The Bryce is Right, Bitch

[Bertz]

Yeah ZiPS has been mostly broken since Nate Silver left. The issue du jour IMO is that they're overstating the predictive power of their proprietary statistics, as cool as they are.

 

That being said the overall point still stands that the Cubs are super vulnerable. All five teams in the division are at least as good as the Brewers looked at this time last year, and no team is within probably 5 games of where the Cubs were. And as we plainly saw. even that margin isn't always enough.

 

Overall though the Cubs clearly have the highest ceiling in the division, and in terms of floors the Cubs and Cards well beyond the three small market teams. So it's pretty hard to not see them as the favorites, even if it's by a modest margin.

[Brian]

According to The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal, this is a "staring contest" between agents Scott Boras (Harper) and Dan Lozano (Machado) in which neither side wants to blink first.

 

"Harper’s agent, Scott Boras, and Machado’s agent, Dan Lozano, both are believed to be seeking at least $300 million," Rosenthal wrote. "Neither wants to sign first, knowing once one of the players goes off the board, the other will benefit from gaining the sole attention of the remaining suitors."

 

FFS, just end this already.

[CubinNY]

Harper's marginal return on wins is not worth the financial investment the Ricketts would have to lay out because, reasons. They are perfectly content with having a contending team that will fill up Wrigley Field and populate their other financial interests surrounding Wrigley. Winning is down the list of importance.

[Brian707]

According to The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal, this is a "staring contest" between agents Scott Boras (Harper) and Dan Lozano (Machado) in which neither side wants to blink first.

 

 

 

[BigSlick]

I’m going to really hate it if baseball offseason are now: “nothing really happens until spring training, or even later”

[CubinNY]

I’d guess that the players are pretty pissed about what’s happening. I wish they would also realize this is how most people are treated by their employers. A guy I know who works construction brought in over 2 million dollars throughout contracts the last two years. One of the companies they did work for was so impressed with his work they offered him a job at a much higher pay rate. He didn’t think it was right to take the job. He told his boss about the offer and asked for a modest raise. His boss told him he didn’t deserve a raise. Needless to say he took the new job. Edited February 10, 2019 by CubinNY

[Cubswin11]

 

Unless they’re offering him a ton more or he really wants to be in the San Francisco area I just don’t see why it makes sense for him to go there. Of spots for him to go that affects us the least that’s a good spot for him to end up I guess.

[UMFan83]

 

Unless they’re offering him a ton more or he really wants to be in the San Francisco area I just don’t see why it makes sense for him to go there. Of spots for him to go that affects us the least that’s a good spot for him to end up I guess.

 

I think it makes sense for Harpers camp to leak that there is strong mutual interest coming out of their meeting

[Hunter]

 

Unless they’re offering him a ton more or he really wants to be in the San Francisco area I just don’t see why it makes sense for him to go there. Of spots for him to go that affects us the least that’s a good spot for him to end up I guess.

 

I think it makes sense for Harpers camp to leak that there is strong mutual interest coming out of their meeting

 

It also makes sense for the Giants to leak to try to gain some leverage on rumored OF trades.

[Deeg]

Apart from the fact that his power numbers would take a hit, I don’t see why SF doesn’t make sense for Harper. Great city (especially if you’re rich), gorgeous park, fairly wealthy club that figures to contend more often than not.

[Regular Show]

[Cubswin11]

Apart from the fact that his power numbers would take a hit, I don’t see why SF doesn’t make sense for Harper. Great city (especially if you’re rich), gorgeous park, fairly wealthy club that figures to contend more often than not.

His power/counting numbers take a hit for a guy looking to build a HOF career and they’re in a pretty bad spot to compete. Still have a lot of money on old and shitty players locked up, idk. It would have to be for a lot of not baseball reasons for him to want to be there. He isn’t winning anytime soon there and his numbers will suffer the remainder of his prime years.

[stitchface]

Apart from the fact that his power numbers would take a hit, I don’t see why SF doesn’t make sense for Harper. Great city (especially if you’re rich), gorgeous park, fairly wealthy club that figures to contend more often than not.

His power/counting numbers take a hit for a guy looking to build a HOF career and they’re in a pretty bad spot to compete. Still have a lot of money on old and horsefeathers players locked up, idk. It would have to be for a lot of not baseball reasons for him to want to be there. He isn’t winning anytime soon there and his numbers will suffer the remainder of his prime years.

 

 

What are the actual numbers for left handed hitters in SF? I don't think its a bad park for lefties - it was designed for Barry after all.

[Cubswin11]

Apart from the fact that his power numbers would take a hit, I don’t see why SF doesn’t make sense for Harper. Great city (especially if you’re rich), gorgeous park, fairly wealthy club that figures to contend more often than not.

His power/counting numbers take a hit for a guy looking to build a HOF career and they’re in a pretty bad spot to compete. Still have a lot of money on old and horsefeathers players locked up, idk. It would have to be for a lot of not baseball reasons for him to want to be there. He isn’t winning anytime soon there and his numbers will suffer the remainder of his prime years.

 

 

What are the actual numbers for left handed hitters in SF? I don't think its a bad park for lefties - it was designed for Barry after all.

