It turns out the real Yu Darvish was the friends we made in this thread

[Hairyducked Idiot]

That board is funny. "They sucked ass for 100 years". But yet when I go up to Miller Park I still can't locate any WS trophies.

 

To be fair, all this making fun of them is probably giving the impression that they're a lot more relevant to us than they are. It's just been a very long and very boring offseason.

[David]

That board is funny. "They sucked ass for 100 years". But yet when I go up to Miller Park I still can't locate any WS trophies.

 

To be fair, all this making fun of them is probably giving the impression that they're a lot more relevant to us than they are. It's just been a very long and very boring offseason.

 

well yes that, and we're all still aware at how annoying it was to have at least half the fanbase worried about them last season.

[UMFan83]

That board is funny. "They sucked ass for 100 years". But yet when I go up to Miller Park I still can't locate any WS trophies.

 

They like to claim the 1957 Milwaukee Braves World Series. I was "burned" by a Brewers fan before the Cubs won with that piece of information.

[Cubswin11]

That board is funny. "They sucked ass for 100 years". But yet when I go up to Miller Park I still can't locate any WS trophies.

 

They like to claim the 1957 Milwaukee Braves World Series. I was "burned" by a Brewers fan before the Cubs won with that piece of information.

I think at least half that fan base under 30 think they won the World Series in 1982 the way they celebrate that year/team.

[David]

That board is funny. "They sucked ass for 100 years". But yet when I go up to Miller Park I still can't locate any WS trophies.

 

They like to claim the 1957 Milwaukee Braves World Series. I was "burned" by a Brewers fan before the Cubs won with that piece of information.

 

uhh...do we get the 2005 white sox then?

[Hairyducked Idiot]

That board is funny. "They sucked ass for 100 years". But yet when I go up to Miller Park I still can't locate any WS trophies.

 

They like to claim the 1957 Milwaukee Braves World Series. I was "burned" by a Brewers fan before the Cubs won with that piece of information.

 

That's...not how this works.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

The thing I don't understand is that the Brewers have had a good farm system before, and in not too distant memory. Did they forget what that was like? Do they not realize that they don't have a wave even close to the Braun/Weeks/Fielder/Hardy/Gallardo group that got them one division title and a wild card berth in a less competitive landscape? They have about 1.5 guys who you can squint and see a path to being a 4+ win player, and you can talk to the Pirates about how easy it is to thread the needle on competitiveness when you don't decide to have a grown up's payroll(and the Pirates actually had the stars too).

 

Also, and I've said this before, but the 'they emptied their farm system, in 3 years they'll be in huge trouble' narrative remains incredibly funny to me. If only we had held on to Eloy, Cease, and Paredes, you know, guys who 3 years ago were struggling in rookie ball if they had even turned pro at all. The Cubs had 4 picks in the Top 105 last year, will have 5 picks in the Top ~105 this year, and have proven their player development bona fides many times over. The odds of them getting the farm system up to the current Brewers caliber is wayyyy more likely than the Brewers striking it rich with Brinson and Hader and having no other regression and having Nelson pick up where he left off before he tore his labrum and actually serving as a consistent playoff threat.

[David]

How delusional do you have to be to think the farm system is a problem when the very reason the farm system is barren is that the best farm system in baseball from a couple years ago graduated almost everyone to the major league team successfully and at very young ages?

 

I guess our future would be in much better shape if we just sent our MLB roster to AAA and AA.

[David]

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[UMFan83]

The thing I don't understand is that the Brewers have had a good farm system before, and in not too distant memory. Did they forget what that was like? Do they not realize that they don't have a wave even close to the Braun/Weeks/Fielder/Hardy/Gallardo group that got them one division title and a wild card berth in a less competitive landscape? They have about 1.5 guys who you can squint and see a path to being a 4+ win player, and you can talk to the Pirates about how easy it is to thread the needle on competitiveness when you don't decide to have a grown up's payroll(and the Pirates actually had the stars too).

