Brett

Yeah, that was me asking the guy who originated the rumor how anyone knew where a "private jet" was headed. The rumor appears to have originated with a comment on the CubsDen site. I'm not saying it's bogus, but it seems strange to me that no one would actually write down that tail number and blow this thing up. It's a pretty huge story if Cubs' brass is headed to Boston. ...but instead, someone saw them, went to the trouble of looking up the flight plan, but then just started spreading quiet "buzz" about it? Again, seems odd.

Interesting. On the other hand, Epstein's true value is far greater than Ozzie's. Totally agree. Manager value seems to be overrated by most (not here, but elsewhere), and GM value underrated by most.

The Cubs need more WHIPs and less chains.

Also, on the compensation point: Bruce Levine was on Waddle and Silvy this morning, and he discussed the compensation the White Sox got for Guillen, which is frequently used as a comparison to what the Sawx should be able to get for Epstein. Levine basically said it's not a fair comparison because built into the Fish/Sox negotiations was apparently a tampering claim the Sox could have levied against the Marlins, going all the way back to mid-season. He suggested they used that to get a little more value from the Marlins. In the case of the Cubs/Epstein, that kind of black-hat leverage doesn't exist (as far as we know).

Seriously. I'd have no problem taking on Lackey. Move him to the NL and get the issues with his marriage resolved, and he could be a comeback player of the year candidate. I kind of lean towards being willing to take him if that's what it took to get Theo. He's not a bad pitcher, or wasn't until last season when there was a highly documented personal issue going on with him. Maybe it didn't have anything to do with his performance, but maybe it did. Either way, he'd be moving to the NL Central from the AL East, so that right there should be good enought to see improvement to, at worst, a servicable 4th or 5th starter. Obviously he makes #1-2 starter money but that's a sunk cost at this point. If you truely believe Theo is going to be the GM that builds a championship ballclub, and he is ok with bringing Lackey and his contract with him to Chicago, then it's good enough for me. At least he's not bringing Badley with him. There are good GM candidates out there that wouldn't require giving up significant compensation. Taking on a large chunk of Lackey's salary (which is what it would have to be for Boston to consider it compensation) is not worth it. I keep coming back to the thought that Epstein's value isn't just his past success or the fact that he's done it with a franchise very similar (in a number of ways) to the Chicago Cubs (thus, I "trust" him a bit more than Friedman, for example). A huge part of Epstein's value is that the cream of the crop up-and-comers - genius types whom we've never even heard of - are going to be banging down Epstein's door to work for him. He'll have his pick of the little. I'm not sure the same is true if the Cubs hire Hahn, Cherington, Coppolella, or Levine - as great of candidates as they might otherwise be.

Shocking *Inserts finger into collar, tugs uncomfortably*

That's AceCubbie's website. Edited for correcting stupidity. Yeah, that's my site. I can't speak to whether it's legit (I like to think it is...), but I can say that this particular tipster is in another MLB front office. So, I suspect he's at least heard some things. The important point is that even he is quick to caution that this particular search has been incredibly quiet - Ricketts is good at keeping things from leaking, apparently - and the little bits coming out are mostly coming from the Red Sox side. And even those have to be taken with a big grain of salt.

Ditto. That must have been before I appreciated things like "statistics."

I can only assume that Cafardo saying the Red Sox should demand Castro and Garza for Epstein is his way of saying the Red Sox shouldn't let Epstein go.

Give Quade a chance. He's paid his dues and knows the game inside and out. =D>

I like. I'm not saying I want Sandberg, but he recently said that the Cubs didn't offer him his Iowa job back. "There was no other job offering [from the Cubs for 2011] other than, ‘We’d like you to come to spring training, hit a couple of fungoes and walk around’,” Sandberg said. “At that point, I knew it was time to move on." Forgive me linking to my own site, but I knew I could find the quote there easily. Does that change anyone's opinion with respect to how Sandberg left? It changed mine.

MLB execs told him that? Tom Ricketts has told everybody that many times. I'd be fine with Cherington too. My fear (if you can call it that) is that Henry will make Theo the President and move Cherington into the GM spot. Boy, you have to really wonder what is going on in Boston. Both Francona and Theo seemed pretty pissed about something other than the collapse. I don't know about anyone else, but I'm on the edge of my seat. I'm not too concerned that they would promote Theo and give Cherington the GM spot. For one, Luchino is pretty well entranched there as the president. Also, I would find it hard to think Theo wants to move into the overseer role of president with somebody else calling the GM shots under him. Yeah - Peter Gammons' "co-CEO" suggestion seemed crazy from the moment he typed it.

The Crawford thing is the main negative on his resume to me. I'm still not sure WTF he was thinking there. John Lackey....losing Farrell also really hurt their coaching staff... The Matsuzaka deal, when adding in the posting fee, isn't particularly great, either. Yes, decent in 2007 and good in 2008, but since then it's been quite the albatross - and that's without people factoring in an apportioned amount from the posting fee. On the balance, though, I'm a huge Epstein booster. Give even the best GM enough money and enough time, and he'll sign some stinkers.

CubmanPi's analysis looks pretty convincing to me. Shall we petition the League?

You pay less than $20 per month for internet? Care to share your secret? - I'm at like $50.

Setting aside the substance... Why would you post a link to Blog B's recap of a rumor started by Blog A? Why wouldn't you just link to the, you know, actual rumor?

