XZero771679666304

Obviously I am holding out the smallest hope ever. Again, the sad part of this is that even if he wins his appeal, his rep is shot. He won't be banned, but he'll wear it for life.

I just thought Braun was smarter than this. You have to be pretty [expletive] stupid to do PEDs now. This isn't 1998.

This has been a bad 72 hours for our rivals.

This doesn't give them the flexibility to make a move they couldn't before the news. I think he is talking about the Cubs should sign Prince? Yeah, but I took as "I hope we sign Prince before the Brewers sign him as a result of this news".

Yeah, this is pretty damning so far.

This doesn't give them the flexibility to make a move they couldn't before the news.

Well take away Bonds, Sosa's, Giambi's, Pudge's and everyone else's. Yeah, you can't go there. But his reputation is [expletive] now. He won't be winning another anytime soon.

Probably. At the very least his reputation is permanently damaged, regardless of the success of an appeal. And that's not fair (if he's being honest). He's gonna hear it for years, and Brewers fans are gonna hear it for years.

I'm pretty shocked by this, TBH. I never had him pegged as a potential PED user.

i see you lurking there, ELCABALLO. Did you really mean it when you said you hope there's an opt-out in Braun's contract?

http://brewersfandemonium.yuku.com/forums/63/Major-Leagues#.TuP-kGPTqCI

I think it's pretty safe to assume Hanley won't move to 3B.

And even more importantly, could the Cubs actually construct a package to get him? I'd imagine that if they somehow did, Castro would shift to 2B as Hanley's main reason for leaving is that he had to leave the SS position, which would be fine by me. Sure the Cubs could put together a package, but it would probably have to start with Garza.

It's my first stop when I need minor league numbers. Do you use a different resource? Baseball Reference or Fangraphs. I haven't been to The baseball Cube in years.

With rare exception, you don't get the opportunity to sign players through their entire prime. You have to reconcile with the fact you'll have to pay more than a player is worth for some portion of their contract. The question becomes how you mitigate the potential damage. I think there are some ways to get creative with a potential contract with Prince and still give him the 6-8 year deal he wants. I think some combination of vesting options and/or opt out clauses can be added to give him the deal he and Boras want (at least on the surface) without taking too big a risk.

i think lahair would be just as good as trumbo. Probably.

What is your love for Trumbo about? He really isn't very good. Love and having interest are 2 very different things. If we miss out on Fielder, we'll be left scrambling for a starting 1st baseman for now and the future. I don't want to give Pena or Kotchman a 3 year deal and I don't want to give up too much for Loney. Trumbo should be at a very reasonable price, but as I said, I'd much rather see what Morales would cost. Scoscia has a real hard on for Trumbo, so I don't see him being made available. Morales is a better target and more likely to be available.

This.

Seriously. It feels like everyone in the league got rich all of a sudden and now our $135 million payroll makes us mid-market. I'd go up to 6/150 for Fielder, and I don't understand why that makes me a cheapskate, but apparently it does. I don't think he'll get that much. It's a post-Albert number people are tossing out there without really thinking about it (defense, body type). Prince will get a high AAV deal, but he won't get that total value because he won't get the years. I think 6/150 is pretty close to what he'll get.

A big market team that is in on talks for big market moves but only makes small market moves is operating in small market mode until they actually make a big market move. Okay, I'm going to get torched for this, but so be it. I think the Cubs are still serious about Fielder. I'm less convinced about their seriousness about Darvish, though I want him quite a bit. That posting fee is just a problem. But okay, devil's advocate. For a year or so now, we've been dealing with reports and speculation from stupid people in the medai that said that the Cubs would/should punt on 2012 and maybe even 2013, lower payroll and "rebuild." In some bizzaro universe where that was actually what was happening, what would that look like? Signing a poor man's Fukudome for RF? Take a lottery ticket to start at 3b? Actively shop Garza for prospects? Make offers to big-name free agents that we know they won't take? Talk a lot to Cubs fans about patience? There is a distinct possibility that is what is happening here, but it's too early to make that call. I'm convinced the Cubs will make a play for Prince. Up until the past few days I didn't think the Cubs were going to make a play for Darvish, but after hearing some of the comments from Jed, I beginning to think they are. If those things don't happen, I think we can say the FO is rebuilding.

A big market team that is in on talks for big market moves but only makes small market moves is operating in small market mode until they actually make a big market move. You can't make that claim until you know what they're planning, which you don't. If the moves thus far have been made with Darvish and Fielder in mind, they weren't really operating in small market mode. A small/mid-market team doesn't even inquire on Pujols, Wilson, etc.

Crying about anything regarding baseball is foolish. Pointing out that what they've done so far is very small market is accurate. Every year we hear how early in the process we are until we go to spring training and hear how there's still plenty of time and then it's May and the trading deadline is still long away. It's not early anymore. There's time to improve on what they've done, but there's no doubt they need to improve on what they've done. Why can't somebody be skeptical without being labeled an idiot, impatient, a whiner and foolish? It is early, plenty of targets are still available. It's not as if MLB is buzzing with action. Only 2-3 teams have been really active. And it seems that the Cubs were in on a few of the targets that fell, but weren't quite willing to go where the teams that signed them went, a fact that I am grateful for. You can be skeptical, and saying the moves made this far have been small/mid-market-ish would be fairly accurate. But to insinuate the FO is operating in small market mode without looking at the context of a full offseason is awfully reactionary and stupid.

Completely disagree. First off, more than one reasonable target has been signed. Whether the prices were reasonable is besides the point, they were reasonable targets. Furthermore, the fact is they haven't done anything but make middling small market mentality moves yet. They've gone for a cheaper Fukudome with less patience in right field, and a more patient Colvin at 3B. They've made middling moves that probably don't represent all that much of an upgrade to what the Cubs began last season with, if any. So far they haven't done anything big market. They haven't done anything to significantly improve the 2012 team. This wasn't a dead franchise. It was a fundamentally flawed franchise in position to be in contention for the division next year with an impact signing or two, and the financial wherewithal to make that happen. The process of rebuilding the farm system will take time, but we're talking about parallel fronts and a team than can afford to do both. This isn't Pittsburgh. They can, should, and have to do both. Over the top pessimism is uncalled for at this point, but nonsensical claims about how unreasonable it is to expect these guys to make the 2012 team a hell of a lot better while also improving the farm system are just as blind to the facts. Whether the reasonable targets thus far were signed at reasonable terms is very germane to the argument. And of course the team can build on multiple fronts, given the resources the team has. And they should. But to cry about the FO operating with a small/mid-market mentality on December 9th, when a number of sensible targets are still in play and the contracts that have been signed have been varying degrees of foolish...it's a bit much. People are impatient and restless because they see things happening and they want to the the Cubs doing similar things, often regardless of how prudent those things would be. They want to see action for the sake of action. If in late January we look back at these moves as the highlights of the offseason, we can justifiably be concerned about the methodology of the front office, but not now. Hating on moves like this and the DeJesus signing because of a fear that they are indicative of what's to come is irrational and childish at best.

There's still need for OF help. They don't have a 160 game guy out there. The Cubs can fill a 4th OF position from within nearly as easily as before the trade.