Thusly Boned

Christ. This really isn't even debatable. David, please don't use the Son of God's name like that. Ironic that you are so hung up on who said a profanity and then use something extremely profane. Thanks. Don't assume that everyone does (or should) believe what you believe. This isn't a church. Thanks.

Some of the "highlights" for me: Carlos Gonzalez is not on the list. Fine if you want to write him off as a Coors player, and his 2.4 fWAR isn't stellar. But last year (iirc) they had him in the top 50 after posting a negative fWAR, now he's off the list after bouncing back significantly? Okay. Randal Grichuk at #44 after half a season in the bigs. Really? And he's 44 spots higher than the best position player on his own team (Carpenter was also behind Jhonny Peralta, of the 1.7 WAR and second half faceplant)? No Lester? Stephen Vogt?

I've seen some inane debates on this board over the last 12+ years, and this one is right up there with the dumbest of them.

These Top 100 lists are kind of a joke every year, and this one is no exception.

No. It's $8 mil this year and $9 mil next year if both sides opt in and $5 mil if either side opts out. So at most we have him for $17 mil the next two years and the least it's $13 mil for this year. If I understand Rogers tweets correctly. Wasn't the Orioles rumor 3/35m? He left a lot of money on the table to come back if that's the case. If he had it to do over again, he certainly just takes the QO. I think he and/or his agent misjudged the market. Once it became clear he wasn't going to get the deal he wanted, re-entering the FA pool as part of next year's feeble class became the best option. Unless he craps the bed in 2016, he'll do much better than 3/35 next year.

Who was that someone, though? Given the options, I'd expect a lot of moving parts and PAs for all four players. Jesse Rogers. Multiple tweets were posted on the last page. I saw those, but most of them sounded like conjecture to me. I'm a little incredulous that they'd define all the roles right now, or essentially consign Soler to the RH portion of a left field platoon. We'll see, I guess.

I would have guessed that it'd be Soler in RF, Heyward in CF, Schwarber in LF with Fowler picking up ABs at all three positions as the others get off days, against tough RHP, and when Schwarber catches. Soler as a roamer makes much less sense. People are assuming this makes Dexter the everyday CF, but I'm not buying that. Whoever was on ESPNRadio reported they signed Fowler to be their starting CF and will move Heyward back to RF but will get time in CF. Who was that someone, though? Given the options, I'd expect a lot of moving parts and PAs for all four players.

Man, we just need the damned DH already. The powers that be just need to quit wasting time and submit to the inevitable.

I'd rather Fowler be new Coghlan, but whatever. The options, like I listed on the previous page, are pretty damn extensive. I would have guessed that it'd be Soler in RF, Heyward in CF, Schwarber in LF with Fowler picking up ABs at all three positions as the others get off days, against tough RHP, and when Schwarber catches. Soler as a roamer makes much less sense. People are assuming this makes Dexter the everyday CF, but I'm not buying that.

Yeah, though when he did, he apparently concealed just what a horsefeathering lunatic he is. Dude is living in an alternate reality.

Does there need to be a trade? Between Soler days off, platooning a bit, Schwarber catching days, Heyward says off, etc., can Dexter get 500 PAs with the roster as is? At glance, this seems like it just gives the team huge flexibility in the OF.

Welp, this has been in interesting development.

W. T. F.

By all accounts, Votto doesn't want to leave Cincy, for whatever reason, partially because he seems to be under the impression that last season was rock bottom and things will start trending up in 2016. He may come around, but it probably won't be anytime real soon. And I can't see Mozeliak taking on the rest of Votto's contract. He's great now, but the end of that deal is probably going to be some serious dead weight. Plus there's the cost: most of the Cardinals' prospect depth is in the low minors, and Cincy would probably want MLB ready talent, so discussions would probably start with more than one of Reyes, Martinez, Piscotty, etc. And I would imagine that the talent cost for enticing a mid-market like the Reds to eat much of that contract would be eye watering. I don't see a deal sending Votto to St. Louis that doesn't end up being a lateral move for the present and a net loss down the line. Aside from that, it really seems like Cincy has been half-assing this rebuild. They don't seem to be as motivated to move assets as they should be, and the returns on the deals they have made have been less than impressive.

