KingCubsFan

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-o4VGwxK1Jt4/TzvUuzHJWlI/AAAAAAAACjU/6GR70HJfC-s/s400phineas%2525255B1%2525255D.jpg Yes. Yes it is. But "evaluation" is just after-the-fact rationalization to make a bad choice seem better after it's too late to hope it might be changed. So basically your argument is that Theo made a terrible mistake by not blowing $300-400 million on the free agent market in an attempt to recreate the 2006 Cardinals glory with an 83-win World Series winner, because devoting that much money and locking down several positions long-term would have had absolutely zero effect on the franchise's success in the coming years?

Seems like Billy Beane just gets paid to watch soccer and have someone else do his job.

Forgot Wells was on the roster. He should definitely be in there.

I think Liria would have to be the fourth. The fifth is a tough call.

What do you mean it averages 27.5% of the 2012 payroll? It only accounts for a percentage of the 2012 payroll once. It's pretty clear with all the money that most non-Cubs teams are willing to spend on players that money is expected to be there to afford all these players. Cincy's current payroll is roughly double what it was 7 years ago. If it doubles again that percentage will plummet. The obsession with payroll flexibility really confuses me. I would much rather have really good players than the flexibility to sign mediocrity. Devoting that much of your payroll to one player is not very smart in baseball. It's more acceptable in basketball or a QB in football.

probably the domino effect from whatever occurred with Rohan with Zapenas moving up. Guessing it's close to a make or break year for Darvill. Always been a bit intrigued with him, but with middle infield options behind him coming, he really needs to step it up. Is he going to play 3B mostly? With Hernandez and DeVoss, I can't see him getting much playing time at SS and 2B. Edit: And what happened to Dustin Geiger?

Agreed. Although, at Cubs Convention, Sveum said he would use spring training performance to construct the lineup to take advantage of hot streaks coming out of spring training. So he's probably (hopefully) batting Barney second because he's been on a recent tear. Once he goes back to being Darwin Barney, hopefully Sveum drops him back down.

what are you asking? How you can say "obviously this job isn't that great when you were rejected by your 1st 2 options, and wound up with a meh candidate." Was UNC 2000 obviously not a great job? Was UK 2007 obviously not a great job? I thought Matt Doherty was considered a home run and Gillispie a pretty damn good hire? I think Doherty was the second choice after Roy Williams turned it down.

Much of this stuff is quite arbitrarily judged. And it really doesn't matter that Chicago produces a lot of talent if none of it wants to play in the wasteland of Champaign, Illinois. We just got 4 of the top 6 kids from Chicago in 2011. In 2010 we got Mr. Basketball from there and another 4 star. In 2009 we also got Mr. Basketball from a suberb of Chicago. That's not exactly "no one wanting to come to the wasteland of Champaign." Right, but the premier kids haven't wanted to come in quite some time. Guys like Curry, Livingston, Rose, Scheyer, Davis, etc. never gave Illinois much of a chance. If Illinois is such a top program, you think they would have been able to get at least one.

That's what I was thinking. Worst ever is hilarious. I'm pretty sure the 2003 pen looked WAYYYY uglier on paper. I don't know. At least going into the season you had Cruz (one of the best young arms in the game at the time), Farnsworth (was awesome in 2001, so at least there was hope), Remlinger (a pretty big free agent signing) and Guthrie. This bullpen features a guy who walked too many and struck too few out in AA last year, a Rule V pick and Rodrigo Lopez. Plus Russell isn't exactly lights out against righties. I'm not too concerned, given how volatile bullpens are in general, but on paper it looks really bad. However, by the middle of the year, I fully expect guys like Beliveau and Parker up. That's a plus, but a guy who is one year removed from being easily one of the best relievers in the game for a 3-4 year stretch is part of the worst bullpen ever? And you just compared some front end guys to the back end of this bullpen... I didn't mention closers or setup men. And I wasn't purposely putting the best of 2003 against the worst of this year. I didn't even mention Borowski because I thought was the primary setup man heading into that year (although now that I look at the box scores I may have been wrong about that). Heading into 2003, even Dave Veres and Alan Benes looked like a better bet for sucess than Castillo or Lopez. Edit: And keep in mind who was running that team. As we all know far too well, Hendry invested quite a bit in bullpen construction every year. I prefer Epstein's method.

That's what I was thinking. Worst ever is hilarious. I'm pretty sure the 2003 pen looked WAYYYY uglier on paper. I don't know. At least going into the season you had Cruz (one of the best young arms in the game at the time), Farnsworth (was awesome in 2001, so at least there was hope), Remlinger (a pretty big free agent signing) and Guthrie. This bullpen features a guy who walked too many and struck too few out in AA last year, a Rule V pick and Rodrigo Lopez. Plus Russell isn't exactly lights out against righties. I'm not too concerned, given how volatile bullpens are in general, but on paper it looks really bad. However, by the middle of the year, I fully expect guys like Beliveau and Parker up.

