Backtobanks

I'm guessing you don't have a source for that bs. Jim hendry is still in baseball and has plenty of sources. When you have nothing to say, you can always bring up Jim Hendry. Hey, you logged in. You waited until the Cubs were playoff hopes were diminished, but you logged in. I've been logged in and posting for weeks now. Thanks for noticing.

I'm guessing you don't have a source for that bs. Jim hendry is still in baseball and has plenty of sources. When you have nothing to say, you can always bring up Jim Hendry.

So what? The lengths of his previous contracts had nothing to do with how well he did as a pitcher. And before you jump to your usual position, no I'm not trying to defend it as somehow working out; it turned out to be a terrible signing. But at the time there was little indicate that the Cubs weren't likely to get relative value to the rather modest deal they signed him to. And off of that, what the hell accounts for the drastic difference in his season value between Fangraphs and BR for his 2013 and 2014 seasons? Fangraphs has him at a 2.0 WAR (and 0.5 in 2014) and BR has him at -1.3 (and -2.3 the next year). FG seems WAY off here. The point is that nobody was offering Jackson a contract that ran 4 years except the Cubs. We could have offered him 2 years at $13 million per year and he would have still signed with the Cubs.

Christ. That really was Epstein-Hoyer's worst move to this point. Hasn't been a crippling move, but it's still hurting the team. I worked with a GF and now wife of one of the Nationals and nobody on their team could believe the Cubs spent that much money on him. Why? Yeah, given his performance in the years preceding, it was pretty fair market value, but not really over. The money per year wasn't outrageous, but the number of years was. Jackson spent his whole career on 1 or 2 year contracts until he came to the Cubs.

I don't have any scientific proof, but after watching over 60 years of baseball, it sure seems like the streakiest hitters are the sluggers with high strikeout rates. When they're hot they'll hit 4-5 HR in a week and then strikeout 10 times the next week.

Warning - Hyperbole Alert!

More to the point, guys like Schwarber usually get moved away from Catcher to get their bat in the lineup at a less demanding position. Why not just fast forward to the part where he plays LF and hopefully out hits his mistakes? As long as he drives in 2-3 runs a game to balance out the 1-2 runs he gives up on defense. i'm going to come out and make the bold declaration i don't think Schwarber will be a -24 win defender as you're describing... The chances of him being a -24 win defender are greater than him driving in 324-486 runs in a season.

What would be the level of player, I assume you want a pitcher, you'd need to get for him?? Would it need to be like Kluber or Gray? I would do that in a second. Of course the deal would involve other players, but to get a TOR, young pitcher for a guy who is a born DH would be a great deal.

More to the point, guys like Schwarber usually get moved away from Catcher to get their bat in the lineup at a less demanding position. Why not just fast forward to the part where he plays LF and hopefully out hits his mistakes? As long as he drives in 2-3 runs a game to balance out the 1-2 runs he gives up on defense.

I don't think they would trade Schwarber, but he was born to be a DH.

They've done the easy part, now comes the hard part.

What has he done to deserve his own thread? :lol:

I wish I could have had the kind of relationship that the author had with him so that I could spend time with him (lunch, listening to stories, etc.) those last few years.

A good read in the October issue of Chicago magazine: "The Last Years of Ernie Banks" by Ron Rapoport. Kind of sad ending to my all time favorite Cub.

My biggest surprise is seeing the difference a manager like Maddon can make. I knew he was good, but he's been amazing.

From MLBTR: Marcell Ozuna has been the source of some controversy this season, and that, paired with his disappointing offensive output, could have him on the trade block this winter. Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reports that while many in the organization would like to hold onto Ozuna given his considerable upside, team owner Jeffrey Loria is “disappointed” in Ozuna and “very much open to trading him” in exchange for pitching help. Ozuna, still just 24 years old, broke out in 2014 when he hit .269/.317/.455 with 23 homers in 153 games. Ozuna coupled that above-average production with solid play in center field to deliver a season valued at roughly 3.5 wins above replacement, per both Fangraphs and Baseball Reference. Entering the season, he was expected to contribute to what many (myself included) regarded as the best young outfield in all of baseball. Not exactly a out trade chip abundance, but he might be an interesting trade candidate.

Actually I picked up that term (boy genius) from posters fawning over him.

