Cubbie Swagger

Already being discussed in the Bulls offseason megathread. No indication of money going NY's way in the deal. Just saw the other thread. My bad.

I have read a bunch of articles on this, and have not found any information regarding his contract. He has one year left, and I'm wondering if the Bulls had to pay any. I'm rather surprised with the players we got in return, actually.

Cue transition to second half Hammel.

All I was implying is that when I think of the word "meatball", I think of it in a much broader sense where you don't have to be quite as big of an idiot as you described. Sounds like you're on an Aristocrat bender. This one just went WOOSH right over my head.

All I was implying is that when I think of the word "meatball", I think of it in a much broader sense where you don't have to be quite as big of an idiot as you described.

Apparently so. Please enlighten me. I'm not so sure you are (confused)...in what way do you mean he's going to bring out the worst in you? I was half kidding in the sense that Sofa called me a meatball previously, but also half serious in the sense that Contreras will bring out my inner meatball with his grittiness and intensity.

Okay. Your definition of "meatball" is really strange and overly specific.

What a savage. I love this guy. Contreras is going to bring out the worst in me, I assure you. Clearly you are confused by what a meatball is. Apparently so. Please enlighten me.

What a savage. I love this guy. Contreras is going to bring out the worst in me, I assure you.

That throw was awesome. And then to follow it up with the tag play at the plate... wow.

Or he's hurt and IS telling them. A player's injury status at any given point is just technicality. He might be just banged up all over but lacking a particular label.

Where? When? According to Jesse Rogers, Maddon says that Miggy is gonna catch Arrieta, Ross is gonna catch Lester, and Contreras might catch 2-3 of the 5. 3 would obviously make him the majority starter.

Maddon says Contreras is pretty much our starter now?

You guys are weak. I chased Sammy's yellow lambo down the street, beating on the windows. I told Moises Alou to quit smoking. I told Jon Lieber he was my favorite pitcher in the MLB. I was a pretty wild little Cubs fan as a child.

http://i63.tinypic.com/34jdq2b.png So, yeah... if Rizzo is dehydrated or has a stomach thing tomorrow...

I am glad you cut straight to the chase and skipped over the part where you explain why he IDs himself by saying "It's Rizzo, dude" Huh? That was part of the joke. Rizzo was acting like he knew my buddy, as if my buddy should know who he was. Nice job picking the most random thing ever to nitpick.

First, let me say that this situation and these people are completely unrelated to the friend of mine that is actually genetically related to Rizzo that I posted about before. So, I'm hanging out with a longtime friend in Bucktown earlier this evening. I drop my friend off, and head home. Shortly afterward, he calls me. I'm thinking, "Dammit... what did he leave in my car that I have to turn around for?" Instead, he tells me I'm not going to believe what just happened to him. He said he got a call from his friend's phone. I don't know this friend, but I guess he is some sort of event promoter. My buddy picks up and says, "Hello?" An unfamiliar voice goes, "Sup, dude?!?" My buddy says, "Who is this?" The voice says, "It's Rizzo, dude". To cut to the chase, I guess this event promoter was hosting/promoting some sort of event for Rizzo. He dialed up my buddy and then handed the phone to Rizzo, just to screw with my bud. Here's the part that I thought was really funny: My buddy is going boating during the day tomorrow with this promoter dude, and he invited Rizzo to come along. Rizzo was all, "Yeah, sure dude. As long as I'm back by 5, it's cool!" My buddy actually thinks there's a chance that Anthony Rizzo is going to come hang out on his horsefeathering boat tomorrow before the game. I couldn't stop laughing.

The guy is going to be a 35-year-old catcher when he's FA next; it's not like he'll really be in a "contract year"-type situation so much as, "damn, I hope I can get a job as a backup, IF I can even keep my job playing baseball." I doubt he'll have much of a problem making $14 million as a backup while clearly on the back end of his career. Not to be a prick, but he'll be 34. And yes, you may be right. I was just leaving open the possibility that at 34 he might be hanging onto some ideal of maybe finding a 2 year deal as a starter with some team that has a huge hole at catcher. I'm just hypothesizing. Obviously I don't know the guy or anything. Maybe he's totally content being a backup on a really good, really fun team like the Cubs.

That was so frickin' GRITTY!

I wasn't sure if Montero was going to be content as a backup. Considering how badly most catchers suck, I'm sure there are teams in the league that would value him as a starter. Also, would it make sense that he would be strongly opposed to losing playing time in a contract year? He might be looking for his last decent contract, depending on how his health situation goes. If he only gets a limited amount of playing time in 2017, is that going to hurt his value as a free agent?

So, hypothetically... If Contreras comes up and posts a nice slash line for the rest of the year, and plays solid defense... is it realistic that we move Montero in the off-season and go into 2017 with Contreras penciled in as our primary catcher?

What difference does that make? Ross has never had a WAR over 1.9 in his career, and he's only touched 1.0 a few times. Most folks here were hoping he would retire before last season was even over. Yeah, Miggy has sucked this year, but we're talking about a small sample size. He has a much better offensive track record than Ross. 1.4 wins over replacement-level. That doesn't answer my question. The question is what is the significance of David Ross out-playing Miguel Montero over a 100 AB sample size at the age of 46?

I'm guessing Ross is getting demoted to just catching Lester and coaching Contreras. Is Davis Ross the one with the 1.2 WAR or the -0.2? What difference does that make? Ross has never had a WAR over 1.9 in his career, and he's only touched 1.0 a few times. Most folks here were hoping he would retire before last season was even over. Yeah, Miggy has sucked this year, but we're talking about a small sample size. He has a much better offensive track record than Ross.

I'm guessing Ross is getting demoted to just catching Lester and coaching Contreras.

My brother just texted me this. Whoa.