KingCubsFan

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More noise about them possibly not posting him here: http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/10084018/masahiro-tanaka-not-made-available-mlb-teams-rakuten-golden-eagles Out of curiosity, if they don't post him what's stopping Tanaka from officially "retiring" from NPB and then entering MLB as a free agent? I'm pretty sure MLB and NPB closed that loophole like a decade ago when some guys did it. Was Soriano one of them? Yep. Nomo too.

I don't think that's true at all.

If the Cubs don't make an on-field turnaround while Theo is here, why would you be upset that he leaves? If we're still floundering after 5 years, he failed and it's time to let someone else try to fix it. Please go away. Well it's true. If they have 5 years of not contending, that's not doing his job. Yeah, if they haven't made significant improvement in wins and losses after 5 years, that would mean the prospects haven't turned out and they haven't done enough to address the pitching staff, both of which would be more on Theo than #poortomricketts.

Seriously? I'd take our chances against HOU/MIA/CHW any day over hoping we outbid the Dodgers, Yankees, Red Sox, or anyone else who feels like throwing a big bid. I think the big concern, as someone alluded to above, is that this dissuades teams from posting talents like Tanaka.

7 years at 22 per is near the upper bound of what I would've been willing to give Ellsbury, but I don't think it's an unreasonable deal at all. I can respect the opinion, but I'm shocked people would think it's a reasonable deal. He's a fine but injury prone baseball player. That's pretty much it. If they are going to give out a 22 million per season long-term contract, I want somebody much better. There have been less than 10 hitters more valuable than Ellsbury the last 3 years: http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=y&type=8&season=2013&month=0&season1=2011&ind=0&team=&rost=&age=&filter=&players= And that's a cumulative number that penalizes Ellsbury for missing half of 2012. If you want someone "much better", then you're limiting yourself to Trout, Cabrera, Cano, and McCutchen. 38th best wOBA during that time. But I don't think it was a bad deal for the Yankees. Given the Cubs' offensive ineptitude and the small CF in Wrigley, I just don't think he was the best choice for the Cubs to spend a ton of money on. And I'm generally not in favor of giving a big money deal to a player whose statistical "worth" is based on defense and baserunning, as I'm not 100% sold on the reliability of those metrics.

Any interest in Brett Gardner now that the Yankees have Ellsbury? Since 2010, he's only accumulated about 1.7 less WAR than Ellsbury. My guess is that the Yankees still value him pretty highly, even with Ellsbury.

And was then recalled hours later due to an injury to Mike James He is one of the most vital members of Project Tank.

Looks like ND's offensive coordinator, Chuck Martin, is going to be Miami(OH)'s next coach. He's got a lot of work to do. The talent level has been horrible since Terry Hoeppner went to Indiana.

So the state of Chicago sports is such that we basically should be rooting for both the Bulls and Bears to tank the rest of their respective seasons?

Yeah, it sounds like he's going to be an OLB.

Would further limiting the college issue help? If players can't be drafted until after 3 or 4 years instead of what it is now (2 years, right?) might that help make the draft deeper in terms of talent? I don't really think so. You'll see a little bit of a dry spell for a while, then maybe one or two wild drafts from all the guys forced back, and then it would just even out. I think getting rid of the college rule altogether might be more helpful. Back before the rule, tanking and picking a high school player was so risky it wasn't even a good bet. Having that extra year of review against exponentially better opponents has made the scouting pool much less risky. Hmmm. Yeah, I was mulling it over in my head after my first post and the extra years really wasn't seeming like any kind of long term solution. It's just frustrating how the drafts end up having so few impact players or value picks. I do think that delay would end up producing a lot more quality players, as opposed to some of the guys that are drafted now. A lot of it, though, has to do with the way the NBA is structured. I think they should expand the draft and make the D League an actual farm system, where each franchise gets assigned a team. As it stands now, "raw" guys get drafted every year, and then they're basically discarded after a year because coaches are (rightfully) more focused on winning games and saving their jobs as opposed to helping some kid learn how to properly box out.