That may be the worst bullpen I've ever seen.

Cam Greathouse was released

The old regime seemed to value Castillo more, but we don't really know what Epstein and Hoyer think about the two. They may see them both as nothing more than future backups.

I'd prefer to keep Garza unless the prospects coming back are blue-chip. Soto and Wells might be able to warrant a good prospect or two. Definitely agree on Garza and Soto, both of whom have real value. The other 3 are just worth whatever a team looking to fill a hole is willing to give up. However, I don't know how many "blue chip" prospects Garza is going to bring in. Thinking back a few months, when people were asking for Turner, Castelannos, and one of Smyley or Crosby, I'll admit I was sucked in, but in reality, something more like Drabek, Alvarez, and Snider from Toronto sounds more realistic. Maybe replace Snider with Gose if the Jays were desperate, and even then we might end up tossing in a minor piece. As for Soto, I still think TB , who are still in the hunt for a starting carcher would be the perfect spot, although their once plentiful farm isn't what it once was. I wonder if Soto and Byrd for Upton would be a possibility. Waiting to trade Garza at the deadline may be the approach that Hoyer is taking. Teams in contention come July may be willing to give up more for a front of the rotation starter signed to a team friendly deal. If Garza is traded I'd hope that the package includes a very good pitching prospect not named Drabek. Maybe he's hoping the extra wild card spot will bring more teams to the table, too. And agreed on Drabek.

Luckily that's the only option.

Yes, but they have one glaring issue they can't do anything about....the terrible stadium location. Are they trying to do anything about this? Because they would absolutely own Chicago with a downtown stadium.

I don't know why anyone thought Stevens was coming. He wasn't going to, he won't leave Butler unless its for IU. Smart hurt, the other guys who said no I am not sweating. What pisses me off the most is that we're going to hire a guy based off two tournament wins. That's not to say he won't be a good coach, but I'd like to see more consideration of names like Marshall and Mack. True, but that seems how most mid-major coaches become hot names. Like I said earlier, if VCU misses the tourney last year, we may not care at all about Shaka. I kept reminding myself that he may not be the best hire since we are basing everything off of getting to the final four, but I was still really hoping he would say yes. I think I mainly was excited about his personality and how the team seemed to play unafraid--as opposed to how Illinois always seemed to play not to lose the past few years. What if Groce stays at Ohio and they return the whole team and become a fringe Top-25 team next year (not sure if that is possible, but if they get off to a good start voters might be inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt for their success this year) or win a game or two in the tourney? Then he will be a really hot candidate that schools hope he says yes to. I can't imagine a team from the MAC staying in the top 25. The whole conference is horrendous.

Peoria just went from the most intriguing team in the organization to a typical, boring Peoria Chiefs team.

Strange decision by Sveum, even if it doesn't really matter. Maybe he wants to give Garza a chance to get a win in his first start, as opposed to being the sacrificial lamb against Strasburg on Opening Day.

Corey Maggette, Michael Thompson, Sean Dockery, Shaun Livingston (went to the NBA instead) Wait are you sure on Maggette? Was Collins the lead on him? And Livingston was not a Chicago recruit. Edit: Nope, it was Quin Snyder that, paid Myron Piggie, I mean recruited Corey Maggette. Wasn't sure about Maggette. I know Collins has been in charge of the area since around 2000 or so.

Corey Maggette, Michael Thompson, Sean Dockery, Shaun Livingston (went to the NBA instead)

Please tell me it was just the ESPN article. [expletive] not a Duke assistant. :banghead: it's cute that you think derwood is breaking some news I don't think he is, but have seen the name mentioned a bit. Really don't want that guy. He's recruited some pretty good Chicago talent to Duke.

For the type of player Cespedes is projected to be, 6/36 was a good deal, but 4/36 really wasn't. Especially considering the higher-than-average bust risk he holds. He only has to be worth about 2 WAR/year to be worth that contract. Not guaranteed but it's not a big risk. That just doesn't seem realistic to me. That would mean someone like Coco Crisp is worth that contract, and I think that's absurd. http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/linear-dollars-per-win-again/ http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/a-retrospective-look-at-the-price-of-a-win/ I know where the number comes from, I just don't agree it's a realistic indicator in practice as to whether a player is worth a certain dollar figure on the free agent market.

For the type of player Cespedes is projected to be, 6/36 was a good deal, but 4/36 really wasn't. Especially considering the higher-than-average bust risk he holds. He only has to be worth about 2 WAR/year to be worth that contract. Not guaranteed but it's not a big risk. That just doesn't seem realistic to me. That would mean someone like Coco Crisp is worth that contract, and I think that's absurd.