Gmoney08

it's cool that you totally understand, after all these years on this particular board, that the relative dominance and/or quality of a baseball team can be boiled down to 4 games. it is clear that you have read and learned a lot on here and probably don't spend your time horsefeathers and skimming past all the discussions. We define "dominance" differently. That's ok, you don't have to be right all the time. Were the 72 win Bulls that dominant? I mean they did lose 2 games in the Finals..

Well Krause did go get Scottie too. And Grant during the first 3 peat. Not sure everyone appreciated a sharpshooting specialist like Kerr as much as he would obviously be highly valued today. Krause had his share of clunkers, but he did do a nice job building around Michael. I don't know if he was necessarily wrong to want to want to get out of the downside of an aging Pippen. The Jackson tension was a little different obviously and more egregiously his ego getting in the way it seems. If he threads the needle though, MJ could have carried a good team into his late 30s while you rebuilt around him on the fly. As it was he basically lost that battle in 97 and JR forced all the chips go in for 98, then Krause just got to do his rebuild with whatever he could get out of Kukoc, Kerr, Longley, etc and the rest walking. But there were a lot of other forces aiming towards that breakup, Krause just wanted to light a match on that kindling asap. Honestly, the dynasty was probably close to being done anyway. Like was said, that Pacers series was brutal. The Jazz were right there most of the games and were kind of a tough matchup. That being said, I would have loved to seen them let Phil go and let the rest of the team make a run just to see how it ended. Scottie's contract made that tough, but if Jordan was there I think he would have been. The strike shortened season is whatever. The Knicks team that won the East as an 8 seed was the same the Bulls used to beat up on. Them against the twin towers of the Spurs would have been interesting. But I would love to have seen the Bulls, slightly retooled with role players vs. Phil Jackson and the 99-00 Lakers. Jordan and Pippen in the twilight against a prime Shaq and young Kobe, with Phil as the coach. If not for Jordan getting his dad killed and Krause's ego, the Bulls could have legitimately threatened the Celtics 11 rings in 13 years with 11 straight. MJ did not get his father killed. Such a stupid rumor, even worse and more toxic then the NBA secretly suspended him rumor.

where is raisincharlie?

What? If there’s someone in the organization enabling drug abuse and prescribing/supplying these guys drugs they don’t need they should absolutely be investigated. Did you read the article? They're just blindly lashing out trying to blame someone bc they can't handle that he had a substance abuse problem. horsefeathers them. Its not blind at all. Rumblings from other MLB organizations is that an Angels employee has been giving opiods to many players to treat pain.

Cubs dong the Mets to death is a nice irony when facing Chili.

I would argue that him having a history of getting injured every year he's been in the majors since 2009 is what killed him Yep. If the revisionist history becomes "oh, well the Dodgers broke him" it's going to be annoying. This guy had giant, blood-red flags all over his career and Theo should've let someone else give him $20M to rehab for 2 years. I feel 20m was worth the risk.

Love this. Remains to be seen whether itll be a good signing, but Yu seems to have an awesome, well rounded personality and also isnt afraid to use stats & facts.

Id actually go with the Occams Razor approach that simply a bunch of the top power hitters on our team are on pace for the good but not great 30 to 35 HR season and hes narrowly at the top. Still love KB but a little annoying that Yelich is somehow a 40 to 50 hrs dongsmith now with the juicer ball and easy power KB seems to be in the mid 30s range over a full season.

Id actually go with the Occams Razor approach that simpy a bunch of the top power hitters on our team are on pace for the good but not great 30 to 35 HR season and hes narrowly at the top. Still love KB but a little annoying that Yelich is somehow a 40 to 50 hrs dongsmith now with the juicer ball and easy power KB seems to be in the mid 30s range over a full season.

Agreed the last two years have not been his greatest, but that isnt a sample size large enough for me to start saying they arent an elite FO or that they should be replaced. And again we are right in the thick or the playoff race. The stated goal or this FO office has always been continued success where we are always in the playoff picture. Statistics have always shown baseball playoffs as a crapshoot, the key is getting in as much as possible. Some years you will curbstomp teams with 100+ wins, some years you might sneak in with 88 wins (hopefully this year). Some years you might miss altogether (Red Sox this year, maybe Cubs). But be in and around the dance as much as possible and you are setting yourself up for success. I'm fine with being the second best team in the NL, and taking our shot against the Dodgers every year. Hell, I'm not even going to stress about the Braves. But we should not be struggling against the Brewers and the Cardinals to avoid the wild card game, for two years in a row now. I get that the wildcard game is the postseason, technically. To me, we missed the playoffs last year, so the whole 'getting in as much as possible' thing didn't work there. Maybe that's not fair, but whatever. I agree. Would like more dominance of the division. Still trust Theo in charge. More worried in Ricketts pulling the purse strings back than Theo continuing to make mistakes.

