davell

Which again, I think Gonzalez mistook radio and TV, no one else said this could be announced prior to the season.

We just traded Teague to the Nets for something called Toko Shengelia.

Injuries are part of my concern, sure. No matter the reason, the BoSox lost their ass on Matsuzaka. A total of 2 quality seasons for more than $102M spent. It wouldn't worry me as much if I thought the Cubs would throw money at the problem if it didn't work out the way they hoped. But if he's a bust, I have the feeling the Cubs would allow it to hamper future negotiations. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's my fear. And just for the record, I'd love for Tanaka to be a Cub no matter the cost. I'm just worried about what happens to the team as a whole and the approach going forward if Tanaka where to bomb. It's just an inherent risk when you sign a big FA, especially a pitcher. The Cubs are in the position where they need to spend to acquire someone like him. He's young, they desperately need starting pitching, they have money to spend, there's this rumored TV deal..it's all good. I agree with this. He's the proper guy to get. However, this board always thinks we should spend whatever it takes to get everybody. But I always try to point out that you can't have everybody, so you better be really happy with the one or two we eventually get. (I know about the Dodgers, we aren't them). So, when people wanted Albert Pujols, that's your ticket. You don't get him and three others the next three years. I really, really don't believe anybody would be happy with Albert and the remainder of his contract just a few years in. Instead you prefer nobody all three years? I want that 8 foot, 3 inch, 110 pound Sudanese pitcher that throws rocks 165 MPH, but has yet to hear of a baseball yet.

He was certainly prevalent with us for a few years. Makes sense though, he was a Hendry guy.

Best news of the Convention He seemed to have caught most of the [expletive] that should have gone towards Ricketts.

Wesley Wright was just asked if he would consider getting the whole team to grow beards and not cut them until they win a World Series. I hope you punched that guy in the face. I'm not there. Actually, it was Cubs.com at fault. I guess this was a Q and A they're running with players. Didn't realize it was online, but I guess it makes multiple fucksticks.

Did Gonzalez mistake the TV and radio rights here? Because I didn't see anything about TV rights from anyone else on Twitter, talking about it like that. Things I've seen were they're still in talks with WGN, but conceded its possible they'd leave after 2014. That's basically it.

Where this is going to go haywire is with Olt and Vizcaino, coming off injuries and with Jimenez and Torres, who some could rank fairly soon.

Crane has new 5 year deal, via Levine. New video board in LF by 2015.

Not to sound like an idiot or a dick but... Did he imply they have 29 hired scouts solely for each team? Did he imply they cover each team at each level? I haven't looked at their BA Directory but I'm assuming they have pro scouts who cover the minors full-time, amatuer area scouts who cover the minor leagues within their territory and then further up with crosscheckers, etc as most teams (including mine) employ. Depending on which one it is, I would not be too impressed. It was implied they have a different scout assigned to each team and that person covers the entire system, top to bottom. Was not clear if this was that scouts ONLY job or not. Yeah, that's a Wilken thing. When each guy is assigned like 3 or 4 teams from Rookie on up (not sure if it extends to the majors). It's more valuable with trades considering the same guy has graded the entire system rather than 3-4 different guys, although I'm sure they still have territorial coverage for added eyes. Cool, by the way, it sounded like this was separate from major league scouting.

Crane bitching about amount of taxes and obstacles Cubs have that others don't..... Says it's LIKELY we'll get a radio rights announcement prior to the season, involving WGN. Talks about holding ticket prices 4 years straight. :lol: Still 3rd highest in league, by the way.

Not to sound like an idiot or a dick but... Did he imply they have 29 hired scouts solely for each team? Did he imply they cover each team at each level? I haven't looked at their BA Directory but I'm assuming they have pro scouts who cover the minors full-time, amatuer area scouts who cover the minor leagues within their territory and then further up with crosscheckers, etc as most teams (including mine) employ. Depending on which one it is, I would not be too impressed. It was implied they have a different scout assigned to each team and that person covers the entire system, top to bottom. Was not clear if this was that scouts ONLY job or not.

Japanese source tells Levine that Tanaka loves a challenge and wants to be the man. Boner.

Crane starts off with "Let me tell you a little about myself" and soon after calls the Cubs a 100 year old startup.

There were definitely opposed to spending on older FA 2 years ago, even last year. Argument being they would only have gotten you to .500ish and kept you from likely getting impact talent in the draft and IFA, while also hemming you in monetarily longterm. But the system is phenomenal now and should sustain for quite a while. It's time to spend now, especially on a guy that doesn't cost you a draft pick and is heading towards his prime. As against spending on the big name 30 year olds over the past 2 seasons(which could be signed next offseason and I'd be happy), I'm all for signing a 25 year old right now. And I would have been fine with it then too. His age fits us, as does the fact he's got frontline starter capabilities, which we sorely need.

Wesley Wright was just asked if he would consider getting the whole team to grow beards and not cut them until they win a World Series.

Sign Tanaka and trade Shark the next day?

If we DO sign Tanaka, I'd love it for two reasons. One, we addressed our biggest need with exactly what we're looking for and two, if we give him a gigantic deal, it means we've got more money to spend soon. Theo is waaaaay too smart to spend a large percentage of the team's future salary on one guy. If he does this, it means he expects to be able to do it again.

Scouting guys have been on for a while, evidently they're knocking it out of the park, as expected. Best piece of info I've seen: We have a scout assigned to cover each of the other 29 teams systems, so we know them extremely well. As negative as I've been, that's great.

That's a distinct possibility, but I can't imagine teams have waited this long to make any sort of formal offer. You can't risk some other team offering and getting him to sign right there. Casey Close is considered a very fair agent. I just hope Tanaka doesn't tell him he'll play for the highest bidder, but make sure so and so knows what the high bid is.

Without knowing ANYTHING about the process, if the Cubs are the first team to submit an actual offer, possibly have the numbers leaked, I honestly can't see that as a good thing. The Dodgers have Greinke with an opt out in a couple of years and the Yanks truly have a need currently. Hopefully, it's a situation where every team had to submit their offers on the same day and he's choosing over the weekend. I don't want to be the team that makes the Yanks or Dodgers pay more than they wanted to.

Seems like a huge risk to me, at that price. Not every player that jumps has the impact of Ichiro...there's been quite a few, expensive, flameouts. Sure. But what are we going to do with that $25m that isn't risk? Save it for the next time a really good 25 year old who plays our biggest organizational position of need hits the fa market There's like 8 of those guys next year.

Fan asks Theo really longwinded question about when the Cubs will when the World Series.... Theo:"Maybe by the end of your question."

Theo kind of admitted to holding back on money this offseason, in case a guy became available they wanted. Then mentioned they may be able to roll payroll over, if they don't use it right now.(has said this before, but never has said they haven't spent all money til now)

Not going to talk much about the TV deal, structure of loans does impact spending, not as much as you think-according to Tom(said before) Can't just buy out rooftop owners, they want different things. Possible to do renovation in 4 offseasons, wouldn't promise it. Clark questions abound, as Laura says"That's a big part of what we're doing when we renovate Wrigley"