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Backtobanks

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Everything posted by Backtobanks

  1. Backtobanks
    I don't think it's been expressed enough, but thank you for sharing your rumor-mill knowledge. It doesn't really matter to me connecting actual moves to rumors for some kind of accuracy count, it's a great read either way and puts a little shape around front office thinking. I agree that it's interesting to get actual names tied to teams and nothing extra. Too many of these threads go off on a tangent.
  2. Backtobanks
    So does Brad Ziegler get to decide the max contract somebody suspended for PEDs gets to receive? Or do we need blood from the stone and ban guys for multiple seasons? I didn't say that and honestly I don't know what the answer is. Here is how it looks to me though, I could easily be wrong: Player A is going into the final year of his contract. He decides to take the chance at getting caught and juices up to boost his numbers in that final year. It works but he does get caught. He apologizes and sits for the required 50 games, comes back that season, gets to play in the playoffs and signs a large contract that offseason with another contender. To me, it doesn't seem like the punishment was adequate. Like I said, I could be wrong, but the timing and the results cannot be argued. 50 games is probably not enough but I don't know what is nor do I know if the team, the Tigers in this case, shouldn't be forced to feel some of that pain too. Unfortunately that's the penalty that's in place right now. That's why so many players and prospects are willing to take the chance of getting caught. The reward (increased production, big contract, etc.) certainly outweighs the risk (50 game suspension).
  3. Backtobanks
    Absorb some of the money that we don't have to spend.
  4. Backtobanks
    Sure could've fooled me. After he signs with another team, we'll hear that the FO made a "serious bid".
  5. Backtobanks
    Absolutely nothing absurd about exploring different scenarios on paper and assigning weighted probablities to see what decisions bubble up. Scenario planning is a tool used by many in and out of baseball. I totally agree with you Hoops. I thought the whole point of hiring Theo was using technology to evaluate players and plan scenarios to acquire the players needed to win the WS. Many of the discussions here involve which amateurs will be drafted next year, which FAs will be available, etc.
  6. Backtobanks
    I don't know what you're drinking (or smoking), but it's pretty potent stuff. You're right. We just need to bring Hendry back. He can work out a three way deal where we move Vitters, Jackson, Barney, and Lake for Trout and Cabrera. Then we are golden. I guess you're still fixated on Hendry. If you think signing a few mid-tier FAs are going to get us to about 88 wins, then you're drunk, stoned, or crazy.
  7. Backtobanks
    That's nonsense. They've invested in real estate speculating the value of it will rise do to the other big asset they own. If they move they are compounding mistakes. A sunk cost only works for assets that depreciate or have little chance to increase in value. It's not nonsense. If they make out better by moving, whether they bought those properties or not, then they make out better by moving. You realize that the possibility of making more money despite those other assets not appreciating (or depreciating) exists as well, right? Saying otherwise is pure nonsense. They might "make out better" eventually, but they would start out with the huge debt they would take on all of the real estate investments they made around Wrigley. Not necessarily, for [expletive]'s sake. If the Cubs moved out of Wrigley, property values would plummet. Do you really think all of those buildings in Wrigleyville are worth what they're selling for?
  8. Backtobanks
    I don't know what you're drinking (or smoking), but it's pretty potent stuff.
  9. Backtobanks
    That's nonsense. They've invested in real estate speculating the value of it will rise do to the other big asset they own. If they move they are compounding mistakes. A sunk cost only works for assets that depreciate or have little chance to increase in value. It's not nonsense. If they make out better by moving, whether they bought those properties or not, then they make out better by moving. You realize that the possibility of making more money despite those other assets not appreciating (or depreciating) exists as well, right? Saying otherwise is pure nonsense. They might "make out better" eventually, but they would start out with the huge debt they would take on all of the real estate investments they made around Wrigley.
  10. Backtobanks
    The official song for this offseason:
  11. Backtobanks
    Most teams that finish 16 games under .500 with the oldest roster in baseball don't attempt to get older in the offseason Well at least they won't be lacking in experience and veteran leadership. :lol:
  12. Backtobanks
    Yeah, Rookie league and low A ball.
