Sammy Sofa

Nonsense. If in 3 years the Cubs have a good team out that looks to be in it for the long haul it's not a failure. My gripe is the potential awfulness we have to witness to get to that point if they're trying to do it on the cheap. theo wouldn't be a failure under those circumstances, but we'd be giving him an awful low bar to hop over. i mean, how many guys have gotten a chance to do things that way? to have easily top-5 resources in the league, but don't worry about losing 100 games over and over while you rebuild for three straight seasons? Hey, I'm totally agreed. Bottoming out intentionally to fulfill this asinine notion of building teams "the right way" seems like a waste of time. It's one thing if the money isn't there; it's another if they're just not using it.

Nonsense. If in 3 years the Cubs have a good team out that looks to be in it for the long haul it's not a failure. My gripe is the potential awfulness we have to witness to get to that point if they're trying to do it on the cheap.

Oh, you silly billies.

And anyone who argued against signing Prince because he's fat who also suggests signing the older, junkie-brittled Josh Hamilton instead (in the off chance he even hits the market) needs a smack on the tush.

The organization doesn't need to be "torn down," and they can easily both build/rebuild internally AND spend big.

Irony. Nah. I'm really cool when I get mad. It's a simmering, sensual fury. Those expletives slip from my lips with the hiss of a steam grate on a sultry summer night down a dangerous alley in the big city. That second sentence creeps me the [expletive] out. It's time to appreciate the classics, kid.

"Going cheap" implies that they are not spending the money they have; it is entirely possible that they're not spending money because they don't have much to spend. Yes, I know; that sucks. Whether they are choosing to not spend or they can't spend, the end result is still awful.

Irony. Nah. I'm really cool when I get mad. It's a simmering, sensual fury. Those expletives slip from my lips with the hiss of a steam grate on a sultry summer night down a dangerous alley in the big city.

It is entirely possible that the Ricketts haven't found enough ways to monetize the team at this point, and they are in fact running a deficit. They then decided that the best way to spend money most efficiently was to allocate the money to the place where it could turn the most immediate profit-in facilities (hence the Mesa facility, as well as the purchase of the McDonald's location and a a push to improve Wrigley) and the front office (where a mind like Epstein can be had for roughly the same cost as a middle reliever). If/when those investments pay off (which may not be for several years), the Cubs become the big market team everyone thinks they are. Until then, It is possible they may be operating in the red. Then it's back to the good ol' days of suck for a while. Yeah, I know, building for the future is fine and I want them to do that, but I'm not going to lie and act like I give a [expletive] about the minors until any of those players are actually producing for the Cubs. I'm a fan of the major league team, and spending years waiting for the farm system to develop while our offense is for the foreseeable future is a pretty barren wasteland of mediocrity outside of Castro is depressing as hell. If it all starts paying off years down the line, hey, great; it's just going to REALLY suck getting there in the meantime if the Ricketts are going cheap.

If you consider each decision they've made in isolation like this, then there's nothing wrong with it. But the whole picture is getting a little less impressive. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2aN4S2fGoA Feel any better? Not really, no, because that was in the context of a large market team that wasn't afraid to act like one. Based on the (granted, very, very limited) history and trends we're seeing it appears that the Ricketts don't want the Boston world of "Moneyball" and big money; they just want the former with a smattering of the latter. I could, however, be wrong about this. I hope I am. Going after J.D. Drew when you have Youk and Pedroia and Manny and Ortiz and Beckett and Schilling is pretty shrewd. Going after DeJesus and Stewart when you have the projected 2012 Cubs is depressing because it bodes for years of pain.

Theo's a [expletive] genius and I think it's odd that he's being questioned already as though he's a moron the likes of Jim Hendry, but whatever. Questioning the Cubs organization (ie-the people with money) is not the same as acting like Theo is a "moron." Calm the [expletive] down.

It's the general malaise. There's being smart and frugal when necessary and prudent and then there's (so far) holy crap, we're just tanking this for a while. I'm not mad at the FO; I'm mad that potentially the Ricketts ARE going cheap. The FO can only work with what they have.

LET IT WASH OVER YOU.

It's insane that we're talking about the Cubs like they're the [expletive] Brewers or some [expletive].

Why? Pitchers can fall off of a cliff, they're really expensive, the Cubs won't be that much closer to competing, their offense will still su-OH, HEY, IT'S PRETTY MUCH ALL THE REASONS JERKS SAY TO NOT SPEND THIS YEAR YET AGAIN. Nice self-defeating scenario you've created, dicks.

Note his priorities.

Oh my [expletive] God. HE'S PAID TO WRITE THAT.

NSBB's version of the Polanski Petition.

Outstanding strawman.

All of me wants the Cubs to win at that kind of cost.

People talk more about the Paterno situation because it's more complicated and you have varying opinions about him in all of this. Everyone hates Sandusky.

It's like thinking Nixon was unfairly getting all the pressure just because he didn't actually break into the [expletive] Watergate Hotel.

My point is that there's a ton of drug use in the league already; if they're getting it from another player or an outside dealer, the end result is still the same. Busting Hurd doesn't really change anything.

Stop trying to cheer everyone up.