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bukie

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Everything posted by bukie

  1. bukie
    Can't really complain about patience when he does that. Another fun fact: All seven pitches Strasburg threw were fastballs.
  2. bukie
    Strasburg only threw two balls, and didn't miss a bat once that inning.
  3. bukie
    It's also still just the first inning.
  4. bukie
    I'm pretty sure the Cubs painted "Opening Week" on the field last year, too.
  5. bukie
    I always enjoy Small Sample Overreaction Week.
  6. bukie
    Let the games begin: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/era-commercial-pits-cubs-fan-ron-swanson-against-123856853.html
  7. bukie
    Wrong dome, sport.
  8. bukie
    Jiminy Christmas. Yes, we all know this. The point is they are throwing away 2012. The fact that there is a purpose is besides the point. It didn't need to be done, but it has been done. Kyle is the one who is arguing that the organization is throwing away the year for no reason. Oh, I certainly believe there is a reason. But "Let's hope maybe some bad players turn into good players" isn't a reason, it's a rationalization. If a player is good, you can evaluate him while trying to win. If he's not, that's what AAA is for. And "Let's hope maybe some bad players turn into good players" is a gross oversimplification of the position so you can more easily brush it away.
  9. bukie
    Jiminy Christmas. Yes, we all know this. The point is they are throwing away 2012. The fact that there is a purpose is besides the point. It didn't need to be done, but it has been done. Kyle is the one who is arguing that the organization is throwing away the year for no reason.
  10. bukie
    Okay, what was the reason? I'm not entirely clear on what you are arguing the reason was. To "evaluate"? Evaluate who? Some prospects who still need AAA time? We could have done that anyway. Volstad, Travis Wood, Wells, Garza (whether it was a 1-year fluke or he's genuinely stepped up), Marmol (whether it was a 1-year fluke or he can be counted on going forward), Stewart, LaHair, and Castro (defensively at SS), Barney, and to a lesser extent DeJesus, Soriano, Sappelt, Rizzo and Jackson. Maybe half of them will work out long-term. Rather than go all-in on spending to contend this year, they decided to give a chance to a number of projects and see what sticks.
  11. bukie
    My problem with the whole "Theo punted this year for no reason" argument is that it almost completely ignores the Rizzo trade. Once the Cubs decided that their best long term solution at 1B was Rizzo (arguably the top 1B prospect in baseball right now...him or Alonso), then 2012's focus was shifted almost immediately from "contend" to "evaluate". Rizzo wasn't going to be major league ready on day 1, and Hoyer knew that from his struggles last year. So, they acquired a bunch of buy-low targets to see who works out and who won't. Rather than spend extra on a stop-gap 1B, they're using one they already had that's torn the cover off the ball the past 15 months. In all likelihood, he won't work out, but it's worth a shot for a few months. They've retooled the minor league system, built depth into the rotation, and retooled the entire organizational philosophy. In all likelihood, going forward they'll still need to address 3B and the OF, and pick up another starter or two. But the plan isn't unfocused, and it's not like they're throwing away 2012 with no purpose or reason.
  12. bukie
    It ignores the entire universe of existence outside of the conversation at hand, which was whether or not Theo Epstein decided to tank the 2012 season. I'm very happy with what he's doing with the minor leagues and the overall organization. I just don't think that the tanking of 2012 was necessary to support those actions. I don't think giving LaHair six weeks of time at 1B to preserve an extra year of eligibility for Rizzo is the same thing as saying the Cubs didn't make any upgrade at 1B. The plan isn't to replace Pena with LaHair, it's replacing Pena with Rizzo, and using LaHair for six weeks to bridge the gap.
  13. bukie
    It's easy to lampoon buy low moves because they are so often just catching falling knives. It's easy to just retcon bad players into "buy low opportunities." Volstad was a great buy low opportunity. He's in his prime age, he had solid peripherals and a pedigree. Stewart has terrible peripherals and a nagging injury that's been known to ruin batting seasons. DeJesus is 32. I don't think "3-WAR potential" is all that much of a compliment. Every stiff in AAA should be able to put up a 2-2.5 win season if the breaks go their way, as Darwin Barney proved last year. We had three clear openings in the lineup. We filled them with a career AAAA roster fill coming off a Julio Zuleta season at Iowa, a 32-year-old buy low candidate, and a bad-wristed, high-K 3b who couldn't hack it in Colorado. We can rationalize it to ourselves all we want, but this is not what we were all hoping for when Theo Epstein came to the Cubs. Which, of course, ignores Rizzo and Jackson, and the rest of the moves made to revamp the minor league system.
