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USSoccer

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Everything posted by USSoccer

  1. USSoccer
    I completely thought he'd be a figurehead. No idea why someone would trust him to actually negotiate their 9 figure contract...especially in a field he probably knows nothing about. Only knowing his public persona, I'm not at all surprised he thought he could step in and negotiate with a professional baseball team. He's built a brand worth half a billion dollars. There's no reason he can't negotiate with a baseball team, it's not rocket science. Sounds like his celebrity status may have hurt him this time. They're two completely different things; it's not even remotely similar. Do you really think he knows jack [expletive] about the Mariner's financial constraints, situations, or whatever? He doesn't have any relationships or rapport with front office people in baseball, so he isn't going to be able to read the situation. Negotiations are more than just "i am rich and made my money in field X, therefore I can just got to field Y and succeed as well". There are plenty of other rich people who've "built their brand" who would have no business negotiating a sports contract. Now, if he'd have rolled up in a gold tank, then you'd have something.
  2. USSoccer
    I completely thought he'd be a figurehead. No idea why someone would trust him to actually negotiate their 9 figure contract...especially in a field he probably knows nothing about. Only knowing his public persona, I'm not at all surprised he thought he could step in and negotiate with a professional baseball team.
  3. USSoccer
    Seems like my prediction of Jay Z acting like an [expletive] and hurting his clients is working out nicely.
  4. USSoccer
    Dammit.
  5. USSoccer
    Dammit. I knew there was something I was forgetting about.
  6. USSoccer
    Is there anything short of setting fire to Javy Baez in the batters box that could ever get Epstein dinged with a bit of failure with some people? Not when we find out every few months that there was yet another hindrance that we never would have anticipated back when he was hired. We didn't have any clue about 90% of the problems were facing now back when he was hired. It's his job to overcome hindrances to success.
  7. USSoccer
    You mean on opening day, or who the actual good relievers will be? For the former, bullpens are variable, but they aren't that variable. For the latter, the same still applies, but the Cubs' assets are unproven enough that the pecking order could be very different in June but still have most of the same players. The latter.
  8. USSoccer
    How does that break down between offense and pitching? I find it very difficult to believe that even now, if you plugged in Ramirez at 3B instead of Valbuena, Soriano in LF instead of whatever's there now, 2011 Castro as opposed to 2013 Castro, you don't have a better team. Also FWIW, Pena in 2011 was much better than Rizzo in 2013. Ramirez was orders of magnitude better than Valbuena, and Castro sucks now thanks in part to Theo and Co. screwing around with him. We aren't talking about cost or age. We're talking about whether or not the ML team is more talented now than before Theo got here. I don't see how it is. And it's ultimately the major league team that he should be judged on after 5 years of being here.
  9. USSoccer
    Isn't there too much variance from year to year to draw any conclusions about what the assembled group will end up being?
  10. USSoccer
    I don't think that's true at all. Major changes off the top of my head Out or significantly lost talent: Soto, Castro, Garza, Dempster, Marshall In or significantly gained talent: Jackson, Rizzo, Schierholtz, Castillo, Samardzija Pretty close to a wash, imo. Could make a case either way. Ramirez? Soriano? Wells? This is the roster that finished 2011. You can't tell me in any universe that this current team is better than that one. Cheaper? Yes. Younger? Yes. Better? Hell no.
  11. USSoccer
    I don't think that's true at all. No? How so? We had a better OF, a better 3B, a slightly worse 1B, the same SS playing much better, the same 2B playing better, and a better pitching staff. We have a far less expensive team, but the 2013 Cubs were far, far less talented than the 2011 Cubs.
  12. USSoccer
    It is? I thought it was the state of the entire organization that he was in charge of. So the state of the minor leagues don't matter in evaluating the job he's done? Am I off base in saying that's what you're implying, if not overtly saying? It matters to a large extent, but it's ultimately major league success that matters. The system plays a very large part in that, but after 5 years if the major league team still sucks, then all the sweet, sweet prospects in the world don't matter as much. 5 years should be enough time to show progress and results at the major league level. ETA: What I'm saying is that the state of the system matters to the extent that it leads to major league success. If it doesn't, then it matters a lot less.
  13. USSoccer
    How on earth could you be happy with the job he's done? He hasn't "done" anything. The major league team is more talent-poor than when he got here, and as nice as it is that there's some promise in the minors, it's ultimately the major league team that he should be judged by. If the Cubs haven't won anything after 5 years but Daytona and West Tennessee have championships or some crap, are you going to be pleased? Because I won't be. That BA system ranking doesn't come with a trophy. Also keep in mind that the best player in our system was already here when he got here, and being ass-terrible should result in some good draft picks/prospects.
  14. USSoccer
    He probably only has one eye or something.
  15. USSoccer
    Hey, they did a thing. Seems superficially good.
  16. USSoccer
    That's how it's done, Jozy.
  17. USSoccer
    Great. That reads as, barring them winning out and making a run in the playoffs, or Cutler giving the Bears a discount, that he's gone.
  18. USSoccer
    Yeah, I'm pretty surprised with the reaction here too. It's still aggravating nonetheless. The team sucks, and the near future looks boring and bad.
  19. USSoccer
    I guess the bottom line is I don't believe in giving out long-term, big money contracts to aging veterans when they did all their best stuff for another team. That's why I pretty much hate the top end of free agency. If you find me the guy who is still yet to hit his prime (Tanaka) then I'm willing to go good years and money. I don't agree Ellsbury will end up being worth close to his contract over the life of the deal. He's got Carl Crawford written all over him. Aging? He's 28. Also, you "don't believe" in it? Because I believe in the fact that this team blows and needs talent from wherever it can get it.
  20. USSoccer
    That was a completely reasonable contract that Ellsbury got; if you want to get impact players in FA there's always a cost to it, but the guy is very productive, and in case one hadn't noticed, we don't exactly have a lot of productive offensive players. Missing out on him sucks, because there's not a hell of a lot of impact players left out there, and I have zero confidence that the FO is going to swing a trade for one.
  21. USSoccer
    The eye test seems to indicate that McCown is terrible in the end zone because his arm isn't strong enough to make the necessary throws in a compact field.
  22. USSoccer
    Is the kid behind that kid wearing a Chivas USA jersey? Because that trumps Nat Jr's RBNY kit.
  23. USSoccer
    Mix is awesome.
  24. USSoccer
    -Columbia, Croatia and Cameroon: YES -Germany, Ghana, England: OH GOD NO (but would be amazingly entertaining. the subplots would be everywhere; that's the lazy journalist's dream group) -Germany, Chile, Holland: ..... -Belgium, Algeria, Croatia: I'd take it -Uruguay, France, Greece: That too. In only one of those 5 (1st one) did we advance, and in that one we lost to Belgium in the R16. FWIW, I actually ran it 5 more, and we only advanced one other time to lose in R16, and twice more drew Ghana and Germany.
  25. USSoccer
    Great. So it's going to be dumpster diving for other team's misfit toys, and hoping that there's a GM that doesn't hate dealing with us to make a decent trade.
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