Tracer Bullet

POS

Gibberish. If you seriously want to debate this stuff just say so and I'll make a thread. Did you just hit me with the "COME AT ME BRO!!" ? "Meet me in the parking lot after school and bring your friends!" :lol: No, he suggested you actually discuss this in an appropriate thread. Great idea. I'll ask again, take it somewhere else. If not the politics thread, create another one for crazy conspiracy discussions.

he was just the main piece in your Felix Hernandez trade (you dropped Eddie Butler), and had 10 starts since (2.27 ERA and 8 of which he went 7+ IP), so we can be forgiven for being able to make no sense of your valuations unless you expect Jake Odorizzi to be a Cy Young Candidate, and/or Cespedes to completely hulk out i guess I had picked Eddie Butler back up before the season ended. I also have Wacha. Yes, but you dropped Butler relatively quickly after the trade, even though he was a top-50 prospect in the midseason. And you dumped Cain here for next to nothing even though he could be a 400-point keeper than puts up nearly 600 points in 2014 (and a key piece in the trade in which you gave away your best SP last year). So it's a little hard to figure out what is going on. To address your edit - even if Cain is less valuable to you b/c you added a better SP, he's still quite valuable to other teams. You effectively got nothing for him. And then you threw in Beachy for free.

How could this possibly blow up in your face? You risk Matt Cain being just league average and Beachy being worthless to move back 2 rounds?

Holy [expletive] [expletive]. A 3rd round amateur player? And you guys thought 2 months of Nick [expletive] Markakis was a steal last year.

Cheerleaders get $1250 a season? That can't be right. http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/10334429/cheerleaders-file-suit-oakland-raiders-wage-theft-unfair-employment-practices

Sherman has pretty much been an ass to half the NFL. He's had run-ins with Brady, was punched by Trent Williams.... I think he's nuts. That doesn't mean I didn't find his antics entertaining last night. In fact, I was laughing my ass off. With the NFL legislating a lot of fun out of everything, that was great. http://espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs/2013/story/_/id/10334062/super-bowl-xlviii-richard-sherman-seattle-seahawks-says-not-villain

I'm interested to see the 2nd half of the deal for Cain and a guy on his last exempt year.

i like the your name or your brains thing a lot. that said, the real argument is probably that this is why it's stupid to put your whole offseason on the hopes that you can sign one guy, especially if you've turned yourself into a hilarious joke team that no one wants to play for given any other options. He was the FA this offseason that fit the plan. So they made a huge push for him and he decided he'd rather play somewhere else. Who else should they have signed this offseason? Ellsbury For $22m/year for 7 years?

i like the your name or your brains thing a lot. that said, the real argument is probably that this is why it's stupid to put your whole offseason on the hopes that you can sign one guy, especially if you've turned yourself into a hilarious joke team that no one wants to play for given any other options. He was the FA this offseason that fit the plan. So they made a huge push for him and he decided he'd rather play somewhere else. Who else should they have signed this offseason?

They've missed on Cespedes, Darvish, Ryu and Tanaka. There's no guarantee at all that they'll sign free agents entering their prime "any and every day." Of course not. They're free agents. There's no guarantee that they'll sign any ever. But they've demonstrated a willingness to offer very big, competitive (sometimes the highest) bids to these types of FAs. They can't force people to sign contracts They can do a better job of not offering up a terrible team for those free agents to play for. That's what they're working on. But the pipeline was a disaster when Theo took over and they don't have the Yankees/Dodgers money. They've also met with some [expletive] obstacles (bad TV contract, local politics, rules changes) that have delayed things.

They've missed on Cespedes, Darvish, Ryu and Tanaka. There's no guarantee at all that they'll sign free agents entering their prime "any and every day." Of course not. They're free agents. There's no guarantee that they'll sign any ever. But they've demonstrated a willingness to offer very big, competitive (sometimes the highest) bids to these types of FAs. They can't force people to sign contracts

For a guy who has no interest in doing this, you sure do keep coming back for more. Wanna go make out? Normal people don't turn to weird sexual advances.

