bukie

Just because it's published, doesn't mean it's legitimate.

I like it, the stadium is about a 10 minute drive for me, and I don't have to deal with the city traffic. :P

Here's my argument for Fielder: Everyone agrees that Fielder will most likely decline much sharper and earlier than the average superstar player. Pujols is a once-a-generation type hitter whose season hit a decline this year and was still about as good as Fielder. How early do we think Fielder will start to decline? Four years down the road? Five? Let's just assume for the sake of argument that Fielder has four years left in him before he starts to decline. Unless Pujols can be counted on to rebound and avoid injury, the best case scenario for Pujols is about as good as Fielder was this year, while it's reasonable to think Fielder can still improve over the next 2-3 years. So it's reasonable to expect more return out of Fielder during the years we'd expect either to be productive in their contracts.

For reference, Pujols' 5.1 WAR this season was as good or better than 4 of Fielder's 6 seasons. Also, after a slow start, he hit .316/.383/.571/.954 over his last 520 PA's this year. Those numbers surpass Fielder's 2011 when you include park factors. That's the big difference. When Albert slows down, he puts up Prince Fielder seasons on the way down instead of Ted Williams seasons. When Fielder slows down, he puts up Dmitri Young seasons on the way down. Unless you think that Pujols will rebound somewhat and remain relatively injury-free, though, going forward the best case for Albert Pujols is Prince Fielder seasons with passable defense. The next five years, the comparison will be between Fielder's age 28-32 seasons and Pujols' age 32-36 seasons. Even if we all assume Fielder will drop off a cliff after that, Pujols will likely be well declined by then as well. So, over the next five years, who will have more value? Pujols, who is already declining, or Fielder, who may still be improving yet for a couple years?

It does disappoint me that we wasted 20 years twiddling our thumbs, because the inefficiencies get smaller every year as teams get smarter. I'm just expecting Epstein and Friends to find small inefficiencies and mostly just bludgeon the NL Central with our financial resources. Of course, as the gap between front office development strategies lessens, the greater the payroll gap makes a difference. If every team is doing the same thing, the team that does more of it is in better shape to deal with mistakes and risks.

I don't think he fits either of the last 2 qualities. Up the middle is the one spot we don't need to bring in new players for. Between Soto, Castro, Jackson/Szczur, and Barney/DeWitt/DJL/Flaherty/Gonzalez, the Cubs should be fine. Yeah, given the Cubs' draft strategy the past several years of drafting almost exclusively SS and failed SS, if they can manage to generate an ability to do any kind of positive development on the existing prospects it should at least keep their up the middle options covered.

It still chaps my hide that they went after Latroy Hawkins as a Type A free agent for middle relief without caring about the repurcussions. It just speaks volumes toward Hendry's absurd values. The saddest thing is that in six drafts of five rounds, any team that simply holds onto their existing picks would have made 30 picks over that time. That's the bare minimum assuming you don't go after any kind of compensatory picks. The Cubs (and Orioles?) couldn't even manage that.

Also, just for completeness, there were a total of 44 players with a WAR of 5+ (15 pitchers, 29 position players). The other players with a 5+ WAR that will be 30+ next season: Bautista, TOR - 8.3 Halladay, PHI - 8.2 Kinsler, TEX - 7.7 Sabathia, NYY - 7.1 Granderson, NYY - 7.0 Lee, PHI - 6.7 Gonzalez, BOS - 6.6 Zobrist, TB - 6.6 Haren, LAA - 6.4 Phillips, CIN - 6.0 Wilson, TEX - 5.9 Victorino, PHI - 5.9 Beltre, TEX - 5.7 Peralta, DET - 5.2 Pujols, STL - 5.1 Holliday, STL - 5.0 Berkman, STL - 5.0 Carpenter, STL - 5.0 Not that I'd be opposed to trying to acquire any of these players (Pujols and Wilson, for example), but I'd be wary of giving too long of a deal to them. Another intriguing pitcher that just missed the 5+ WAR list is Justin Masterson of Cleveland (4.9), who will be 27 next year but isn't FA eligible until 2015.

