Thusly Boned

Never once when I was playing, but absolutely once I had a son. I highly encouraged him to play every sport except football. He tried flag football when he was like 8 or 9 and said it wasn't for him, and I was perfectly fine with that. I never found the risk for serious injury or death to be worrisome when my daughter was playing softball or volleyball or when he played baseball. When I played sports, including football, I never once considered the possibility of a catastrophic injury. I could comprehend the possibility for a broken bone or other orthopedic injury, but nothing beyond that was ever on my mind. Looking back at it now, and especially as a parent/coach, sports look more like a minefield of possible serious outcomes. Even baseball, which never concerned me one bit while playing, has the ever-present risk of one line drive or errant pitch changing someone's life forever. Going back a while, but I remember Hank Gathers and Reggie Lewis essentially dropping dead on the court, so I got the idea in my head at a relatively young age that it could happen, but you know how it is when you're young, death is still and abstract and you don't really feel it. To that point, I was pitching once ages ago (as a teenager) and had a vicious comeback liner actually take the hat off my head without hitting me directly, and I am definitely more disturbed by it now than I was then. An inch or two different, or a nanosecond slower on my reflexes, and who knows. I think of stories of people/kids getting felled by commotio cordis, and it's scary. We think of young athletes at the pinnacle of physical fitness as being impervious to stuff like this, but at the end of the day we're just a complex mess of meat and electricity, and there can be a wide array of underlying flaws and weaknesses that we aren't and will likely never be aware of, and may just need the right trigger. But you can't really dwell on it or it'll paralyze you.

Not terribly shocking. I mean Correa is a player who has had trouble staying on the field consistently; I'd tread very carefully here too.

Brett being a reactionary drama queen is not a new development

the cubs paying 400/12 for Correa and him not living up to the deal will have no effect on your life I mean it would insofar as it would dissuade our stingy owners from making similar expenditures, and potentially hamstring the front office's ability to do things. Which would make it harder for my favorite team to do well. So yeah, it'd kinda have an effect. Should it? Of course not, but it would, because stingy gonna be stingy. It's the reality we're living in.

I don't know, but 11 years for a 30 year old SS seems...ill advised to me. I don't want Swanson, but I'd rather give him 8 years than Bogaerts 11. Here's hoping for Correa, but if teams are handing out 10 and 11 year deals to 30 year old SS, I don't think there's much chance he goes for fewer than 12.

Yeah, I love Willson, but I don't see things going all that well for him from age 32ish onward. Which is why I could stomach letting him go. That said, he'll almost certainly hurt us a time or two over the next couple of years, and I'm not looking forward to it. His positional flexibility and introduction of the DH may mitigate the aging question somewhat. I heard an interview with JD last year where he said that if Willie were to come back to the Cubs it was understood that he would be doing much less catching; maybe the Cardinals will transition him as well. Willson has a good bat for the catcher position, but I don't think it's going to carry him at all at DH/1B.

Yeah, I love Willson, but I don't see things going all that well for him from age 32ish onward. Which is why I could stomach letting him go. That said, he'll almost certainly hurt us a time or two over the next couple of years, and I'm not looking forward to it.

If the goal is a 70-75 win team, then I think that'll do nicely. So worse than last year? Yeah, I don't see 70-75 wins as being likely even if we did essentially nothing.

I wanted Turner, but 11 years with his age and injury history? No thanks. Eight years would have been as far as I would have gone with him. Not thrilled about what this is going to do to the market, though.

Got flipped by the coriolis effect

I suffered a bi-mal fracture of my left ankle/leg back in mid-September of 2016. Can't say if it was more or less severe than Canario's (mine was clearly displaced, just shy of being compound), but I had surgery (plate/screws) a few days after, was in a cast for 6 weeks, and was using some combo of walking boot crutches until a bit after new year 2017. Didn't feel like I was back to normal (and running again) until mid-spring, so about 7 months. Of course Canario is younger than I was, likely in much better shape, and likely will receive more advanced treatments and more intensive PT than I did. But yeah, not an insignificant injury. Feel bad for the kid.

I mean they had like a 3 game division lead when they traded him. It was a true kick in the teeth for fans. I would have been horsefeathering livid (ignoring the fact he's a horsefeathers human). I thought the trade made sense for them, though that might be a controversial viewpoint. Even if it didn't make sense, one move doesn't erase everything he built over the last several years. I also don't think not having Hader was the reason the Brewers didn't make the playoffs (at least him alone), and most people thought the Brewers got an above-average return for him. Yeah, and people seem to forget that Hader was hot garbage for a good stretch prior to being traded, in addition to being awful for a while following. So I certainly don't think the Brewers' playoff chances were harmed by the trade. But still, it sent an awful message to the team and fans, despite it being a sensible move.

Why on earth would you not have done this immediately? Or at the very least before the series started? Or did he just experience this symptom today? Also, how does Bob Nightengale write for a living?

Too young. That said, the fact that he was 58 makes me feel old as hell. Also, his walkoff single to complete the comeback from 0-9 to beat the Astros in 1989 is one of my favorite childhood Cubs memories.

And all three of those homers were absolutely killed. And the one out was solid contact as well. Given his recent stretch if I were a Brewer fan, I'd be...uneasy.

Yikes

No doubt. He may rebound a bit, but this is the trajectory I feared Javy was on, but even worse. My sentimental side wanted him to stay, but that contract is going to be a disaster for Detroit.

Honestly I don't know why more coaching staffs don't train players not to do this, or punish for doing it. Aside from evading a tag, sliding into first is always going to be more likely to result in an out. It's really frustrating to watch when a Cub does it.

Never trade with the Rays It's one of the classic blunders

I love tacos because they taste good and would also love rotten eggs if they tasted like tacos. I think one of the things that's also difficult to accept is that our "tacos" were in fact rotten eggs by the end. Just rotten eggs all around. Our offense (partially on the strength of Schwindel's unsustainable performance, given) actually got better after the trade off, which is an indictment of what the core had become given what the roster looked like in the second half. Team couldn't consistently score runs for a couple of years plus, and only the residual taste of 2016 saved them from being turned on.

Ricketts playing the long game and taking the money saved from the 2012-2014 rebuilds, last years salary dump and rebuild this year, and combining it with the extra revenue from Marquee to having a ridiculous 1 year spending frenzy to win the world series. Gonna have a $500m payroll, book it! Or giving it to a Russian Oligarch, one or the other Doing the old Marlins play, eh? Acquire all the great players, win the world series, sell off the whole team immediately thereafter. Might have been better selling immediately after, rather than waiting until they were all in decline and/or the shine had come off.

Bizarre. I would have bet he'd get at least 6 or 7 years with the opt outs. I am one of those who is a little spooked by his 2018-20, and I wouldn't have been thrilled by giving him 300MM+, but this I would have done. But I'm shocked he couldn't get a better guarantee, and think this was his best shot at a huge contract. This is really betting huge on himself over the next year or two, and I'd personally be surprised if he plays this into a bigger contract.

Yeah, not many cheapies in there

If we get one of his "up" years, could be well worth that price.

The team’s biggest needs are still players who don’t suck, ideally superstars like Bryant. This team is most definitely not a couple niche-y signings off of being competitive, the big need is talent Here's my issue with Bryant - he isn't really a superstar (depending on how you define that term), and hasn't been for some years (2017 was probably his last elite season). He give you a lot of value due to his versatility, but he isn't a huge producer, misses time, and his performance takes a huge hit when he is nicked up. And he's about to turn 30. I'll always love the guy, but any contract for him has to be reasonable. Even for the past couple years, the prospect of extending him made me a little uneasy.