Bryants Disco Ball

This is where I think the complete opposite. Wouldn't it be better for baseball for them to have Braun win the appeal? This is a huge, huge stain on the game right now when the MVP and one of the top hitters in baseball is labeled a cheater. If guys are still doing this even today, the casual fan is going to just assume that baseball will forever be full of a bunch of cheaters. So, what I'm saying is, I believe a big coverup is about to happen. Braun actually did cheat, but he's going to get away with it!

IT. HAS. BEEN. ONE. MONTH. This is ridiculous. Cubsz I do say this with the utmost respect, I really do, but I believe you are being really foolish right now. I believe you are acting like a child who wants that piece of cake before eating his corn. Be inspired. Don't be inspired. I respect you either way. But I can't take anyone seriously if they need some instant gratification to feel good about the direction Theo is taking us. Patience. We are all going to need some of it.

This is just ridiculous. And stupid. Yup. 1. Some people tend to forget that our biggest acquisition happened well before the Winter Meetings. 2. Some people need to realize that Theo Epstein is very good at what he does. Feel free to question him, because it's not like anybody is perfect, but I trust Theo knows what he wants to do and has a plan. I trust him to carry it out better than any GM. If we don't make any big signings, I'm 100 percent on board with backing Epstein on that choice. I will give him 10 years. My confidence in him will never sway during that time. That's right. Ten years. I like the Kool Aid, but let's face it, so far this off season hasn't been much different than if Hendry were still running the team. My guess is that one of the only big differences would have been that Hendry would have protected Flaherty. I hope that I'm wrong, but I would have rather kept DJ and given him a chance. My friend, Hendry left this organization in a pretty bad state. A $135 million payroll that couldn't produce on the field. Epstein is in the so very early stages of cleaning up an ENTIRE organization. That can't and will not happen in four days at the Winter Meetings or in one offseason. Epstein is not and will not make transactions just to get Cubs fans excited if he doesn't believe they are best for the long-term growth of this team. It takes a while to build up to what we hope is sustained success. I'm not asking you to believe in some rookie here. Make all the excuses you want about his time in Boston. Theo won two rings and did it in a market that went quite a long time without one. He is smarter than all of us, and he's the best at his job. If you don't want to give him 10 years, at least give him more than one month.

This is just ridiculous. And stupid. Yup. 1. Some people tend to forget that our biggest acquisition happened well before the Winter Meetings. 2. Some people need to realize that Theo Epstein is very good at what he does. Feel free to question him, because it's not like anybody is perfect, but I trust Theo knows what he wants to do and has a plan. I trust him to carry it out better than any GM. If we don't make any big signings, I'm 100 percent on board with backing Epstein on that choice. I will give him 10 years. My confidence in him will never sway during that time. That's right. Ten years.

Without having to waste too much of anybody's time, can somebody educate me as to why Headley was wanted so much? I realize he plays in a pitcher's park, but his numbers don't seem that impressive at 27 to be talking about giving up legit prospects for him. His OBP was very good last season, but he doesn't seem to have great power for a corner guy and his .343 OBP is less than stellar.

I guess anything can happen, but where in the world do you guys see how the Brewers are still contenders for Prince? They just had to put $11 to $13 million in the budget for a set up guy, and have to give raises to guys like Marcum while also filling the shortstop hole, etc. They have like $80 million tied up into 14 players already.

I don't get why people keep talking about Prince, then looking at Mo Vaughn and thinking that's a terrible thing. During his age 30 season, Vaughn hit 40 homers with 117 RBIs and a .402 OPB. During his age 31 season, he hit 33 with 108 RBIs and a .358 OPB. During his age 32 season, he hit 36 homers with 117 RBIs and a .365 OPB. Then he got hurt. When he came back, during his age 34 season, he hit 26 homers with 72 RBIs and a .349 OBP. That last season is not great, of course, but that would be Fielder's seventh season of a seven-year contract. So, if Fielder produced like Vaughn did from his age 28 season to his age 34 season, why would that be bad again? Somewhere around ~2.0 WAR is average for a position player in a full season. He went from 6.6 WAR (slightly better than Fielder's peak) in his last year in Boston to totals of 1.9 and 2.0 the next two seasons, missed a year entirely, then came back out with a 0.8 season and a sub-replacement level -0.6 WAR before leaving baseball entirely. He was never an above average regular after signing his big contract. I've said it before and I'll say it again... players with the body type and skill set that Prince Fielder has peak very early and do not age well. There is no gradual decline. It's a nosedive off a cliff. Now I'm not saying I don't like Prince Fielder at all. But he's the kind of piece you add to put yourself over the top in the next few years... not the type to build around for the long term. Give him 5 years and I'm happy. Give him 6 years and show me a blueprint that has us competing sooner rather than later and I can probably live with it. If we have to pony up that 7th year, I'd rather we be shopping in the bargain bin. My problem is that I look at two big things with guys, when maybe I shouldn't: Their home run totals and on-base percentage, even though it probably should be slugging, etc. If Prince can hit 35 homers and get on base at a .360 to .395 clip during his age 28 to 34 seasons, I'm taking it and I'm real happy. The legit 35 home run guys in the non-roid, non-HGH (soon) world are tough to come by. I value power a lot. I really value power when it also comes with someone who can take walks and get on base when they aren't hitting home runs. I love who Prince Fielder is, defensive flaws and all. I want him on the Cubs, no matter what Mo Vaughn's WAR was.

Wow. I've got 125 posts. ' Never mind. I'm smart.

