jersey cubs fan

Every hitting coach is a great hitting coach, every pitching coach is a genius, and every potential manager is a terrific baseball man.

And the only rational way for that to happen is for them to give him that time now, in the majors. Sitting him against RHP for Reed Johnson this season was a horrible decision to start, and the numbers back that up. There's no reason why Felix can't get 450+ PA this season. None.

No, that's not worst case, that's best case. Worst case is he does like Reed Johnson and has a couple good games early, then sucks it. But Lou's first impression is that Edmonds can be counted on because of that early success. He keeps throwing him out there, and meanwhile the Cubs feel the need to improve the bullpen, and with Edmonds/Johnson holding down the fort and Tyler Colvin the CF of the future, they trade Pie to solidify the bullpen in July. Then, November rolls around and Hendry decides to extend whatever reliever they trade for with a $15m contract. They realize Colvin isn't going to be ready to start in 2009 so they try and bring back the Johnson/Edmonds platoon for one more turn, remembering that while their full season numbers weren't great, they each had some success at specific points during the year so if they can just work on some things in the offseason and figure out the platoon just right, they will be better in 2009. I'm not a huge Pie fan myself. I have a lot of doubts about his future. But the only rational way to handle this situation is to keep playing him in the majors, because your lineup is good enough to deal with the struggles and there's no way he's ever going to develop without going through those early struggles in the first place.

And only an idiot would believe that, because Pie has not had anything resembling a chance and Edmonds is a lock to suck. While I don't like this move, I think that is an overstatement. How? The Cubs benched Pie in week 1. They said at the time it was about his health and LHP, but people who pay attention suspected otherwise, and they were proven right immediately. Jim Edmonds is done. They've got old men who know the name Jim Edmonds and remember he was good with the Cardinals, but don't realize how beat to crap his body is and how the post-concussion syndrome essentially sped up the end of his career. They are throwing crap against a wall and think they are smart for doing it because "there's little downside". They don't even realize that Reed Johnson has bad numbers for the entire year, pathetic numbers in May.

And only an idiot would believe that, because Pie has not had anything resembling a chance and Edmonds is a lock to suck.

I believe he's guaranteed about $4.5m. The highest paid kicker angle is not overplayed. Just because the cap is going up doesn't mean you have to overpay a kicker who can't kick for a lick from distance. The Bears put a tremendous about of effort into special teams. They have a highly compensated long snapper and more than most teams emphasize coverage units and returns. Gould is the weak link on kickoffs, and they have no faith in him from anything beyond 45. He was fine as an undrafted free agent, but it's a joke to make him the highest paid before he was even a free agent.

There's no chance he'd play everyday. It will be a platoon, but he will still face a fair amount of lefties, and he will stick suck.

I have every reason to believe it'd be a strict platoon, the Cubs love Reed Johnson, and it'd be the majority portion of the platoon. Reed Johnson 2007: .236 .305 .320 Reed Johnson 2007 vs. righties: .202 .275 .237 Jim Edmonds still has value to a team trotting Reed Johnson out as their CFer vs. righties. Fukudome will need days off, Soriano will need days off. Edmonds will face relievers. There's no such thing as a strict platoon. His 2007 was horrible because he put up the numbers he put up while playing in 2007, not just a select group of those numbers.

It makes financing for potential new owners a bit more of a hassle, but every potential bidder has already assessed the value of this team with and without Wrigley included in the price. This shouldn't change a whole lot unless some bidders out there were banking on the team being sold without Wrigley. If that's the case, those bidders will quietly drop out. Why would you think that? MLB wasn't going to let somebody borrow a billion dollars to get the Cubs. If anything, the lack of an unfriendly prearranged lease arrangement, and the flexibility that allows, would make financing a little easier. This is a moot point right now, given that Wrigley apparently still might be offered independently, but there are incredibly few people in the world who have enough cash on hand to buy the Cubs out of pocket. Even if you get a group of people together to pool cash, it is very difficult to get enough people together to basically write a check for hundreds of millions of dollars, if not a billion dollars. Rest assured, at the very least, some of the money used to buy the Cubs will be borrowed. With Wrigley in the fold, that's some more capital that has to be scrounged together. Guys like Cuban and Canning should be able to get it without much trouble, but it just means that lines of credit have to be expanded accordingly. Yes, but I don't see that being a hassle for guys used to financing much bigger deals. The fact that they are getting the whole thing and not some convoluted lease arrangement would seem to me at least to offset the problems with getting more financing. But the only people who stood a chance on this deal were people who weren't going to have problems with financing to beging with.