Our front office has consistently been philosophically opposed to signing pitchers Max Scherzer's age that kind of money. It's not happening. I think that their position on THAT type of free agent depends on where they are in the timeline. Tanakas they'll sign any and every day (if only it were that easy)...I don't think they'd rule out big money to a 30 year old pitcher if they're in point B to point C mode. That's right.

Arbitrary and logical are not mutually exclusive. Yes and my post was not arbitrary. And it was logical. This is going to be the thing you want to grind into a pulp the way only you can? Can we go back to USS, et al making the same joke every other post? I suddenly long for those. It was alogical and arbitrary. You're going to waste your 20 posts a day making an ass of yourself?

There's not a single name on this list that you'd like to sign as a FA that you think will actually make it to FA next year? And even if that's true, it's good that the Cubs are still allowed to trade. He very clearly said "as attractive". Great. You pay Tanaka $225m and I'll pay Mad Max $150m. Look, we missed out on the prom queen and that sucks. But it'd be great if we could have 1-2 posts of ridiculous before we move on rather than 10 pages of it. There are other fish in the sea. If 2014 shows that some of our top prospects are ready to produce in 2015, I'll be as furious as any of you if we don't make some major moves to contend in 2015. But we made the best offer to the best FA and he decided to go somewhere else. What the [expletive] do you want? I don't think Scherzer even makes it to FA, but if he does he'll certainly get more than 150 and he'll still be 4 years older than Tanaka Regarding Tanaka, Well he took what he deemed was the best offer, so for starters I wanted to make the actual best offer You don't get to decide what offer Tanaka takes. We gave him the same out clause. We offered him more money. We can't move the team to New York and have a couple dozen titles. Tell me, how would you have changed the offer? $300m for 2 years? Your name or your brains will be on this contract? You're bitching at the FO because a player wanted to play somewhere else for less money.

Arbitrary and logical are not mutually exclusive. Yes and my post was not arbitrary. And it was logical. This is going to be the thing you want to grind into a pulp the way only you can? Can we go back to USS, et al making the same joke every other post? I suddenly long for those.

I once picked up a - 60 point player to help me fit nine other guys under the points. Does this surprise anyone?

That's rather arbitrary. No, it's really not. It's perfectly logical. If you disagree, great.

There's not a single name on this list that you'd like to sign as a FA that you think will actually make it to FA next year? And even if that's true, it's good that the Cubs are still allowed to trade. He very clearly said "as attractive". Great. You pay Tanaka $225m and I'll pay Mad Max $150m. Look, we missed out on the prom queen and that sucks. But it'd be great if we could have 1-2 posts of ridiculous before we move on rather than 10 pages of it. There are other fish in the sea. If 2014 shows that some of our top prospects are ready to produce in 2015, I'll be as furious as any of you if we don't make some major moves to contend in 2015. But we made the best offer to the best FA and he decided to go somewhere else. What the [expletive] do you want?

