Backtobanks

It's the Koolaide. http://www.lardlad.com/assets/quotes/season4/9F10.shtml I also have to wonder what's next if when the Epstein Era comes to an end, leaving behind a strong farm but a well below .500 big league club and progressively dwindling ticket sales. Does ownership hit the panic switch and hire a guy to bandage together a Hendry-esque monster? Do they sell to the highest bidder? We're about halfway there (the end of the Epstein Era) and the farm is stronger, the ML team is well below .500, and ticket sales are dwindling, so we might find out what ownership does in a few years.

It's the Koolaide.

Except for the fact that IF they decide to deal Shark he will have way more value at midseason than at year's end. Either trade him between now and the trading deadline or lock him up as a long-term piece. Those are the only two logical options. There is zero to be gained for having him win (HA!) meaningless games in August. If we had signed Tanaka or Darvish we wouldn't be playing meaningless games in August. Trading Shark (and probably Hammel) at the deadline probably means 2 or 3 more years of meaningless games in August. Maybe, but I really doubt they'd be as good in the OF as you think. Couldn't be any worse than what we have.

Except for the fact that IF they decide to deal Shark he will have way more value at midseason than at year's end. Either trade him between now and the trading deadline or lock him up as a long-term piece. Those are the only two logical options. There is zero to be gained for having him win (HA!) meaningless games in August. If we had signed Tanaka or Darvish we wouldn't be playing meaningless games in August. Trading Shark (and probably Hammel) at the deadline probably means 2 or 3 more years of meaningless games in August.

Still 1.5 games better than the Astros. You mean we're losing in the race for the top draft pick too.

The preferable order of getting things done would be (or have been) sign Scherzer (or Tanaka, Darvish, etc.) and then decide on Samardzija. It lessens the stress and gives you some wiggle room if you know that you have a sure thing at the front of your rotation.

That's assuming the pitcher is as good as Samardzija and the prospects pan out.

I think just the opposite. If he continues to pitch the way he has been pitching, it's more likely some other team will sweeten their offer for him. The sad part of this scenario is that the Cubs will probably end up paying a ton of money for a FA TOR pitcher in a few years. why is that sad if it actually happens? I guess what I meant to say is that the FA TOR pitcher will probably be older than Shark and not as good.

I think just the opposite. If he continues to pitch the way he has been pitching, it's more likely some other team will sweeten their offer for him. The sad part of this scenario is that the Cubs will probably end up paying a ton of money for a FA TOR pitcher in a few years.

From MLBTR: The Blue Jays could make up their 2.5-game deficit in the AL East by making four changes, Paul Swydan writes in an Insider-only piece for ESPN.com. One of those moves would be an upgrade at second base, and Swydan suggests that Rickie Weeks, Luis Valbuena, Emilio Bonifacio and Danny Espinosa could all be logical trade targets Maybe we could expand a deal for Shark by adding Valbuena.

Yeah, I heard they offered him $3 million over 6 years. :lol: Why pay him big money when we could get Baker on the cheap.

They knew that they didn't have any other options besides George Kottaras and John Baker. Would the half glass full guy say they knew they didn't need any other options because they had Castillo? The "plan" says go with youth and don't spend money, so that pretty much meant sticking with Castillo. He has had good numbers at ages 25 and 26, so why wouldn't you go with him. 2012 25 CHC NL 52 190 170 16 45 11 0 5 22 0 0 17 51 .265 .337 .418 .754 103 2013 26 CHC NL 113 428 380 41 104 23 0 8 32 2 0 34 97 .274 .349 .397 .746 103

They knew that they didn't have any other options besides George Kottaras and John Baker.

Lack of desire with some lack of money sprinkled on top. So why aren't those going to continue? Because that's part of what rebuilding is. Anyway, I wanna change the bet to just two of one and one of the other. So either two big FAs and a big trade or two big trades and a big FA prior to opening day 2016. $300. Takers? Before anyone would take that bet there would have to be an agreement as to what qualifies as "big" (i.e. not Bonifacio, Kalish, Ruggiano, Baker, etc.)

We're busy discussing whether the best team, hottest team, or whatever wins in the playoffs, while the Cubs look to be miles away from having a chance at even an expanded playoff situation.

I don't think we can talk playoffs until we find some pitching. Some of our pitching prospects are interesting, but by no means a sure thing. At some point we are going to have to find some very solid pitchers through FA or trade.

