UMFan83

Thanks Fred. From now on assume they mean 'modern baseball history' when they say baseball history :)

He was my hero after he hit the game winning home run in the one Cub game I was able to goto in 1998 after the Cubs came back from down 10-2 to win. Also got to see Sammy's 60th that day. We'll just ignore the fact that I had a choice to go to either that game or the game the next afternoon where the Cubs also won a comeback thriller, but Sammy Sosa hit 61 and 62. I was at the one the next day with 61 and 62. Grace hit a walkoff HR. That was an awesome weekend all around. I believe its still the only series in baseball history where both teams scored double digit runs in all 3 games.

Andy Pafko is a 90's Cub (actually just turned 90 in February), but he's not really that obscure. Oh well.

He was my hero after he hit the game winning home run in the one Cub game I was able to goto in 1998 after the Cubs came back from down 10-2 to win. Also got to see Sammy's 60th that day. We'll just ignore the fact that I had a choice to go to either that game or the game the next afternoon where the Cubs also won a comeback thriller, but Sammy Sosa hit 61 and 62.

LOLZ Chip likes the blue shoes!!!

Seriously. I'd have no problem taking on Lackey. Move him to the NL and get the issues with his marriage resolved, and he could be a comeback player of the year candidate. I kind of lean towards being willing to take him if that's what it took to get Theo. He's not a bad pitcher, or wasn't until last season when there was a highly documented personal issue going on with him. Maybe it didn't have anything to do with his performance, but maybe it did. Either way, he'd be moving to the NL Central from the AL East, so that right there should be good enought to see improvement to, at worst, a servicable 4th or 5th starter. Obviously he makes #1-2 starter money but that's a sunk cost at this point. If you truely believe Theo is going to be the GM that builds a championship ballclub, and he is ok with bringing Lackey and his contract with him to Chicago, then it's good enough for me. At least he's not bringing Badley with him. There are good GM candidates out there that wouldn't require giving up significant compensation. Taking on a large chunk of Lackey's salary (which is what it would have to be for Boston to consider it compensation) is not worth it. See I disagree. I think Theo is the best fit, and if the Cubs feel the same way, I think it's worth picking up Lackey. Theo wouldn't decide to come here if he knew he also had to bring a hopeless John Lackey with him. We need starting pitching, Lackey has been at worst a 4.50 ERA pitcher in the AL except last year when there was documented personal issues. Maybe the personal issues didn't have anything to do with his ERA jumping up 2 runs per game (his FIP was something like 4.67 this year). But I think its more likely that had something to do with it than a 31 year old pitcher declining randomly.

Seriously. I'd have no problem taking on Lackey. Move him to the NL and get the issues with his marriage resolved, and he could be a comeback player of the year candidate. I kind of lean towards being willing to take him if that's what it took to get Theo. He's not a bad pitcher, or wasn't until last season when there was a highly documented personal issue going on with him. Maybe it didn't have anything to do with his performance, but maybe it did. Either way, he'd be moving to the NL Central from the AL East, so that right there should be good enought to see improvement to, at worst, a servicable 4th or 5th starter. Obviously he makes #1-2 starter money but that's a sunk cost at this point. If you truely believe Theo is going to be the GM that builds a championship ballclub, and he is ok with bringing Lackey and his contract with him to Chicago, then it's good enough for me. At least he's not bringing Badley with him.

He's right, what a stupid book. How could Billy Beane write that garbage?

Pretend that the "you have have Theo if you take Lackey" demand was real, how much of his contract would the Red Sox have to pick up before you considered doing it? I'd probably say half. We need a back of the rotation pitcher anyways.

Head that Sharpie will be playing in the season opener on Friday. Also, here is an NHL 12 simulation that has the Hawks losing in the SCF to the Penguins in 6 games, after beating Vancouver in 7 games in the WCF. http://www.thescore.com/home/articles/174279-game-simulation-sees-pens-win-cup-leafs-make-playoffs

Meh if they want Vitters they can have him. And WSR, firing Hendry did accomplish something...it rid the Cubs of Jim Hendry.

Thats basically what I said 5 days ago. Yes they 'collapsed' this year. Yes some of their FA signings turned into busts. But we're talking about a consistent 86+ win ballclub every year for the better part of a decade. Cubs fans would kill for a consistently good team like that.

