mul21

You do realize that they'll be signing Fielder or Pujols to more than a 1 year contract right? And that there's not any other elite level 1st basemen on the market in the next few years or near ready guys in the system? What do you propose they do for first base production on 2013-2015 if they don't sign one of them? This isn't about 2012. It's about getting a core of very good players in place to be competitive as soon as possible, whether that ends up being 2012 or 2013 doesn't matter, but you need a big bat in the middle of the lineup to make that happen and those 2 guys fit the bill.

Apparently we have to be ready to win next year since Pujols either won't be a Cub after that or won't be any good after 2012. I don't understand that either. I want heavy blunt objects around next time someone [expletive] their pants over signing an over 30 player simply for being over 30. From what I understand the Cubs should only be signing/targeting young high end talent that they don't have to pay too much for. Go get em Theo! It's not signing players over 30 that's the problem. It's signing players over 30 to asininely long contracts that are sure to bite you in the ass before they're over. Signing Pujols to anything more than a 6 year contract is a bad idea and there's no way he get less than 8. My perfect deal is to give Fielder the deal that Ryan Howard just got (5/$125) or maybe 6/$150 if you have to go that far.

Oh, I agree. For as intelligent as he is, he certainly gets fixated on dumb things sometimes. Crane Kenney for instance.

Man, Bernstein used to be good....it's sad how dumb he's gotten. It's frustrating because he's the only person that knows about advanced stats and he'll actually cite BP and Fangraphs and he'll cite things like WAR, but then he just has completely idiotic takes on things/opinions. I think you guys are missing the point he was making. Simply that Castro is not strong in some of the areas that Theo seems to deem as pretty important, like defense and plate patience. He was just saying Castro may need a little extra help to become what he potentially can and be a Theo type of player.

He got asked something along the lines of what characteristic he had that made him successful was and he paused for a second and then said "Being inconspicuous in a Starbucks, but I guess I need some work on that".

Doesn't that have a lot to do with the new park though? I could be remembering that wrong, but I thought Citi Field was a major contributor to his drop off since they started playing there.

Wow. Can somebody please make that stop or go away or something. I think he and the Bum are on the same paid by the line break program.

Oh, I hate seeing his head snap on the ground like that.

He really is very good when he has a chance to set his feet.

Yeah, that was what I meant. Wasn't the prettiest ball, but right where it needed to be.

Perfect throw by Jay.

Man, they are just killing them with pulling guards.

Man, terrible read by Cutler there. Should have gone to Sanzenbacher across the middle there.

Man, the Bucs are just killing themselves with penalties. It also seems like the defense is flying around and hitting a bit better than the last few weeks today.

My problem with this line of thinking is that we haven't seen guys of his ilk try to produce late into their 30s outside of the steroid era when pitching is used like it is now. I mean, you're looking at guys who were elite(ish) late in their careers in the 60s-80s before the 6 inning start became prevalent and you're seeing a different reliever every time you come up late in games and those guys are throwing mid to upper 90s pretty regularly. The loss of bat speed, especially against those late inning guys, along with the fact that you're seeing guys be able to give more max effort early in games makes me nervous about aging superstars in the near future. Perhaps. I'd still rather they take the chance. I'd love to as well, especially if they could get him to sign a 7/$210 deal or something along those lines. Assuming payroll is increased anyway.

My problem with this line of thinking is that we haven't seen guys of his ilk try to produce late into their 30s outside of the steroid era when pitching is used like it is now. I mean, you're looking at guys who were elite(ish) late in their careers in the 60s-80s before the 6 inning start became prevalent and you're seeing a different reliever every time you come up late in games and those guys are throwing mid to upper 90s pretty regularly. The loss of bat speed, especially against those late inning guys, along with the fact that you're seeing guys be able to give more max effort early in games makes me nervous about aging superstars in the near future.

Well, Kenney would be losing some power I guess, so I can see this sort of ringing true. That said, I take everything from the media in this process with a grain of salt. Boston media is blaming Kenney (gee, wonder which side leaked that information), while wasn't it Leviine the other day that was blaminig Henry? I find that really hard to believe, just for the simple fact that Ricketts has been the one in charge of this whole deal and I just don't think there's any way he would let Kenney be any sort of stumbling block to putting together his front office dream team.

The only problem I have with that is the fact that, as somebody else mentioned, like half of the good prospects he has in their system are from trading Gonzalez and Adams. He just hasn't been there long enough to really make a huge difference in what they've got. Now, picking the right guys to trade for is a nice quality to have, but those are guys who you've had a chance to see against other professionals before acquiring them.

I'm not concerned about them being able to work together. I just think Wilken might not like having the carte blanche that he has for the last however many years. Theo and Hoyer are occasionally going to tell him, no, we don't like that guy here, pick your second choice, and I'm concerned about how long he'll be willing to deal with that part of it.

It's not just the analysis of information that will change, it's the type of info available that's going to make the biggest difference. The thing that stuck out to me in that SI article was the amount of time spent getting data entered into a database that allowed them to project a players potential development based on players with similar college numbers in similar programs. Obviously, a scouting report is a scouting report, but the supplemental info available to help make decisions will be so much more vast that it can only help in determining a guy's true potential. Based on the additional info available and decisions made with the help it will provide, I can see Wilken getting frustrated that he might be getting trumped by numbers. Hopefully they can figure out a system that keeps everybody happy, because the more good people you have providing info, the more likely you arrive at a good decision.

The Game 5 Carpenter/Halladay duel was pretty good. But yeah, other than that, some sloppy baseball with a decent number of not very close games.

The system is lackluster and aggressive promotions is a part of the system. The system is lackluster because of a lack of overslots, taking some chances early, and not spending jack in Latin America for several years. Combine that with a few guys being traded or not panning out, and I think you have a much better case for saying aggressive promotions haven't hurt in any significant way than arguing they have.

I have a feeling he has relationships with people in Latin America that are probably pretty important to the Cubs continuing to be able to sign pretty highly regarded guys from down there. I think they need to make sure he's treated well so they don't burn any bridges, but at the same time, him having less influence on the minor league instructional philosophy is something I'd like to see as well. He's got to be the guy most responsible for the aggressive approach they've been preaching for years now.

I may be erring in assuming the Red Sox can bump payroll up as necessary if they choose to, much like the Yankees but not to the same degree. In all honesty, I think NL teams will have the inside track on Pujols anyway. I'm pretty sure he prefers playing first rather than DHing and while I think he'll entertain offers from AL teams and use them to boost the overall value of the deal, I think he'll end up in the NL. Fielder's more likely to be in the AL, I think. Something like the Cubs getting Pujols for (throwing out a random amount) 10/280 and then the Angels/Red Sox/Yankees fighting over Fielder at a little less in money and years than Pujols got. I just don't see the Cards being a factor. It'd take nearly everything they have just to bring Pujols back and they may not even be able to afford him alone without boosting payroll. If he were going to go back to St. Louis at a major discount, I think he would have done it before the year. Something that most people tend to forget about when trying to figure out payroll for the Cards is their stadium payments. They're paying off a significantly higher portion of principle on their loan than they're required to every year. I'm thinking I remember it being in the $10 million range that they're paying on top of what they're required. So, regardless of what they're payroll currently is, I think they can easily bump it by $10 million for at least a couple years (especially with the WS run this year) and be okay. I think Pujols ends up back in a Cards uniform.

Man, he hates him some Szczur.