Well okay then. By the way, that was sarcastic because your post was delusional. Thinking that it will somehow be difficult to sign a free agent is pretty [expletive] delusional, and all of our top 5 prospects plus our number one pick in june could suddenly die and we'd still have pieces to make a trade. You guys are worrying about nothing.[/quote You must be trolling because your posts have gone beyond rationality.

You just wait, we'll expand to 8 playoff teams per league and the Cubs will sneak in with an 83-79 record at some point Let's just hope "at some point" is soon enough for us old-timers.

I'm hoping for a WS appearance, but I don't think I'll make it. Most of the posters here are young enough to see the Cubs make the playoffs, but that's not too hard with 2 wild card teams.

And also we're terrible at it, and they're good at it, and we're hoping and praying on a generation of elite top-round picks to save us. We're also like a decade behind them in the process, and I don't think we're hoping and praying for a generation of top round picks to save us. I think we're planning on trading some of them away (aka "savvy trades") to supplement our needs at the MLB level, and then use mid-tier and maybe a high profile free agent or two to fill in some other holes. Then all of the lower round picks that actually turn into something decent fill any remaining holes. That's exactly the same thing. We need the top round prospects to show enough to be attractive to other teams in order to make "savvy trades". Also, more teams are locking up their younger players which takes them off the market. Finally signing a high-profile FA (or 2) is difficult when you have a reputation as a losing team and the big market teams (with winning reputations) willing to pay anything to acquire the player they want. It will not be difficult to sign free agents. The prospects will perform, long enough to trade them anyway. Tanaka, the Uptons, darvish, ellsbury, puig, jose abreu, anthony rizzo, andrew cashner, wil meyers, travis wood I am missing a lot because i dont pay attention enough anymore, but theres some of the young impact talent that has been available either as a free agent or trade in the last two seasons. Teams locking their players up young isnt much of an issue. Half of the board wants to trade Castro and we just got through locking him up while he was young. In less words, youre being silly. See the discussion in the other forum (Cubs Discussions) about there's no plan B.

Sell the [expletive] team Ricketts, you piece of [expletive]. :banghead: As for "there's no plan B", we've known that all along. Our prospects have to make it to the ML level or show enough at the ml level to become trade bait. As for Ricketts selling the team, lets put a call out to V. Siviano and see what she could do.

And also we're terrible at it, and they're good at it, and we're hoping and praying on a generation of elite top-round picks to save us. We're also like a decade behind them in the process, and I don't think we're hoping and praying for a generation of top round picks to save us. I think we're planning on trading some of them away (aka "savvy trades") to supplement our needs at the MLB level, and then use mid-tier and maybe a high profile free agent or two to fill in some other holes. Then all of the lower round picks that actually turn into something decent fill any remaining holes. That's exactly the same thing. We need the top round prospects to show enough to be attractive to other teams in order to make "savvy trades". Also, more teams are locking up their younger players which takes them off the market. Finally signing a high-profile FA (or 2) is difficult when you have a reputation as a losing team and the big market teams (with winning reputations) willing to pay anything to acquire the player they want.

Maybe that team looked like a contender in Hendry's mind. Anyone else could see they were going to be bad. It wasn't just "a contender in Hendry's mind" and apparently not "anyone else could see they were going to be bad" because they were picked to be a solid team by most experts. After the trade deadline, it could be many years before we have "solid bullpen, and 3 good starters" in addition to a potentially solid offense.

Looks like Veras was cool with the fake injury after all. I'm honestly curious if he ever makes it back on the 25 man roster at this point. Bigger waste, Veras or Scott Baker? Oh god, Baker by a mile. I really do think Veras is injured - he's never been anywhere close to this ineffective during his career. Also unlike Baker, he still has some value when he returns. We should all hope he does in fact come back and have some success, so we can possibly trade him. I think we should change the Cubs' motto from "Wait until next year" to "We should all hope he does in fact come back and have some success, so we can possibly trade him." It certainly seems to fit the 2012-2014 Cubs.

Does it really matter if they're "throwing out" huge offers to FAs if they know they're ultimately gonna get outbid. They can offer a FA eleventy-billion dollars if they know the Yankees, Red Sox or Dodgers will offer eleventy-billion and one dollars. Unfortunately that's probably what's going to happen when Theo decides it's time to sign some FAs. All those teams will still have a ton of money plus the reputation of being a winning team.