jersey cubs fan

We only know the first part in hindsight. And Zambrano was freshly turned 26 and coming off 4 straight seasons of 4 WAR, two of which were 5. Yes, he was having a bit of a down year in 07, but to say that at age 26 it was clear that he was on the decline is wrong. Fukudome got more money than people expected and wasn't as good as expected. Like Soriano, he was already past 30 when the Cubs went after him, but he was a pretty valuable player for 3/4 of his contract. That was 4 years ago and yet we still don't have confidence in any prospect coming up and filling a corner OF position. When you are able to bring up prospects to take over for the declining overpaid vets, it really isn't a problem at all. They were desperate for corner OF help throughout the 2000s. Had they developed one freaking bat for the spot in all that time we wouldn't be freaking out about Soriano, let alone Fukudome's contract. They had DLee for a decade and weren't able to develop anything resembling a replacement 1B in a decade, that is why we are where we are at 1B. If they sign Fielder and he does suck in 5 years (doubtful, he may not be worth his contract but I doubt he sucks), I have confidence in this group to have somebody ready to at the very least platoon with him to make up for some of the flaws. If you have any confidence in this group's ability to draft and develop, there is no reason to be scared of a potential overpaid veteran 5 years from now.

No they aren't. They were instrumental in the only really successful team Hendry put together. Soriano is the one everybody focuses on because they are blinded by the dollar signs. But Dempster and Zambrano have both been worth a boatload to the Cubs while being here. Hendry messed up just about everywhere else. You don't put all your hopes on young arms and then hire Dusty Freaking Baker. The outfield was an absolute wasteland due to a lack of anything resembling a major league bat coming up through the system, which practically forced Hendry to sign Soriano that offseason. But again, Fielder is not Soriano. Soriano was a highly flawed hitter without a position who was in his 30's. Even with all his flaws, if you signed Soriano to that contract when he was Fielder's age, he would have lived up to the deal and you wouldn't be crying about him. Fielder is not Soriano.

If they didn't give out those big contracts they probably would have sucked in 2007 and 2008 as well as 2009 and 2010. The only way they got better than they were in 2005/2006 was by spending and they sucked back then for the same reason they sucked later, their GM was an idiot.

No we don't. So it's not a problem that we gave superstar money to Soriano and Zambrano, and gave $12 million a year to solid players like Fududome? We're just going to blame this mess all on John Stocksill and Jim Hendry signing guys on the margin like John Grabow? It's not great, but it's not the reason why they suck. They suck because the GM sucked at putting together a baseball team. And they won't suck just because they pay a really good player too much money. You suck when you don't have enough good players, and the Cubs haven't had enough good players in their system in a decade. They drafted like crap and focused on nonsense.

No we don't.

Others have pointed it out but it needs to be reiterated. The Cubs aren't in a hole because of big ugly contracts, the Cubs are in a hole because they were run by an archaic GM who absolutely sucked on putting together longterm plans. If Tom Ricketts goes through a divorce and loses the team (with the family ownership set-up this isn't even likely to be an issue if it comes up), or if they get their money caught up in a giant Ponzi scheme, then you worry about contracts killing the team. What killed the team was a lack of good baseball players, not too many good baseball players that were paid too much.

Really? I don't recall that at all.

I guess if Emery keeps performing he could lose the job, but my guess is it's more about riding the hot hand (plus trying to light a fire under Crawford) than actually threatening the job. There's still a long way to go, it's only three starts.

I'm pretty sure that one and the one with Schlereth didn't get picked up.

Because the runs he actually produces are real, while the theoretical ones he costs us are not nearly as quantifiable in real life.

I always liked the guy and would have loved to have him last time around, but between the money you'd eat on Soriano and the money he'll end up getting, I can't imagine it happening.

That's a new one.

Which still leaves that value at very freaking high.

35.5, lowest of the week.

Isn't the whole story that STL had opportunities to lock him up in previous years but chose not to be serious with an offer?

Did you miss the Tribune era?

I don't know about that. Jackson isn't any good, but his rating this year is 77.9, and it's 77.1 for his career. He completes roughly 60% of his passes and throws as many TD as INT. Hanie's rating is 48.6, he's got 2 TD/6 INT, completing only 52% of his passes. Hanie has just 6.4 YPA, and 3.4 AYPA, while Jackson is 7.0 and 6.1 in those categories. I mean, Jackson is not a good QB, but I think Hanie is clearly worse. Even in Jackson's first action, at age 23, he didn't look as bad as Hanie has looked.

i assume that you have been extremely wealthy and therefore are able to make judgments about what is and is not stressful for people who have a lot of money? because it sure sounds like you have perspective that none of us have. We all have "stressful" situations in life but I understand my problems are not as bad as what some people are going through. It doesn't mean they are not stressful to me, but I carefully chose my words when talking about them to other people. Did Mrs. Pujols show any empathy toward the employees of the restaurant who will lose their jobs if it closes? Again, perspective is a key word. I think it is funny that you have no problem judging my comments but have a problem with how I judge the comments of Mrs. Pujols. Funny. I thought she sounded self-important and whatever but you're so over-the-top in attacking her that I almost want to defend her. Hah, I was thinking the same thing.

Sandusky's attorney talking goofy with reporters.

It is when your stated goal is to acquire assets. Unequivocally wrong. Maybe if we always have backtobanks working on the deals.

So ultimately you accomplish something like that in 2016, in the meantime you don't try and emulated the Oakland Athletics and you absolutely acquire a real impact bat because you need it and can easily afford it.

The 2008 Cubs had elite catcher, 2B and CF production, plus very good 1B, 3B and LF production. They also had Dempster at his best, very good Zambrano and Lilly and half a season of a sick Rich Harden. Pitching aside, that offense had, at its weakest spot, a guy who posted a .360 OBP. They were solid top to bottom, with no black holes, and several very good bats. It's extremely difficult to pull that off just making the sort of tweaks the Cubs have made so far or the type of non-tender value acquisitions so many people here apparently prefer. They had Lee, Ramirez, DeRosa/Fontenot, Soto and Soriano already in the system and really only added Fukudome and Edmonds. The Cubs don't have anything close to that core already in place, and I highly doubt they find an Edmonds stand-in, although yes, they did acquire a Fukudome clone. You need a lot more than just a good approach. You need productive hitters. The 2008 Cubs had many of them, the 2011/12 offseason Cubs have very little of them.

Yeah, guys. Most of them will be just that, guys. Not particularly good players or anybody you actually want to pay 1B for you, just guys.

I'm more than fine acquiring jerks who are really good. But the jerkier they are, the better they have to be. And if they are going to be like this guy, they have to be locks for big time production. He'll be 34 next season, coming off a bad season and injury. Plus, when he was productive in his early 30 seasons he was only doing so in 500 PA seasons with half his time at DH.

It is when your stated goal is to acquire assets. In trades you relinquish assets, and presumably your younger, more valuable to the long-term stability of the franchise ones, at that.