KingCubsFan

Happ is a useful enough player. He should be treated just like the core guys: offer him a fair extension and if he doesn’t accept, trade him for a flawed but intriguing prospect.

The administration has been delaying renovations to the athletic center for years despite apparently promising Kelly it was going to happen. And Kelly apparently asked for a meeting with the AD and President a few weeks back after LSU first approached him and he declined. Not to say that Kelly isn’t an horsefeathers for doing what he did, but hopefully this was the type of wake up call ND needed to realize that they need to upgrade facilities to compete with the true football factories. I think it's an excuse. They haven't had much trouble recruiting. At ND all student's get top-level services from what they eat to everything else. I don't know how much has changed in 30 years, but my friends who went there and lived in the dorms had laundry service and they were just regular students. I've never seen a college that is more student-centered than ND. You’re completely wrong, and random students getting their laundry done 30 years ago has nothing to do with the football team having training facilities on par with other programs that have championship aspirations in 2021. Their recruiting has been solid, but not close to the top programs. That is due to a lot things (including things like academic standards that will never change), but a big part of it is the university’s willingness to consistently invest in the program. For example, today was the first day a Notre Dame assistant coach used a private jet to visit recruits, and schools like Alabama have been doing that for many years. Seems small, but stuff like that adds up when you claim you want your football program to compete with the Alabamas and Clemson’s of the world.

ND claims Kelly didn't ask for anything and that they're constantly looking at facilities upgrades (not that you'd expect them to say anything else, I guess). Some contract details are out and Kelly is due 90% of his remaining deal if he's fired without cause and 100% of it if he wins a national title and later gets fired. So he's basically guaranteed $90 million right now. Not bad work if you can get it. The administration has been delaying renovations to the athletic center for years despite apparently promising Kelly it was going to happen. And Kelly apparently asked for a meeting with the AD and President a few weeks back after LSU first approached him and he declined. Not to say that Kelly isn’t an horsefeathers for doing what he did, but hopefully this was the type of wake up call ND needed to realize that they need to upgrade facilities to compete with the true football factories.

Attendance was down to just under 2 million this year, even in the valleys of 2012-2014 it didn't dip below 2.6 million. Yes, Covid was a big factor, but this is also still stated attendance v. actual, which matters a lot more when the cash cow relies on the gameday experience with all the stuff they just finished building in and around the park. There was also this bit from Mooney recently that indicates it's ownership that won't have the patience for a 2012-2014 level rebuild I don't think we can be all that certain what 'trying' looks like in terms of payroll, but increasingly it seems like the more concerning estimates of 125 million or so are not going to be accurate. Whether that's 150 million or 175 million, and what the FO's appetite is to use that flexibility on longer term contracts/QO recipients remains to be seen. They won't do a rebuild, but Contreras trade rumors are hot and heavy. :-k Good. Let somebody else pay a 30 year old catcher long-term.

Hard to imagine an offensive lineman who needs back surgery before even taking a snap will have much of a career. Hope I’m wrong.

Forgot about the 10/5. Was going to say he might move in a situation where we take an even worse contract (more years or more AAV). Do buyouts happen a lot in baseball? He's a great clubhouse presence and his defense is still solid (I think) so its not the worst thing in the world to have him as an extra OF on the roster as long as its clear he is not an everyday or even platoon starter for the next team that attempts to contend. This is a pretty dire statement, but considering we're on the hook for his contract regardless, and given the lack of any other options, if the goal is competitive in 2022, isn't it prudent to see if he can figure out how to be 2020 Heyward again? If the Cubs want to contend, it’s hard to imagine a scenario where Heyward gets significant at bats and we still have a competent offense. We’ve basically seen how that plays out the past four seasons.

From the moment he was drafted, it seemed pretty obvious with Boras as his agent that he was going to test free agency. It would have happened regardless of whether Theo got us that extra year.

Yeah I'm trying to keep my expectations in check but it feels like uber prospect hype is coming soon for him Have we had a top prospect with that kind of K/BB ratio? Even KB struck out quite a bit before he came up IIRC.

Marquez, Jensen, Bain...

As an ND fan, I appreciate everything he did for the program, and he had some gutsy performances. But after the first beat down by Clemson in the CFP, he was always tentative in the pocket, and I’m shocked any pro evaluator watched film and actually thought he could make it in the NFL. If everything goes well, he’s probably a poor man’s Chase Daniel.

Ideal scenario would be Fields slipping to the back of the top 10 and the Bears are able to trade up to get him. Trading up to #4 or 6 just seems way too expensive.

I’m encouraged by the start too, but it’s 71 plate appearances.

