TarzanJoeWallis

Well that tweet certainly did not go well for them.

Yeah, the ball landed in San Francisco Bay, not the ocean. Doesn't Muncy know anything? Jeeze. Current state: Ball in bay, completely out of sight Comment: Go get the ball and bring it back in sight and I'll stop looking at it. Nonsense. Or he is telling him that if he doesn’t want to see him look at the ball he can go retrieve it instead of looking at him.

I always appreciate you doing this, but extra kudos today for making your usual post singular, since there was only one highlight. Well done.

...so you think the Phils would be better off paying Harper 330 mil over a 5 year contract instead of a 13 year contract or something to that effect? No, I'm just putting into perspective (for myself) how insanely long a 13 year contract is. Yeah I’m 53 and my son is 19. He text me today and noted that when the contract ends I’ll be 66 and he’ll be 32. I just sat there stunned looking at it.

The answer is always the one elite guy when these questions come up Even if the non-elite guys are on shorter deals? Harper has averaged around 5 fWAR over the past 3 seasons Keuchel/Kimbrel/Marwin have combined to average around 7.5 fWAR over the past 3 season. And you wouldn't have any on the hook for a 10 year commitment. Instead of signing Greg Maddux the Cubs used the money on Jose Guzman, Randy Myers, Dan Plesac, Candy Maldonado, and Willie Wilson. That didn't turn out too hot.

Yea. Per DVOA, (Rank) (%) 2011 BAL (1) (-17.1%) 2012 IND (31) (14‰) 2013 IND (16) (0.9%) 2014 IND (13) (-2.3%) 2015 IND (13) (-2.2%) 2016 IND (29) (12.5%) 2017 IND (27) (8.7%) He also never had the talent the Bears D currently has Yeah, Ryan Grigson is more to blame for the defensive results than Pagano. He was a terrible GM.

Well, so much for what I said earlier!

I hope so. Joe Buck mentioned he assumed he would do Bears-Eagles. If I had to guess Saturday 3pm Colts/Titans vs Houston Saturday 7pm. Seattle vs Dallas Sunday noon Eagles vs Bears Sunday 330pm Chargers vs Ravens Yeah. They aren't going to make a west coast team play a 10am game their time. I know the league screwed over the Bears earlier in the season when they flexed them to Sunday night before the Thanksgiving game, but if the Colts win tonight I have a hard time believing they’ll make a road Sunday night team play the first playoff game on Saturday.

Very powerful.

This is where I am. I have been on the board of a nationally recognized domestic violence shelter for 18 years. I have been the board chair for the past four. The staff does amazing work. Their efforts are always difficult, stressful, and sometimes gut wrenching. We have a room named in memory of a little boy who was killed by his father after leaving the shelter. The room has a finger painting in it that he did when he was 1 1/2 years old. Every time I look at it I feel like puking. It is not just the physical abuse either. It is about control. Sometimes that is threats. Sometimes that is not allowing them to see others. Almost always it includes making sure the victim doesn't have some basic life skills. It is amazing how many of the women in our shelter don't know how to write a check or balance a checking account because the abuser wouldn't let them learn. This is the type of barrier that often keeps women in the situation they are in. They feel helpless and are afraid they can't survive basic life needs (and are told they cannot repeatedly by the abuser). But we have victories. We have families that are getting out of the terrible situation they are in and making a better life for themselves. We have women who are being trained to get their own jobs and to take control of their lives (and are being taught how to handle money, interview, write resumes and fill out job applications). I know many women who have left abusive situations and are thriving. But, I always feel like it is just a partial victory. Abusers don't tend to stop on their own. So while I celebrate the success of the woman and/or family that has gotten out of the abusive situation, I can't help but think that the abuser is now on to another relationship and the process is repeating. The total victory would be getting the abused AND the abuser help so he (sometimes she, though not often) stops the cycle of abuse. I don't want Addison Russell on the team. But I don't want him discarded either (as a person, I don't care about his impact on the roster or if we can get "assets" for him). By totally discarding the abuser (and believe me, I understand why anyone would want to do so), we are inevitably creating more victims. We are inevitably creating more generations of abusers. So, IF he is really trying, and IF the Cubs are really working to make him a better person, I applaud that. Even if he gets successfully rehabilitated I don't know that I'll ever be able to warm up to him again, but I will be happy that another woman or child is not being abused. Thanks for the work you do! I think I understand your point about not discarding abusers, but seems like in this case the Cubs could have moved on without it being a discarding type of thing. I suppose we'll see how they handle him. It'd be pretty interesting if for instance they demoted him to Iowa or even AZ and told him to work on his issues without the stress on MLB and the travel and all that for a while. That might actually help him get a better footing if he really worked on rehabilitation. On the flip side, going right back to the MLB team seems like it would be a ripe environment to falling back on his behavior (not that the under the alternative he isn't very likely to do so as well). I understand your feelings. When I say "not discarded" I didn't mean I didn't want them to non-tender him. I did. But I want him to be worked with. Could the Cubs have had an impact on that if they non-tendered him? I honestly don't know. But it doesn't just fall on the Cubs to be the catalyst for change either. Russell's parents, friends, and agent will play a big role too. Hopefully he never plays another game for the Cubs and more importantly, stops abusing.