  13. Backtobanks
    Kyle, your memory is failing. We've already signed Rick Renteria. :lol:
  14. Backtobanks
    I agree with all of the Ricketts hate, but I still have a problem with all of the Theo love until we put a winning team on the field. Hopefully it's coming, but it looks like it's going to take longer than expected and there still are some question marks (i.e. pitching).
  15. Backtobanks
    That's a big "if" after being terrible 8-9 years in a row.
  16. Backtobanks
    People aren't overreacting like they will never get out of it, they are pissed because they never should have been this bad for this long. It is difficult to be this bad for this long. Every franchise may have bad 4-5 year stretches, but not necessarily this bad. But every one of those franchises deserved and got tons of [expletive] from people who bother to care how much they win for the fact that they lost this year. The notion that people have no room to complain because some other random team had a tough stretch in the 70's, or that it's okay because they weren't even trying to win, or that one day they will actually be good again so it doesn't matter is just flat out absurd. I agree. There's no reason for a big market team (even though they're pretending to be small market) should suck for this long. I'm tired of reading about how poor Ricketts is when he's tossing around hundreds of millions on real estate and lawyers. God forbid if a few of our top prospects don't live up to expectations. It's time for the FO to put together a decent team in 2014 and a contending team in 2015. Some of the posters here seem to have resigned themselves into accepting 2017-2018.
  17. Backtobanks
    I'm not sure what Theo meant about August and September. A tailspin is what happens when you have a very limited supply of ML talent and then trade them in July, I guess the late season tailspin days might be over because he's talking about trading Shark, Castro, Nate, etc now instead of July which would mean a season long tailspin at the ML level.
  18. Backtobanks
    Yeah, his confidence was so high before this...you really hate to mess with success! His confidence level might not be high before this, but this certainly isn't going to help his confidence. Let's not forget that he's still very young and most of his problems seem to be mental and not physical. I'm not sure why we'd assume his problems are mental. Well he's had 4 years of well-documented mental lapses, has struggled with being moved around in the lineup, and has been labeled as a franchise player in his early 20's. Maybe he has physical problems too, but not anything that has been documented.
  19. Backtobanks
    Yeah, his confidence was so high before this...you really hate to mess with success! His confidence level might not be high before this, but this certainly isn't going to help his confidence. Let's not forget that he's still very young and most of his problems seem to be mental and not physical.
  20. Backtobanks
    After all of these Castro rumors, we had better trade him because I'm sure the rumors are really going to affect his confidence. Going from signing a long-term committment and hiring a Spanish speaking manager to seeing your name in trade rumors has to mess with the confidence level of a young player oming off a bad season.
  21. Backtobanks
    I want Tanaka as much as the next guy, but not for a $75+ million posting fee Why? Not that we can afford it, but I wouldn't care if we won the bid at 100 mill+, it's a one time fee. Granted, a 100 mill fee would also mean a 100 mill contract for him, but finding TOR types at his age are very rare opportunities. If we pay him 100 million we would have to pass on Santana. :lol:
  22. Backtobanks
    That's a pretty accurate statement since 4 years ago the WS was played in NY and Philadephia while this year some of the games were in St. Louis. :lol:
  23. Backtobanks
    4 guys = everybody? The point is that they could/should have been in a better position to improve in the short run if those guys had played closer/more consistently to what was expected/hoped from them. I'm not pointing that out as an excuse; I'm bemoaning the [expletive] situation the Cubs are in. Well 4 guys is a big part of your everyday lineup. While I agree that they didn't produce what was hoped/expected, we also had guys (Wood, Nate, Navarro, Valbuena, etc.) produce more than expected. I agree that the situation is a mess and everything we can hope for is locked up in a bunch of very young prospects becoming all-star level players.
  24. Backtobanks
    Most of the posters on NSBB thought 75-80 wins was doable in 2012 and 2013 too. 75 wins might have been possible last year without trades Or Castro, Rizzo, Castillo and Shark actually being good most of the season. Especially Castro. But especially Castro. So we could have been mediocre if we didn't trade any players away and everybody would have had a good year? That says a lot about the strength of our roster.
  25. Backtobanks
    Most of the posters on NSBB thought 75-80 wins was doable in 2012 and 2013 too.
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