 

Also, and I've said this before, but the 'they emptied their farm system, in 3 years they'll be in huge trouble' narrative remains incredibly funny to me. If only we had held on to Eloy, Cease, and Paredes, you know, guys who 3 years ago were struggling in rookie ball if they had even turned pro at all. The Cubs had 4 picks in the Top 105 last year, will have 5 picks in the Top ~105 this year, and have proven their player development bona fides many times over. The odds of them getting the farm system up to the current Brewers caliber is wayyyy more likely than the Brewers striking it rich with Brinson and Hader and having no other regression and having Nelson pick up where he left off before he tore his labrum and actually serving as a consistent playoff threat.

 

For any Brewers fans looking to make a 'yeah but...' rebuttal, TT is right about...well pretty much everything.

[Bobson Dugnutt]

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go away twins.

[treebird]

GO TALK ABOUT WHO GETS TO BE THIRD OR FOURTH IN THE DIVISION IN ANOTHER THREAD AND START POSTING MORE MADE UP TWITTER RUMORS DARVISH HERE

[CubinNY]

GO TALK ABOUT WHO GETS TO BE THIRD OR FOURTH IN THE DIVISION IN ANOTHER THREAD AND START POSTING MORE MADE UP TWITTER RUMORS DARVISH HERE

It has been reported that Darvish asked a friend what is a "onesie".

[Hunter]

GO TALK ABOUT WHO GETS TO BE THIRD OR FOURTH IN THE DIVISION IN ANOTHER THREAD AND START POSTING MORE MADE UP TWITTER RUMORS DARVISH HERE

It has been reported that Darvish asked a friend what is a "onesie".

 

Can you wear dress shoes with them?

[Clem Fandango]

"Hey Yu, welcome to the Minnesota clubhouse. Over there is the legendary Joe Mauer! Hi Joe, really work in that Bengay into the joints! That's Brian Dozier over there, don't get too used to him, we won't be able to afford him much longer now that you're here. That guy over there? That's Byron Buxton. If you squint you might be able to see that he's the player Kris Bryant wishes he could be. And that guy over there? That's Miguel Sano. Stay away from Miguel Sano."

[Banedon]

If we can't get him, then I'm 100% ok with the Twins.

[jersey cubs fan]

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[David]

If we can't get him, then I'm 100% ok with the Twins.

 

If we don't get him, I really don't care where he goes.

[Lefty]

If we can't get him, then I'm 100% ok with the Twins.

 

If we don't get him, I really don't care where he goes.

 

If he signs with the Twins I will realize that I never really wanted him. The Twins?

[David]

If we can't get him, then I'm 100% ok with the Twins.

 

If we don't get him, I really don't care where he goes.

 

If he signs with the Twins I will realize that I never really wanted him. The Twins?

 

That too.

[biittner77]

 

If we don't get him, I really don't care where he goes.

 

If he signs with the Twins I will realize that I never really wanted him. The Twins?

 

That too.

 

The Twins might as well be Japan from an affects the Cubs standpoint.

[Brian707]

[UMFan83]

Keith Stone's latest:

 

I ran numbers this morning with arbitration estimates. Their payroll at this point is around 160, and they don't have a 5th starter yet(unless they roll montgomery). Also I'm not sure their CF plan, maybe they roll Happ/Almora/Heyward in CF/RF...not sure. If they add Darvish they are up to probably 185ish, a touch high but not unreasonable based on the last couple years. In 2019 though, 25 million for Darvish puts them to around 195 and they'll lose a bullpen arm(Wilson unless they extend him). I'm not sure how high their payroll can go, but I doubt they can afford $40 million for Harper. 2020(without harper) their payroll will be at roughly 185 and they'll have lost 4 more bullpen arms(cishek, strop, duensing, grimm) and Zobrist. And as has been noted, they have nobody in their farm that can come up and fill those roles for league minimum...so they'll have to dive into free agency or find a way to trade for them. By this point they'll probably have had at least a couple prospects breakout that they can trade, but probably not anybody ready to play at the mlb level.

