Jump to content
North Side Baseball

brinoch

Verified Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    4,955

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Profiles

Joomla Posts 1

Chicago Cubs Videos

Chicago Cubs Free Agent & Trade Rumors, Notes, & Tidbits

2026 Chicago Cubs Top Prospects Ranking

News

2023 Chicago Cubs Draft Picks

Guides & Resources

2024 Chicago Cubs Draft Picks

The Chicago Cubs Players Project

2025 Chicago Cubs Draft Pick Tracker

Blogs

Events

Forums

Store

Gallery

Everything posted by brinoch

  1. brinoch
    That was really funny.
  2. brinoch
    Look, it may be that St. Louis is going to sign Pujols, come hell or high water, but I think when you have a chance to sign one of the best players in baseball, you take it. Honestly, I would be very happy with either Fielder or Pujols. It doesn't solve all the immediate issues for the team, but it is a tremendous upgrade. There's no question that there are holes that need filling beyond first base. But a slightly lesser player at 3B could be tolerated for a year if Pujols is at first.
  3. brinoch
    You need let go of what Pujols has done in the past, and focus on what he's going to do in the future. If you sign him for 9 years, and he's elite for 4 of those but only good -- and vastly overpaid -- for the other 5, it's a bad deal. The absence of an immediately-available better option doesn't justify jumping into a bad deal. A well-run Cubs team can easily take the hit of a player being overpaid in the final years of his deal. Just because they can doesn't mean they should. Yeah, it kinda does. Agreed. If the Cubs have the highest payroll in the Central and among the highest in the NL (if not the highest), getting Pujols now while overpaying for his age 36-38 seasons by $10M or whatever is wise. It's a good use of the Cubs' financial advantage. A high payroll is not an advantage if you don't use it to your benefit. And there's no one like Pujols in baseball. There's no free agent coming after next season or the season after like him, either.
  4. brinoch
    Yeah... I'm not sure about John Scott tonight. Hoo boy.
  5. brinoch
    I was thinking the exact same thing.
  6. brinoch
    In a vacuum, sure, I'd like Darvish. But this isn't a vacuum. For me, the question of Darvish boils down to the money spent on the draft and international signings. How much is the posting fee? Most of the money spent in the draft and in international signings is of course wasted -- most prospects never make it to the majors. If you spend the equivalent (or more) of a year's worth of the draft/international pot for a guaranteed major league player, is that worth it? What's the financial break-point? Also, there's the question of Darvish vs. Wilson. Which would you rather have? I don't have the answers, but the questions give me some pause on Darvish (or any other posted player).
  7. brinoch
    Thanks, Rob. That was really very interesting.
  8. brinoch
    Kane's been awesome. No question. That Kane-Hossa combo is really, really, really spectacular. When's he ready, Jeremy Morin is going to add another element to this offense that cannot be described. The Morin-Toews-Brunette line and the Sharp-Kane-Hossa line are going to be unbelievable.
  9. brinoch
    Yep. The ice was really bouncy, but that's not an excuse. They were dogging it a bit -- seems to happen on the Dad's trip every year. I'll take the two points.
  10. brinoch
    That was really annoying.
  11. brinoch
    But for the first time, I actually feel incredibly confident that we will get Theo's prime target. It all started when Tom went after Theo and got him. The dominoes have been falling in place since then. Honestly, we are 3rd choice on that list. I agree that Cardinals job will be 3rd. I see what you did there. Clever Well, your name kind of gives you away as a Cards fan. We don't have a problem with Cards fans here; we do have a problem with Cards trolls, however.
  12. brinoch
    But for the first time, I actually feel incredibly confident that we will get Theo's prime target. It all started when Tom went after Theo and got him. The dominoes have been falling in place since then. Honestly, we are 3rd choice on that list. I agree that Cardinals job will be 3rd. =D> Well-played, sir, well-played.
  13. brinoch
    Well, whether or not Sandberg would be a good manager is immaterial; Theo and company want to go in a different direction. Sandberg might very well be a great manager, but I think he needs the opportunity to show that outside the crucible of Wrigley Field. In other news, now that we know he won't be the manager, let's focus the debate back on who could be the manager.
  14. brinoch
    True enough. If I could get the right deal, I'd trade Brunette now. He has great hands, and he's good below the goal and around the net, but he's a problem in the transition game.
  15. brinoch
