Backtobanks
-
Posts
7,315 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
1
Content Type
Profiles
Joomla Posts 1
Chicago Cubs Videos
Chicago Cubs Free Agent & Trade Rumors, Notes, & Tidbits
2026 Chicago Cubs Top Prospects Ranking
News
2023 Chicago Cubs Draft Picks
Guides & Resources
2024 Chicago Cubs Draft Picks
The Chicago Cubs Players Project
2025 Chicago Cubs Draft Pick Tracker
2026 Chicago Cubs Draft Pick Tracker
Blogs
Events
Forums
Store
Gallery
Everything posted by Backtobanks
-
The only way we would have a shot at Stanton is if the Marlins really valued players like Baez, Soler, or Almora specifically as to what they want, otherwise teams like the Cards have more to offer. Unfortunately we're still stuck kind of in-the-middle land with a good (and improving) farm system, but not good enough to outbid some teams for a potential superstar without totally decimating the farm system.
-
The secret is to start the season with low expectations.
-
I was going to post something similar to yours because it's obvious that the plan is still to trade off assets at the deadline. Obviously some of the biggest reasons for our positive variance numbers will be traded (Feldman, DeJesus, Garza, Gregg, Russell, etc.), so we can only hope that the return for any player(s) traded will be solid prospects for the future. With that many players possibly being dealt, it's hard to make any predictions about next year based on the variance numbers for this year.
-
Miguel Cabrera became the first player in history to go 4-for-4 with 3 HRs, 5 RBIs and 4 runs scored in defeat. There have been 7 other players with 3 HRs in defeat: Johnny Mize (4 times); Babe Roth, Ernie Banks, Dave Kingman, Glenn Davis, Joe Carter, and Sammy Sosa each doing it twice. Seems to be a lot of ex-Cubs on that list. :-k
-
The more I watch this team, the closer I think they are, to be honest. Take away the bullpen and some stupid errors and I think the Cubs' record would be pretty good right now. And that was with a tough schedule. The problem is you can't "take away the bullpen and some stupid errors" and leave only the good things about the team. Hopefully they can minimize some of the stupid errors, but everything else goes in cycles (pitching is great/ offense sucks, offense picks up/pitching slacks off, etc.)
-
What do we, as fans, need to do to get rid of 7th inning str
Backtobanks replied to manbearcub's topic in Chicago Cubs Talk
Is it really any worse than being bombarded by the commercials blasted over the loudspeaker or the constant "music and entertainment" that blares at about 100 decibels between innings? -
The team is making a ton of cash in Chicago. Again, no way the Cubs move because the mayor, the city council, and the neighboring community (including land baron Ricketts) won't let it happen because of the financial devestation it would cause to everyone involved.
-
Ricketts isn't going to move the team out of Wrigleyville and watch his real estate investments crash and burn.
-
Is The Ricketts Family the worst thing to...
Backtobanks replied to JoseHernandez18's topic in Chicago Cubs Talk
Being good (or better) "on paper" doesn't seem to carry over to the play on the field. Look at how many times the Cubs were one of the better teams "on paper" during the last 10 years and then look at the results. -
I posted when Theo came that he had no experience in making a bad team better or tearing apart a roster and starting over by building through the farm system. That doesn't mean he can't be successful at it. As you stated he took a solid 89 win (average over 5 years) team and turned them into a consistent 93 win team (over his reign as GM). That is impressive, but nothing similar to the Cub situation. He did extremely well with draft and picking up discards from other teams, but the new CBA has and the increased use of sabermetrics by other teams has certainly affected the advantage that he seemingly had over other teams. Lastly he had a huge payroll to sustain the winning ways of the Red Sox. I don't know how many people expected 90 game winners right away, but I don't think anybody expected 100 loss teams either. The frustration comes from knowing that this could go on for longer than even Theo planned, especially if Baez, Soler, or Almora don't reach their potential.
-
What "pass?" What changed is their effort to try and get city/state funding for the renovations. What, they weren't supposed to even try? I'm sure they were hoping they'd be able to work something out and their rhetoric reflected as such. Why are you so pissed at them saying they wanted to try and get outside funding? My "pass" is using some common sense and not sulking like a petulant child just because they gave trying to get public funding a shot and it didn't work out. And quit talking like you (or any of us) have any clue as to the detail of the Ricketts' money and what's tied up where and what's changed along the way. I'm annoyed with how things are going, so quit it with your tiresome board cop bull [expletive] where you think everyone is just slobbering all over the Ricketts and Theo and never thinking they do anything wrong. I'm not "pissed" about trying to get outside funding. My point is that Ricketts knew the state of the economy when he bought the team. He spent the money on the purchase, has invested tons more on real estate investments, has made a lot of profit in the last year, and the product on the field sucks.
