Bryants Disco Ball

My darkhorse prediction is that neither side likes this relationship within the first three seasons, and the Cubs' brass gets to look like geniuses when really they were just being cheap.

Thanks a lot. Now I’m refreshing this thread every 30 seconds and surfing other sites hoping against hope that there’s a grain of truth to this. At first, I thought you were serious. Then realized you were joking.

I didn’t realize the extent of it until i saw multiple references recently, but really it’s up to Boras. Harper, Machado, Keuchel, Moustakas(until today), Marwin Gonzalez, all of the notable remaining FA outside of Kimbrel(and relievers have their own market weirdness outside of collusion) are Boras clients. Point remains the same, but Machado actually is now represented by MVP Sports.

Just checked Cat's Twitter. Great ratio of following to followers. Great traffic, which includes tweets that have hundreds of retweets and likes. I'm sort of sad how gullable so many people are, but if he's seeking attention, he's done well for himself.

This is mostly just buying out his controlled years, right? So, I suppose for a pitcher who could throw his arm out, you take the locked in money.

Becoming a more racist organization than the St. Louis Cardinals and their fans. It has reached that level, right? I don't know the history of the Cardinals that much, so correct if I'm way wrong.

Wait. So when was Marquis Grissom on the Cubs? I don't remember that transaction at all.

Free agency is fine. Fix prearb I hear this stuff and am very recently coming to realize that often the intention is to take from the older players to give to the younger players. While I can’t assume that is what you mean, that can also burn in hell I think they are saying to give those older players their big money when they are still young, so that when they are old and not as good, they don't get screwed by not getting the big money they couldn't get when they were still young.

So just to review, did some guy tell some other guy something he heard from a Brewers FO type, but that the guy couldn't say anything because his friend would get fired? And then sometime in the next few hours he tweeted exactly what his friend said detail for detail and even said what role his friend has?

I haven't been paying attention to the Cards or their needs much, but couldn't it be Machado rather than Harper? ETA: Oh, wait. Yeah, it's likely more about that extension brought up a few posts above.

I'm alleging you are the Cat. You love the Cat big-time.

To be fair to Sofa, I think he's in a zone right now in that he's being negative about every aspect of the Cubs. I don't want to misquote him, but I think he even wrote the other day he'd get satisfaction by us finishing behind the Reds.

Wait. What?

It would be awesome if Yu is good to go this season. I've just assumed this whole time the injury will reoccur early in Spring Training and he will then get Tommy John.

There is a decent chance Trout isn't playing in 2022.

If Chatwood generated any trade interest, he'd have been traded by now.

He for sure did. He would break legit news at the Winter Meetings while still a teenager and had the respect of his.......well not peers, but of the industry. On the other hand, it's an embarrassment that the best Cubs message board in the world has given Cat so much pub this offseason. That's something a Brewers board would do. Yeah, but the attention was in a "I can't look away from this trainwreck" type of gaze, which is basically what this thread is all about, right? I guess that could be right. Sort of when people post what R Mack tweeted.

That’s basically how Dierkes (spelling?) Got MLB Trade Rumors going I believe. He threw a bunch of horsefeathers out and got a thing or two right that drove traffic then just turned in to an aggregator. This would’ve been early to mid 2000’s. Chris Cotilo also got a job based on twitter. Not sure whether he had actual sources though. He for sure did. He would break legit news at the Winter Meetings while still a teenager and had the respect of his.......well not peers, but of the industry. On the other hand, it's an embarrassment that the best Cubs message board in the world has given Cat so much pub this offseason. That's something a Brewers board would do.

I mean, the guy is basically worthless and entirely full of horsefeathers, but yeah. he's right about this one. none of this offseason makes sense to me What a nice thing you did for Cat by adding "basically" before the worthless part.

I think that sums it up real well.

While I agree with the sarcastic sentiment here, Zobrist is old and crusty, and there’s no guarantee he’ll continue to get on base at a —— holy crap! He had a .378 OBP last year?!? Nevermind. Plus he needs like four days off per week.

horsefeathers yes. Bring on Adam Warren.

I think he was actually projected to get $4.3 million in arb -- sorry if I'm wrong and spreading bad info -- so hopefully he's getting screwed a bit no matter what.

This is, for sure, by far the most money they have ever started a season at. I suppose it's possible they could add a MadBum for $12 million, but that might be stretching it. They might be in a total go for it mode, though.

I don't know what to do with this. If you mean "owning a sports team shouldn't be a business," I can go along - but only so far. But that's just not realistic. Maybe I have some sort of strange Stockholm Syndrome from following the Cubs during Tribune ownership, but I don't see how its anything but a business. **I'm not a businessman, so forgive me if I misuse some terms** Have we forgotten the whole saga of tribune ownership, and underspending? Tribune in bankruptcy and selling the team? Sam Zell and the resrictions put on the Rickett's as far as requiring a certain debt load (if I'm remembering correctly)? The revitalization of the neighborhood? As much of a fan as Ricketts might be, you can't be naive enough to think that someone with a background in BANKING AND INVESMENTS would go through countless hours of meetings, fights with the neighborhood, the rooftops, and the city if they didn't think it would gain them a profit. These people live life by ROI. And all the other owners are business owners as well. I don't have to like them. I don't have to like big business, but to fail to recognize that an asset acquired for nearly a billion dollars is anything but big business is somewhere between gullible and dense. Churchill said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others. I feel the same way about capitalism. It is the worst economic system, except all the others. It really is the worst. but its what we have, and to expect people who have played that system for generations, and have invested the time and energy they have in it to not turn a HEFTY profit is to fail to understand the world around you. I wouldn't be surprised if they are leading the way on collusion. I'd image the penalties on baseball collusion will be much less than the same behavior in the banking industry and the Ricketts' know it. That said, the Cubs have a top 5 payroll, will continue have one. They have been more competitive this last 5 years than any other time in my lifetime or yours (I haven't checked the numbers, but I'd image even averaging in the "tank" years, they've set an 8 year high in W/L record at this point) due to quality hires and open wallets. I want Bryce and will be dissappointed if they don't get him. But to expect the Ricketts to be anything but what we knew they were walking in is just silly. They're investors and they're doing pretty well with this investment, both in terms of its success and thier profit. tl;dr. Baseball is a business. You don't have to like it, but its true. The Ricketts' are good at business and the Cubs are more successful than ever, while the Ricketts are making tons of money, which is kind of what bankers do. The goal of owning a business is to make money. The goal of owning a sports team is to win titles. If you want to make money, spend your $900 million owning a profitable business. If you want to own a sports team, do everything you can to win a title. The Packers are the only franchise in pro sports who get to just care about making money then. Screw them.