apete6

So, basically, unless they get an agreement in the next 3 weeks, it will be a lost season of construction. Awesome. [expletive] you, Tunney.

Also, Kris [expletive] Bryant! :yahoo:

I'm concerned about the commitments being made to guys who aren't the difference makers on this team. Taken by itself this signing isn't disappointing, but giving Crawford and Hjalmarsson a combined $10+m per year is a little perplexing to me. Perfect summary. You don't let Kane walk away to keep either Crawford or Hammer. Do you seriously think that Stan plans on letting Kane walk away? That the Toews and Kane situations aren't a factor in every signing they make? No I'm sure that is a factor in every signing. I think they are planning on Hossa and/or Sharp not being on the team when it comes time to resign Kane and Toews. Agreed, say goodbye to Sharp and one of Keith/Seabrook unless the cap gets a HUGE bump or they plan on having 8 guys make over $4m and everyone else on the roster be a minimum salary guy.

I'm concerned about the commitments being made to guys who aren't the difference makers on this team. Taken by itself this signing isn't disappointing, but giving Crawford and Hjalmarsson a combined $10+m per year is a little perplexing to me. Perfect summary. You don't let Kane walk away to keep either Crawford or Hammer.

Jokisch with 23 decisions this year. That sounds very high for a minor leaguer.

Maybe he has finally found a league where he doesn't get injured...

So, Sveum can't even read the bullpen scouting report for a player who used to be on his roster? so sick of this [expletive].

I didn't know the guy from the Food Network also played minor league ball. I'm sure he really brings the heat...

Yeah, for NFL, it's probably Payton with consideration for Montana or Johnny Unitas. It could even be a coach (Halas, Lombardi, Shula).

Basically every game sold out within 30 minutes except for Standing Room. Cheapest get-in was like $87 or something. Never thought I'd see the day.

Another excellent development in an attempt to climb up the Fecal League standings!

Agreed on all counts. Great post. Same with hitters. If Rizzo, Castro, and Lake want to do awesome, but the revolving door at 3B and Barney want to suck badly, that's fine with me as they won't be here when the Cubs are good anyway. We're not cracking the top 3 unless something goes horribly wrong, but having the 4th or 5th pick is fine with me. I really would rather not have an NL team or the White Sox in the top 2, though, as it seems that the 2 pitchers are likely to go there.

It's weird that you pick out arbitrary stats like 5 games under .500, no lower than third in their division, and a starting point of 1990, which eliminates the '89 Cubs and the terrible Sox teams of the 80's. I mean, if you're 4 games under .500, finish 3rd and 16 games out of first, are you really competitive? Another arbitrary stat- there's only been 7 instances since 1980 where the White Sox have either won their division or finished no further than 5 games behind. Recently, there's no doubt that they've been more consistent along with 2005 title, but they haven't really had the consistent playoff appearances as a whole. Start and endpoints were pretty arbitrary. I picked 1990 as that was when Frank Thomas came in, the Sox changed their uniforms, etc... Kind of dumb, but a nice round year. I would say that a 79-83 season is a hell of a lot better than a 65 win season. If we went to just seasons under .500, the results would have been basically the same. No, the Sox aren't a dynasty or anything, but its pretty obvious that they have been overall more competitive than the Cubs. They have had 12 85+ win teams since 1990 compared to the Cubs' 6.

crazier to look only at obp .364 .361 .376 .387 .380 .344 .369 .359 BUT THEY WEREN'T LEFT HANDED ENOUGH!!!!!

Cubs have had more playoff appearances and really good teams, but the Sox have been more consistently competitive. The White Sox haven't finished in last place in their division since 1989 and before that, 1976. Since 1990, the White Sox have finished lower than 3rd in their division only once (2007) and been more than 5 games below .500 only 3 times. Since 1990, The Cubs have finished last 5 times and been below 3rd in the division 15 times and more than 5 games below .500 13 times. Pretty damn bad.

I beg to differ. They are exceptionally fun bad! I love it every day! :twisted: Yeah, this is enjoyable. Apparently they haven't been this bad since 1980, so this is the worst White Sox team in my lifetime. I'd be lying if I said I didn't like it. The Sox have always been competitive.

Castro looked like a bag of [expletive] last night. Some of the worst at bats he's had in weeks.

This [expletive] has no idea how to use a bullpen. Really, it's not that hard. Bring back Dusty's Dugout Dice if you need to. Other than that, I'm good with him. Like the defensive alignments and lineups in general.

Parks says he prefers the return for Peavy, saying Avisail Garcia has a chance to be a stud. What do people like about him? His hit tool? There doesn't seem to be anything really exciting about his power or his patience. Agreed. There are several people with irrational love for Garcia. The guy OPSd .810 in AA as a 21 year old. Not awful, but not great either. Never hit more than 14HR in a season and his awful K/BB numbers have been mentioned.

Doesn't seem like there is a fit for us, short of doing a deal around Samardzija. Travis Wood for Bundy? Correction ALL STAR Travis Wood for Bundy? :D :D :D

Doesn't seem like there is a fit for us, short of doing a deal around Samardzija. Travis Wood for Bundy?

Minimum HOF, IMO. :D

Edited to include Chirinos & Rosscup as well as Fernando Perez. I thought the overwhelming reaction on this board was HOW CAN WE TRADE LEE AND ARCHER!!!?

Obviously, the story won't be complete for another several years when Lee & Archer finish their careers, but let's discuss this as Garza is about to get moved. Garza has produced 7.0 WAR in his 3 seasons with the Cubs (4.9 of which came in 2010). Zach Rosscup has not yet made the major leagues, but has looked good in the minors so far. Fernando Perez never made MLB with the Cubs. Sam Fuld has produced 1.9 WAR in his 3 seasons as a Ray (1.7 of which came in 2010 due to some insane fielding #s) Chris Archer has produced 0.9 WAR in portions of 2 seasons as a Ray Brandon Guyer produced 0.4 WAR in his time with the Rays Robinson Chirinos produced -0.1 WAR in his time with the Rays Hak Ju Lee has not yet arrived in the majors and recently suffered a serious injury If you add the 3 years of Garza to the future WAR of the guys we get from Texas, it is possible that this trade ends up being a good one for the Cubs over the long term strictly looking at WAR and would have been even better if not for some unexpected injuries that Garza suffered. Obviously WAR/$ will almost certainly go the way of the Rays if Archer and/or Lee can provide any decent value over the next several years, but that is the type of risk that big market teams make sometimes. Overall, not a terrible trade and unless Hak Ju Lee ends up being the next Derek Jeter, it likely won't make any of the "worst trades of all time" lists. Hell, who knows, one of the guys the Cubs gets for Garza could swing the trade the other way. Would I have preferred to not have made the trade? Yes, but it doesn't appear to be as terrible as everyone predicted at the time it happened.

Giving some leeway with his age for possible falsification of documents. Probably is true, but you never know when you're dealing with someone from Cuba due to the difficulty he had getting out of there and probable non-cooperation from government when trying to validate his age.