bukie

I don't think there's any ranking system that agrees with this. It goes beyond just prospect rankings, though, considering the team was the only one in the league still charting by hand and not having any video of prospects at any level. No teams could come close to the Cubs' level of improvements system-wide because the Cubs were so ass-backwards they were the laughing stock of the league.

Basically, they hit on 1 of 5 primary international targets. Of the 4 they missed: - Darvish: Didn't get the high blind bid, the system was so stupid they changed it since. - Cespedes: Prevailing rumor was the A's upped the Cubs' offer by granting him FA two years early, and he signed before the Cubs had a chance to counter. If true, nothing the Cubs could have done. If false, they missed out on one good year thus far, and he'll be available after next year if he's still worth signing. - Puig: Apparently showed up well out of shape to the workouts, and nobody in their right mind would have signed him near to what the Dodgers offered. Rumor has it the Dodgers told him to sandbag the workouts so they could have him to themselves, but meh, given what happened at the workout there was no way to predict what he'd have done to this point. Practically the definition of lightning in a bottle. - Tanaka: This one is the most disappointing, since he was the Cubs' primary target this offseason, and the blind bid system was removed to give every team a decent shot at him. The Yankees just reportedly went higher than anyone else, and whether the Cubs couldn't match or wouldn't match only causes a slight difference on who to be disappointed with. Sometimes the Yankees just go higher than everyone else. It is a thing that happens. Let's not pretend the Cubs should have gone after Abreu either, and if we're looking for someone to blame for that, blame the NL not having a DH, since there's nowhere else for the guy to play for the team and add value. Would the Cubs be better if they hit on half of the misses? Of course, the rotation would be 4-5 wins better if they had Darvish and Tanaka instead of, say, Jackson and Hammel. But the Cubs aren't the only team in the league, and especially aren't the only competent team in the league. 1 of 5 should be about what is expected, optimistically, from a team trying to take advantage of the international market. Still ahead of the league curve, there, I think.

You just made up two narratives here. The Cubs are only trading Samardzija if the return provides more value going forward than Samardzija will. That's why he's still on the team now. Castro, Rizzo and Castillo are currently at the major league level and producing. Samardzija is pitching lights out, Hammel isn't far behind, and Arrieta and Wood are contributing positively, and the pen is actually proving to be an asset right now (once the Veres issue sorted itself out). The outfield isn't performing, even in the platoons (and the best of the bunch is on the shelf for 3 weeks), which really drags down the offense in an annoyingly glaring way despite the success from the infield across the board (including Valbuena and Bonifacio, though Bonifacio is the most likely candidate to regress quickly and has).

No, I'm sick of the nonsense bitching and ad-hominem about how apparently easy it could have been to buy all the players and make the playoffs, when there hasn't been much of a realistic chance to do so. There's no way to force all the free agents to sign here, and there's no magic formula for making the playoffs from a dire situation except hitting on lightning in a bottle several times over, and that's no way to sustain long-term success. The overall organization was in a shambles from drafting to development throughout the system, and propping the major league team up with FA just to please a few short-sighted people without overhauling the rest of the system wouldn't have been a good long term solution either. Despite how easily people hand-wave away the rest of the system as "easy when you're not trying at the major-league level", no teams' systems are improving like the Cubs' had. The more we learn about how terrible the system was prior to Epstein/Hoyer/McLeod, the more it makes sense to attack the problem in the way they did. The annoying financial issues with the Ricketts just contribute more to the necessity of maximizing ROI, and every move that the club has made has been in an effort to increase the overall value to the club, even if it doesn't make immediate sense to people who want quick solutions.

Oh please, enlighten us. You are exactly who we need to explain to us why this is all a good thing. Oh please, you've never been interested in logic, despite your insistence to the contrary. You ignore or twist everything positive into a negative, and then play both sides just so you can always claim to be right. The fact that other people can be morons too doesn't make your positions any more plausible, and you've long since ceased to be of any value to people that try to be reasonable about things.

Plenty of people are sick of losing. Few make up narratives and turn a blind eye to everything good happening just to have an excuse to spout off regularly.

God, quit being a damned moron, already. There have been 4 teams in the last 3 years, all small-market, who lost more games in a season than we did in 2011 and had a lower-ranked farm system than we did in 2011 who went on to make the playoffs the following year and I'm rooting for the one that decided to pitch the next 3 (and looks like 4) years. If being pissed about that is 'being a damned moron', then sign me the [expletive] up. You are denser than a pile of bricks, but hey, go all in on Kyle-level thick-headedness, then.

Err, because the black hawk is a common mascot for the team in apparel?

God, quit being a damned moron, already.

So far in the playoffs, the offense has been really evenly distributed. Seabrook and Toews have 9 points, Kane, Bickell, and Hossa have 8, Saad and Keith have 7. (Sharp, Hjalmarsson, Oduya, Roszival, Shaw and Smith have 3, Leddy, Kruger, Versteeg and Brookbank have 2, Handzus has 1) .

He strikes out a lot and doesn't walk all that much and doesn't hit for average and so far has been rated as a below average defensive first baseman. He hits for power. That's about it. He's basically Adam Dunn without the patience as far as I can tell. Just noticed the 1-2-3 hitters for the Sox have a .257, .231, and .319 OBP, respectively. Meanwhile, the 8-9 hitters have a .390 and .344 OBP.

@strombone1 I was blowing 2 goal leads way before all the cool kids started doing it #innovator

Valbuena hitting .214 with a .370 OBP.

If he keeps getting on base 42% of the time he should definitely hit higher than that. yeah, if the walk rate pans out at all, i want him at two forever Castro-Rizzo-Baez-Bryant, 1-4. Mmmmmmm. i want the lineup to be so legit castro's .350 obp is hitting sixth Almora-Rizzo-Baez-Bryant-Soler-Castro-Castillo-Alcantara

Bonifacio out on the basepaths more often than some teams this season.

I hate when that happens. To their credit, most of the people I've seen write about this series admit that this years wild is a better and more dangerous team, but the Hawks are just better and have home ice. Wild were 21st in the NHL in puck possession during the season, and yet were 1st in puck possession during the first round. Reason? The Avs were dead last in the NHL in puck possession during the season.

8th inning line-out on Tuesday. 8 straight PAs reaching base.

Don't think I've seen a single pick of Minnesota. Even their SB Nation fan site picks the Hawks.

It's spelled "Valbuena"

2014 ACC-B1G challenge matchups announced: Mon, Dec 1 - Nebraska at Florida State - Rutgers at Clemson Tue, Dec 2 No. 21 - Syracuse at No. 24 Michigan - Ohio State at No. 8 Louisville - Pittsburgh at Indiana - NC State at Purdue - Illinois at Miami (Fla.) - Minnesota at Wake Forest Wed, Dec 3 - No. 2 Duke at No. 4 Wisconsin - No. 18 Michigan State at Notre Dame - No. 25 Iowa at No. 6 North Carolina - No. 7 Virginia at Maryland - Georgia Tech at Northwestern - Virginia Tech at Penn State

They can if they get a pick back.

Floyd Mayweather doesn't like to take a hit.

Random thought...if the Lakers offered their 1st rounder this year for Thibs, would you be happy with that deal? Would the Bulls?

Also drafting based on current major league need is the worst draft strategy ever.

Because Hoffman is taking two weeks off due to arm soreness. The gulf between 4 and 5 is big enough that one of the 4 announcing retirement next week would drop them even with 5.