 

The position player side of their 25 man roster is solid(aside from heyward) and they have their 2 stars, but they have no depth behind it. The roster is built to be able to withstand 1 maybe 2 non-bryant/rizzo injuries before they have to plug in well below replacement level players. Looking at their pitching, their rotation is primarily mid rotation guys that are likely to regress. Darvish would become their best SP if signed. Their bullpen is filled with very solid pitchers in all 8 spots, but none of their relievers are as good as Chapman or Davis. They don't have that guy you can throw in in the 8th with a 1 run lead and nail it down in the playoffs, and don't have the ability to get him without shelling out cash or trading from the 25. Their pitching(and team really) are built to make the playoffs the next year or two IF they can stay relatively healthy, but not to win in the playoffs. Their pitching simply will not match up with the nationals/dodgers.

 

Highlighted my favorite part.

 

The Cubs right now are 10th in projected SP WAR. Adding Darvish would likely added 2.2 wins to that projection (over the combo of Monty/Butler that they have as 5th starter right now). This would cause them to leap all the way to 4th behind Indians, Astros and Dodgers. They would have 3 starters with a projected WAR of 3.5 or higher, compared to the Dodgers (1), Astros (2), and Indians (2). Hendricks, Quintana and Chatwood are all between 28 and 29 years old. Hendricks proved last year that if he does regress from 2016, it won't be far. There is no reason to suggest Quintana is due to regress, and Chatwood doesn't have much of a strong track record to regress from at this point. So basically talking about Lester I guess.

[Bertz]

I'm digging into Darvish's numbers and it's better than I realized. So by Fangraphs and BR, Yu last year was very good but not quite back to the ace level he established pre-TJ. However, if you look at BP's numbers, which take into account a bunch or extra stuff like framing and quality of competition, he was the 9th best starter in the league, worth 5.2 wins. Also, his velocity post TJ is about an MPH higher than it was pre-TJ, which probably bodes well for how he'll age.

[Aaron_Kennelly]

Keith Stone's latest:

 

I ran numbers this morning with arbitration estimates. Their payroll at this point is around 160, and they don't have a 5th starter yet(unless they roll montgomery). Also I'm not sure their CF plan, maybe they roll Happ/Almora/Heyward in CF/RF...not sure. If they add Darvish they are up to probably 185ish, a touch high but not unreasonable based on the last couple years. In 2019 though, 25 million for Darvish puts them to around 195 and they'll lose a bullpen arm(Wilson unless they extend him). I'm not sure how high their payroll can go, but I doubt they can afford $40 million for Harper. 2020(without harper) their payroll will be at roughly 185 and they'll have lost 4 more bullpen arms(cishek, strop, duensing, grimm) and Zobrist. And as has been noted, they have nobody in their farm that can come up and fill those roles for league minimum...so they'll have to dive into free agency or find a way to trade for them. By this point they'll probably have had at least a couple prospects breakout that they can trade, but probably not anybody ready to play at the mlb level.

 

The position player side of their 25 man roster is solid(aside from heyward) and they have their 2 stars, but they have no depth behind it. The roster is built to be able to withstand 1 maybe 2 non-bryant/rizzo injuries before they have to plug in well below replacement level players. Looking at their pitching, their rotation is primarily mid rotation guys that are likely to regress. Darvish would become their best SP if signed. Their bullpen is filled with very solid pitchers in all 8 spots, but none of their relievers are as good as Chapman or Davis. They don't have that guy you can throw in in the 8th with a 1 run lead and nail it down in the playoffs, and don't have the ability to get him without shelling out cash or trading from the 25. Their pitching(and team really) are built to make the playoffs the next year or two IF they can stay relatively healthy, but not to win in the playoffs. Their pitching simply will not match up with the nationals/dodgers.

 

Highlighted my favorite part.

 

The Cubs right now are 10th in projected SP WAR. Adding Darvish would likely added 2.2 wins to that projection (over the combo of Monty/Butler that they have as 5th starter right now). This would cause them to leap all the way to 4th behind Indians, Astros and Dodgers. They would have 3 starters with a projected WAR of 3.5 or higher, compared to the Dodgers (1), Astros (2), and Indians (2). Hendricks, Quintana and Chatwood are all between 28 and 29 years old. Hendricks proved last year that if he does regress from 2016, it won't be far. There is no reason to suggest Quintana is due to regress, and Chatwood doesn't have much of a strong track record to regress from at this point. So basically talking about Lester I guess.

 

That highlighted line is quite ironic coming from a Brewers fan.