Sammy Sofa

Your comprehension failure is a you problem, not a me problem. dave, you're the one that keeps talking like signing Pujols or Fielder is going to somehow effectively cripple the Cubs financially towards the end of their deals. Or are you now backing off the doom & gloom warnings that overpaying for the two of them would significantly hinder the Cubs' ability to sign FA or trade for and extend players?

That's the "idea" that basically everyone but dave wants.

Jesus went into beast Jedi-mode after that. Teabow may not be as merciful.

I'd prefer Fielder, too. I really don't have a problem with the 8 years because he hasn't had an injury history like guys tend to start showing already by the point he's reached in his career. This is a guy who has played at least 157 games for 6 straight seasons, and plenty of big guys start having issues once they've logged that much time. I think he's got a good shot of being a beast production-wise for 5-6 years of an 8-year deal.

So you don't mind overpaying Fielder so you can be sarcastic about him a few years from now too? My main fear of Feilder is that he could completely fall off due to his weight. I'm not completly against him either, I just has some major fears of his weight. I'm not saying Teixiera has a bad deal. I'm using him as an example of how you typically have to overpay for marquee FA signings. The Red Sox got a hell of a deal for A-Gon, and the cold heard reality is that players that good usually don't lock themselves into deals that favorable for a team that didn't bring them up. He's an outlier, and the Red Sox lucked out.

Wait, what? If that's "unfair" then it's "unfair" for him or any of us to talk about any hypothetical FA signing. You're asking him to look up possible FA's over the next 4 or 5 years and list specifically guys who he wants to target, while all you have to say is "Let's add fielder or Pojuls". You are asking him to do a bunch of research just to disagree with you when you do not. Yes it's unfair. Why don't you research a list of 5 years of free agents then tell HIM why Fielder is better than all of the names you come up with? Because I'm not necessarily arguing the bold part. Because I'm not presenting anywhere near the same type of narrow parameters towards the Cubs and FA going forward as he is. I want the Cubs to spend money and have brought up numerous players I want or wanted the Cubs to spend money on in the coming years and I disagree wholeheartedly with his Chicken Little mentality towards free agent spending for a team with the resources of the Cubs. He's the one repeatedly naysaying the idea of spending so I want him to clarify just who exactly he thinks a big money team like the Cubs should be spending their money on in the next 3 years as opposed to someone like Fielder or Pujols. He doesn't have to do this, but I know I, and others probably are as well, curious as to who he'd pick since he's offered little more than "I'd have no problem signing someone like Tex or A-Gon to the deals they got." OK, great. Who is on the horizon that also gets the lofty davearm2 seal of approval when it comes to big ticket FA spending?

Oh, and Teixeira: worth what the Yankees are paying him each season for the next five seasons only twice in his career. But yeah, HE'D be a slam dunk!

Wait, what? If that's "unfair" then it's "unfair" for him or any of us to talk about any hypothetical FA signing.

Yeah, it's pretty great.

And have a ton of cash freeing up after next year, too.

I'm not wanting to wait for guys like Baez Vogelbach etc. What I'd like to see is a few big trades for guys that are on the right side of 30, but about to get too expensive for their current team (or available for some other reason, like the Logan Morrison, Colby Rasmus situations). I mentioned someplace earlier, the Cubs added Ramirez and DLee in two trades within about 6 or 8 months of each other. Let's get a few of our impact guys that way. Or sign someone like Fielder and not give up anyone.

Well you've already heard me say I would have been happy handing out the contracts that Teixeira and Adrian Gonzalez received. I know, and now I want to know who you think the Cubs should hypothetically sign now, after 2012 or after 2013 given the FA projected to be available. Let's narrow it down and just say they're signing 2-3 FA in each of those offseasons. Who would you be comfortable with them signing? Who would you consider to be elite and worth pursuing? Who do you think will be overrated/overpriced vs. the return as you continually argue Pujols and Fielder will be?

It's a hypothetical so we can get a better grasp as to who you want the Cubs to target instead of Pujols or Fielder via FA and to see what you consider to be elite talent.

yea, they both were. i'm saying they should have been given more than 22 carries when they were averaging a combined 5.5 yard per rush. instead, hanie is chucking it 36 times at a 50% completion percentage. Uh, SOME people are able to literally do the Lord's work with that type of percentage, you [expletive] heathen.

dave, I want you to look at the lists of the projected FA available now, after 2012 and 2013 and, thinking hypothetically that the Cubs have to fill all open positions with FA, tell us who you'd want them to sign and for how much. Let us know which ones are the elite talent, too.

You're being obtuse exactly as I pointed out in the post you quoted.

Oh, Tim.

Well, what you said was, "The Cubs have the resources going forward to "strategically" take on big name contracts that likely will be significantly overpaid in the final years of their deals." I interpreted that to mean, they should. Yes, when it's players like Fielder or Pujols available who so obviously fill the needs of the team, they should (and Fielder being all but a lock to even put the Cubs in that scenario is hardly a sure thing). What you "interpreted" is the made-up idea was that I was somehow suggesting they "fix" their bad signings of the last several years with big FA signings. How you possibly think I'm suggesting that when all of those bad contracts except one are gone after next season and don't require such inexplicable "fixing" is beyond me. It's like you go out of your way to be willfully obtuse to start really stupid arguments.

2000 or so years ago there was another young man with a lot of doubters, too.

No, but when Hanie's awfulness manifested itself so quickly I had a good fallback.

The Bears.

No, big name FA signings have to put a team over the top (or at least over .500) in year one or it is all for naught.

i take pleasure knowing your team lost Yeah, but they won the previous 6, so it's cool. 5 unless you are talking about another team. Eh, 5, 6, it was a swell run.

i take pleasure knowing your team lost Yeah, but they won the previous 6, so it's cool.

Yes, my solution is to only make big FA signings that will likely be significantly overpaid in their final years.