Clem Fandango

**Potential blasphemy suggestion alert*** Twins are supposedly shopping Dozier, who costs $6 mil next year and $9 mil in 2018, in an effort to re-boost their system and young core. I love Javy, but Dozier is basically Javy's offensive ceiling right now. It could get crammed and the defense would take a big hit without Javy, but would anyone be opposed to moving Javy + others for Dozier? Or is it not enough? I figure if we had him on the roster he'd be the primary 2B and Zobrist would float around between 2B, LF, and RF. FWIW, in case you didn't notice him this season here's his numbers: G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ 155 691 615 104 165 35 5 42 99 18 2 61 138 .268 .340 .546 .886 136 And he did that in a terrible hitters park. It was good for a 5.9 fWAR. EDIT: Maybe not shopping him, but he's drawn a ton of interest at the GM meetings in Arizona, apparently.

Granderson beat out Rizzo for Man of the Year. Bull pucky!

Republicans said the same thing about Obama. "I'll move to ________ if _________ is elected President" is the sad [expletive] of hot political takes.

Russell is also a Boras client. http://i.imgur.com/X5onhwZ.gif

I expect... I hope that we'll be able to remove Russell and Rizzo from that list. I think Russell is a lock for a long term extension. I don't know how Rizzo's skill set will translate into his 30's, but Rizzo just seems like a lifer to this team already. Having a guy who spends all but a smidge of his career with one team is almost impossible these days, but Rizzo seems like the type who could be that guy for us. I hope, anyways. Love that dude. I don't expect Bryant to sign an extension because of Boras, so he'll probably need to be resigned in that FA period (which I think is very likely, provided his time in Chicago remains happy). Baez I expect to be gone. Schwarber I also expect to be traded eventually because of defensive limitations, but not for a 2 to 3 years at least.

Law has Dex as his #2 free agent this offseason behind Cespedes. What Fowler did this year was extraordinary and like Tryp said, if he can't get a deal after the season he had then the system is messed up. No reason a team wouldn't be willing to give up 4 or 5 years for a guy like Dex. Last year it made sense that teams were cautious on him. He had a bounce back year with the Cubs and prior to that showed he was not all that good defensively and had up and down offensive seasons. The fact that he showed his bounce back was legit, and then he went out and improved on it this year, should be all the fuel teams need to not worry about the QO.

I tried finding that Jed Under Armour track jacket with the W on the sleeve he had at the rally on Under Armour's website, and they have it, but it's a gray color and it also has a hoodie or something. The one Jed had was simple, just a pullover that was solid blue, with a half white stripe down the arm with the W flag on the right arm. The one on the site has a World Series logo, is gray, has a hoodie, is a full zip down, and while it's really nice (and sold out), it's not the one Jed has. I'd be all about that one. Jed's: http://i.imgur.com/ipHueg9.jpg?1 http://i.imgur.com/BXZb1R2.jpg?1 Under Armour's: https://www.underarmour.com/en-us/mens-chicago-cubs-ua-softshell-jacket-ships-11-16-2016/pid1313293-410 Anyone know where to find that thing?

Oh man, that one hit some feels.

That article is so salty my blood pressure just spiked.

I bought into the Greene analysis. He really did back up his theory with solid statistical analysis at a time when there wasn't a lot of that readily available. It was also one of the most compelling arguments that forced me to learn more about sabermetrics. At the time I was still just looking at counting stats and acting like a complete idiot.

The Easton Press, which makes gorgeous leather bound special editions of books, put out this commemorative Cubs book: http://www.eastonpress.com/prod/CFA/3528/CHICAGO-CUBS-2016-COMMEMORATIVE-EDITION

That does make you wonder how much tinkering we really want to do this off season. It almost seems like it would be easy to take a step backwards by over-tinkering if we're not careful. I definitely don't see us making too many moves. I'm thinking the priorities this offseason go 1) closer, 2) 1 or 2 middle-relief options, at least one of which can serve as a spot-starter/swing man, 3) backup OFer who can play any OF position. Unless they're pissed at Montero (in which case add 4) backup catcher), I don't see them doing much more than that, unless they find a surprising, willing trade partner for a blockbuster on an elite, controllable starting pitcher. Yeah, real talk I want Jansen badly. I don't know how much I trust Rondon. Perhaps an offseason of rest will recharge his batteries but he was completely unreliable for the last 2 months. And we definitely need another reliever on top of someone like Jansen. As much as I liked what Zastryzny did for us we need that bullpen depth and while Farris and Rivero's numbers are promising, I wouldn't feel comfortable bringing them in in the middle of a playoff game. As for other proper relievers I like Cecil as Tim mentioned. I'd suggest Storen but I get the vibe he wants to be closer and is a bit of an ass about it and he seems to have trouble succeeding outside of that role. I like Cashner in the starter turned reliever reclamation role. And for minor league depth maybe get Cory Luebke or Brandon Beachy on cheap minor league contracts and try and nurse them back to efficiency? And if we go out and replace Dex, give me Carlos Gomez please.

Spitballed offseason: Do nothing. Lineup: C Contreras 1B Rizzo 2B Baez SS Russell 3B Bryant LF Schwarber CF Heyward RF Zobrist Bench: OF Soler C Montero OF Almora IF LaStella OF Szczur Rotation Lester, Hendricks, Arrieta, Lackey, Hammel Bullpen Montgomery, Zastryzny, Grimm, Edwards, Jr., Strop, Rondon Rotating 25th man IF Candelario OF Zagunis RP Farris RP Rivero Move Baez and Zobrist around to facilitate rest. Heyward splits time between CF and Rf, Zobrist splits time between RF and 2B. Javy splits time between 2B and 3B, Bryant gets some LF time. Zas fills Wood's role. Rotate out the 25th man as needed. Also, this is mostly tongue in cheek, but I just wanted to show how doing nothing still yields a World Series contender because that's how horsefeathering good this team is constructed.

Whoa. How fake is this? AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOO I fell for it, didn't I? Removed link from original post. Damnit, I was gonna order myself and my brother one tomorrow. I've been jonesing for that Rizzo road jersey for a while now.

EDIT: I fell for a fake link because I'm still amped up and am not paying attention to horsefeathers

Also, Kohl's has a lot of the gear: http://www.kohls.com/catalog/mlb-chicago-cubs-sports-fan.jsp?CN=SportsLeague:MLB+SportsTeam:Chicago%20Cubs+Occasion:Sports%20Fan&utm_campaign=direct_response&utm_medium=paid_social&utm_source=facebook&utm_content=201611_post675

Thank you for alerting me to this. Link for anyone interested: http://store.chicagotribune.com/chicago-cubs-world-series-11-3-2016-front-page-press-plate.html That sure would look swell autographed by Rizzo, Bryant, Javy, Russell, and Montgomery.

I'm not crying you're crying

I wish they had better mics on the crowd. It sounds like the crowd is out of it. I know they're not but it sounds boring in the crowd on the telecast.

The WGN coverage is so cringeworthy I was watching DVR'd shows from the last week instead of watching my favorite team's first world series victory parade in 108 years. Just garbage commentary. Now that they're at Grant Park at least we get Len interviewing the team.

You know what gets talked about all the horsefeathering time like it happened yesterday in mainstream baseball media? The 2004 Red Sox, 12 years later. People will always care about historic victories.

I cried when they won the NLCS because it felt like a weight was lifted off our shoulders. I did not cry tonight. I just got weak at the knees and swelled with pride instead. And now I'm pissed that the local Chicago Fox network cut the national coverage and is going to local coverage. I want to see the team celebrate not the locals.

You prophet, you.