davell

I'm hoping Carmelo opts out and realizes it's better to make less with the Bulls and win something than to toil in New York on average teams. I have to imagine there would be several teams with 11M in cap space in better situations to win than the Bulls Winner. We honestly don't have that much truly going for us right now. Not unless/until Rose shows he's back to his prior form. Why would an elite player come here without knowing what to expect out of Rose?

Smaller things, cater in whatever his favorite food is obviously, have his jersey number pictured as being retired at Wrigley. Any presentations that are to be watched on screen would need to be edited to Japanese. Have him fill out a small questionaire prior to him arriving, that may give you some other small info that can help you cater things directly into his wheelhouse. Find out and concentrate on what his hot button is. Obviously, let it be known how close the entire organization is and how easy it is to get ahold of Renteria, Jed, Theo, or whoever, if you have any sort of issue.

Have Fukudome, Fujikawa, any other Japanese players there that can attest to how great Chicago is. Let it be known up front that he'll have access to a private jet to get home on, to help cut down on the difference of flying from LA. Have a great translator obviously. Have him a house/condo ready to buy for him, upon signing, complete with what he prefers in his house. Be very comprehensive about Cubs history and how much ONE championship would mean, along with the type of legend he'd have, in being the ace of that team. Come armed with how great our system is, how it's harder to sign top notch, elite players via FA, and show how we'll be in better shape than the old rosters of others, with no farm systems. Impress him with the computer systems in place, that other teams don't have . Show the great Arizona facility, along with fixing him up with a place there too. Show him the renovation plan, down to showing how he could influence some Japanese companies to advertise, making him more money, in the process. Bring in Ernie, Billy Williams, any other Cubs legend you can, to talk about how great it is to have been a lifelong Cub. Explain , in depth, how he's able to be in on the ground floor here, in turning around the fortunes of such a storied franchise and hope like hell he's motivated by that and not just being another in a long line of superstars that come and go from these other places.

Just curious, how can you type, when you don't know how to read? I ASKED if you consider moving Thibs in the offseason, if you can get legit value for a guy that may or may not be a great fit with Rosé. The "nucleus" mentioned would also include Jo and Taj, maybe Jimmy as well. I also laid out the fact we won't have the ability to go get a max player, which is what's very likely needed, in order to put us over the top. No one knows if Mirotic has All Star ability or not, but with the current state of the team, he NEEDS to, if we're to have championship aspirations. Having two fairly high picks, one of which could turn into a top 3, with some luck, would definitely mean more than winning one [expletive] playoff series and then getting our asses drug by the Heat or Pacers. What exactly was I dismantling, by the way? Learn to [expletive] read, then maybe you 'd post something that at least one person on the site could possibly agree with. [expletive].

I agree. Lets have a poll to see if we need a poll for 2.

I didn't care honestly. With the amount of injuries the D had this year, it's understandable if some would think we didn't get a good read on Tucker. I can see the other side where the bottom line is results and ours were awful too. In the end, Emery is giving him a second shot, knowing he's got to supply him with players, in order to see what Tucker actually is. Exciting offseason coming up, can't wait to see how re-vamped the D is once it's over and done with.

I mark out for Jo. I don't want to see him go anywhere. I'm not sure what CAN be done to hurt the this year, that doesn't make it hard to overcome next year. We're in a [expletive] spot, basically. We can get rid of Hinrich and Dunleavy, but who else? Maybe Jimmy? It doesn't make sense from a cap standpoint, as losing him wouldn't give you any real flexibility for next year. But, we only have him cheap for one more year before we've got to pay him as well. So, if we were ever going to get value for him, now would be the time. No clue what to do with him, it's a tough call honestly. I like Jimmy a lot, but at 8 mill a year(total guess), I'm not sure how much I would. If you could get a team firmly entrenched in the lottery(top 10) to give up an unprotected pick for him, would you do it? With Thibs under contract for 4 years, maybe you trade him over the offseason? I'm reaching and I like Thibs, he's definitely one of the better coaches in the league. Is he the best coach for Derrick moving forward? No idea, but with his hard-nosed approach, do GOOD FA want to play for him? Can't trade Taj, unless it's as part of a "go for it" type move, in my opinion. Plus, we'll need him when Boozer is amnestied over the offseason. Not to mention, Taj as a 30+ minute guy is a very, very solid player. Snell doesn't have any real value currently, we need him to play in order to possibly build it up. No one else is even worth mentioning. So yeah, we're kind of fucked. Trading those 2 may not even put you in the lottery. Won't root for an injury obviously, but we may need one to miss the playoffs in this pitiful conference, with Thibs at the helm. As for the offseason, if Boozer is amnestied, it leaves us with 11 mill of space. Not enough to get a max guy. Which is why tanking this year IS important. It's our best shot at re-tooling for next year, especially if we have the Bobcat pick as well. Those picks, plus Mirotic, and a couple of rotational bench vets is BEST case scenario for us in the offseason(realistically). Which means Mirotic NEEDS to be an All Star type for the Bulls to be legit contenders, along with health from Rose.

I agree.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/yankees-dodgers-angels-finalists-sign-masahiro-tanaka-according-083439346--mlb.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter Yankees favored, Dodgers, Angels other finalists, according to Hochi Sports. No idea if this is worth posting or not.

