jersey cubs fan

http://www.fangraphs.com/comparison.aspx?playerid=3254&position=P&page=9&players=6986 Kennedy had a better start to his career, and his 2011 was better than anything Samardzija has done. But he's got more mileage on his arm and has been regressing.

You see Kennedy as better than Samardzija? I do not think many others see it that way.

Is this based on the Heyman story?

Szczur has really had himself a crappy little July here. He's 24 now and he hasn't really taken a step forward yet, with numbers declining at each level. Is there much of a chance he's removed from the 40-man?

Was it about a month ago when they last had the best record? Nice little recovery after slipping in early July.

There's probably something to be gained for an offensive lineman. But in Long's case, he needs to learn how to be an offensive lineman. And the only reason he was doing that nonsense was because rules prevented him from actually practicing with the team. I would assume the guy is behind, given his raw status and lack of OTA time. Hub may be a curmudgeonly old coot, but it probably isn't a stretch to say Long is having issues with his hand placement and other technique. The other guys have spoken positively, but only in a "he's really strong" sort of way. Also, Hub only wishes it was PFT that folded, he was PFW.

Based on what?

Haha, that's a pretty good description.

Orion Samuelson has the best damn goofy mofo voice out there.

This guy's interview managed to hit on the all important, "back in my day pitch count didn't matter and you were expected to finish the game" gibberish. He pitched in parts of 5 seasons and went over 200 innings once. He was done by 25.

I want so badly for the Cubs to go on some little hot streak and force everyone to notice that they are only like 6.5 games out of the second WC or something. I doubt they could get any closer than that, but I want some sort of buzz to replace the "well, we can't possibly win before 2016" mantra. A Cubs fan that wants his team to win games and be in contention for a playoff spot, how crazy.

That's completely different than what I said I was talking about. These fans think that if a projection of.500 is the best you can do, you should instead try to get worse rather than better. Well that is completely different than what was being discussed and a completely different point to try and make. That's exactly what I was discussing when you said you didn't get why it was frustrating. "You don't get it so much at NSBB, but there's a serious notion among Cubs fans on the internet that going into a season with a .500 projection is undesirable because you can't be a contender but you'll ruin your draft position." Yes that is exactly the pointlessness to which I was referring.

Go to PSD. Or listen to all the people who think it's pointless to sign free agents because it's not time to compete. That's been the stance of a frustratingly large portion of the people on this board for 2 years now.

That's completely different than what I said I was talking about. These fans think that if a projection of.500 is the best you can do, you should instead try to get worse rather than better. Well that is completely different than what was being discussed and a completely different point to try and make.

You don't get it so much at NSBB, but there's a serious notion among Cubs fans on the internet that going into a season with a .500 projection is undesirable because you can't be a contender but you'll ruin your draft position. It's so wrong, and so frustrating. I don't see what's wrong or frustrating about that mindset. Projecting to mediocrity is a bummer. Theo and Co. obviously believed in one end of that spectrum last season. He means that you shouldn't try to avoid projecting to be .500 because a team that projects to be .500 has higher odds to surprise contend. If you end up not contending, there's plenty of time to blow it up. No reason to just go into the season trying to lose 90 just because you don't think you can win over 85. You should avoid projecting to .500 because you should try to be better. Not because, "hey .500 can sometimes be good enough if things work out well for you."

all with two outs? that's always fun

You don't get it so much at NSBB, but there's a serious notion among Cubs fans on the internet that going into a season with a .500 projection is undesirable because you can't be a contender but you'll ruin your draft position. It's so wrong, and so frustrating. I don't see what's wrong or frustrating about that mindset. Projecting to mediocrity is a bummer. Theo and Co. obviously believed in one end of that spectrum last season.

I imagine it can be potentially helpful, but a raw player like Long who hasn't played much offensive line and needs a crap ton of coaching in that department isn't going to gain nearly as much playing grab ass with Jay Glazer and those meatheads than he is by actually practicing the sport of football. Offensive line is about technique. RB and WR is about exploiting your physical gifts. Apples and oranges.

And some of them are To the tune of an about league average offense (8th in wOBA 9th in R) and that's WITH fairly to hugely disappointing seasons out of Rizzo and Castro. I don't understand why so many people think this team is so much worse than it is. It's not bereft of talent. There is no doubt there is talent. The reality is that talent still needs to maturate. I don't care what they do in their down time, I just want them to be better at playing baseball.

Physically...but all I've seen have said he needs a lot of work on technique. Hub was saying that Long didn't know what to do with his hands, which is a little odd cuz I thought that was part of what he was working on with Glazer and the MMA stuff. MMA = offensive line play? Smart assery aside, I'm not sure why you'd expect a raw player to have better technique as an NFL OL as a result of MMA training with Jay Glazer. Yeah, that's a great way to have Jay Glazer speak glowingly of you during your career but I'm not sure what value there is to his play.

Who the hell is going to hit in two years? Right now their foundation players are league average at best. The prospects I see at AA and AAA look pretty high risk to me, including Baez. I hope you're right Adam but I am not sure this team will be there in 2015 and certainly won't next year. Doesn't mean I would trade Shark but I would definitely consider it. "Who the hell is going to hit" is pretty far down the list of concerns regarding this team's ability to contend in future seasons. Between Castro, Rizzo, Baez, Almora, Soler, Bryant, Alcantara, & Vogelbach, enough of these guys should develop into productive major league hitters that offense should not be the glaring weakness that you're making it out to be. They have a plethora of bats for future seasons, but it's a legit question when referring to the next 2 years. Castro and Rizzo need to get better soon, and they each should be able to take steps forward. But I don't think any of those other guys can be expected to do anything on next year's major league team, and I doubt if any other does much in 2015, with the possible exception of Bryant. This team is only 9th in runs scored, 8th in OPS and 13th in OBP this year. They are 4th in SLG, but that isn't as important as OBP, and they are getting a bunch of that SLG mostly from older guys who will either being gone or probably decline.

Physically...but all I've seen have said he needs a lot of work on technique. Yeah, I haven't read much about his actual play, just that he's really strong.

I predict he's back in Iowa within a month. Hasn't Sveum said that part of the reason for the Soriano trade was to give Lake a chance to play everyday for the rest of the season to show what he's got? I think that was simply a convenient storyline to fit in for timing purposes. But they've been trying to trade Soriano for a long time and Junior Lake surprising start had no impact. He is going to fall off sharply and is not going to play everyday as a result, but it is going to take a massive decline in a hurry to send him back to Iowa now, considering September call-ups are just a month away anyway.

I, for one, hate that in their minds this vindicates all the idiotic Yankees fans who went on and on about how ARod wasn't a "true Yankee". which is funny, because a crap-ton of "true yankees" have been on PEDs during the past 15 years. andy pettitte jumps to mind immediately. But Andy was just doing it to help the team!

I, for one, hate that in their minds this vindicates all the idiotic Yankees fans who went on and on about how ARod wasn't a "true Yankee".