Rob

Man, our new owner is serious about the death of mega-threads. This was just a post in the general cubs chat. I disavow the lame title attributed to me.

Now that there's a legible font option, I'm feeling a lot better about the new forum software.

Jeez, that's a terrible way to lose a perfecto. That's a rough break if there ever was one...

I just tuned in, so anything that happens from this point is my fault.

Signing a contract to buy some land isn't some insurmountable obstacle to keeping the A's in Oakland, as they can always resell the land. But it's still a rather significant step in that direction. I'm going to be incredibly sad if this goes through. When I think about the baseball teams of my youth, the A's were always my favorite AL team. Rickey Henderson, Mark McGwire, and Jose Canseco were electric. And when my interest in baseball had waned, it was Moneyball and its focus on the A's that brought me back just before the Cubs amazing (and then terrible) run in 2003. I'm not going to lie. Seeing them leave Oakland would feel like losing (yet another) piece of my youth.

It seems important to ask... which god?

It's literally just the strikeouts. He cut his K% in half. He's not hitting the ball any better (potentially worse), but a lot more are getting a chance to fall in as hits.

I need a new hat. Last time I bought one, our AA affiliate was still the West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx. So that was an easy choice. Whats the coolest Cubs (or Cubs affiliate) hat on the market nowadays?

Much better. I'd still prefer a typeface with a serif (Times New Roman is the GOAT), but Roboto is much, much more legible than the default was on my devices. Thank you so much for putting in the effort. (FWIW, I noticed over the last week that the default was actually legible on some devices, and not on others. Issues with the default font may have something to do with the resolution of the device on which the site is being viewed.)

Yeah, I changed mine to show literally everything. It feels a lot closer to the old active topics.

Yeah, Rays seem to be on pace to tie the record. You can thank me for tuning in at the exact right moment.

Yeah, I've noticed that the board doesn't seem to be getting huge amounts of engagement. I'm wondering if that may have something do to with the default settings for the active topics thing. That's how probably 90% of us used the board before, and if it's how people are still trying to do things, the default may not be quite right for that.

Fly the W!

Heck of a pick by Hosmer.

I feel weird taking up the banner, but I'm actually a fan of the Hosmer signing. Let's get this out of the way early. The only reason that I like him at all is his league-minimum contract. And while there's no good reason for the Cubs to operate on the tight budget that they do, that's the reality of our ownership situation. And in that reality, guys on a contract like this can only be bad if they're performing below replacement-level or taking at-bats from better players. And when it comes right down to it, Hosmer isn't likely to perform below replacement-level. He's not a great player, by any means. But he's an above-average defender, and he hits at a slightly better than league average clip. And to that point, given his extreme groundball proclivities, there's a good chance that the rule changes to the shift play to his benefit. He's not a good baserunner, but he's not Billy Butler. So is Hosmer taking ABs from better players? It's certainly possible. Mervis may be better. But that's still a very open-ended question. There's likely no harm in trotting Hosmer out there until Mervis shows a little more. And it's not like the other guys Hosmer is competing with for ABs don't have their own question marks. Hosmer is a steady enough known quantity with a little upside thanks to the new rules. And with his contract, he'll be out the door in a flash if he isn't living up to his end of the bargain, or if our young guys start mashing. He does no harm while holding the fort for a bit. Not bad for literally no additional investment above the league minimum.

This is such crap. Real ballplayers like Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb went into the stands to fight fans. Why are we penalizing this stuff? Personally, I think successfully beating up a fan should add a run to the team's score.

As a current law student, I can verify that the only time the Third Amendment comes up is when somebody is inebriated.

It's even worse than that. A lot of those guys with 3+ TJs didn't really have that many TJs. For a while there, there were other, similar operations that were being lumped in as TJs. I'm pretty sure that was the case with Isringhausen, Rijo, and at least one of Fox/Williamson. It's been a while since I looked it up. But yeah, Venters is the only guy with anything resembling any real success after 3 actual TJs. And that really consists of one solid season in relief.

Fair enough. I figured they were akin to xbox achievements, but I remembered you saying something cagey about social forum access, so I was curious on that specific account.

Yeah, I'm not generally a fan of Madrigal over Wisdom. But Wisdom is a limited player, and Madrigal might be a bit more reliable in this instance. That said, I probably would have still started Wisdom and just been more open to pinch-hitting Madrigal for him in a situation where it's important to put wood on the ball.

Forgive the question, but is there a point to ranks or achievements outside of bragging rights? I'm mostly curious if you tied access to the social forum to rank or something. Also, my thing says something about needing another ~4.5k points to earn the next rank. Where do "points" come from?

Mervis walks. 2B, HBP, HR, and BB. Solid night, and it’s only the 5th.

It's an embarrassment of riches.

Just by their yearly numbers, Woodruff was slightly better last year than Steele. But Steele was rapidly improving throughout the season. So depending on how much stock you put into that as being actual development versus some statistical noise, there's a defensible argument for preferring Steele. That said, this feels a lot like yesterday's game. The weather conditions may tell the tale. If the weather is shitty and nobody's hitting longballs, we might be ever-so-slightly favored. Otherwise, you've gotta give the edge to the Brewers.