Backtobanks

Or maybe Bob Nightengale has no damn clue what he's talking about. Ding! Ding! We have a winner.

The discussion kind of went off on a tangent. My point was that for all of the bad things about Hendry, there were quite a few good things. There were many years where he had assembled the best team in the NL Central on paper, but "stuff happens" and they never got to the World Series. Some of that "stuff" certainly included way more than our share of injuries to key players during his tenure.

Tavarez + Dontrelle Willis for Matt Clement and Alfonseca Todd Hundley for Grudzielanck + Karros Bobby Hill + Jose Hernandez for Kenny Lofton + Aramis Ramirez Choi for Derrek Lee A. Gonzalez, Justin Jones, Brendan Harris, F. Beltran for Nomar Garciaparra + Matt Murton

It helped more than that bucket. Hendry basically did what big market GMs do. The Giants and Dodgers, to name a few handed out as much bad money as Hendry in the same time frame, but they're in better shape because they each had a lot of prospects that panned out, and did so big time. And it's not like we didn't seemingly have quality guys through the system in the '06-'07 farm offseason when most of the damage was done, though it was nothing like '00-'03. Some of the Hendry hate gets to the point of absurdity. Hendry was told to spend an ever-increasing amount of money to "buy" a winning team. That's one reason he hired Baker and Piniella. Hendry personally always wanted to develop and play the younger players, but ownership was in a win-now mode. Theo has been given complete autonomy to build (or rebuild) on his own terms. Hendry was basically an unknown when hired, while Theo came with a reputation.

It would take exactly one season to balance it out. Yeah if they went 104-58 in 2014 it would bring them back to .500. Of course that's assuming they only lose 100 this year and they improve by 15 games next year. No one is going to give a rat's behind that Theo's Cubs lost 100 games in 2012 if the Cubs win a World Series while he's here. Hell, just getting to a World Series will help people forget this season. That's a big "if".

I would love for the Cubs to suck for one year and then have all of those wonderful things happen, but I see no evidence that the Cubs are going to be very good next year. Amping up the farm system is great, but right now Rizzo looks like the only "sure thing". Whatever moves they're going to make is most likely jumping into the FA pool and maxing out the payroll again. Finally, as others have posted, putting a "decent" (a.k.a. watchable) team on the field this year would not have maxed out the payroll or excluded amping up the farm system or having plenty of money come off the books for future moves.

It would take exactly one season to balance it out. Yeah if they went 104-58 in 2014 it would bring them back to .500. Of course that's assuming they only lose 100 this year and they improve by 15 games next year.

quote="David"] Yea. I think it was pretty much a non-answer. The article mentioned keeping their options open (trading him), so it was pretty much a non-answer.

It certainly doesn't seem to bother Theo & Co. that the Cubs are headed for a historically bad season. When it's all said and done, managers and front office staff are judged by their record. With the Cubs headed for 100 losses this season, even a 15 game improvement (not likely) for next year puts them at 85 losses. It's going to take quite a few great seasons to balance out these 2 years.

I'm amazed that there are still posters that support what Theo has done this year. I understand those of you that think he will eventually build a contender, but he has made the 2012 Cubs into a laughing stock. There's no excuse for a large market team in a weak division to be this awful. This team is years away from being decent and as Garza, Dempster, and LaHair come back to "normal", we will have very little to trade for 2013 and beyond.

Yeah, it's not like he had the ability to try and improve the team or anything. Poor, poor Theo. The only relevance that this season has to Theo's ultimate plan is the fact that Marmol, Soto, and Byrd were supposed to be useful trade chips, and their suckage threw a wrench in those plans. other than that, pretty much everyone that can be considered a part of the future has done as expected, with the exception of Volstad. Keep suckling. So far, all Theo's done is refused to let himself get sucked into insane bidding wars for Pujols and Fielder. My main problem with sitting out on them despite the supposed available funds is the fact that he didn't use some of it for an all in bid on Darvish and maybe Cespedes, two guys who seemed to epitomize the type of players he was looking for. As for this debacle of a team, he can't be blamed for awful relievers inability to throw strikes and the hitters refusal to bat each other in. I know I sound like one of those religious nuts I've spent my life ridiculing, but we may have to suffer through some [expletive] we don't quite understand, but while I may bitch and moan anout it, I have a ton of faith that these guys are leading us in the right direction. My complaint has always been that these guys might turn it around, but I think it's going to take 4 years when he has the resources to do it in 2 years. For all of the discussion about Pujols, Cespedes, etc., right now the worst signing has been Theo & CO.

No, and most things can be attributed to Ricketts. He's cutting payroll! He's letting the Dodgers be the mid-tier but big market team to make the rise to the top (with Ned Colletti)! He's the reason I've watched three seasons of three different shows this week. That's got to total 24 hours, easy. You do realize that Ricketts offered Epstein a virtually open checkbook and he was the one to chose this direction, right? And complete autonomy, so don't blame anyone but the boy genius.

There's quite a difference between "Theo doesn't want to go past 5 years" and "he won't ever go past 5 years". The next question is whether Theo is ready to spend that much money next year on what could be a mediocre team or is he going "all in" (Upton, Hamels, etc.) to contend next year.

Everything I've read sounded like Theo doesn't want to go past 5 years for a pitcher. With Hamels seeking 7 and plenty of willing teams, I can't see how he ends up a Cub unless one of them changes their stance.

All of this talk about Cespedes' contract that we wouldn't give him and you think the Cubs are going to give Hamels the 7 year/$150 million contract he's seeking.

Either that or our GM ought to be fired.

Who's not fooling themselves? Go back and look at the posters' predictions for this team - most of them had them picked at better than last year's team. This is a bad team and it's going to take a lot of luck, work, and transactions to make them more than mediocre next year.

Bob Brenley would be better. :yahoo:

Hope Castro stays healthy or else we might sign Neifi Perez.

From MLBTR: Detroit could use pitching help or could consider trading for a second baseman or left fielder. The Cubs could solve any or all of their problems.

That lineup looks kind of shabby to me. Barney, Stewart, Brett Jackson, and Castillo are all question marks and that's assuming Rizzo hits right away. As you posted, there should be lots of money to upgrade.

Just wait until he crashes into the brick wall at Wrigley.

That and his aversion to bricks and ivy.

Freddie Freeman seems to be doing okay: .281/.308/.512/.820

This seems to be the discussion for the 2012 Cubs. If you get enough for _________ (fill in the blank with Garza, Dempster, or Lahair) then trade him, if not retain/extend/keep him.