Cubfanintheknow

Once you get on the list of former managers, you are now eligible to be a part of every managerial search list, which keeps your name out there. He already knows he's respected by the Cubs, so it's not like he's risking getting blackballed out of coaching entirely. See: Renteria, Rick

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.

I clicked on "Page 43" of the thread hoping for an update... and I get this. What fresh hell did I stumble into? ETA: Is it safe to go back a page and find out? Or should I just let it go? The past like 5 pages have been the most exciting of the off-season, but if you want Bryce News.. I knew the thread was about to go off the tracks at Sofa’s first mention of pizza. But a “great Billy Williams boob scandal?” :shock:

I clicked on "Page 43" of the thread hoping for an update... and I get this. What fresh hell did I stumble into? ETA: Is it safe to go back a page and find out? Or should I just let it go?

15 day window for what? NM... it's 5, not 15. My bad.

So when does the "15 day window" start exactly? The World Series ended exactly 15 days ago coming up in a few hours.

Heard that too. Didn’t the Astros have the best record in baseball last year?

The Cardinals get Tyler Chatwood. We have to give them his contract, too.

Neither does he.

This. Watching him field his position or trying to turn two was brutal.

Good HR celebration by the Red Sox, but it'll never match the dickbump.

Crazy that they've been playing for almost three hours and they're only in the top of the 7th. How is will these long games draw in new fans? It's so dumb that they don't start an hour earlier. Not sure why I deleted it... but rather than ask a question, I simply typed "horsefeathers the west coast".

Crazy that they've been playing for almost three hours and they're only in the top of the 7th. How is will these long games draw in new fans?

hell yeah let's get this horsefeathers over with Damn; it just hit me that all this Bryce Harper horsefeathers is going to finally happen. I want Bryce Watch 2018 to go into warp speed mode Sunday morning.

I'm interpreting this as a quote from Alan Nero. Not Joe Maddon. Am I reading it wrong? It's a quote from Alan Nero, comparing his client, Joe Maddon, to Donald Trump, and how people think Trump should be against murdering journalists, when he obviously is not, and comparing that to people thinking Joe should be against domestic violence, when he obviously is not. It's a terrible quote about an increasingly bad person being compared to a truly awful human being excusing abhorrent behavior by scumbags. No doubt the quote is a horrible one. I guess I'm a little more willing to cut Maddon some slack in this particular instance because it's not a direct quote from him. I do agree that Maddon's handling of the whole situation is a train wreck.

I'm interpreting this as a quote from Alan Nero. Not Joe Maddon. Am I reading it wrong?

Find a guy whose philosophy works with the roster. Chiliball might work for a lighter hitting team, but certainly not with the Cubs.

I’m ok with this. Gore is not going to do anything. Might as well see if Bryant can end it with a dong. It’s a long shot, but so is Gore doing anything productive with the bat. i think bryant’s hr rate on sliders low and out of the strike zone is probably like -40. it’s a nice idea, but he wasn’t being pitched to. I totally get that. But Gore is on the field for one reason only: his speed. If Bryant doesn’t hit the ball out of the park, you have Gore coming up exactly where you want him... leading off an inning. Of course, that part is contingent on threatening Gore with his life if he takes the bat off his shoulder.

Abso-effing-lutely. Of everything that happened last night, this pissed me off most. bryant's strikeout in the 12th where they were obviously pitching around him to get to terrance gore was pretty bad, too. I’m ok with this. Gore is not going to do anything. Might as well see if Bryant can end it with a dong. It’s a long shot, but so is Gore doing anything productive with the bat.

Interesting that your avatar has a Packers helmet. A lot of people, myself included, were not happy with Lovie Smith’s decision to roll over for the Packers the last game of the 2010 season. The Bears were already Central Division champs. The Packers were on the outside looking in and needing a little help. The Packers won and got the help they needed. I’ll end the story there. ETA: If there’s a chance, kick the cards out.

I had seen instances of Daniel Murphy being a bad second baseman. But getting to watch him every day has made me realize... he's horsefeathering awful.

I'm not sure that they can suspend him without pay if he hasn't been actually charged with a crime. Yeah that might be a little hard to do, putting him on the restricted list is probably the thing to do I was probably hoping that they could hurt Russell financially. I figured there wasn’t anything they could legally do. But I do think the Cubs should help him. And then cut him. I really don’t want him to be part of this organization.

I hope the Cubs suspend him without pay and get him some help. Kicking him to the curb only eliminates the symptom. They need to try to cure the problem.

7-5 is fairly realistic and should be enough. Get it done, Cubs. 12-0 get us to 100 wins, let’s do that Might as well make it 23-0. Finish this thing off right.

JAVY!!!