Bryants Disco Ball

Every day I look at who's playing 3B, then wonder why Barney is playing 2B.

Somebody texted me from the Iowa game today and said the fans were turning on Javy. "Heard some boos and lots of trash talk for him today." This probably adds nothing, but just wanted to share.

They knew that they didn't have any other options besides George Kottaras and John Baker. Would the half glass full guy say they knew they didn't need any other options because they had Castillo? The "plan" says go with youth and don't spend money, so that pretty much meant sticking with Castillo. He has had good numbers at ages 25 and 26, so why wouldn't you go with him. 2012 25 CHC NL 52 190 170 16 45 11 0 5 22 0 0 17 51 .265 .337 .418 .754 103 2013 26 CHC NL 113 428 380 41 104 23 0 8 32 2 0 34 97 .274 .349 .397 .746 103 So, in this case the plan has worked so far?

That's the part I meant. You listed three that hit. We also got nothing from Fujikawa or Baker, appear to be getting nothing from Veras. Throw in Jackson, and as a percentage of FA dollars spent, we're getting a ton of busts. Is a 50 percent hit rate or so pretty good when talking about free agents that cost on average like $4.5 million per season? And it's sort of unfair to blame them for Fujikawa.

They knew that they didn't have any other options besides George Kottaras and John Baker. Would the half glass full guy say they knew they didn't need any other options because they had Castillo?

Still convinced he can be a solid pitcher in the National League. I have a friend who was teammates with him in Baltimore, and he said his stuff is nasty. Which doesn't mean anything if he can't throw it for strikes, but I believe he can be somebody for us.

Great job by several Theo/Jed pickups today that have years of control remaining. That's in addition to the handsome Anthony Rizzo, who hopefully has started to ease the concerns of those fans who thought he might not be a core player despite 23 homers and 40 doubles in his age 23 season.

You are a beautiful man, Anthony Rizzo.

You son of a bitch.

Eh, he could have gone a ton of places and got team wins. It sounds like he's really into personal ones. But maybe I'm reading him wrong.

You should, because Theo sucks. OK. I'm back. Shame on you. Shame on him; I caught that 30 for 30 short this weekend about how ARod was almost traded to the Red Sox and the sight of Theo's face suddenly filled me with a roiling, seething rage. It actually kind of scared me a little bit, but then I embraced it and things felt great. The day I salute him for lucky bullpen pickups (when the bullpen as whole is a dog's ass for the third year) and guys they pick up off of the scrap heap praying they can spin them at the deadline is the day I submit to Xenu. Theo Epstein is a monster. I was cool with seeing Hoyer, though; that dude is dreamy. Just so long as you don't think Epstein looks like Rizzo, I can respect your opinion even if I don't happen to agree with it in this instance.

I think it's kind of funny that he talks about losing out on 30 wins while with the Cubs, since the Brewers have a Major League-best 18 wins and he only has one of them.

Another under the radar pickup by Theo. I'm loving it. He helped close out the game after a really good start by another nice Theo pickup. In between, the guy Theo traded for didn't do too bad, either. I'll leave the room now. Fling enough crap at the wall and a little bit of it sticks, sure. I see you're weakening.

You should, because Theo sucks. OK. I'm back. Shame on you.

It took him until the end of June to hit his fourth homer last season. That's kind of cool, at least.

Another under the radar pickup by Theo. I'm loving it. He helped close out the game after a really good start by another nice Theo pickup. In between, the guy Theo traded for didn't do too bad, either. I'll leave the room now.

Actually, considering we have owners who can't even run the team like a small market one, I've enjoyed their work and the fact that they have been creative in trying to restock the system through signing guys and flipping them. Which they have done a strong job with. Not every GM would have even thought of the concept, much less be able to pull it off multiple times. Obviously, the trade to get Travis Wood was nice. The pickup of Luis Valbuena for nothing was impressive. The signings of role players such as David DeJesus and Dioner Navarro were cool. The list is never going to be standout impressive considering they have no real money to spend, but I wonder what another GM would have been able to do with the resources provided the last few years? I'm confident that without Theo and Jed, we are even worse off than we are now. Edit to add: Again, I'm a Theo guy. So I realize I'm bias. Signing And Flipping has been talked about as a strategy for at least like 10 years. This was not some revolutionary idea. And has Kyle points out, flipping has resulted in some bullpen pieces and an ok prospect It might have been talked about but I don't remember it being executed. And considering our bullpen sucks, those pieces might turn out be very important if Strop is what he has mostly shown us to be and Vizcaino's arm doesn't fall off. Plus, I still think Arrieta is going to prove to be a really solid pitcher who can have some success in the National League.