Yeah call me crazy for not wanting to kick him to the curb after an injury riddled 95 win season. I trust his track record and his general intelligence. He has built at 3 to 4 phenomenal cores in 17 years. Even if this one tanks I would give the dude another shot to build another core. Beyond that, you can't really point to a lot that he's done in the last couple years that have added to the short term or long term success of this club. Agreed the last two years have not been his greatest, but that isnt a sample size large enough for me to start saying they arent an elite FO or that they should be replaced. And again we are right in the thick or the playoff race. The stated goal or this FO office has always been continued success where we are always in the playoff picture. Statistics have always shown baseball playoffs as a crapshoot, the key is getting in as much as possible. Some years you will curbstomp teams with 100+ wins, some years you might sneak in with 88 wins (hopefully this year). Some years you might miss altogether (Red Sox this year, maybe Cubs). But be in and around the dance as much as possible and you are setting yourself up for success.

Sure that isnt how you phrased it. Not going to dissect this whole thing again but Ill keep it simple. Yes, Theo can rest on his laurels and achievements. No, the Cubs org should not.

Yeah call me crazy for not wanting to kick him to the curb after an injury riddled 95 win season. I trust his track record and his general intelligence. He has built at 3 to 4 phenomenal cores in 17 years. Even if this one tanks I would give the dude another shot to build another core. Who was saying fire him after last year? Though that said, you put the caveat of last season being the result of injuries, and now they're cruising in for about an 88 win season. And the guy is signed with the Cubs for, what, 2 more seasons? All of his talk is how he's likely outta here after 10 years. He's going to need to stumble on a LOT of good picks and international signings in short order to right the ship before he goes. I said Id need a few more years to make a statement the game has caught up to Theo. Id still bet money on him being elite. If we dont have any influx of talent the next few years then I might jump aboard the "game caught up" quote.

Well you have plenty of goofy takes so why would I assume otherwise. Also considering Laurel is synomous with past achievements and awards, aka legacy in baseball.. it would seem your quote was in direct argument to his overall legacy? Yes, again, I'm saying Epstein is in a position where he can't effectively just ride out his success to the end of his tenure with the Cubs. The moves his FO have made have left the team and farm system in shaky positions where they're seemingly constantly having to patch holes and fill pretty urgent needs and work off of their heels. All of their talk was like they were setting up a player drafting and development system that was going to keep them flush, and that has most certainly not even remotely come to pass after the main surge that led to the WS win. Couple that with some key bust/disappointing trades and FA signings and we're looking at an org that is on a downward trend without much relief in sight. Sure that isnt how you phrased it. I agree they need to retool a bit and the farm hasnt been incredibly impressive since the Eloy, Gleyber, Cease crop was moved. I still trust Epstein to right the ship. Maybe you dont.. guess we will have to agree to disagree.

I still dont think the game has caught up to Theo. He has evolved before. I think there is ebbs and flows to building a franchise and all FO will make some mistakes. If we have a few year spiral where Theo and company add on with even more mistakee then Ill agree that maybe be lost it. Only time.will tell. So you need a few more years AFTER the last two years? And I thought we were the idiots talking about him being terrible for five years in a row. Yeah call me crazy for not wanting to kick him to the curb after an injury riddled 95 win season. I trust his track record and his general intelligence. He has built at 3 to 4 phenomenal cores in 17 years. Even if this one tanks I would give the dude another shot to build another core.

Well you have plenty of goofy takes so why would I assume otherwise. Also considering Laurel is synomous with past achievements and awards, aka legacy in baseball.. it would seem your quote was in direct argument to his overall legacy?

You were the one with the stupid comment implying he cant rest on his "laurels." I simply replied, that yes.. yes he can. His career speaks for himself.. No I dont want him to, nor does any Cubs fan but he clearly can easily never do a positive thing in baseball again and have had an amazing career. Yes, that's accurate. The same goes for Jon Lester. Do you think Jon Lester is one of the best pitchers in baseball right now? The game caught up to Theo. I still dont think the game has caught up to Theo. He has evolved before. I think there is ebbs and flows to building a franchise and all FO will make some mistakes. If we have a few year spiral where Theo and company add on with even more mistakee then Ill agree that maybe be lost it. Only time.will tell.

