Irrelevant Dude

Smyly is throwing batting practice right now.

I would argue that they are still trying to contend, but the definition of contending is much different in the modern era. All a team really has to do to contend is hang around .500 for most of the season to stay in the Wild Card picture. If enough things go right, they just might be able to squeak into the playoffs. The Cubs certainly aren't trying to win at all costs, but they are trying to contend within a certain set of self-imposed parameters. I do not believe that they spent money simply for cosmetic purposes. They are trying to straddle the line between building for the future, while throwing some darts at the present and hoping for the best. The reality is that this team has the potential to be stuck in baseball purgatory for awhile. They look like a middle-of-the-road team that might be good enough to get into the playoffs in certain years, but is never bad enough to draft the type of high-end talent that built the 2016 team. The minor league depth has certainly improved, but I'm not sold on anyone in the organization being the kind of player who can get the team to the next level. The Cubs have made it clear that they aren't going to spend their way out of this hole, and neither they nor the fanbase have the appetite for a continued tank. That leaves a lot of wishful thinking that they are somehow going to be able to evaluate talent better than anyone else and/or strike gold on minor leaguers outside of the Top 10 draft picks. As things currently stand, I just don't see a likely path that leads to this team being a consistent contender in the near or semi-near future. They are trying to win. They are just trying to do it in a very specific way that is unlikely to come together again in the way they seem to think it will.

I was out of town for the first series and got to listen to a lot of the radio broadcasts while in the car. The Cubs being sponsored by Northshore Adult Diapers and reading that ad multiple times per game feels like something straight out of Major League.

It is way more than that. I'm seeing the footer ad and then an additional large ad after every post. Add in the occasional "Chrome is not responding" error and the forums are borderline unusable on my Android phone.

I paid for a Caretaker subscription, but I still see the "Become a Caretaker" banner and lots of ads. Is the caretaker functionally not fully implemented yet?

You don't like the Hosmer-Madrigal-Barnhart murderer's row?

76-80 is definitely the most plausible range, but I think it is more likely they come in over than under. If a few things break right, I could see them hovering around the periphery of the Wild Card picture and finishing a few games above .500.

What was the criteria for being an Old Timey Member? And why are we keeping Social posts exclusive to this group?

Do we have any idea what Nico's estimated arbitration salary would have been over the next two seasons? This deal is fine, but it seems like it might be a better deal for Nico than it is for the Cubs.

I personally have a strong preference to use Tapatalk. Mobile browser experiences have come a long way, but there is still something to be said for the simplicity and consistency of Tapatalk.

Man, once the Cubs ink that new TV deal, Ricketts is really going to be able to open the pocketbooks!

I, for one, am interested to see where this alternate timeline takes us. The possibilities are endless!

Are the caretaker subscriptions working yet? I tried signing up, but I'm getting an error.

Hey Phillies, any interest in Eric Hosmer???

I mean, it's a concern with every pitcher, especially hard-throwing ones. I don't remember hearing anything specific about his motion that was a concern, though. He had to be shut down from pitching his senior season due to arm problems. https://www.tapinto.net/towns/west-essex/sections/sports/articles/paterson-s-nazier-mule-looks-forward-to-bright-baseball-future-after-being-drafted-by-chicago-cubs-89ff7112-fc55-42aa-a949-8df85016fd3f Him having TJS isn't surprising at all, and I assume the Cubs knew that was a very likely possibility when they drafted him. He is years away from the upper minors anyway, so hopefully he gets this out of the way now and it doesn't hinder his development too much.

Davis is the guy I would be focused in on. He seems like the right combination of high ceiling and injury risk that would make a long term discount attractive to both sides. If he can at least prove that he is healthy right now and looks to be MLB-ready after a few months in AAA, then I don't think it's crazy to try to lock him up for a few extra years on a reasonable deal. Considering his injury history, I would have to think he would be open to a deal.

No to all of these except Nico, and that doesn't seem likely (maybe next year if he puts together another solid season in 2023). The rest of the guys on your list are complete non-starters. There is no reason to consider extending any of them at this point.

One way or another, Rodgers is going to completely screw the Jets.

It's only spring training, and only 19 official at bats, but hopefully Swanson starts hitting the ball soon. He isn't off to a great start at 1-19 with 8 K's. He does at least have 5 walks though.

The live experience is my biggest concern. TV broadcasts are going to be fine, and likely more palatable for most people. But when I have to travel over an hour both ways to get to a game, then find parking, walk/shuttle to the ballpark, etc, I don't want my actual game experience to be over in 2 hours. On the other hand, if games are wrapping up by 9:00, maybe that's more opportunities to take my school-aged kids to weeknight games... so consider me still undecided. We will just have to wait and see how it plays out when we get to playing regular season games.

Bears sure are spending a lot for LB's to back up Sanborn.

I don't think that is a fair comparison. For the players, it's great, but at some point it likely becomes a negative for the fans if games are consistently clocking in shorter than any other major sport. And this isn't really our concern, but what does it do to advertising revenue when there is 30-45 minutes less of live game content each night? I guess we'll see how it plays out over time. I still like it for the most part, but I have some concerns with how significantly the games are being shortened. Whether or not it’s a fair comparison, I don’t know. But what if you could drive to work in less time? Wouldn’t that be better for you? Doing anything you want to do with more time freedom seems better to me. I don’t care about advertisers or owners. We're comparing watching a baseball game to driving to work? If baseball is that boring to everyone, we might as well just give up on it altogether.

What if you could play a round of golf in 2.5 hours consistently? Would that be too far? I don't think that is a fair comparison. For the players, it's great, but at some point it likely becomes a negative for the fans if games are consistently clocking in shorter than any other major sport. And this isn't really our concern, but what does it do to advertising revenue when there is 30-45 minutes less of live game content each night? I guess we'll see how it plays out over time. I still like it for the most part, but I have some concerns with how significantly the games are being shortened.

21 combined hits today and the game lasted 2 hours, 15 minutes. I mostly like the pitch clock so far, but have we gone too far?

I don't know what the results will be for MLB, but I don't think it is possible to draw conclusions based on minor league games. They are two completely different experiences. The primary argument seems to be that people were leaving the games at the same time anyway, so concessions weren't impacted. Are people who have paid significantly more money for tickets as willing to leave a meaningful MLB game as early as someone who paid very little to attend a relatively meaningless MiLB game? I certainly don't think so.