BigbadB

Welcome!

That gun can't be accurate.

My butt is dragging this am, and I'm retired. But, I'm tuned in.

I don't know what rules we are playing by, but felt we needed a game thread somewhere, so I started it in the game thread forum. Apologies if I have committed an error on the play.

I should invest in one of them fancy google machines.

Is this considered a hitter or pitcher friendly park?

Great to see Amaya start off like that.

Not liking this umpire's strike zone.

Happ doing Happ things. Although that first pitch was a gift (time violation on equipment that wasn't working).

They are bringing Homer back on a 1 year/2m deal. Special Teams guy.

Some chick no one has ever heard of will get a mid season call up. A decision on who will be the Cubs first home game starter will be settled in the parking lot. Cubs win every game they score the most runs. I'm cheering for 100 wins and hoping for 95. I like this team's chances more than most. I'm also more homer than most.

And so it begins. Good to see Marquee running a Risk Free Hearing Aid ad for an entire hour before game time rather than some, I don't know, baseball stuff. I think this is the first game thread I've ever started in my 22 years here. Cubs win by a touchdown!

I've been reading that those streaming channels aren't interested in having local type channels. But, I'm no expert on the subject. I just know that CHSN won't be on there like NBC Sports Chicago was. Anyway, welcome to NSBB!

I've been pretty happy with casting Marquee to my tv via my phone. I do have a couple of Fire Sticks and I haven't tried those yet, but if they work better, I may have to invest in a few more Fire Sticks. I have noticed some blips with casting, but maybe I just need to close out all of my apps and reboot my phone before casting.

Yeah. Saw the blurb about Taylor about five minutes after I posted that.

I’m traveling, but just wanted to express my appreciation for the pickups so far. They set up the draft to be best available. They can continue solidifying the trenches AND add more skill guys. I think I read that they are bringing back Taylor and Williams on defense? anyone have any idea what kind of cap space remains?

Never should have. It’s fine to continue building the line through the draft, but you can’t depend on it. There never was a reality where Caleb’s protection was 2 or 3 rookies after last season’s debacle. At the same time, free agency is a crapshoot. You can be outbid by anyone. I say go hard after Drew Dalman when free agency opens. Dalman will already see the Bears are serious about improving QB protection.

Love it. Two gaping holes filled before free agency opens. Only cost is a 6th rounder so far this year.

I’m okay with it too. Free agents are going to be a bidding war, as per usual. 6th rounder for a recent pro bowler? Heck yeah.

I’ve seen reports that said he’s due 9m and 14.6 million besides the 17.5m. Not sure which one to believe. Hopefully the 9m.

They may still be earmarking some of that money towards a Tucker extension once he finds out how awesome it is playing for the Cubs. Then they still have plenty of money to add at the trade deadline and Jed looks like a genius. And then the alarm clock goes off and the dream is over.......hey now, hey now!

I will agree the end result is not the preferred outcome. I lean towards the fact they missed some golden opportunities to really improve this team, but felt it would be just another failure if they didn't get some better bench bats. I can agree with "Meh" as the overall end product. I just don't agree that signing Turner given what they had left to sign was "Meh".

I'm still trying to figure out how you were able to pick the timeline by his cleats. Glad I'm not the only one around full of useless information. Ah, but wait. Yours is no longer useless information. You are the winner of "Who dat?" Nice job!

I waited until you finished your article before commenting. It was well thought out, but it also ignores a lot of factors that went into the decision to sign Turner. First off, Solano and Grichuk were signed long before the Bregman sweepstakes were completed. Grichuk is primarily an OF, and he just wasn't going to go to a team that already has 4 all star caliber OFers. Berti wasn't even signed until January 28th. So the earmarkings of what the infield was going to look like hadn't even taken shape yet. Signing a free agent has to be agreeable from both sides of the table. The Cubs were still in the trade for a pitcher or sign Bregman mode, where improving the lineup was the first priority over a bat that can play 1b. If the Cubs did trade for Cease, it's possible that someone like Cronenworth or some other 1b capable bat could have been included in the deal to help the Padres with their financial struggles. Bregman would have made it where they may not have been able to afford a 1b bench bat. Basically, it would have been silly to put backup 1b as an option ahead of signing a Bregman or trading for Cease. Now, once those guys are off the table and the appearance of spring deals is done, figuring out any gaping hole and filling it with the best of what's left makes a bit of sense. I'm not offended you used the term "freaking out" about not having a back up 1b or "pumped" about signing Justin Turner, but I will point out that this is not something I have seen, and seems to be stretching the truth like social media pages dramatize for "clicks". You point out that the Berti signing was a great value and Justin Turner's is not. I think we can all agree with that. But sometimes you do have to overpay for things. A rookie player is amazing value if he is productive. Having several allows you to be able to overpay to improve the roster. The same can be said for late spring signings after you have exhausted all efforts to improve the team and you still have a wheelbarrow full of money to improve the end of the bench. Signing Turner does not stop the Cubs from adding pretty much whoever they want at the trade deadline, so in what way, shape or form does a Turner signing slow down this team in the big picture? The bottom line is that Turner is likely a better bench bat than Lopez, Canario, Brujan and Workman, and we should probably include Kelly in that also for PH reasons. Those are the guys the front office should have been comparing Turner to, along with whoever was still a free agent like Canha or Grandal. Finally, Turner is not stopping the Cubs from improving even if there was a significant injury. As you said yourself, there are plenty of guys that can be brought in to fill that void. What we don't want is another year of useless bench bats like Wisdom, Mastrobuoni, Madrigal and Mervis taking a significant percentage of the bench at bats. So, if you want to compare bench production at 1b, do so by comparing Turner's projected stats to Wisdom and Mervis from last year. I think we can all agree that he should be able to top those pretty easily.

They talked to Wicks during the broadcast. He said his wife created a diet plan that helped him lose weight, which I think is code for "her cooking sucks". I noticed Kilian had 6 starts and 7 bullpen appearances in AAA last year. I wonder if he's about to be converted to a full time BP guy going forward. I'm guessing he's running out of time to prove he's a starter.