Sort of, that thread was just the impetus to finally say what I've been thinking for weeks. Some of the posters who were on the fence over there have gone full homer moron over the course of the offseason.

I have consistently lurked on the message boards of our rival teams for years, even when we were awful, and have never seen your average message board Cardinal fan in such a state as they have been this offseason. People who are normally composed and thoughtful have become bitter and irrational. Posters who were already thinly veiled homers have devolved into delusional, horsefeathers flinging meatball apes. I don't know what is going to transpire over the next few years, and I make no presumptions of great success, but the Cubs and the attention they are getting is deep into the heads of a lot of Cardinals fans, making them look insecure and petty. One would think that after a prolonged run of success they'd be more passively confident, but I think just the mere prospect of being unseated by the Cubs (possibly for several years) is more than some of them can bear. It's hilarious.

Ugh. Maybe a lack of control (real or perceived) will negate the injury excuse and cost Groce his job at the end of the season. This season had some promise, but what a [expletive] train wreck. http://replygif.net/i/980.gif Promise is a relative term. I thought we had a borderline shot at being a tournament team until Black/Thorne went down. I suppose it's all just sad commentary at this point.

Ugh. Maybe a lack of control (real or perceived) will negate the injury excuse and cost Groce his job at the end of the season. This season had some promise, but what a horsefeathering train wreck.

It's not all the much, but it's not nothing, either. On a couple of occasions where the wife and I went on runs of binge watching, we got letters from our ISP telling is to stop using so much bandwidth or upgrade. Now, even with the upgraded internet our bill would have been well less than our DirecTV bill, but if you have a household (even a small one) of TV watchers all relying on streaming, it's going to add up. But on the cable/satellite side, you don't have to go full a la carte, they could require a basic package (maybe about the size and price of Sling TV's basic lineup) that includes networks like ESPN, MLBN, NFL, etc., and allow adding additional channels a la carte. Bandwidth refers to the bit-rate of a connection. You're talking about data caps. Duh, yeah. I was mixing up my trains of thought. But with up to 2-3 people using streaming services at a given time, it strains our bandwidth, too. For example, if I'm watching MLB.tv, the wife is watching Netflix and my daughter is streaming something, we run into issues. A lot of people don't have access to internet service that offers more than 10-20 mbps (tops), so as a comprehensive alternative to cable/satellite, streaming services are less than ideal. And as fivepercent said, even though many streaming services are more feature rich, the quality and consistency of the feeds pale in comparison to cable and satellite.

This isn't true. How much bandwidth do you think streaming tv requires? It's not all the much, but it's not nothing, either. On a couple of occasions where the wife and I went on runs of binge watching, we got letters from our ISP telling is to stop using so much bandwidth or upgrade. Now, even with the upgraded internet our bill would have been well less than our DirecTV bill, but if you have a household (even a small one) of TV watchers all relying on streaming, it's going to add up. But on the cable/satellite side, you don't have to go full a la carte, they could require a basic package (maybe about the size and price of Sling TV's basic lineup) that includes networks like ESPN, MLBN, NFL, etc., and allow adding additional channels a la carte.

I know he was limited by his defense and didn't have as much power as some like in their corner OF, but I still have a hard time understanding why he didn't get more of a shot. Not just with the Cubs, but in MLB in general.

The Sosa hop is better than a bat flip. the sosa hop was actually something that i only noticed after he was gone from the cubs/baseball. it just seemed so natural i never noticed it. but it kind of feels surreal going back and watching it now and picking up on it. plus, he hit so many damn dongs that i'm sure it was just seemed second nature to see it. i will forever love that man You didn't notice it when the media (including Chip Caray, iirc) was constantly mentioning it? But yeah, I still love Sosa unapologetically. The man was pretty much the only reason to tune in to Cubs baseball for almost five years. Well, at least the thing that kept it from being completely depressing. That he's been effectively locked out is a crime.

Around here, it seems like everyone eats huevos rancheros or breakfast burritos. As for the topic, I don't think you can go wrong with any of the three, but I'd choose french toast if pressed. Breakfast food is just generally awesome.

The Cardinals are never signing anyone awesome ever again. But when that great 2018 FA class comes up, they're gonna be the runner-up on like half those guys.

For sure. I mean you could eat and somewhat enjoy a good waffle with no syrup if you had to, but to choose to eat them that way is madness.