It wasn't a debate or discussion anyone was actually having; it was an odd non-sequitur reply to people pointing out that the job Epstein and co. are currently doing is looking pretty shaky at best. Let's not ignore the weirder part that multiple people would apparently be fine with their favorite baseball team being terrible for years because their favorite baseball executive is HoF-worthy. It wasnt non-sequitur at all, it was in reply to your asinine "laurels" comment. And again you are embelishing, who in the hell said we would be fine with the Cubs being terrible. All that was said is Theo's career is solidified as pretty successful no matter what happens going forward. Since you have trouble with reading comprehension Ill use an example. Jon Lester has had a hell of a career, even if his ERA is 6+ the next five years. That statement, just like the Theo statement does not imply that any of us want Lester to get rocked the next 5 years. You are being dramatic.. which I guess is your nsbb persona of the last 2 years.

It wasn't a debate or discussion anyone was actually having; it was an odd non-sequitur reply to people pointing out that the job Epstein and co. are currently doing is looking pretty shaky at best. Let's not ignore the weirder part that multiple people would apparently be fine with their favorite baseball team being terrible for years because their favorite baseball executive is HoF-worthy. You were the one with the stupid comment implying he cant rest on his "laurels." I simply replied, that yes.. yes he can. His career speaks for himself.. No I dont want him to, nor does any Cubs fan but he clearly can easily never do a positive thing in baseball again and have had an amazing career.

He can leave in a gorilla suit and rest on his laurels easily. He is a hall of famer if he loses 100 games the next 5 years and retires. Well, that's certainly one way to stan for this guy. A weird one, IMO. Isnt a stan overexagerrating someones success, being overly stubborn? Where did I over embelish his accomplishments? If the Cubs totally tanked now after this great 5 year stretch and Theos 17 year stretch as a head exec would he not be a hall of famer? He can definitely rest on his laurels if he had to. Obviously im sure he would like to add to his successes..

He can leave in a gorilla suit and rest on his laurels easily. He is a hall of famer if he loses 100 games the next 5 years and retires.

Theo has a nice track record, this is true. But there is a strong argument that several others have passed them by in recent years. Houston is impressive and even in recent years sample size has about the same amount of success as the Cubs. Lets see if they can build multiple cores like Theo. Maybe Luhnow and Friedman are the new Theo but they are still well behind in hardware.

Thats obviously the tier they are in and they all have their arguments. Theo and Hoyer have a much longer track record than the Hou / LA crew and even in the last 5 year sample size are clearly right with them. They also have the most important piece. 3 World Series rings since Theo has been at the helm. That is more than the other 3 franchises combined (09 Yankees, 17 Astros). The other aspect that I think proves Theo elite is that he has repeatedly built multiple cores (Cashman as well). The core to the 04 Red Sox was much different than 07 and then he built a significant portion of the 2013 core. Obviously built the 2016 Cubs and still had influence in the 2018 Red Sox. Friedman built the Rays up, and has added to a great Dodgers core. Luhnow has had one go round with the Astros, lets see if he can repeat on that.

Mostly because of their enabling of a domestic abuser and partially because the owners are garbage people who support awful things politically. Yeah, the ever escalating horsefeathers of seeking out players like Chapman and Murphy, and the ongoing enabling of Russell, all while talking out of the other side of their mouth about things like character and whatnot. Seemingly just rolling right along with the owners crying poor, and then demonstrating rather (IMO) piss-poor ability to counter that limitation via, well, anything. Underwhelming at best trades, signings and drafts for several years, unimpressively inconsistent and flawed player development (I think all of the "Cubs Way" talk has demonstrated itself to be mostly horsefeathers fluff nonsense...or the Cubs Way is a horsefeathers way to develop most players. Take your pick)...nobody is going to deny they had an incredible surge that resulted in what we all wanted...but that's now sandwiched by multiple years first of terrible tanking, and now a steady slide that demonstrates more and more that these guys repeatedly dropped the ball in terms of maintaining just how damn good this team was (and building to both maintain it and setup for the future), and they've basically had to scramble to play catch up almost from the moment the WS was won. I think just tossing out there that they're a "top 3 FO in baseball" like that's a given is a VERY generous stretch. They have a track record going back to 03 that is pretty phenomenal. You can argue about bringing Russell, Chapman and Murphy in but it is very hard to argue against their baseball results. I also wouldnt have gave a horsefeathers if they got rid of Russell, but they I absolute understand the approach to try to help him rehabilitate his life as well. His ex was even in full support of it as well.

Yeah, I was all but checked out for at least a solid week before last night's hilarious loss. Now I'm 100%. Could not give less of a horsefeathers if they end up doing well, and pretty much hoping that this FO goes down in flames. Why are we rooting actively against our FO, the best we evet had and top 3 in baseball?