I would be really sad if we did that. But I've got fewer than 100 posts and I'm probably stupid. So, maybe it doesn't matter what I would think. People are much better at looking at numbers and diving into them and what they mean. I just watch Pujols and I see a player who is starting to decline. I know many think that even if he declines he'll still be better than most, but nobody can promise me that he won't have a sharp decline when he does decline, and that it might not be in such a graceful fashion.

I don't get why people keep talking about Prince, then looking at Mo Vaughn and thinking that's a terrible thing. During his age 30 season, Vaughn hit 40 homers with 117 RBIs and a .402 OPB. During his age 31 season, he hit 33 with 108 RBIs and a .358 OPB. During his age 32 season, he hit 36 homers with 117 RBIs and a .365 OPB. Then he got hurt. When he came back, during his age 34 season, he hit 26 homers with 72 RBIs and a .349 OBP. That last season is not great, of course, but that would be Fielder's seventh season of a seven-year contract. So, if Fielder produced like Vaughn did from his age 28 season to his age 34 season, why would that be bad again?

I assume not, but anybody worried that HGH testing might have an impact on a guy like Pujols?

Manny Parra can't, and will not be, successful due to the mental side of the game.

This will probably be unpopular, but I agree with everything Boston guy is saying. After a few days to think about it, I'd give up Brett Jackson for Theo. I'd appreciate if the Sox wouldn't try to be unfair and ask for a whole lot more. There are lots of other general managers to pick from, true, but Theo is being brought in here to change everything about this franchise. I put my full trust in him that he's going to be able to do that. Maybe some of the other GM hires can, maybe they can't. I believe 100 percent that Theo will. To me, that's worth a good prospect because we are going to be paid back with 10 good ones thanks to Theo. I can't stop thinking about that interview someone posted here where Theo is talking about J.D. Drew. That was simply amazing stuff, not only what he said but the way he articulated himself. The dude totally inspired me, and one stupid interview made me realize that I'd give up a prospect for Theo. Most prospects bust. Theo won't.

This makes perfect sense if you think about it. Theo Epstein deals with the Carlos Zambrano situation before he even takes over as the Cubs general manager.

At first I hated it, but now I've really warmed to the idea. I like the thought that winning the division will mean a little more again.

Except for that time, you know, when he wrote that the Cubs were closing in on trading for Matt Garza and everyone else seemed to make fun of him for it.

I know this will sound somewhat crazy, but I expect the Brewers to somehow find a way to resign Prince. That might mean trading a Corey Hart to fit him in the budget or it might be raising the payroll to $110 million. The team is drawing 3 million fans and I believe Prince is far more valuable than just as a player to the franchise.

I will say that Gomez sometimes tries to make himself look even better on defense by doing sommersaults and other assorted hops on a catch in which he doesn't need to. Man, I hate the Brewers way too much. I need to chill out.

He's a mediocre player having a nice year largely dependent on his defensive value. Nothing new for him. 5 years in MLB, 3 of them between 0.9 and 1.1 WAR and a couple goofy outliers. I hope the Brewers keep him around. So do I. Because between Gomez and Morgan the Brewers will always have an elite defensive player in CF. And on a team like the Brewers who are terrible on defense it is really nice to know that at least one position they are above average. Is Gomez really an elite level defender? He looked awful out there last night, hopefully that was just a one game deal, but he was bad. Gomez is really good on defense, and he's got a great arm. He's also a quality base stealer, although he's a complete moron on the basepaths. Nyger Morgan, meanwhile, is not a good base stealer despite good speed and his baseball acumen is the worst of any player in the Majors.

Doesn't make you a bad guy, it just makes you misguided. Nyjer Morgan is a douchebag. He's one of several douchebags on their team. He also was one of the first people to introduce the lame "Beast Mode" thing (some will credit minor leaguer Eric Farris), which makes even veterans like Mark Kotsay look like a stupid douchebag when he does it after a meaningless single. Props to Craig Counsell for refusing to do it, although some would make the joke that he's never on base to actually perform the act. Bottom line? The Brewers are douchebags.

It might at least make them pause before either tweeting or making fools of themselves celebrating a single.

Morgan was yapping the instant he swung and missed. He was still on his side of the batters box. I don't know how Carpenter would have had time to say [expletive] you before Morgan was jawing. http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110907&content_id=24390470&vkey=news_stl&c_id=stl Carpenter even mentioned he started it. Carpenter is the biggest cry baby in the league. This is not surprising. You do realize the Brewers are the most arrogant and cocky team in the Majors, right? You better expect some people to start taking exception to their antics on the field that include doing that lame "beast mode" crap after a routine single in a game in which they are losing. The only reason people don't realize just how big of douchebags several of the Brewers are is that they haven't played many national games. I'm surprised teams haven't started throwing at them. Anyway, basically what I'm saying is the Cardinals are douchebags. But it's funny hearing a Brewer fan complain about the Cards when his team has so many douchebags themselves.

Just curious what other people might think about this. Starlin is aware of how many hits he needs for 200 and has stated it's his goal to get there this month. Do you see his average and on-base dipping big-time over the final couple weeks of the season due to this? I'd imagine he's not going to want to give up any at-bats by taking walks and might expand the strike zone further. Not sure it totally matters, but I'd hate to see his on-base dip to the low 320s by the end of the season. Perhaps I'm way off on this.

She might just be on this board because she follows the Cubs and this is a pretty populated board. Sometimes I don't think posters that belong to a well read message board for a very popular team give themselves enough credit. I have no doubt current and past players and current and past members of Cubs management have read this board at one time or another. They are human, and it's difficult not to start searching the Internet to see what people are saying about you.

The strike three call to A-Ram was the worst call I've ever seen. That's right. The worst.