This is where I am. I have been on the board of a nationally recognized domestic violence shelter for 18 years. I have been the board chair for the past four. The staff does amazing work. Their efforts are always difficult, stressful, and sometimes gut wrenching. We have a room named in memory of a little boy who was killed by his father after leaving the shelter. The room has a finger painting in it that he did when he was 1 1/2 years old. Every time I look at it I feel like puking. It is not just the physical abuse either. It is about control. Sometimes that is threats. Sometimes that is not allowing them to see others. Almost always it includes making sure the victim doesn't have some basic life skills. It is amazing how many of the women in our shelter don't know how to write a check or balance a checking account because the abuser wouldn't let them learn. This is the type of barrier that often keeps women in the situation they are in. They feel helpless and are afraid they can't survive basic life needs (and are told they cannot repeatedly by the abuser). But we have victories. We have families that are getting out of the terrible situation they are in and making a better life for themselves. We have women who are being trained to get their own jobs and to take control of their lives (and are being taught how to handle money, interview, write resumes and fill out job applications). I know many women who have left abusive situations and are thriving. But, I always feel like it is just a partial victory. Abusers don't tend to stop on their own. So while I celebrate the success of the woman and/or family that has gotten out of the abusive situation, I can't help but think that the abuser is now on to another relationship and the process is repeating. The total victory would be getting the abused AND the abuser help so he (sometimes she, though not often) stops the cycle of abuse. I don't want Addison Russell on the team. But I don't want him discarded either (as a person, I don't care about his impact on the roster or if we can get "assets" for him). By totally discarding the abuser (and believe me, I understand why anyone would want to do so), we are inevitably creating more victims. We are inevitably creating more generations of abusers. So, IF he is really trying, and IF the Cubs are really working to make him a better person, I applaud that. Even if he gets successfully rehabilitated I don't know that I'll ever be able to warm up to him again, but I will be happy that another woman or child is not being abused.

Who is it? Sage Erickson Thanks.

Who is it? I'll have to look that up. Don’t know if this was a joke at my expense for not looking it up, but I did google and couldn’t find anything.

i did that when the pic first came out like 2 weeks ago or whatever too I also completely forgot who it was ~10 days later and had to regoogle, and I didn't mind. Who is it?

Mills.

Raises hand. Ed Correa is my youngest end cap. Don’t really remember him. He played 52 games over three seasons.

My guess would be Russell to the DL. Mix and match in September when rosters expand.

We went to see the Cubs in Atlanta last year and their organist was one of the most enjoyable aspects of the series. Always playing something clever that would take a moment to get, then make us chuckle.

I don’t see Chubb getting past the Colts at 3.

Depending on your definition, Clark is the first former player to head the MLBPA, the only other possibility is when Bob Feller was President of The American Baseball Guild, which was pre-unionization. It's been labor lawyers running the show for the 55 years between Feller and Clark. I didn't know that on the MLB side, put kinda reinforces the point that now that there isn't a qualified guy running it there's some major contention. I know the NBA has been doing it with a player going back to at least the late 2000s or early 2010s. Fisher was just the player rep (it is now Chris Paul). They don’t run the union or serve as lead negotiator. That was Billy Hunter, and now Michele Roberts.

I agree with all of this. I’ve also had a couple other thoughts I’ve considered on why they might be interested in Machado right now. I assume Kris Bryant has thoughts on Harper’s free agency. And I assume those thoughts have been shared with the front office. While we all hope Harper is fixated on joining the Cubs, what if Bryant has told the FO that Harper’s highest priority seems to be staying with the Nats? What if Bryant has told the FO that Harper seems really interested in playing for LA or the Yankees? What if Bryant has told the FO that he thinks Harper is interested in the Cubs but he is going to go where he gets the best deal? In addition, we know the Dodgers and Yankees have made moves to get under the luxury tax so they can spend big next year. Maybe Theo has decided that the Cubs most advantageous time to go over the tax is this year at a time when other big spending teams are not going over. As I noted earlier I agree with TT’s thought process. But in addition, maybe they are actually willing to go over the tax this year—or go for their superstar—because waiting until next year may not be their most advantageous move.

Every time I hear his name I think Steve Cishek sells seashells down by the seashore.

Doesn't that probably happen every year though? It stands to reason that Cy Young candidates are pitching for playoff teams and are going to make multiple starts in any playoff series. Not necessarily. Could be that a finalist doesn't make the playoffs. Could be that the finalist is on the other side of the playoff bracket. Could be that the finalist is on your team. This year the Nationals and Dodgers faced a finalist in zero of their NL playoff games.

My time was 11:30 so it wasn't actually seconds after it opened. I could only get standing room for Game 3 too, so I also went with Game 4.

I'm assuming it means Lake Shore Drive.