    The amount of animosity Braves fans had for that man was palpable. Combine that with the fact that the Braves have superior options coming up through their system to replace him (Teheran, Delgado, Minor, etc), and the fact that they would've ended up moving him to the bullpen, he was an obvious bet to get dealt. No point in having a $15 million long reliever on your staff Still, you're paying him $10M to pitch somewhere else.
  16. brinoch
    I chuckled That's a handsome second-line player to you.
  17. brinoch
    I have to think that his knee must be giving him a problem. There's no other reason to play Scott in a game against Columbus -- there's no history of goonery like there is with St. Louis. Maybe Olesz can show us something, because looking at the team and looking ahead, I think there's a need for another effective LW. There's really one good one on the team (Sharp). Otherwise you have Carcillo, Bickell and Stalberg. I'm fine with Bickell on the 3rd line and Stalberg or Carcillo on the 4th. Sharp-Kane-Hossa is really an awesome line. Stalberg-Toews-Brunette is less awesome. Not bad, but really nothing spectacular. Frankly, Stalberg-Kruger-Mayers is a really good 4th line and I don't want to break it up. Luckily, we do have Jeremy Morin in Rockford. I think once he gets himself back in great shape and playing well, he'll be with the Hawks. I look for him around the New Year as his play starts improving and becoming more consistent.
  18. brinoch
    That was a shameful call.
  19. brinoch
    Done and done! No more predictions.
  20. brinoch
    Good stuff. Thanks for re-posting that here, Kyle.
  21. brinoch
    Welcome, Huff! (or is it welcome to posting?) Interesting analysis. A lot of good thought went into the post.
  22. brinoch
    Byrd was almost exactly the same player this year as he was last year. Kind of crappy. His last good season was 2008, and his OBP, which is extremely influenced by his BABIP dropped .022 points -- probably somewhat related to getting hit in the face and his age. I suppose at $6.5M he's not a drag on the payroll for his performance, but I really think that money could be spent better elsewhere. The average MLB CF hit .261/.326/.410 last year. Had Byrd's BABIP been at his career average, that OBP and Slugging would have been almost exactly on the mark. He's ever so slightly above average defensively and on the basepaths and when his face isn't getting exploded, he stays pretty healthy. Byrd isn't kind of crappy. He's pretty much the definition of average ballplayer. And $6.5 million for that is actually a good deal lower than market value. I'll agree if you say it wasn't fun to watch him this year. He hacks way too much to have any business batting 3rd and when he did come back from his injury he looked awful. But if we just slide him over to RF to make way for Jackson, bat him 6th or 7th all season, we should be perfectly happy. As I said, at $6.5M, he's not a huge drag on the payroll. But I don't think he's really the answer in RF; neither is Colvin.
  23. brinoch
    Byrd was almost exactly the same player this year as he was last year. Kind of crappy. His last good season was 2008, and his OBP, which is extremely influenced by his BABIP dropped .022 points -- probably somewhat related to getting hit in the face and his age. I suppose at $6.5M he's not a drag on the payroll for his performance, but I really think that money could be spent better elsewhere.
  24. brinoch
    I also think Byrd has to either go, or sit on the bench. He's clearly declining and is barely serviceable at this point. I haven't seen him play, but at least by the numbers, Jackson is ready for the Show. That covers CF. With Theo in charge, they'll give him the time and patience he needs to settle in (wow! think about that...). Soriano, unless we can clear that contract somehow, still occupies LF. What to do about RF? Move Byrd to right and platoon him? Use him as the 4th OF? I'm curious if anyone would be interested in bringing in JD Drew on a one-year contract as a possible platoon player with, say, Reed Johnson. That gives you 5 OF -- Soriano, Jackson, Drew, Johnson, Byrd. Alternately, I would be interested in trading Byrd and bringing Beltran in for a short-term deal for RF.
  25. brinoch
    Obviously, the Cubs are in a tremendous state of flux. A new front office is going to create "The Cubs Way" and instill a new way of doing things throughout the entire organization. They are going to invest in development and perhaps do a lot of scouting (in some cases paying attention to different things than they have in the past). Still, there will be a 2012 Cubs and as we know from Theo's press conference, he's not going to just ignore next season as they move forward. What I'm interested in discussing is how they'll build the 2012 team -- what parts to keep, who might move up, which free agents will be pursued -- all within the context of "The Cubs Way" and building a competitive team quickly without mortgaging the future. Obviously, there are a ton of things they need to do, but we're a pretty smart group of guys and I'm curious what we can come up with. Certainly, I expect we'll be mostly wrong, but with quite a long time until pitchers and catchers report, let's have some fun!
×
×
  • Create New...