I'm happy with the way things are going, but I think we ought to hold off on calling the Cubs a juggernaut until they actually win the WS or put up great totals over a few years. You must let go of the hate I don't understand how correcting the use of "juggernaut" translates into hate. It's your (seeming) complete inability to kick back and enjoy success under this leadership When I point out the hyperbole used to describe the "juggernaut" that Theo built from "zilch" left to him from the previous FO, it means that I'm a hater and not enjoying the team's success under Theo. I guess it's a case of semantics when juggernaut means the team has played very well for most of one season out of four and zilch means the assets that left/acquired Rizzo, Grimm, Ramierez, Hendricks, Villaneuva, Russell, Castro, and Baez. I've been a Cub fan through a lot of lean years through the 50's and 60's, so when they show any signs of success I enjoy it and certainly don't spend too much time worrying about who's running the FO. As for the (Hendry) haters, were they able to kick back and enjoy the team's success in 2003, 2007, and 2008?

I'm happy with the way things are going, but I think we ought to hold off on calling the Cubs a juggernaut until they actually win the WS or put up great totals over a few years. You must let go of the hate I don't understand how correcting the use of "juggernaut" translates into hate.

I'm happy with the way things are going, but I think we ought to hold off on calling the Cubs a juggernaut until they actually win the WS or put up great totals over a few years.

You aren't paying attention if you think Arrieta is our #2 starter.

In one sentence you're basically saying that Hendry left nothing in the system and the next you're saying that the "nothing (nickels)" left in the system magically turned into Rizzo, Edwards, Grimm, Ramierez, Hendricks, Villannueva, Wood, Castro, Baez, Russell, and Torreyes. I get the fact that most of you don't like Hendry, think he was a terrible GM, and consider Theo as God, but the facts are that a a good chunk of this team (and ml system) was acquired by trading players left from Hendry's regime. That doesn't mean I think he was a great GM or that Theo doesn't deserve credit, it just means those "nickels" apparently had some value in the eyes of other GMs. Let's make this extremely simple. If you want someone to blame for how terrible the Cubs were in 2012 or 2013, you'll want to blame Hendry for leaving an unacceptable amount of talent on the MLB roster and farm system. This does not mean there were literally no good baseball players in the Cubs organization, but rather that there were far too few at every level. You can also blame ownership for not maintaining/raising Hendry-era payrolls if that's your cup of tea. If you want someone to blame for the Cubs being bad in 2014, that's on Theo and Jed for only being very good instead of transcendent at their jobs. If you want to give credit for how good the Cubs are in 2015, there is 0.000% credit that belongs to Jim Hendry. Last place in 2014 and 17 games out of 1st, but Theo and Jed were only being "very good". I'm glad you're open-minded, fair, and honest. NL Central W L Pct. GB Home Road St. Louis Cardinals 90 72 0.556 — 51–30 39–42 Pittsburgh Pirates 88 74 0.543 2 51–30 37–44 Milwaukee Brewers 82 80 0.506 8 42–39 40–41 Cincinnati Reds 76 86 0.469 14 44–37 32–49 Chicago Cubs 73 89 0.451 17 41–40 32–49

In one sentence you're basically saying that Hendry left nothing in the system and the next you're saying that the "nothing (nickels)" left in the system magically turned into Rizzo, Edwards, Grimm, Ramierez, Hendricks, Villannueva, Wood, Castro, Baez, Russell, and Torreyes. I get the fact that most of you don't like Hendry, think he was a terrible GM, and consider Theo as God, but the facts are that a a good chunk of this team (and ml system) was acquired by trading players left from Hendry's regime. That doesn't mean I think he was a great GM or that Theo doesn't deserve credit, it just means those "nickels" apparently had some value in the eyes of other GMs.

Even I can agree that it was hyperbole for me to use the term zilch. But, the thought process behind that post was to stress just how little talent Hendry left behind on his way out, and certainly wasn't meant to be taken THAT literally. Just making a point that Epstein had much less to work with than Hendry. Which is why I post on this topic. When posters state that "the cupboard was bare" and they had "zilch in assets", I feel the need to point out that those statements are exaggerations. People respond that "all teams have assets", but the "assets" have netted a good chunk of this team. Theo deserves a lot of credit for having his plan and getting players through drafts, signings, and trades, but the trades couldn't have happened without the players he inherited. Theo is a technician, not a magician.

Yeah, I just added Castro to my post. My point in all of this is that that this team has been built/acquired over a period of time following a plan by Theo that involved draft choices and trades. Theo deserves credit for making the draft choices and trades, but Hendry deserves credit for leaving the assets necessary to make the trades and for drafting Baez and Castro.