Has this ESPN article been posted yet? A couple of seemingly new tidbits in this one: Another chance for the Red Sox front office to issue a denial and it doesnt happen. I think it's obvious they are considering letting him go to the Cubs. Wonder if the Cubs would be willing to do this.

I forgot to do this the last few weeks Saints Titans Colts Eagles Giants Jaguars Raiders Vikings Buccaneers Jets (yeah seriously) Chargers Packers Lions

The award is not given out for playing on a winning team in a more difficult division. Pujols was the most valuable player that year and it wasn't a particularly close call between him and Howard. I didn't say it is. Albert Pujols did. That is my whole point.

And if Cliff Lee didn't blow a 4 run lead in game 2, the Phillies might have swept. Whats your point? Typical whining Cardinals. Remember when Pujols complained about Ryan Howard winning the MVP over him saying that he should have won it for leading his team into the playoffs, even though the Cardinals had like 4-5 less wins than the Phillies, who obviously played in a harder division?

The one thing to be happy about is that the names we are discussing all represent a positive step for the Cubs franchise. I no longer feel as negative and without hope as I've felt in recent years. But maybe I should shut my mouth until we actually make a hire.

lol I'm reading comments from that article, and pretty much everyone expects at worst they get Garza for Theo. One guy said he'd want more than Garza because "the Rays gave up on him so that tells you a lot". Another guy thinks that negotiations for Epstein should START with Castro as the centerpiece in a larger compensation package. Sure guys, we're going to trade our 21 year old all star SS for a GM.

Ryan Theriot in the playoffs as a Cub: .261 .320 .261 .581 6-23 with 0 XBH and 2 BB Ryan Theriot in the playoffs as a Cardinal: .666/.666/.889/1.555 6-9 with 2 2B

I would say someone like Theo has obvious warts because he runs a big market team and can afford to gamble a bit more when signing FAs. If they have to pay JD Drew $15 million a year to be their 4th OF so be it. If the Rays signed JD Drew for $15 million a year, it would cripple the team and leave them unable to compete. I imagine being a small market GM is almost a different job from being a big market GM. Friedman's most important responsibility is to ensure that there is always an influx of cheap talent coming into their system because they constantly allow talent to leave the organization when they get too expensive. Theo's biggest issue is using his plentiful resources upgrading the level of talent on the team and making smart decisions to lock up the highest end talent long term. Obviously on paper, what Friedman does seems like it can translate to a larger market. Do the same thing but here's an extra $100 million to play with. But who knows if it actually as simple as it seems in concept.

You legitimately don't want Epstein? As in, you'd be disappointed if he were hired? Not absolutely disappointed. I do think he is a bit over-hyped though. His record isn't as shiny as people would have you believe of course. Out of all the candidates, I like the fact that Theo has experience winning in a pressure packed big market city. I'm not saying Friedman would suddenly fail when given more money to spend, but I just worry that his style is most successful when he's running a small market club. Reminds me of Andy MacPhail's tenure here when he came over after success with a small market club and, whether it was his own decision or the Trib limited what he could spend, implemented a small to mid market approach for the Cubs. Again, I am not saying Friedman is likely to end up this way, its just something that crosses my mind when I think of the pros and cons of Epstein and Friedman, my 1 and 1a choices for GM. When it comes to other names like Cherington, Hahn, etc. Epstein wins hands down IMO because again, he's proven capable of doing the job, whereas the other guys you can only speculate on how well they'd do, even if you 100% agree with their philosophies.

Guess I could get behind a Rangers-Tigers ALCS, but I really wanted to see the Rays extend their run. It was a better story to get behind.

You legitimately don't want Epstein? As in, you'd be disappointed if he were hired? I could understand wanting someone more than Theo, but to not want him at all would be silly.

Geez, I am trying to put together a top 5 from that list factoring in how they performed with the Bears, as well as the overall NFL resume. Meaning Brandon Lloyd won't make my top 5 even though he led the NFL in receiving yards last season because he didnt do much of anything in a Bears uni. But Marcus Robinson also won't make the top 5 because he never really did much beyond that one great season for the Bears. 1) Marty Booker 2) Muhsin Muhammad 3) ok whoops Marcus Robinson made it afterall 4) Bernard Berrian 5) umm.. Johnny Knox?

Only put guys on that actually caught a pass for the Bears