-
So they somehow have convinced many of us that it's worse...than the plethora of terrible things you yourself just listed. Gotcha. I keep reading posts about Theo saying that "things were worse than he thought", "it might take longer than we hoped", etc. Ricketts and Theo are extremely smart and both of them walked into this situation knowing exactly what they were getting into, so I'm saying I'm tired of reading posts saying we might be terrible again next year and Theo should be considered successful if 3 years from now we're still under .500 and some of his prospects are producing at the ML level. Running/owning a baseball team isn't a static process; there are going to be changes or developments that cause a plan or an expectation to change. To say that they're "smart enough" like they should have known everything and been able to predict everything about running the team is a pointlessly ridiculous expectation. There you go giving Ricketts a pass. He is an extremely successful businessman and owning a business isn't static either. So exactly what has changed drastically from what he knew (or should have known) when he bought the Cubs?
-
So they somehow have convinced many of us that it's worse...than the plethora of terrible things you yourself just listed. Gotcha. I keep reading posts about Theo saying that "things were worse than he thought", "it might take longer than we hoped", etc. Ricketts and Theo are extremely smart and both of them walked into this situation knowing exactly what they were getting into, so I'm saying I'm tired of reading posts saying we might be terrible again next year and Theo should be considered successful if 3 years from now we're still under .500 and some of his prospects are producing at the ML level.
-
You're saying, like, 28 different things with this post. Short version; if The Epstein hiring was a stunt or scam of any kind (which I don't beleive), the guy who hired him is the scammer, not the guy who took the money. When Epstein was hired, people were partying in the streets with visions of him turning [expletive] into gold in a year or 2. Epstein preached patience from the beginning, but people seemed to take Twitter rumors that we were in on every big free agent over his own words. Actually what I'm saying is that both Ricketts and Theo have convinced many of you that things were worse than anyone could imagine when they took over and now we should wait patiently while they rake in huge profits while fielding a terrible team. Ricketts knew about the state of the economy (in Chicago and in Illinois), the politics of Chicago, the rooftop agreement, the landmark status of Wrigley, the horrible physical condition of Wrigley, etc. when he bought the team. Theo knew about the terrible farm system, the payroll, the CBA, the lack of statistics used by the Cubs, the bad ML roster, etc. when he took the job. Hopefully Theo can build the perennial contender that he promised us, but I need to start seeing some results at the ML level next year.
-
I can't see how "we're still sub .500 but have a top 10 farm system with several of his draft picks and acquired prospects filtering through and contributing at the big league level, then he still comes off looking pretty good" makes sense. He was hired to a 5-year contract to win a WS (or at least get us to the WS and be a solid, perennial contender). This is the biggest market team in a weak, winnable division and Theo was given complete autonomy. If this team is still below .500 next year, then we need to realize we've been sold some snake oil.
-
Sveum Suggests Sending Castro and Rizzo to AAA
Backtobanks replied to CaliforniaRaisin's topic in Chicago Cubs Talk
Maybe Sveum read the posts about yesterday's game suggesting that his job may be in jeopardy and decided to take the offensive. -
So true. I wonder what the excuse will be in 2015 when we're still struggling to field a decent ML team.
-
Fair enough...although I'd argue that the player facility upgrades are a necessity and long overdue (and embarrassing in their current state). Could still be a better long term use of their money, though. If all of this [expletive] ultimately (and in a relatively timely matter) takes us from what would otherwise be the Yankees of just the NL Central (but well behind other teams in MLB who have pulled way ahead or already were ahead) to Yankees/Dodgers of MLB status, I'm OK with it. Let's get one WS championship before we start comparing us to the Yankees.
-
He certainly can't be much worse than what we've been sending out there.
-
I agree that it shouldn't take until 2015 to build a team that has a chance at a playoff spot. Times have changed and just because you've got a really smart FO doesn't mean that you will be able to make all the moves you want to make. More teams are locking up their young stars with long-term contracts.
-
The Cubs are not going to move. They know this. That is why they aren't negotiating from the standpoint of worrying about what would happen if the Cubs left. Not that Ricketts wants to work with the rooftop owners, but I wonder if anyone suggests putting the jumbotron where the current scoreboard is thereby avoiding the whole rooftop view issue. Ricketts would get the added revenue from the jumbotron and still get a cut from the rooftops.
-
That doesn't mean backtobanks has a point. I love how SSR loves statistics until it disproves what he posted.
-
Len and JD mentioned that he didn't look comfortable out there yesterday.
-
I don't really care about a player like Lillibridge being the 25th player on the roster, the point is that we have 4-5 players that could be considered the 25th guy on the roster. Every team has a 25th guy which is basically roster filler in an emergency.
-
"Lillibridge isn't the 25th man" really shows how bad this team must be. a World Series representative last year gave over 1100 PA combined to two sub-replacement players; you're just coming off stupid And neither player was named Lillibridge or as bad as Lillibridge.