You fantasy world sounds like a horsefeathering nightmare. Not to mention his fantasy world has put billions in the Ricketts pocket while leaving the organization in shambles. That’s a strange fantasy unless this is a Todd Ricketts account.

Even setting aside those who don’t think the Cubs should remotely care about payroll, yes they absolutely should have done that. I wanted Harper as much as anybody, but looking back now, it's hard to feel that bad about missing out on an outfielder whose peak appears to be 4.5 WAR and required a 13 year contract.

losing len hurt me more than any chicago athlete leaving ever has. i guess we all just assumed that he would be here for a very long time. I’m not sure how old you are, but if you’re on this board, you probably remember losing the greatest athlete of all time to minor league baseball.

Contreras is great, but I would be OK if Jed decided that it was better to trade him rather than giving an extension to a 28 year old catcher who relies a lot on his athleticism.

Right. The White Sox have a bright future, but they’re not quite on the “budding dynasty” level that some seem to place them at. The Cubs had a better core in 2015 and, five years later, people are acting like the organization is in shambles. Baseball is becoming more and more of a young player’s game, and the windows are getting smaller unless you’re actively replenishing a top 5 farm system. SUPERTHREAD WARNING: So you think the Cubs had a better core in 2015 than the White Sox do now? I didn’t think that would be too controversial (particularly on a Cubs board). You had two top 5 prospects in the game (Bryant and Russell), Rizzo, the #4 pick in the draft who had destroyed the minors (Schwarber), another top 25/top 50 prospect (Javy), Soler, Contreras in the pipeline, Arrieta and Lester at the top of the rotation, plus Hendricks.

No chance. Right. The White Sox have a bright future, but they’re not quite on the “budding dynasty” level that some seem to place them at. The Cubs had a better core in 2015 and, five years later, people are acting like the organization is in shambles. Baseball is becoming more and more of a young player’s game, and the windows are getting smaller unless you’re actively replenishing a top 5 farm system.

This 100% It won't be until Len is on what he assumes to be his final broadcasting job that he'll relent and admit working for the Ricketts made him physically ill. And it only took him 9 years to come to that realization.

He was okay with doing it to Andy Masur, so there's clearly a line that can be crossed even if he may not have done it for Pat. this is a ridiculous comparison. i don't care for pat hughes but his status is on a completely different level. Well apparently Pat is only liked by a small subset of Cubs fan, so his status can't be too large.

Horrible take. And I have to believe that Pat is more popular than Len among Cubs fans too. I always liked Len, but Pat is the voice of the Cubs to me. More popular among a certain subset of Cubs fans, sure. If by "subset", you mean "majority", sure. I find it hard to believe that they'd let a more popular broadcaster who wanted to do radio leave rather than just fire the less popular radio guy and replace him with Len.

My hottest in the moment take is that if Len wanted to do radio so badly then they should've put Pat(who has very much lost his fastball) out to pasture. i don't disagree, but they'd never do that (and len would probably want nothing to do with forcing him out) aren't you my anti-vin scully buddy too? Horrible take. And I have to believe that Pat is more popular than Len among Cubs fans too. I always liked Len, but Pat is the voice of the Cubs to me.

I spent the entire range session today going aggressively in-to-out and I was still managing to slice it. I think I have a really bad open-club-face problem. I can see it even when I practice in slow motion, my natural movement is to let my wrists break and open up like crazy. I have some ideas on how to fix it, maybe? I'm wasting so much time on this stuff because I "don't have time for lessons." I think this is the source of my distance problems too. I'm not a great athlete by any stretch, but I'm a healthy adult male who can get a normal amount of swing speed going, but I'm getting *way* less distance than the average golfer reports. I think with the higher irons, the backspin is letting it straighten out, but the backspin is still killing the distance. Then the longer clubs would be almost a decent length if it was going straight instead of curving so much. this video helped me quite a bit: but ya, get lessons 1. Fix your grip. Over-exaggerate it to a closed grip to start, i.e. you can see 2-3 knuckles on your left hand in your set up. 2. Get the Watson golf hanger.

Sustained success was always dependent on keeping a top farm system. That obviously hasn’t happened. So now you’re faced with heading off the cliff in 2021 or waiting until everybody leaves in 2022. I don’t think we’re getting much for anybody outside of Contreras, so I wouldn’t blame the Cubs if they ran it back one more time due to a winnable division. But my guess is Theo and Jed had differing views on that, and my money is on Jed wanting to tear it down this offseason.

The Bears have too many holes to waste a late first round or second round pick on a developmental QB. Unless there's a unique circumstance where a top QB falls for some reason, I'd rather devote picks and money elsewhere during the rest of this competitive window and ride the cheap starting QB with a history of being average.