This is just straight up absurd. He's worthless based on his age, health, rapid and steady decline over several years, horrible 2007 and atrocious start to 2008. Don't pretend people are basing this on 100 PA, it makes you look ridiculous. If Edmonds 2007 was horrible, then you guys have a different definition of horrible than me. A CF who puts up a .755 OPS vs. righties is a valuable half of a platoon. He didn't just play against RHP though did he? And you'd be kidding yourself if you thought that he'd only be hitting against RHP as a Cub. Strict platoons simply do not happen. He had an 88 OPS+ last year, the third straight year of significant declines in that area. That's bad.

This would seem to be one huge step for Cuban. Does anyone know whether this "approval" indicates that Cuban will no longer have to worry about getting a majority of the owners to let him in? http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080513&content_id=2691506&vkey=news_chc&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc I believe all it means is they are approved to look at the books. MLB itself does that. The owners themselves vote yes or no once Zell decides which offer he wants to take.

No it isn't. Gambler's fallacy assumes a random occurence. An aging ballplayer at the end of his career following several injuries and post-concussion syndrome is hardly random.

This is just straight up absurd. He's worthless based on his age, health, rapid and steady decline over several years, horrible 2007 and atrocious start to 2008. Don't pretend people are basing this on 100 PA, it makes you look ridiculous.

It makes financing for potential new owners a bit more of a hassle, but every potential bidder has already assessed the value of this team with and without Wrigley included in the price. This shouldn't change a whole lot unless some bidders out there were banking on the team being sold without Wrigley. If that's the case, those bidders will quietly drop out. Why would you think that? MLB wasn't going to let somebody borrow a billion dollars to get the Cubs. If anything, the lack of an unfriendly prearranged lease arrangement, and the flexibility that allows, would make financing a little easier.

I see a few outcomes if this happens: Best case scenario - Edmonds regains his form, Pie goes to AAA and shines again, Cubs go deep into postseason, then let Edmonds walk after the season. Chance of happening, 0.01%. 2nd best case scenario - Edmonds bombs, Pie goes to AAA and shines, Cubs don't lose any ground with Edmonds around, then callup Pie and let him play through his major league struggles. 35% Troubling scenario - Edmonds is mediocre, Pie does okay in AAA, Cubs feel like sticking with Edmonds and his proven veteran status. 30% Worst case scenario - Edmonds sucks, Pie is struggles in AAA, Cubs lose faith in Pie and wind up trading him for much less than they could have gotten a year ago. They realize they have no CF options and decide to rush Colvin to platoon with Johnson, and put him in the same scenario they had Pie and Murton before. 20% Disaster scenario - Edmonds signs an extension. 14.99%. While the best case scenarios result in positive outcomes, I don't see them as most likely to happen. Considering what's he done for more than a year now, it's hard to imagine what Edmonds would have to do to make the Cubs give up on him. All it takes is a positive early impression for Lou to keep giving a guy undeserved chances. One big game or series could give Edmonds a 3-4 month rope to hang himself with.

To me it made no sense to a new owner not to own the stadium with the team....espeically Wrigley field. I do wonder, as with buying a house that "need repair", do you get a little discount on the price knowing you have to make major changes? I doubt they get that lower price, but I was just wondering if that would be possible. If I had the money, i wouldn't buy the cubs without Wrigley, so I hope this makes the sale quicker. If/When the "redo" wrigley, have there been any ideas on how they would do it and the main things they would add to this new grandstand? Parking, skyboxes, more seats,ect? A home buyer may get some knocked off the price because houses are in plentiful supply and sellers need to make theirs look better than the competition. There's a limited supply of MLB teams and only one Cubs/Wrigley. They will get what the buyers are willing to pay.

Edmonds is not Nomar or Fukudome. He's not going to be a celebrated new player. Cubs fans at Wrigley hated Jim Edmonds. This isn't a NSBB thing. He will have, at best, a mixed reception. My guess is it won't be emphatic one way or the other. Exactly. Anyone who has been to a Cubs Cardinals game knows it I've been to plenty, I just think you guys are underestimating the casual fans' ability to forgive and forget. Also, Edmonds clears waivers tomorrow? So he could be a Cub by tomorrow? Barf. Forgiving and forgetting happens with 2 players: Those who are still very good. Those who were hated only because they were on a rival. Jim Edmonds sucks, has sucked for a long time, and was not just hated because of being a Cardinal, but because he was a flopping pretty boy.