  14. bukie
    Positively glowing endorsement. He's worth more than a guy who has been a backup his whole career. Yay? I'm trying to stick to realistic, here. I said that worst case scenario, he's a better option than Baker. Best case scenario, he's a better option than Ramirez would have been.
  15. bukie
    They added David DeJesus, Reed Johnson, Ian Stewart and Joe Mather to the offense. I'm torn between labeling it "didn't try to fix the offense for 2012" or "actively tried to make a bad offense for 2012." That's the kind of offseason you hire Dave Littlefield to put together. Heck, like LaHair, he was already in the organization. Also, his wikipedia article is awesome: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Littlefield Reed Johnson was on the roster last year. DeJesus is at least a moderate upgrade over Colvin/Campana in RF. Ian Stewart is a reclamation project that could go either way. Decent defensively, to the point where even if he's replacement level offensively, he's worth more there than Baker. Joe Mather...okay, they let spring training results determine the 25th man. Sue them.
  16. bukie
    I....(thankfully?) don't get the reference?
  17. bukie
    They made moves to address 3B and RF, kept a cornerstone at SS, kept moderately productive pre-FAs at C and 2B, and have prospects ready to take over midseason at 1B and CF. I guess they could have sold Soriano and tried to fill LF a different way, but outside that, they either kept productive guys or made moves at every other spot. Wait, "keeping Castro" was a thing they did? Keeping him at short deserves at least a little credit, since there's a growing push to move him to 2nd or 3rd. It could be argued that the Cubs acquired the best 3B of the offseason, too, depending on how much one values defensive metrics. RF is definitely improved, the staff is well improved over last year, particularly in depth, and 1B and CF are ready to go as soon as they're not wasting a year of eligibility. Really, the only potential failures of the staff were not getting Cespedes and offloading Soriano, and sacrificing the bullpen to upgrade other positions. Well, and to whom they gave bench spots.
  18. bukie
    What makes me nervous is that he's not doing things the way that earned him this leash to begin with. This is the guy who ran half of the epic Yankees/Red Sox arms race that defined the sport for a decade. Now we're settling for Bryan LaHair as our starting 1b in November, because he's there and we don't really care to look for an upgrade. Or because, rather than overpay the hell out of Prince Fielder (or Pujols, but not as badly), we acquired one of the top 1B prospects in the game. Partial credit for the possibility that the front office knew they'd be able to get Rizzo, I guess. But that still leaves about half-a-lineup's worth of players that we made no visible attempt to upgrade. Considering they got Rizzo before Fielder signed, I have to assume they knew they'd have Rizzo when Fielder was signed.
  19. bukie
    I just want Christian Bethancourt (C, Braves) instead of Tyler Flowers (C, White Sox). Mostly because Bethancourt is a better prospect, but also because Flowers is going to blow his minor league eligibility this year and I don't feel like wasting a bench spot on him.
  20. bukie
    So...then DeWitt won't? They are pretty redundant. That said, who am I missing here? Clevenger, Baker, Johnson, and likely Mather are all locks, and DeWitt and Campana are fighting for a spot. Even with Valbuena, that's a 7 man bench, and the only other people who could conceivably make the team are long shots like Sappelt, Cardenas, Amezaga, and Gonzalez(and I'm pretty sure those guys got sent to minor league camp already). It looks like they all make it. I thought Campana was already optioned back to AAA.
  21. bukie
    So... C: Geovany Soto 1B: Bryan LaHair 2B: Darwin Barney 3B: Ian Stewart SS: Starlin Castro LF: Alfonso Soriano CF: Marlon Byrd RF: David DeJesus SP: Matt Garza SP: Ryan Dempster SP: Paul Maholm SP: Jeff Samardzija SP: Chris Volstad RP: Carlos Marmol RP: Kerry Wood RP: James Russell RP: Rafael Dolis RP: Lendy Castillo RP: Rodrigo Lopez Shawn Camp Bench: C: Steve Clevenger IF: Jeff Baker IF: Blake DeWitt OF: Reed Johnson OF: Joe Mather OF: Tony Campana IF Luis Valbuena Since there wasn't really a backup SS on the roster, Valbuena makes it?
  22. bukie
    So...then DeWitt won't?
  23. bukie
    Yeah, it's a bit of a Dallas Cowboys effect: the national fan is going to bet on it no matter how good they actually are, so the odds are going to trend worse than they probably should be.
  24. bukie
    Part of the reason we're in this position is that the Cubs spent the last decade drafting nobody good except relief pitchers.
  25. bukie
    Great defender, great in transition, great slasher, worst shot selection I've seen in years.
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