Sure you want it to end? Peppers is apparently going to take visits after the season.

In basketball it makes a lot more sense to tank. Exactly. The original idea behind the lottery was to "fix" this, wasn't it? If so, I'd say it didn't work. There's only so much they can do. As others have said, it's just the nature of the sport. And unlike baseball or football, it is nearly impossible to find a diamond in the rough in a basketball draft. Once you get out of the Top 3 or (in a good year) 5 picks, you're basically drafting role players.

That's what I have. First got season tickets last year. And LOL at the "first dibs on concerts" crap. Sure you'll get a pre-sale password but that doesn't mean dick. I got completely shut out on the Pearl Jam pre-sale. Really? Seemed like everyone here that wanted them got through. You're the first I remember hearing otherwise from, tho I'm sure there are others. I got shut out too. Did you guys (who got shut out) check right away? Just curious. I think I was 5-10 minutes late. By the time I got in, only random singles were available.

That's what I have. First got season tickets last year. And LOL at the "first dibs on concerts" crap. Sure you'll get a pre-sale password but that doesn't mean dick. I got completely shut out on the Pearl Jam pre-sale. Really? Seemed like everyone here that wanted them got through. You're the first I remember hearing otherwise from, tho I'm sure there are others. I got shut out too.

Yeah, it seems like half the East already has a headstart on the Bulls and started tanking at the beginning of the season.

Michael Bush is the Jon Quinn of running backs.

I like to think our front office has voodoo beyond fangraphs pages. Okay, he was also younger, cheaper, had a better pedigree, had yet to hit his prime years, and was coming off of a better offensive season and cost us Tyler Colvin and DJ LeMahieu instead of our best pitching prospect (assuming Garza trade had been done already) and our cheap, fan-favorite starting catcher who put up 10+ wins over the previous 4 seasons. Right. If that statement is actually true, I would hope it means that they valued them fairly equally due in large part to the fact that Stewart would take a lot less to acquire.

And so it begins...

He might not mean in the "Samardzija going and Wieters coming in the same deal", but let's assume that's the case. In terms of value, you're probably looking at the Orioles throwing in a small piece to balance the deal, as Wieters/Samardzija are similar players in value but Wieters will make a good bit more these last two years. The fun part is thinking of what that means for Castillo. Looking at who might be in the market for a catcher, the Jays, Angels, and Rangers seem like the most logical fits. Do they have another internal option to replace Wieters if traded? Wonder if Castillo would be included with Samardzija to increase the prospect(s) return. I'm in favor of the idea of a Samardzija for Wieters deal with a prospect or two coming our way. This all could have been avoided had we just drafted Wieters, however..... Edit: Just saw that Loxas guy also has this to say (no idea who he is or if he's legit) http://www.chicagonow.com/loxas-factor/2013/11/cubs-and-orioles-talk-samardzija-and-wieters/ Trading Samardzija and Castillo for Wieters and Bundy/Gausman looks like a break-even proposition, at best.

I would think just moving from Coors to Wrigley would improve his value quite a bit.

That report was exactly what started the discussion about his injury on the Jay Cutler Show yesterday. Cutler immediately dismissed it and started all that negative talk. But then again Jay was very non-committal about playing in the Lions game the week leading up to it, but yesterday on the show he pretty much implied that he knew he was going to be back for that game during the bye week. The only conclusion is the organization is pushing Jay to come back, knowing he isn't ready, so he will look bad and it will help justify not bringing him back. You really think they're trying to put themselves in a position to lose games so they don't have to bring back Cutler (who they don't have to bring back anyways)?

Plus I think his agent said something similar last year, and then he ended up signing with Milwaukee about 5 days before Opening Day. Edit: And signed a minor league deal with the Phillies that winter.

Uh.... Yes? Wasn't Kyle the one who said picks in the top 3 or top 5 are valuable, and the rest of the draft is pretty much a crapshoot?