Oh, you're right. Lets just give it back to Charlotte. I don't care what the odds are of us pulling an All Star with a 10-15 pick. It's better than us winning a championship the way we're constructed currently. It's better than the odds of us creating enough cap room and then having an elite player come here. We need for Mirotic to be an All Star type, Rose to stay healthy, and to get big help from the draft, in order to potentially win a title during Rose's contract. I don't give a [expletive] about winning a playoff series.

If the season ended today, Charlotte's pick would be protected.

Thibs has turned this into a Lou Brown/Rachel Phelps situation. Honestly though, I can't see us dealing anyone other than Hinrich and maybe Dunleavy.

Tanaka evidently is back in Japan. Met with teams, but didn't leave LA, to tour cities.

Lose, you dumbasses.

Daytona http://i.imgur.com/tcOPUYi.png http://i.imgur.com/Z1355CG.png April (Daytona): .809 OPS, 27% K%, 4% BB% May (Daytona): .770 OPS, 22% K%, 5% BB% June/July (Daytona): 1.048 OPS, 20% K%, 10% BB% **FO decides enough's enough, promotes him to AA on 7/5** July (Tennessee): .888 OPS, 34% K%, 9% BB% August (Tennessee): 1.059 OPS, 24% K%, 8% BB% How are those AA walk rates possible, when fangraphs has his overall AA walk % at 7.9?

I do think the plan was to tank 2012. As long as that went down, we'd basically have the exact same system we've got currently. If we had money, I think we WOULD have been active last offseason AND this one. Add Annibal, Bourn, and Tanaka to this team and all that would have changed is we wouldn't have Zastryzny and instead of the 4th pick, we likely would have the 12th or so in 2014. Our payroll would be in the 125 range or so and we'd still have had all the youngsters coming up. But we'd have a current lineup with Bourn at the top, with a rotation of Annibal, Tanaka, Shark, Edwin, and Wood-which would be one of the better rotations on paper, in the NL. With a payroll in the 125 range, Soriano falling off still, it would have STILL given us room for 2 more 20 mill type bats and keep us well under the luxury tax. Would we have contended in 2014 with those moves? Probably not, but if Javy and/or Bryant were to come up and hit, then it'd have been conceivable. A Stanton addition midseason could have done the trick as well, involving Almora and Soler, plus Edwards or Johnson......The system, post Javy/KB graduation and a trade moving Almora, Soler, and CJ at once would still honestly be middle of the pack. With Alcantara, Johnson, Vogelbach, and the 1st rounder all being top 100 guys at this time next year and a stocked lower level with all the IFA guys, Candelario, Blackburn, and others having ability to develop into legit talents. I think something more along those lines is what Theo had in mind, instead of having to watch and hope the majority of our minor leaguers pan out, with all the top end guys getting major league time here(it's coming, Vogelbach's the only one I see getting dealt), some struggling and being lucky if we're true contenders by 2016. If we headed into next offseason with a lineup of Bourn, Castro, Rizzo, Stanton, Javy, Bryant, Castillo, and needing a FA OFer, with the staff I had mentioned-Annibal, Tanaka, Shark, Edwin, Wood.....We'd be looking pretty good for the future and much closer than we are currently. All it would have taken is money......

Are you hung up on a K rate over 146 PA? His K rate in college was lower and by all accounts, he was in "see ball, hit ball" mode. I'm not worried about his approach at all.

I think we've decided on Javy, time to move on to KB.

I doubt anyone prefers Ellsbury to Tanaka. And my guess is everyone is happy with the state of our system. The problem is why do we have to choose between Ellsbury and Tanaka in the first place? Obviously, we know the debt structure, the fact the renovations haven't begun yet, etc. and I've been firmly in the camp of the rebuild. But we are a major market team with a bottom 5 payroll. If we wanted to, we should be able to add THREE 20 mill a year type contracts to what we've got currently and not think twice about it. Just an example, I'm not advocating we should have added 60 mill in payroll this offseason. But one here, one there, one next year type stuff would have been fine by me. But Ricketts can't do that and that's what sucks .With the Passan piece from earlier, I feel extremely confident that was what Theo thought he'd have the ability to do as well.

Good lord, if we stayed put and wound up with one of Waly, Jernigan, or Hageman and one of Purifoy, Bailey, or Van Noy, I'm pretty happy.

Javy is going to be legendary and every non Cub fan will hate him. Between calling his HR, doing WTF he wants, the great story with his sister, and the tattoo of the MLB logo, there's no way he fails or is even average. 10+ All Star games and first ballot HOF. End of discussion.

https://twitter.com/TheBlogfines/status/421745468586983424/photo/1

Javy at 1 and that's no disrespect to KB, who does have the higher floor obviously. These two [expletive] had BOTH become perennial 5+WAR guys......And yes, I know thats unfair, but I actually see them doing it.

You could combine two great accounts somehow and say its Reinsdorf's fault because he made us pay for Derricks nee stuff.

He didn't even come to Chicago because of the weather, to begin his trip. This has to make us and the Yankees, as well, wonder if weather IS an issue. But even if its not and this actually comes down to money? The Guggenheim group can outbid us and the Steinbrenners put together, if they really wanted to.