Rob
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Everything posted by Rob
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9/15 - Brewers (Nelson) @ Cubs (Montgomery) 7:05 CSN
Rob replied to David's topic in Fred Hornkohl Game Thread Forum
Getting ready to get in the car and head up towards Chicago shortly. If any of you see a fat guy in his early 30s with a Joe Maddon t-shirt on, there's a chance it's me. I'll be on the third base line somewhere. -
Okay, I changed most of the common swears. horsefeathers! this is some good horsefeathers right here. I have that awful Nelly and P. Diddy song stuck in my head, but with "horsefeathers" inserted in place of "tailfeathers" [bbvideo=560,315]https://youtu.be/sH8vCzy1Mek?t=2m28s[/bbvideo]
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Already done. But please do let us know if you hear of something more official. The Rizzo Family Foundation. From the looks of it, we can only donate under the names on our billing addresses or anonymously. I've emailed them about whether it might be possible to get our donations listed under Fred's name. I'll post back here with that info whenever I get that from them, for anybody who might be interested.
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Already done. But please do let us know if you hear of something more official. The Rizzo Family Foundation. That's almost perfect for him. I mean, it'd be better if Neifi Perez had a cancer foundation, but I guess this will have to do. Seriously though, thank you for getting back to me with that info.
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This all still sucks today. If you'd have told me when I'd joined this board that I'd be sad for multiple days about one of its members passing away, I'd never believe you. And yet here we are. That said, I'm really glad that Tim has renamed the Game Threads forum. It's a perfect tribute.
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If any of us would like to make a donation in Fred's honor, is there a preferred charity for that? Good question, thanks for asking - I'll try to find out about actual charities, but I'm pretty sure that if you send Tim a few bucks earmarked to support NSBB operations (don't forget to click some ads!), that's probably as good an idea as any. Like I said though, I'll find a better answer and make sure to post it. Already done. But please do let us know if you hear of something more official.
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If any of us would like to make a donation in Fred's honor, is there a preferred charity for that?
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This is awful news. Fred was around when I was first learning about baseball statistics. I remember so vividly wanting to be able to do the sort of things Fred could do. I had a buddy with some database building experience willing to help me out. Before I got started on the project, I approached Fred about the way he was doing things. Here I was, threatening to hone in on his territory -- the very thing that everybody thinks of when they think of Fred. And what was his response? He was about as helpful as could be humanly possible. That's what I think of when I think of Fred -- a guy who would set himself on fire to keep you warm. As for that little database project, it never got off the ground. I ultimately figured out that I could never replace Fred. Nobody can. Go CUBS !!
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Go Pirates and Marlins, I guess?
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The Cubs are 51-20 at home. 38-28 on the road. If the Cubs had lost every single one of their road games, they'd be 51-86... which is still a half-game better than the Twins. Other interesting note, the Cubs are closer to eliminating the Cardinals from the division than the Cardinals are to eliminating the 57-80 Padres from the Wild Card.
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Yeah, Mattheny is going to have one of his pitchers out head hunting tomorrow. Honestly, if I was Theo I'd be looking into pressing charges against Mattheny and whatever poor young pitcher he inevitably bullies into intentionally trying to harm one of our players.
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Nah, the next bonus he would get would be for hitting 714 And it's only $6M. Which is peanuts to both A-Rod and the Yankees.
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I'm trying to find a way to justify bringing him in. Honestly, as atrocious as his offense has been it's tough to find that justification. But his defense and baserunning are probably still better than Szczur's. So in a playoff pinch runner / defensive replacement role he'd probably be an upgrade. And on the off chance he'd get to take playoff at bats, we'd probably be looking at extra innings -- so the HR potential has some slightly increased value as well. If there was a way to stash him on the roster and use him as a late-inning replacement in the playoffs I'd be all about it. But with the roster crunch being what it is, I have trouble seeing that unless the DFA Szczur. And with his extra club control, I don't see the point of that. TL;DR: I would like for him to be this year's Quentin Berry, but I don't see it happening.
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I actually just caught myself debating whether he is better than Szczur at this point. Injuries have really derailed his career.
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So what's the over/under on how many days it takes him to get to 400 pounds?
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Why retire? He's entitled to $24M per year through 2020 if he just phones in his rehab, Mo Vaughn style. Maybe the Rangers are buying him out of his contract? Or maybe they just all agreed it's a sunk cost. 9 year, $214M contract. And he provided 6.5 fWAR during that time period. $32.9M per fWAR over the length of the contract. Ouch. That contract may ultimately top some of those "worst baseball contract" articles for the foreseeable future. But if they're somehow getting out of paying the last four years of the contract, that number drops to just $18.1M per fWAR. Still abysmal, but there have been worse. Still, I'm glad the Cubs FO didn't listen to Mojo on this one.
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I'm actually slightly excited by the move. His peripherals suck this year, but historically he's had pretty strong platoon splits against righties (not shocking for a sidearmer). As long as we don't let him face any lefties, he could be a pretty valuable addition. And if he sucks, he's a mop-up guy we aren't paying anything of note for. No big loss.
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I think we already got him in Mike Montgomery. If there's an injury to the rotation, I'd expect him to get sent down and stretched out.
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Supposedly the Rays are trading Brandon Guyer. I wouldn't mind if the Cubs reacquired him.
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I'm a little disappointed he was simply released. He's still pretty talented and I would've liked to see him stashed at AAA while they keep working with him.
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Honestly, I think part of the reason that Maddon is so aggressive with his substitutions is that he'd rather lose the game in the 11th or 12th than have the game go 19 innings and potentially mess up his bullpen/rotation for a week or two. I can dig it.
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Jason Kendall had terrific speed when he was younger. He had many 20+ SB years. Pudge Rodriguez was really fast too. It has to be either Matt LeCroy or Ernie Lombardi.
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I don't think trading Bryant for Trout helps or hurts either team, really. It just reallocates extremely valuable assets.
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Cubs add Chapman for Torres, et al. imb wishes we paid more
Rob replied to David's topic in Chicago Cubs Talk
I think I just figured out where Theo was going with this. In just one more brilliant move, he can solve our relief pitching problems and make sure Chapman gets what he deserves: Cubs trade Aroldis Chapman to California Penal League for Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaughn. Theo, you sly bastard. -
Cubs add Chapman for Torres, et al. imb wishes we paid more
Rob replied to David's topic in Chicago Cubs Talk
I'm not arguing that the suspension should be longer. MLB's domestic violence policy is new, and trying to iron out the kinks on how you suspend people and for how long is going to take some time. I'm just happy that some action has been taken down that path, for the time being. The state declined to prosecute, so he's not in legal trouble. And MLB said he's served his time, so I wont argue that he holds every right to have a job. But serving your time doesn't wipe the slate clean. And I'm not required to welcome him to the Cubs with open arms. Seeing a guy like him on the mound closing out ballgames will diminish the joy I find in those wins. I would be happier if he wasn't a Cub.