Here's the full list of 5 WAR players this year that will be under 30 next year (Age next year at ASB, FA year): 9.4 - Jacoby Ellsbury, BOS (28, 2014) 8.7 - Matt Kemp, LAD (27, 2013) 8.0 - Dustin Pedroia, BOS (28, 2015) 7.8 - Ryan Braun, MIL (28, 2021) 7.3 - Miguel Cabrera, DET (29, 2016) 7.0 - Justin Verlander, DET (29, 2015) 6.9 - Alex Gordon, KC (28, 2014) 6.9 - Joey Votto, CIN (28, 2014) 6.8 - Clayton Kershaw, LAD (24, 2015) 6.4 - Justin Upton, ARI (24, 2016) 6.3 - Troy Tulowitzki, COL (27, 2021) 6.2 - Jose Reyes, NYM (29, 2012) 6.1 - Evan Longoria, TB (26, 2014 2017) 5.8 - Howie Kendrick, LAA (28, 2013) 5.7 - Andrew McCutchen, PIT (25, 2016) 5.6 - Robinson Cano, NYY (29, 2012 2014) 5.6 - Doug Fister, DET (28, 2016) 5.6 - Jered Weaver, LAA (29, 2013) 5.5 - Alex Avila, DET (25, 2016) 5.5 - Madison Bumgarner, SF (22, 2017) 5.5 - Prince Fielder, MIL (28, 2012) 5.5 - Felix Hernandez, SEA (26, 2015) 5.2 - Matt Cain, SF (27, 2013) 5.1 - Brett Gardner, NYY (28, 2015) 5.0 - Matt Garza, CHC (28, 2014) 5.0 - Ian Kennedy, ARI (27, 2016) That's a total of 26 players in baseball (and one is even already on the Cubs!). What I'm illustrating with this is that these kind of players are rare as it is, and the ones that do exist are even less frequently available on the market because teams either have them locked up for the duration of their prime years (Braun, Tulowitzki, Longoria and holy crap do the Rays have a team-friendly deal on Longoria) or are in franchises that have a top 5 payroll to hang onto them long-term and have no excuse not to (Ellsbury, Pedroia, Gardner, Kendrick, Weaver). Fortunately (for other teams), the Dodgers and Mets are in ownership flux right now, and may not be able to keep their young FAs (Reyes, Kemp, Kershaw). So, the only way the Cubs are going to be able to get players of this caliber are: 1) Build them from within, but the only player on the roster with the potential to reach this plateau is Castro, so any other development has barely started yet. 2) Acquire the above players when they become available due to their clubs not being able to afford them, either through free agency or a trade (which the Cubs have limited assets attractive to most other teams). As much as I'd like to see how available guys like Gordon, McCutchen and Upton might be, the most available solution is to grab guys like Fielder, Reyes and Kemp by spending only money. That's a way to add to the team both short and long term. For reference, Pujols was a 5.1 WAR player this year after being an 8+ WAR player the previous 8-9 years. My main concern about Pujols is that we have to, as Epstein said, pay for future performance and not past performance.

It could be argued that the Philly-Dallas game is between the best two teams in the NFC East.

Yea doesn't really prevent cheap play in the last 15-30 secs. Like I said, the team serving the penalty should get one fewer shootout chance. That would curb the late cheap shots.

Yikes, all those early games are terrible.

They should play a man down on the shootout. Then the Hawks might win it.

If the Cubs can get either player at a 5-year contract with 1-2 option years, that'd be ideal. If Pujols wants 8-240, give him 5-180 with a couple option years at the end. Anything that can lessen the long term risk works more in the Cubs' favor, because even if the Cubs aren't ready to win in 2012, they can and will be ready in 2013-2015, and during those years the Cubs are going to need some kind of cornerstone at 1B. With none in the system, this is the perfect opportunity to add a huge piece that will be extremely productive for the next 5 years. And unless a Joey Votto becomes available in the next year or two, there's nobody else out there comparable that the Cubs would be able to get with such ease.

Even during the Epstein interview, Kaplan couldn't help himself and kept dropping Z, Soriano, and Ramirez as examples of the Cubs problems and who needs to be accountable for them.

Tom Ricketts in this picture represents the entire fanbase, at least on this board.

I have it on my DVR if that helps. It does if your DVR is accessible online, publically.

We'll grow to become arrogant, self-assured that our management can do no wrong, so anything that goes wrong will be completely on the players and other non-management factors, like other teams' luck. In other words, we'll become SoSH. And when he leaves for the Nationals we'll demand Strasburg and Harper as fair compensation Year 4? No way. Six seasons and a movie, thanks.

We'll grow to become arrogant, self-assured that our management can do no wrong, so anything that goes wrong will be completely on the players and other non-management factors, like other teams' luck. In other words, we'll become SoSH.

According to FO's latest playoff odds, the Bears are now the most likely team to get the second wildcard in the NFC. (Detroit the first, and though Dallas and Atlanta have better playoff odds, they have an actual chance to win the division).

Is the whole press conference online anywhere?

Some of the comments in the article continue to attempt to do just that.

Because this is oddly fascinating to me... There is only one team that plays all 3 of the currently winless teams in the NFL, the Cleveland Browns (who will play nobody until week 12 and then get shellacked repeatedly until the end of the year). There are three teams that play none of the terribad triumvirate: Detroit, Minnesota and Chicago (Green Bay played the Rams, the NFC East plays the Rams, and the NFC South plays the Colts)

Was it ever revealed who Theo took with him from Boston?

I'm curious whether Hoyer and McLeod are anywhere to be seen.