Chatty or J-Hey to make things easier to swallow.

 

Does Heyward have a no-trade clause?

 

A limited one.

 

Do we know anything about it? How many teams, or which teams are rumored to be on it? I'm guessing not...

[Cubswin11]

This is certainly interesting

 

Da Cat - 18 hours ago

 

[tweet]

[/tweet]

 

The Reddit guy - 14 hours ago

 

RickGeresGerbilWheel

 

Not sure I believe the recent talk, but it sounds like the Cubs are attaching guys like Alozay to guys like Chatty or J-Hey to make things easier to swallow.

 

I would not be too keen on moving Alzolay, because I think he can be a big part of the 2019-2020 Cubs, but I'm totally down for them using Amaya for this. He's a fun prospect but he's quite far away and also I tend to think a lot of TINSTAAP principles apply to catchers as well as pitchers.

Agree, idk if I attach him to Chatwood as there should be enough other stuff to make that work to move him but obvisouly if Chatwood needs to be moved for Bryce I’d do it. But I definitely attach him to Heyward and don’t think twice about it. And realistically Amaya is far more likely closer to a Manny Pina, Maldonado, etc type once he’s major league ready vs a Realmuto or Willy or Grandal, that’s not exactly hard or expensive to replace.