jersey cubs fan

I sure as hell wouldn't need an historically comical overpay to part ways with Castro.

Is there as significant difference between what Appel thought he'd get last year and what he's likely to settle for this year?

Much of this may be true. But at the same time, there are plenty of people who act as though any criticism of any move is too much criticism, and that anything these guys do is spot on brilliant. The results have been despicable to date and they didn't have to be. They chose to be this bad. That is frustrating.

right back at ya big fella Hey I'm not that big. Is everyone that disagrees with you about everything being irrational or just in this case? You should have a good idea how big you are in comparison to the typical human so I assume you're being rational in that judgement.

right back at ya big fella

This. Also, I guess I really do not understand why someone is looking for every reason they can to be critical of Cubs ownership/management. Is it like if he can somehow convince NSBB posters that the new regime is bad, then NSBB posters could be some sort of agent of change that would lead to the Cubs being the greatest organization in sports for the next 50 yrs. Anyway...The Ricketts family obviously made a good investment. Hoping a smart group of guys like that can lead the Cubs to the promiseland:) It took quite a while to convince a lot of people that Hendry was awful. And it came down to the point that they didn't come close to winning as many games as they should have given their resource advantage. Ownership gave him money to spend and they spent it and lost. This group still has the same resources, but is spending a lot less and actually managing to lose quite a bit more often. They are seemingly capable of doing much better but apparently more than willing to take a dive and stay on the canvas for far too long. I don't understand the point of asking about a person's motives for posting about the team they follow on a website devoted to the team they follow. What's the point of any of us saying anything on here? Fandom isn't a particularly rational trait, although the only rational way to go about being a fan is wanting to see the team you are a fan of win more games than the competition.

All these big companies just write it off.

They shouldn't be in cap hell as much as they will just be looking for a new wave of players. They aren't signing Iginla, are they? They project to have 10.6m in space for next year and 39.7m the following. Compared to the Blackhawks having 5.2m and 23.0m, or Boston with 6 and 17. Morrow, Iginla, Dupuis, Cooke and Murray UFA this season.... Malkin, Kunitz, Orpick and LeTang next. Plus Kennedy is a RFA is offseason(tough year to have a bad year, but will still have some suitors.) They will lose several other players besides Iginla Right, they have guys leaving through free agency but I look at cap hell as a situation where you're already up against the cap with signed deals and have to get rid of them. They'll still have a ton of money to spend when some of those guys do leave.

You can display a LOT of ads and signs in 3+ hours. And those ads are limited to the 30,000 sets of eyeballs in the stadium. Are they more valuable than the fixed ads attached to the jumbotron that are seen by all in attendance plus every viewer on television, including highlights and still photos?

I met actual Wallace Shawn before, well, we rode the same elevator.

For the interest of this discussion the theoretical increase in value really doesn't matter.

They shouldn't be in cap hell as much as they will just be looking for a new wave of players. They aren't signing Iginla, are they? They project to have 10.6m in space for next year and 39.7m the following. Compared to the Blackhawks having 5.2m and 23.0m, or Boston with 6 and 17.

They better both hope for a c-section

If so it'll sell out on gameday, especially if they win a series that first week.

Is that sexual innuendo?

Not when you know they are going to happen.

Who is pretending free agency doesn't have inefficiencies or that it should be the primary mode of acquisition? The goal is not to have the most efficient roster, it is to have the best roster you can afford. The Cubs have not had the best roster they can afford in quite some time. In the instance that the Cubs have a terrible farm system and are committed to improving that farm system(as was the case post 2011), Free agency would be the primary mode of acquisition, especially for players who would make a substantial difference in the team's win total. That doesn't make any sense.

Or, hear me out here, the right way. What is this 5 years of ownership crap? It has been 3 years already. The assumption is they will not make the playoffs this year and every indication is they won't do much of anything to try and get good enough to make the playoffs next year. That is why he wrote, "we appear headed".

Who is pretending free agency doesn't have inefficiencies or that it should be the primary mode of acquisition? The goal is not to have the most efficient roster, it is to have the best roster you can afford. The Cubs have not had the best roster they can afford in quite some time.

That is awful writing. I will take yesterday's wine over grapes that are ripe any day of the week.

Or, hear me out here, the right way.

The 2011 draft *did* prop it up though, as did the recent classes of IFAs graduating to the states. Those all had the farm system on the rise. But they were as far away as prospects can be, so saying that the farm wasn't that bad when there was no impact talent anywhere near the major leagues is misleading considering what we're talking about (being able to consistently field a contending team and reload it with young players). Isn't that statement itself misleading, when impact talent had just arrived at the major league level?

That game was painfully dull and sloppy. Really shouldn't have been scheduled. Yeah? I saw pics of soccer in the snow and thought it looked entertaining. I'm no soccer watching expert, but since the kids I wake up at 7am and on weekends I've seen quite a bit of the futbol. Everybody was really slow, and nobody could maintain possession. It was kind of neat from a "you don't see that every day" perspective, but in reality it blew. Nothing like football in the snow. I guess they wanted altitude and cold for their advantage, but snow in Denver in March isn't exactly rare, and when it snows, it tends to snow hard there.