Tanaka wasn't making the 2014 Cubs a playoff team. And who knows what the team will look like heading into 2015. Too many possible FAs, trades, etc to write that off today. Not that it will stop you. I'll go out on a limb and say there will not be as attractive a starting pitcher available for nothing but money in the next 2 offseasons There's not a single name on this list that you'd like to sign as a FA that you think will actually make it to FA next year? And even if that's true, it's good that the Cubs are still allowed to trade. Brett Anderson (27) - $12MM club option with a $1.5MM buyout Homer Bailey (29) Josh Beckett (35) Chad Billingsley (30) - $14MM club option with a $3MM buyout Joe Blanton (34) - $8MM club option with a $1MM buyout Wei-Yin Chen (29) - $4.75MM club option with a $372K buyout Kevin Correia (34) Johnny Cueto (29) - $10MM club option with an $800K buyout Jorge De La Rosa (34) Ryan Dempster (38) Gavin Floyd (32) Yovani Gallardo (29) - $13MM club option with a $600K buyout J.A. Happ (32) - $6.7MM club option Dan Haren (34) - $10MM player option if 180 innings reached in 2014 Roberto Hernandez (34) Luke Hochevar (31) Hisashi Iwakuma (34) - $7MM club option with a $1MM buyout Josh Johnson (31) Kyle Kendrick (30) Jon Lester (31) Colby Lewis (35) Justin Masterson (30) Brandon McCarthy (31) Brandon Morrow (30) - $10MM club option with a $1MM buyout Jeff Niemann (32) Ross Ohlendorf (32) Felipe Paulino (31) - $4MM club option with a $250K buyout Jake Peavy (34) Wandy Rodriguez (36) Max Scherzer (30) James Shields (33) Carlos Villanueva (31) Ryan Vogelsong (37) Edinson Volquez (30) None of these guys are as attractive a target as Tanaka was. And there were several free agents I was interested in this offseason too. I also hear trades were allowed but I'll have to check to make sure oh jesus.

Your post was basically: "Here's something that's probably true but not certain. Also, why are you speculating on something that's probably true when it's not certain?" No, that's a ridiculous simplification and it doesn't take a great deal of critical thinking to read my post fairly. Nonetheless, I'll help spell it out. My post was, we're 2 months from the start of 2014 and we're not one SP away from making the playoffs. There isn't an indication that the team is making a number of others moves this offseason. But we're 14 months from the start of the 2015 season, so it's too far away to call that season a bust.

Tanaka wasn't making the 2014 Cubs a playoff team. And who knows what the team will look like heading into 2015. Too many possible FAs, trades, etc to write that off today. Not that it will stop you. I'll go out on a limb and say there will not be as attractive a starting pitcher available for nothing but money in the next 2 offseasons There's not a single name on this list that you'd like to sign as a FA that you think will actually make it to FA next year? And even if that's true, it's good that the Cubs are still allowed to trade. Brett Anderson (27) - $12MM club option with a $1.5MM buyout Homer Bailey (29) Josh Beckett (35) Chad Billingsley (30) - $14MM club option with a $3MM buyout Joe Blanton (34) - $8MM club option with a $1MM buyout Wei-Yin Chen (29) - $4.75MM club option with a $372K buyout Kevin Correia (34) Johnny Cueto (29) - $10MM club option with an $800K buyout Jorge De La Rosa (34) Ryan Dempster (38) Gavin Floyd (32) Yovani Gallardo (29) - $13MM club option with a $600K buyout J.A. Happ (32) - $6.7MM club option Dan Haren (34) - $10MM player option if 180 innings reached in 2014 Roberto Hernandez (34) Luke Hochevar (31) Hisashi Iwakuma (34) - $7MM club option with a $1MM buyout Josh Johnson (31) Kyle Kendrick (30) Jon Lester (31) Colby Lewis (35) Justin Masterson (30) Brandon McCarthy (31) Brandon Morrow (30) - $10MM club option with a $1MM buyout Jeff Niemann (32) Ross Ohlendorf (32) Felipe Paulino (31) - $4MM club option with a $250K buyout Jake Peavy (34) Wandy Rodriguez (36) Max Scherzer (30) James Shields (33) Carlos Villanueva (31) Ryan Vogelsong (37) Edinson Volquez (30)

Tanaka wasn't making the 2014 Cubs a playoff team. And who knows what the team will look like heading into 2015. Too many possible FAs, trades, etc to write that off today. Not that it will stop you. Make up your mind. Either we have to account for all the unlikely but possible scenarios, in which case Tanaka very much might have made the 2014 Cubs a playoff game, or we talk about most likely projections, in which case writing off 2015 is quite reasonable. I don't know what I have to make up my mind about.

Tanaka wasn't making the 2014 Cubs a playoff team. And who knows what the team will look like heading into 2015. Too many possible FAs, trades, etc to write that off today. Not that it will stop you.