Edmonds is not Nomar or Fukudome. He's not going to be a celebrated new player. Cubs fans at Wrigley hated Jim Edmonds. This isn't a NSBB thing. He will have, at best, a mixed reception. My guess is it won't be emphatic one way or the other.

Is that supposed to be commendable? He went with a very good pitcher over a terrible pitcher. Kind of a no-brainer. Then this year Lou kept letting Marquis pitch on a regular rotation while bumping Hill then demoting him. I never said Lou refuses to take youth over veterans. But the younger player has to significantly outperform that vet for it to happen. Lou may not be as bad or dumb as some managers on this topic, it doesn't mean it's not completely asinine to think about giving Jim Edmonds playing time over Felix Pie.

Clearly that's the rationale, and that's the problem. The Cubs think you can't win with a guy like Felix around (dumb) and that having a guy like Edmonds improves your chances of winning (dumb). Furthermore, Lou has shown he will cut bait with some veterans, but there's no telling how much mediocrity he's willing to accept before he decides a player isn't performing. 3 months of a 700 OPS from Edmonds would be detrimental to the team. But as long as he's the only LH 5th hitter with a little pop on the team, he will get the benefit of the doubt. Lou has also shown that first impressions are most important. All it will take is one good game or one big hit out of Edmonds early in his stint and that will prolong his stay by months. Considering he'll be hitting in the middle of a potent lineup, he's going to have multiple chances to come through. One well-timed hit is all it will take to convince some people it was the right move.

Theriot stunk last year but kept his job with no threat of losing it to a younger more talented player. Reed Johnson has been allowed to fail repeatedly against RHP without a legit threat of Pie getting more time. Jason Marquis has been allowed to fail repeatedly, same with Howry and Eyre. And Jason Kendall was abysmal for months until the odd practice of September callups actually forced them to even think about replacing him. The fact that they are even considering Edmonds is more evidence that bad veterans are given priority over kids who need to produce. I cannot think of a better time to live through the struggles of a young kid than when you are scoring lots of runs and winning games, getting production from everybody else. Add in the fact that the kid plays better defense than any other option and will produce similar numbers against RHP than any reasonable replacement and you have a perfect situation for living with the struggles.

You act as if this team can't win with Felix. That's nonsense. Thats not it at all. I just think that Cubs have put winning a World Series in front of developing Felix. I don't know if this is the right move or not. I not sure if I like the idea of signing Edmonds. Felix needs ABs and Lou is not going to play him then only way he will get ABs is in the minors. Winning a World Series should always be in front of developing Felix. But signing Jim Edmonds has nothing to do with winning the World Series or developing Felix.

Doesn't matter. He's not even close to the best kicker in the NFL now and never should have been close to the highest paid. Whether that lasts a week or a season is inconsequential. It's irresponsible cap management and bad business. For a team that talks about prioritizing contracts and paying their own, it's absurd that they reward a mediocre kicker who skipped voluntary workouts with an inflated contract while they have meaningful players in need of deals.

You act as if this team can't win with Felix. That's nonsense. The Cubs offense has been perfectly fine while getting nothing from CF against RHP. Clearly they can succeed with Pie in CF against RHP. Edmonds doesn't even offer an upgrade in that regard. Early in a season when you are scoring lots of runs and winning lots of games is the absolute easiest time to try and let a kid develop on a contender. This isn't low risk. The risk is that Edmonds hits in the 5th spot, keeps sucking, but keeps playing because the Cubs are absolute failures at realizing when a veteran is done. Jason Kendall kept blowing chunks for months while Soto was destroying the ball, yet the Cubs did nothing. This move could easily cost a game, not to mention delays Pie's development and reduce his trade value. There's no rational support for this move, only nonsensical "proven veteran" conventional wisdom BS.

I will never forget that game, and I will never fully hate Estes because of that game. IIRC, he even had 2 hits that game. Of course if he didn't suck the rest of the year, that game wouldn't have been necessary. Bingo. No need to sugar coat because of one well-timed quality start. He sucked.