Nope. If this was a different organization I'd probably be cheering for it just for the fun of it. But I don't like having a guy with patience issues trying to get to an arbitrary number of hits by year end. Production isn't about a specific number of hits and Castro still has a lot of learning to do. But oh well, he's good enough to not get screwed up by it. He's probably good enough not to get screwed up by it. Still, it makes me nervous that he's taken exactly 2 walks in September. 2 walks is pretty much on pace with the rest of his season. It's his 3rd highest walk rate of the 6 months. And September is his lowest strikeout rate of the season. You would hope that, as a 21-year-old develops, his September walk rate would be the best of the season. You would also hope that, whatever his K rate, his walk rate wouldn't be so abysmal. I'm not crapping on Castro - I can't wait to watch the next 10 years - but I am crapping on the idea that, if he gets to 200 hits, it's a particularly huge achievement. ... especially since he leads the league in at bats. I'd be far more impressed if/when he one day puts together a .400 OBP season.

As a Mom 'n Pop content-producer (full-time, solo), this is perhaps the most interest thread I've read in months. For what it's worth, I can verify: (1) It is possible to generate enough revenue from advertising to support a one-person, full-time, content-producing staff ... so long as that one person is also your full-time web designer, developer, sales staff, server admin, etc. (2) It is incredibly difficult to do No. 1, and the amount of time and effort (to say nothing of luck and ability) it takes is surprising. I was a corporate lawyer for four years before doing Bleacher Nation full-time, and I work more now than I ever did as a lawyer. (3) Some readers - even loyal ones - will complain no matter how you try to monetize your efforts. Subscription? Why would they pay? Ads? Why would they tolerate such intrusions? It seems unfair to me, but it's the way it is. I hope Bruce comes out clean on the other end of this, even if the DH doesn't. Seems like he'd be better off starting his own subscription site, if "subscription" has to enter the conversation at all.

It would have been nice to have more seriously considered dealing Marmol at the deadline, no? Now he's about to get much more expensive, possibly less effective, and probably less important given the makeup of the rest of the pen. /bitter

Nope. If this was a different organization I'd probably be cheering for it just for the fun of it. But I don't like having a guy with patience issues trying to get to an arbitrary number of hits by year end. Production isn't about a specific number of hits and Castro still has a lot of learning to do. But oh well, he's good enough to not get screwed up by it. He's probably good enough not to get screwed up by it. Still, it makes me nervous that he's taken exactly 2 walks in September.

I didn't know that assistant GMs sat around doing nothing in September. Must be a nice gig. What could he possibly be responsible for on a day to day basis where interviewing for another job would somehow get in the way? I doubt it would be about interfering with the day to day ops (though, come on - he's doing something). It would be about a lack of commitment to the organization. This is all very much hypothetical, by the way. It's a plausible explanation, not a likely one. It's not plausible either. Why would they care if he interviewed if they thought he was good at his job? It's much more plausible that he's pissed off at them for some reason that probably has to do with money. The minor league team is in the playoffs for the first time in forever and he probably asked for a raise or promotion. They said no, so he left. Parsimony. He is the antithesis of what Ricketts said he was looking for. He's an old-timey baseball guy who lives by his gut. Not to be a total douche, but you just said "it's not plausible," and then offered a "more plausible" explanation. You know that's contradictory, right? With all due respect, just because you believe something is unlikely doesn't make it implausible. The idea that there could be things going on in the Phillies front office vis a vis their relationship with LaMar that we can't possibly know - things that could conceivably make his asking to take an interview elsewhere a breaking point - is not implausible. Frankly, I can't believe there are people arguing that it's not plausible. Given that Amaro SAID the very reason they decided it would be best if LaMar resign (code for: we told him to resign) was because LaMar wanted to explore other opportunities, how can you not believe that it's *plausible* that sometimes guys are let go because they start sniffing around at other jobs? That's, like, exactly what happened - whether it was the Cubs or something else.

Why the hell would the Phillies be so upset about an assistant whose main job is player development asking to interview for a GM position when the minor league season is over just because the team is in a pennant race. Would they really think his interview would somehow distract the Phillies from winning a game? Is Halladay going to lose focus wondering whether the freaking assistant GM is going to interview with another team? For the record, I think this hire would suck balls. I didn't know that assistant GMs sat around doing nothing in September. Must be a nice gig. What could he possibly be responsible for on a day to day basis where interviewing for another job would somehow get in the way? I doubt it would be about interfering with the day to day ops (though, come on - he's doing something). It would be about a lack of commitment to the organization. This is all very much hypothetical, by the way. It's a plausible explanation, not a likely one.

Why the hell would the Phillies be so upset about an assistant whose main job is player development asking to interview for a GM position when the minor league season is over just because the team is in a pennant race. Would they really think his interview would somehow distract the Phillies from winning a game? Is Halladay going to lose focus wondering whether the freaking assistant GM is going to interview with another team? For the record, I think this hire would suck balls. I didn't know that assistant GMs sat around doing nothing in September. Must be a nice gig. For the record, I would also be disappointed by LaMar, and don't think he's a likely candidate. The timing, abruptness, and connections make it a worthwhile discussion, though.

Has this been picked up anywhere else? I haven't read about it.

Ha. Too true. Anyone else miss Gerald Perry?