Why? Management's job is to maximized the team's chances of winning. Trading veterans for prospects is just a very small part of that. Anybody can succeed in building up a "system" when that is the only focus. Not just prospect trades. We were able to get Strop and Arrieta for Feldman and Travis Wood for Sean Marshall. Rizzo for Cashner is still one I'd do. Nobody will be able to convince me that Theo/Jed haven't been good in the overall trading department. I'm not sure that just any GM would have been able to do so well no matter what your criteria is.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! This isn't a thing. This was never a thing. You aren't being brave by disagreeing with a line of thinking that never existed. People wanted them to spend more money to help win more games, because losing this many games sucks [expletive] balls. And losing this many games was inevitable when they got into the taking a dive business. It is amazing how easy it is to lose lots of games if you actively try to avoid winning. OK. That's cool. I apologize for stating it like that.

Don't get your hopes up. One would think they'd try to improve this year. I was optimistic that they'd be better this but I'm not any longer. I know this isn't right considering the Cubs have been popular forever and haven't won in a century, but I start to wonder if another horrid year, coupled with another horrid two months next year, would start to have a huge impact on the fan base coming out to games. Like, a very noticeable one. Not just the expected decrease. I don't even know what I'm talking about. I hate the Brewers. I hate that the Cubs are so bad. I hate that the Brewers get to beat up on the Cubs 19 times a year and we just have to sit back and watch it happen. What do you consider a "noticeable" decline? This year we will finish off our dropoff of 1 million plus fans since 08(and possiby 1M since 09) A decline in which it looks like a slightly better version than a Pirates home crowd from a few years ago.

Wait. So now we are trying to say the Cubs have been able to spend money and are not broke? Sort of. It would be awesome if they had more money and hadn't boxed themselves in with a lot of terrible financial systems, *and* Epstein and Hoyer have done a very meh job with the money they've had to spend. It's one thing to go on about Strop and Arrieta and Pineyro for the cost of Hammel and Hairston. But throw in the cost of Baker, and Fujikawa, and Navarro, and we really spent way too much for what we got. The vast majority of the prospects they've acquired have been from trading off players they inherited. Can we at least meet in the middle and agree that Theo and Jed have been damn good at the trading part?

Why? Because Mike Olt was, at one time a short while ago, a top prospect. And despite having struggles to make contact and not playing every day, he still leads the team in homers. So, I'd ask you: Why not? Then why aren't you campaigning for Vitters and Brett Jackson to be in here over Nate and Bonifacio? Great point. I'd be all for that. I would much rather have a Vitters, Lake, Jackson outfield for this season than a Nate, Bonafacio and Sweeny one.

Wait. So now we are trying to say the Cubs have been able to spend money and are not broke?

Sorry. I shouldn't have just said in the system. But to get not only prospects but major leaguers in Strop and Arrieta who still have multiple years of control in the flipped trades actually makes it even better. These have nothing to do with signing Major League guys as you previously asked, but I would like to add that I think they did a good job getting Corey Black for Soriano and Castillo and Leal for Campana. The Matt Garza trade at least appears to have the chance to be solid. They have made some potentially impact international signings. For a front offic getting no support from the owners, they have been pretty darn good.

Actually, considering we have owners who can't even run the team like a small market one, I've enjoyed their work and the fact that they have been creative in trying to restock the system through signing guys and flipping them. Which they have done a strong job with. Not every GM would have even thought of the concept, much less be able to pull it off multiple times. Obviously, the trade to get Travis Wood was nice. The pickup of Luis Valbuena for nothing was impressive. The signings of role players such as David DeJesus and Dioner Navarro were cool. The list is never going to be standout impressive considering they have no real money to spend, but I wonder what another GM would have been able to do with the resources provided the last few years? I'm confident that without Theo and Jed, we are even worse off than we are now. Edit to add: Again, I'm a Theo guy. So I realize I'm bias.