Trading Heyward

[Sammy Sofa]

Hahahahah!

[Splendid Splinter]

Among several pro-Heyward signing posts made by CubinNY is this gem

 

Please Cubs, sign him soon.

 

I was going to say. Was there anyone on NSBB at the time who said they didn't want Heyward or think he wasn't worth the contract?

[imb]

His first post in the thread after the signing was announced

 

I can't really describe my emotions. Nothing like this has happens for us. I guess it's a mix of excitement and bewilderment. It's just so awesome.

 

Edit: More

 

Also, I still have a hard time believing we got Heyward. Yipee!

[javy knows my name]

IMB is MVP

[imb]

public records, openness, accountability and transparency is my life

[Sammy Sofa]

[Sammy Sofa]

That motherjumper said "yipee" and everything.

[imb]

that thread as a whole is brutal. we were all so innocent then

[CubinNY]

:blush: In my defense, I didn't want but I think I talked into to it by TT. I tried to find the posts that IMB is referencing but I couldn't find them. I'll take his word that I posted them.

[imb]

there's no shame in it. that thread is basically 80 pages of us all ejaculating about the signing

[Clem Fandango]

He gave a speech that the majority of the team credit with boosting their morale so much it assisted in turning the course of Game 7 in their favor and they won a World Series.

 

Let him have his money.

[Regular Show]

Among several pro-Heyward signing posts made by CubinNY is this gem

 

Please Cubs, sign him soon.

 

I was going to say. Was there anyone on NSBB at the time who said they didn't want Heyward or think he wasn't worth the contract?

 

I wasn't a part of NSBB back then, but I wasn't thrilled with the signing at the time. I wasn't necessarily against it, but I thought it had the potential to become a bad contract if Heyward decided not to opt-out. I was hoping he would be productive enough to warrant opting out after 3 years allowing us then to move on to B. Harper or someone else. I knew he would be elite defensively in RF (and very good in CF), but I kinda wanted us to lockup D. Fowler on a short term contract for less money than what we gave to Heyward. I was happy he spurned the Cardinals and decided to join the Cubs, but I was worried that this could backfire.

 

I will admit I never thought he would collapse this much offensively, at least not till the middle-last few years of his contract. I wonder what would've happened if the Cubs never tinkered with his swing (to unlock more power) before spring training of 2016. He was really good during the second half of 2015 with the Cardinals. Maybe he'll improve next season and settle around being a 2-3 WAR player going forward before declining again.

[biittner77]

Is there a link to that thread? I feel like I was probably excited but I can't remember. I do remember some baseball tonight type people thinking the Cubs had overpaid but I'm expecting to find that I thought they were stupid.

[UMFan83]

Is there a link to that thread? I feel like I was probably excited but I can't remember. I do remember some baseball tonight type people thinking the Cubs had overpaid but I'm expecting to find that I thought they were stupid.

 

Yeah there was a split between whether the Cubs overpaid or not. The people that said the Cubs didn't overpay pointed to his consistently high WAR production. The people that said he did either ignored WAR as a stat or felt that fielding and baserunning metrics are not as accurate as we think they are.

 

Regardless of whatever side people were on, almost no one expected it to be an albatross contract and definitely not so soon into the deal.

 

Here is the thread (from the archives) on Heyward:

 

http://www.northsidebaseball.com/archive/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=64666

[ConstableRabbit]

I will take a big L on this one, too. Heyward was one of my favorite players in MLB and I was incredibly pumped that we got him. I even bought his jersey before his first season (oops).

 

His decline has been shocking to me.

[d_money]

It seems like JHey hits the ball hard and on the ground a lot. How hard is it for him to change the loft angle?

[champaignchris]

I was all in on the Heyward signing. I even made fun of my Cardinal fan friends during the 2015 playoffs by telling them how good Heyward was going to look in a Cubs uniform the next year.

 

In retrospect, this is probably all my fault.

[imb]

Is there a link to that thread? I feel like I was probably excited but I can't remember. I do remember some baseball tonight type people thinking the Cubs had overpaid but I'm expecting to find that I thought they were stupid.

 

Yeah there was a split between whether the Cubs overpaid or not. The people that said the Cubs didn't overpay pointed to his consistently high WAR production. The people that said he did either ignored WAR as a stat or felt that fielding and baserunning metrics are not as accurate as we think they are.

 

Regardless of whatever side people were on, almost no one expected it to be an albatross contract and definitely not so soon into the deal.

 

Here is the thread (from the archives) on Heyward:

 

http://www.northsidebaseball.com/archive/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=64666

 

He's been so bad since day 1 that it's almost hard to fathom what it felt like when he was signed. He seemed like such a high-floor signing that the money was literally no concern to me.

[Sammy Sofa]

He's been so bad since day 1 that it's almost hard to fathom what it felt like when he was signed. He seemed like such a high-floor signing that the money was literally no concern to me.

 

Yeah, it's pretty damn bonkers how quickly it blew up in everyone's faces. I thought it was amazing that they signed him, and that it was all but a lock that not only would he be as good as he had been, but that the Cubs were going to get him to that next level power-wise.

[ConstableRabbit]

He's been so bad since day 1 that it's almost hard to fathom what it felt like when he was signed. He seemed like such a high-floor signing that the money was literally no concern to me.

 

Yeah, it's pretty damn bonkers how quickly it blew up in everyone's faces. I thought it was amazing that they signed him, and that it was all but a lock that not only would he be as good as he had been, but that the Cubs were going to get him to that next level power-wise.

Me too. Not to mention the thought that taking him from StL and adding him to our lineup would really put us over the top. Instead, it ended up being a net negative swing.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

he's always been a slow starter. give him some time

[UMFan83]

What in the horsefeathers?

 

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[David]

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[Cubswin11]

What in the horsefeathers?

 

Lol, Jesus Christ. Otani isn’t going to get positional time this year, he can come to the NL and hit the days he starts and maybe be a PH from time to time.

[Andy]

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I guess Samardzija probably wouldn't be any worse than Lackey.