Andy

So what he's saying is that when the Cubs said this wouldn't be like 2012-14, they actually meant no, it'll be exactly like 2012-14. Except maybe without Edwin Jackson.

That came out last week and their AD Trev Alberts categorically denied those would be a thing this season. Many people noted the inclusion of the words 'this season'.

Preciado and Caissie had better win multiple MVP awards just to make up for having to watch this trash all year.

At this point I'm pretty sure Marquee is trolling Boog and JD (JD is again not here).

I'll be pedantic here; I think Arizona's, just by virtue of being spectacularly boring, were already worse, and it seems like SF's are being very poorly received (to me they're just meh and probably about as good/bad as the Cubs'). And I know some people dug Boston's, but holy hell do I hate those. These LA ones would probably be fine except for those oh so loud blue pants.

https://www.si.com/mlb/2021/08/18/mlb-proposes-salary-floor-lower-luxury-tax-mlbpa This is only a proposal, and it almost certainly won't make it through as initially described, but anything along these lines seems really bad for the Cubs. It would give the Ricketts' another excuse not to go over $180 million. Lower the LT to $180M? I know it’s the first round of negotiations but horsefeathers that. That’s laughable I think we pretty clearly learned during the COVID return to play negotiations last year that anything the owners propose is going to be absurd and ridiculous. The players are either going to have to accept whatever stupid demand the owners make or probably go on strike.

Hermosillo as part of the next core confirmed

AP poll just came out today, so here's your one-stop shop for in-season college football talk through Week 1. I've decided to add ESPN+ under my definition of 'nationally available' after omitting it previously, since the Disney overlords have already won and within a few years we'll all be paying extra to watch games on that and whatever Fox Sports Plus is actually named when it inevitably shows up and whatever the hell else. "Week Zero" (Aug. 28) Nebraska at Illinois (1 pm, FOX) UConn at Fresno State (2 pm, CBSSN) Hawaii at UCLA (3:30 pm, ESPN) UTEP at New Mexico State (9:30 pm, Bally Sports Arizona) Southern Utah at San Jose State (10 pm, CBSSN) Week 1 Top 25 games ------------------------------ (1) Alabama vs (14) Miami - in Atlanta (3:30 pm, ABC) Tulane at (2) Oklahoma (12 pm, ABC) (5) Georgia vs (3) Clemson - in Charlotte (7:30 pm, ABC) (4) Ohio State at Minnesota (8 pm Thursday, FOX) Kent State at (6) Texas A&M (8 pm, ESPNU) Northern Iowa at (7) Iowa State (4:30 pm, ESPN+) Miami (OH) at (8) Cincinnati (3 pm, ESPN+) (9) Notre Dame at Florida State (7:30 pm Sunday, ABC) (10) North Carolina at Virginia Tech (6 pm Friday, ESPN) Fresno State at (11) Oregon (2 pm, Pac-12 Network) (19) Penn State at (12) Wisconsin (12 pm, FOX) Florida Atlantic at (13) Florida (7:30 pm, SEC Network) San Jose State at (15) USC (5 pm, Pac-12 Network) (16) LSU at UCLA (8:30 pm, FOX) (17) Indiana at (18) Iowa (3:30 pm, BTN) Montana at (20) Washington (8 pm, Pac-12 Network) (23) UL Lafayette at (21) Texas (4:30 pm, FOX) The Citadel at (22) Coastal Carolina (7 pm, ESPN+) Weber State at (24) Utah (7:30 pm Thursday, Pac-12 Network) Southern Utah at (25) Arizona State (10:30 pm Thursday, Pac-12 Network) Other nationally available games --------------------------------------------------- Wednesday UAB vs Jacksonville State - in Montgomery, AL (7:30 pm, ESPN) Thursday Boise State at UCF (7 pm, ESPN) Wagner at Buffalo (7 pm, ESPN3) Long Island at Florida International (7 pm, ESPN3) Western Illinois at Ball State (7 pm, ESPN+) East Carolina vs Appalachian State - in Charlotte (7:30 pm, ESPNU) South Florida at NC State (7:30 pm, ACC Network) UC Davis at Tulsa (7:30 pm, ESPN+) Bowling Green at Tennessee (8 pm, SEC Network) UT Martin at Western Kentucky (8 pm, ESPN+) Eastern Washington at UNLV (10 pm, Regional Sports Networks/Stadium) Friday Old Dominion at Wake Forest (7 pm ACC Network) Duke at Charlotte (7 pm, CBSSN) Saint Francis (PA) at Eastern Michigan (7 pm, ESPN3) South Dakota at Kansas (8 pm, ESPN+) Michigan State at Northwestern (9 pm, ESPN) South Dakota State at Colorado State (9 pm, FS1) Northern Colorado at Colorado (9 pm, Pac-12 Network) Saturday Western Michigan at Michigan (12 pm, ESPN) Stanford vs Kansas State - in Arlington, TX (12 pm, FS1) Fordham at Nebraska (12 pm, BTN - Regional) Temple at Rutgers (12 pm, BTN - Regional) Army at Georgia State (12 pm, ESPNU) UL Monroe at Kentucky (12 pm, SEC Network) Colgate at Boston College (12 pm, ACC Network) Holy Cross at UConn (12 pm, CBSSN) Lafayette at Air Force (2 pm, Stadium) Rice at Arkansas (2 pm, ESPN+) West Virginia at Maryland (3:30 pm, ESPN) Marshall at Navy (3:30 pm, CBSSN) Louisiana Tech at Mississippi State (4 pm, ESPNU) Central Michigan at Missouri (4 pm, SEC Network) UMass at Pittsburgh (4 pm, ACC Network) Gardner-Webb at Georgia Southern (6 pm, ESPN3) Campbell at Liberty (6 pm, ESPN3) Texas Tech vs Houston - at NRG Stadium (7 pm, ESPN) Oregon State at Purdue (7 pm, FS1) UTSA at Illinois (7 pm, BTN) Syracuse at Ohio (7 pm, CBSSN) Norfolk State at Toledo (7 pm, ESPN3) Central Arkansas at Arkansas State (7 pm, ESPN3) Southern at Troy (7 pm, ESPN3) Monmouth at Middle Tennessee (7 pm, ESPN3) Eastern Illinois at South Carolina (7 pm, ESPN+) Akron at Auburn (7 pm, ESPN+) Baylor at Texas State (7 pm, ESPN+) Missouri State at Oklahoma State (7 pm, ESPN+) Nicholls at Memphis (7 pm, ESPN+) Abilene Christian at SMU (7 pm, ESPN+) William & Mary at Virginia (7:30 pm, Regional Sports Networks/ESPN3) Northern Illinois at Georgia Tech (7:30 pm, ACC Network) Northwestern State at North Texas (7:30 pm, ESPN3) East Tennessee State at Vanderbilt (8 pm, ESPN+) Southern Miss at South Alabama (8 pm, ESPN+) Duquesne at TCU (8 pm, ESPN+) Bethune-Cookman at UTEP (9 pm, ESPN3) Arizona vs BYU - in Las Vegas (10:30 pm, ESPN) Nevada at California (10:30 pm, FS1) New Mexico State at San Diego State (10:30 pm, CBSSN) Utah State at Washington State (11 pm, Pac-12 Network) Monday Louisville vs Ole Miss - in Atlanta (8 pm, ESPN)