The park has been last in HRs all but 3 years since 2010, 2nd to last once, 3rd last once and 11th fewest another year. The park kills power, granted part of that is their roster but the stadium kills power. For lefties it gets deep fast to RF, it is fine dead pull distance wise but the RCF triangle is like 400+. Then there’s LA and SD in the division which are pitcher parks and Arizona isn’t the launching pad it once was now that they have the humidor, iirc, he does get Coors ~10 times a year though.

 

Two examples, which admittedly could be meaningless but are two LHH who have spent their whole careers there, in their careers Belt is at 70 road HRs and 42 home HRs in only about 100 more road abs. Crawford is at 55 road HRs and 32 home HRs in again only about 100 more road abs.

Edited February 10, 2019 by Cubswin11

[jersey cubs fan]

His power/counting numbers take a hit for a guy looking to build a HOF career and they’re in a pretty bad spot to compete. Still have a lot of money on old and horsefeathers players locked up, idk. It would have to be for a lot of not baseball reasons for him to want to be there. He isn’t winning anytime soon there and his numbers will suffer the remainder of his prime years.

 

 

What are the actual numbers for left handed hitters in SF? I don't think its a bad park for lefties - it was designed for Barry after all.

The park has been last in HRs all but 3 years since 2010, 2nd to last once, 3rd last once and 11th fewest another year. The park kills power, granted part of that is their roster but the stadium kills power. For lefties it gets deep fast to RF, it is fine dead pull distance wise but the RCF triangle is like 400+. Then there’s LA and SD in the division which are pitcher parks and Arizona isn’t the launching pad it once was now that they have the humidor, iirc, he does get Coors ~20 times a year though.

 

Two examples, which admittedly could be meaningless but are two LHH who have spent their whole careers there, in their careers Belt is at 70 road HRs and 42 home HRs in only about 100 more road abs. Crawford is at 55 road HRs and 32 home HRs in again only about 100 more road abs.

Damn MLB making crazy changes to season schedule this late in offseason.

[Derwood]

When Harper signs for 7/$240M, where can I get injectable forehead heroin at a friendly discount?

[JennieGarthAlgar]

When Harper signs for 7/$240M, where can I get injectable forehead heroin at a friendly discount?

 

So ive never done heroin but

 

#1 im pretty sure all heroin is injectable

#2 "forehead heroin" doesnt exist any more than arm heroin does

#3 I dunno, maybe ask a friend who is a drug dealer if you are expecting a friendly discount on drugs

[imb]

When Harper signs for 7/$240M, where can I get injectable forehead heroin at a friendly discount?

 

So ive never done heroin but

 

#1 im pretty sure all heroin is injectable

#2 "forehead heroin" doesnt exist any more than arm heroin does

#3 I dunno, maybe ask a friend who is a drug dealer if you are expecting a friendly discount on drugs

 

Look at this nerd who hasn’t spent two decades on nsbb like us cool dudes

[Clem Fandango]

Nothing says "We're serious about having you on our team" like having a meeting less than a week away from pitchers and catchers reporting

[Bull]

When Harper signs for 7/$240M, where can I get injectable forehead heroin at a friendly discount?

 

So ive never done heroin but

 

#1 im pretty sure all heroin is injectable

#2 "forehead heroin" doesnt exist any more than arm heroin does

#3 I dunno, maybe ask a friend who is a drug dealer if you are expecting a friendly discount on drugs

This guy heroins.

[Cubswin11]

This all ends up with them signing Cargo, Adam Jones, Parra, or Gomez.

 

[jersey cubs fan]

When Harper signs for 7/$240M, where can I get injectable forehead heroin at a friendly discount?

 

So ive never done heroin but

 

#1 im pretty sure all heroin is injectable

#2 "forehead heroin" doesnt exist any more than arm heroin does

#3 I dunno, maybe ask a friend who is a drug dealer if you are expecting a friendly discount on drugs

 

Look at this nerd who hasn’t spent two decades on nsbb like us cool dudes

[JennieGarthAlgar]

When Harper signs for 7/$240M, where can I get injectable forehead heroin at a friendly discount?

 

So ive never done heroin but

 

#1 im pretty sure all heroin is injectable

#2 "forehead heroin" doesnt exist any more than arm heroin does

#3 I dunno, maybe ask a friend who is a drug dealer if you are expecting a friendly discount on drugs

 

Look at this nerd who hasn’t spent two decades on nsbb like us cool dudes

 

Let me know if you guys ever are looking to score some snortable nose cocaine. I got you.

[treebird]

i deeply appreciate all the heroin in the forehead talk, but it seems like we are overdue for a reminder of the incredible original context:

 

a good way to show your displeasure with the way the gm of the cubs is running the team is to go to his house, knock on the door, and then inject heroin into your forehead before he answers so that he will have to deal with your corpse or whatever when he opens the door.

[David]

i deeply appreciate all the heroin in the forehead talk, but it seems like we are overdue for a reminder of the incredible original context:

 

a good way to show your displeasure with the way the gm of the cubs is running the team is to go to his house, knock on the door, and then inject heroin into your forehead before he answers so that he will have to deal with your corpse or whatever when he opens the door.

 

i am actually laughing out loud and my coworkers are looking at me like i'm nuts