BeerHere

Read into it what you will, I think it's a pretty clear jab at the powers that be for wasting early quality years of Castro. I read that as more of a jab at Castro than the FO. I'm not sure where you get the FO angle given that picture. That is a stretch, even for you. Screw you [expletive]. It's pretty easy to interpret the story that is being told. The Yankees are a winning organization that win every year and won a lot when their superstar shortstop came into the league and are still winning now. Yankee Stadium is where you go to win. On the opposite field, Wrigley Field, the front office is openly trying to lose as much as possible for several years and there is no pressure from anybody to try and win anytime during Castro's contract. Losing is not just accepted but expected. The Cubs are wasting Castro's value on a stupidly long rebuilding project while the Yankees keep ignoring every call for them to scrap their aging roster and just keep winning. The one thing these organizations have in common right now is that an 85 win season is unacceptable. I have to admit, I didn't read the article this morning. After reading it in full, I will change my statement - it was a clear shot at the front office and ownership. Not surprising considering the author. My apologies Goony.

Read into it what you will, I think it's a pretty clear jab at the powers that be for wasting early quality years of Castro. I read that as more of a jab at Castro than the FO. I'm not sure where you get the FO angle given that picture. That is a stretch, even for you.

Did I miss something......is Johnson having elbow trouble?

I have a feeling that when Samardzija finally does get traded, presumably this June, he takes the opportunity to thoroughly rip the Cubs for the rebuild and the general approach.

What happened to Ruggiano?

Why Russell to face Montero?

Wow....Strop....not good. Too many walks.

So it's 5-3 with one out in the 9th?

Welcome to NSBB!!

Pure grit

Sano of the Twins will miss the 2014 season with TJS.

Scroll to the bottom and there are two pictures that show how much slimmer Vogelbach is now vs. 2 years ago. http://www.chicagonow.com/cubs-den/2014/02/cubs-notes-samardzija-trade-rumors-resurface-cubs-stacked-at-3b-vitters-veras-beede/

According to Muscat, Vogelbach has lost 30 pounds this winter.

Why is Fujikawa on that list?

The City of Chicago was concerned about the rooftops and liability. There are several permits involved for each building and they are required to be inspected by a city building inspector three (or four?) times per year. The permits are expensive and unless they get approval they are not granted. This was the reason that the building down the left field line was empty for most of last season (failed inspections). The LLC's were started based on a suggestion from the Department of Revenue citing liability from the City's standpoint. For example, if a rooftop has a catastrophic failure and it crashed to the ground killing people, the city, by virtue of the permit and inspection process, would be liable for damages over and above what the building's insurance could cover. As a result of that exposure, the city requested that the liability insurance be set at a certain level. To limit the individual exposure to liability, LLC's were the logical arrangement. The permit/inspection process is one of the ways the city can put pressure on the rooftop owners (delaying inspections, failing inspections etc). Anyway, back to my point that I failed to make earlier. The rooftops are not owned by mom&pop or families that happen to own the buildings. That may have been true at one point when it was lawnchairs and blankets on the roofs watching the game with friends. At the point that they started constructing scaffolding and "bleachers" it became corporate owned entities. The owner of Murphy's bought two buildings, several others were sold to out of town property management companies. At this point, all of the buildings are corporate owned and only the property managers live in or near the community. The companies and the property managers are hated within the community.

I heard Bernstein last night saying that his contact saying that the disclosure over the weekend that the Cubs are frustrated and have started to look at the inevitable option of moving was strategic. It sounds like that this is the first time that they are actually, however small and quiet, trying to use their only leverage over the rooftops. There is apparently one rooftop owner that is a "loud blowhard" that is really dragging the process on and on. There was also a comment that Ricketts is "too nice of a guy" to really be the pitbull that is needed in these negotiations. I lived in Wrigleyville several years ago and was somewhat involved in the community, I think I've mentioned this here a few times. I honestly think I might know the owner that is being talked about here and if I'm right, I believe it's the owner of the house in right field that has the Miller Lite sign, Eamus Catuli, ACxxx etc. As I recall, that guy was a prick but he was the "Property Manager" or at least that was how he defined his role (lead me to speculate that he didn't actually own the building). The "owner" was actually an LLC with two lawyers listed as shareholders both from Cleveland OH. Several of those buildings are actually LLC's, or at least they were, and that was just a mechanism to limit liability. This was around 2002 and at least some property certainly has changed hands since then. edit: the guy's last name was Schlemper edit2: Sorry, Schlemker is his name but the more I think about it I don't think that was the guy. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-03-23/sports/ct-talk-eamus-catuli-sign-0323-20120323_1_ricketts-family-president-theo-epstein-lakeview-baseball-club

Who is Brett Marshall? Is he deserving of a spot on the 40-man?

Maples continues to struggle and spends more time in EXT than anywhere else. Vitters is traded at the deadline as a throw-in.

Bernstein from B&B on The Score had an interesting point, supposedly from a caller/texter that was a lawyer. INAL, but apparently to obtain an injunction to prevent the signage the rooftops must first fund a bond to cover the Cubs' costs of the proposed injunction such that, should the injunction fail, the Cubs are not penalized. In other words, the rooftops are forced to fund a bond upfront to start the process of obtaining an injunction. Knowing this, the Cubs are sure to argue that the "costs" to them for the injunction are not just limited to the revenue lost by not being allowed to erect the signage, but will almost certainly include the overall costs of the renovation ($300M or whatever it is now). I can't remember if it was the same texter, or "Cubs contact" but apparently someone said that it was the Cubs plan to "out litigate" the rooftops -- making it so lengthy and expensive that the rooftops cannot possibly win. Clearly this was all third-party and I missed some of the conversation, but the information is interesting none the less.

He was a 3 WAR player last year. Not bad at all.

Add "dealing with arrogant a-hole Yankee fans" to the crap pile this signing has created.

This sums up how I feel. Sucks to miss out on Tanaka though.

Kinda sounds like no one in this front office has decided to talk to him behind the scenes much. This. Wittenmeyer is the worst of the worst.

45 degree boner for me Incidentally, according to the interwebs, it would take a 40-inch boner to make the average human man to pass out. Tanaka's got me at 35 right now, and the actual signing of him might get me the last five. I'll never understand white guys talking having boners to non-sexual things. What does white have to do with it? Black guys never say stupid things on message boards?

:D