I only came here because Lewis Brinson stopped running in the middle of a double play grounder and then pulled a Sean Rodriguez in the dugout

I haven't watched more than a few minutes of any game since the sell off except for the one I went to (my wife really likes going to games with me and I'm certainly not gonna argue with her). Can't get into this - obviously getting our horsefeathers kicked in repeatedly isn't helping.

Best I can see, the list of long-term assets acquired in the 2014 offseason to appear for the 2015 Cubs were Chris Coghlan, Tsuyoshi Wada, and Jason Hammel (1 year deal, then e-signed the following offseason) I assume Bearded is referring to the Samardzija/Hammel trade in the middle of 2014 rather than any off-season moves.

So did they apparently

What a depressing end.

To be perfectly honest, I would like to see the Sox win it all unless they have to beat any of KB, Javy and Rizzo to do it. I don't really hate the Brewers the way some do but I also am not crazy about the idea of them winning a title.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who reached this absolutely scientific conclusion. The game log says he went 1 1/3 scoreless vs Colorado last Tuesday, but I frankly refuse to believe it.

Why stop there? Why not add Canada? Eh, I guess it depends on what angle we're taking. I was originally thinking more colonialist for USA, so see if Phillipines or Cuba or other former territories should count, but my sophomoric world history also probably recognizes the analogy broke down long ago. But we're definitely counting the Puerto Rico gold. That gold came from an American who ran for Puerto Rico in honor of her mother. We can definitely claim that if this guy is claiming Taiwan.

Was at today's game. Actually had a reasonably good time considering. However, Kyle Ryan walks too many, doesn't strike out nearly enough, and gives up home runs. Why exactly is he a major leaguer?

My only Cubs jersey is a pinstriped Santo. I don't see myself buying any other but if I did it would probably be a Banks.

I look at this and think that surely this one is the huge revenue stream that actually will be reinvested into major-league payroll.

My annual trip was going to be to the Boston series last year before, you know. Doubt I'll plan it there this time with it falling on the 4th weekend.

B1G's TV deals come up in a couple of years and I virtually guarantee they'll cook something like this up for them too. It's already happening in the SEC, where ESPN now has the right to put a non-conference game for each school on ESPN+. Nickel and diming people with pay streaming services while they continue to pay for the YouTube TVs of the world is the wave of the future.

I'm fond of pointing out that Philly made the 2nd round the year before they launched The Process (I know they only did because Rose's knee exploded) and still haven't been past that round since.

Defense. Edit: also Arc put up a -0.1 VORP (0.9WS) and Caruso 0.6 (2.4 WS). Not sure what stats Arc was better in. The other thing is that the NBA makes horsefeathering gazillions of dollars a year and doesn't have that many players to spend it on, so anyone worth even close to half a damn makes a ton of money.

Sato, Temple and a 2nd-rounder going to NO in the deal apparently