Sammy Sofa

I agree that all of that would be an improvement, but I just don't see how that's potentially putting them at 90 wins. 90 wins sounds like Baez and Bryant showing up and kicking ass, the Cubs trading for at least one fantastic starting pitcher and re-singing Shark and Castro and Rizzo not just bouncing back but improving...at least. That's a lot that has to go really right. It's not that I don't think they won't get to that point along those lines, but I don't think 2015 is the year it's likely to happen. I think there's going to be growing pains/busts.

If Baez and Bryant come up and are simply decent, Rizzo and Castro approximate their 2012 rates and the FO is allowed to add a couple SP and Shark re-signs, I can see 80-85. I think you're selling short just how bad the offense is potentially going to be this year plus how iffy the starting rotation is. Baez and Bryant simply being OK and Castro and Rizzo only managing to be their old selves doesn't seem like much to drag this mess up past .500.

I'm thinking 75-80 is more likely in 2015. I don't see 85-90 wins unless basically everything goes right.

Miguel Cabrera Mark Trumbo, Mike Trout Giancarlo Stanton, Bryce Harper, Anthony Rizzo Albert Pujols, Buster Posey, Josh Willingham, Brandon Phillips, Todd Frazier

Intuitively, I agree, but I seem to recall TT posting something a while back at least semi-debunking that line of thinking. Of course this [expletive] game can somehow show that going from 65 wins to 85+ wins at the drop of a hat and sustaining it is somehow realistic. Go [expletive] yourself, baseball.

It's a progressive thing; it's more likely (and makes more sense) that your team gets better with each season as opposed to going from shitty to good in a single offseason. Finishing around or just under .500 isn't a failure or detrimental to "The Process." Tanking for a top prospect is a self-fulfilling prophecy that can technically be justified every season.

Holy [expletive], I can watch a Cubs game.

Oh, for God's sake. Better not try until they can guarantee a playoff spot.

It's not really hand wringing as much as just the guy I'm least comfortable with. Racist.

The Keg is apparently opening back up. Lord, that place was a pit.

Couldn't have been closer without naming him. I'm not sure who should be more insulted here.

My friend that took the line drive to the face while pitching didn't have any teeth knocked out; I have no idea how given how hard he was rocked. His lip was definitely shredded, though, and there was so much [expletive] blood. His whole lower half of his face his neck and the front of his shirt were soaked, so we figured his teeth were knocked out, but they were just weirdly pushed inwards. Definitely had to have some dental surgery. The saddest part was the kid that hit the line drive, Andre, had kind of a bad rep; I was living on a government base at the time and, let's face it, there weren't a ton of black families there, so the black kids we hung around with often unfairly got tagged as being bad kids, and he was definitely someone along those lines. The mom of the kid who got hit was just screaming at Andre like he had done it on purpose, and Andre the whole time just had a look on his face like he was crushed and horrified at what happened; basically there was zero chance had had intentionally done it and afterward he was actually crying because of what the other kid's mom had been saying. I really liked him and it pissed me off how parents acted like he was trouble seemingly just because he was black, but then I found out years later after we had moved apart he did fall in with a really bad crowd and ended up going to prison for life for killing a store owner in a robbery. It's a really sad ending for someone who when I think about him the memory that usually leaps to mind was how wrecked he was over that baseball incident.

It was me, right? Probably me.

[expletive], I hate that I like that post so much.

Yes and no. If you want elite talent, your odds of getting it in the first few picks are quite a bit higher than getting it anywhere else. But with a great organization like the Cardinals, you can get a pretty steady stream of note-quite-elite but really useful talent. And you can then trade that really useful talent for a guy like Matt Holliday when they're on the block, making it unnecessary to develop your own superstars. It's certainly much easier to do that when you're filling a hole here or there instead of trying to put together an entire lineup from the suck that has been on the ML roster the last couple of years. It also doesn't help when you make a bad team even worse.

[expletive], I have no clue who to pick for the wildcard. I am so damn out of the loop.

I'm a big enough wuss that just seeing people get hit by baseballs in the head made me stop playing. I was at the game where Dawson got beaned in the face, and that terrified me as a kid and I remember it being REAL hard to get back into the batter's box after that. I kept playing, though a kid right ahead of me in the lineup got nailed and concussed and then a couple years later a friend of mine was pitching and took a line drive right back into his teeth and the carnage of that kinda broke me.

Oh, well; glad that's settled.

Plus overall we're still in a position where things HAVE to go really, really, really right or else they're fucked. The farm basically HAS to produce multiple stars/above average players in short order, and regardless of the FO's reputation that is hardly an ideal position to be in. I'm not kidding when I talk about how my hopes are basically hanging on Olt right now, because a working Olt gives them at least somewhat of a cushion if Castro and Rizzo don't bounce back like they essentially need them to. I recognize a huge part of this is because I'm a giant pessimist towards this team right now and I don't really expect more than two of the Big Five or whatever they are to actually pan out. Maybe it's Battered Fan Syndrome, but the idea of a farm system actually producing multiple impact players in rapid succession just doesn't seem all that likely to me.

So the final product ISN'T the most important part? It's the thing that sustains the rest and what everything else is building towards. Who exactly was doing this and where? I just don't understand why the previous owners and FO were rightfully lambasted for only being focused on one aspect of the organization, yet the current group shouldn't be. We all wanted the farm system to be improved, but nobody except the most masochistic of stereotypical miserable Cubs fans wanted or thought that that tanking the major league team for years was the way to go. Yeah, that's the reality of the situation at this point and there's no turning back, but the current owners should get [expletive] for fostering an environment and plan that was so lopsided for so long.

How can anyone say a "legit deep organization is here?" A huge component of that is terrible right now.

I agree, it is strange how much of a relative pass the whole organization has been getting, even by the usually crappy standards of sports journalism. I'm not saying they should raked over the coals, but there's just so few people even simply questioning or mildly criticizing everything that's going on.

Da [expletive]; have we really sunk to the point of reposting Kyle's posts from other sites here?

HE STILL BETTER NOT SUCK.

Please don't die, Olt.