XZero771679666304

+1 It'll just make you mad to read it (unless you're a moron) and it will add to his page views, which will encourage the trib to keep paying him to write that godawful [expletive].

Yeah, it's not like this is happening directly to us. I'll be over it in a few minutes.

Welp, I'm not going near a major sports outlet for at least 24 hours.

Feliz has been skirting disaster all postseason. Tonight it bit him.

Or the gunshots. It's St. Louis, he'll hear those anyway.

Wait for the final out.

What a roller coaster. If Texas hangs on, it'll be crushing for the bfib. I love it.

DIE CARDINALS DIE!! BACK TO THE DEPTHS OF HELL FROM WHENCE YOU CAME!!

That will never happen, nor am I sure I would want it to. What would be a workable solution would be to install such systems so that the umpire's strike zone accuracy and consistency could be tracked and policed. I'm pretty sure that's been happening for years. QuesTec or something? That was only in a few stadiums and it wasn't for long. And no one has been policing them. I'm thinking of a more comprehensive system.

That's good news. It would suck to lose an edge just after gaining/discovering it.

That will never happen, nor am I sure I would want it to. What would be a workable solution would be to install such systems so that the umpire's strike zone accuracy and consistency could be tracked and policed.

It really is. The Cubs have contended in the not too distant past. The Cubs are clearly heading in the right direction, and they have money to spend. People will go to the money unless the situation is a disaster and the Cubs aren't a disaster. This an area where having Theo/Hoyer running the show will really pay off, imo. These guys are smart, have a proven track record, and are ambitious. This isn't a small/mid market rebuilding project, it is/could be sold as getting in on something big. Unlike Hendry (even though his down-to-earth, workman-like attitude had a certain quaint appeal), guys like Epstein have have an energy and gravitas that really instills confidence that [expletive] is going to get done, and I'm sure that extends to players.

Perhaps moving him to closer and trading Marmol might be an option. Also, I still like the idea of trading for John Danks. He's third year arb-eligible, and I don't think it would take much to get him. I Have a feeling the Sox will retain Buerhle, and that might motivate them to clear some payroll.

I'm on board with Kelly Johnson as well. I think there's a decent chance Barney's value is as high as it's going to be from here on out. I thought he was a bit lucky early on last season, and he tailed off pretty hard. He's good defensively, but he has no power and doesn't reach base enough. If you look at his season as a whole it doesn't look bad, but I think the regression was towards who he really is. I think he's a candidate to be traded, for sure.

I don't know what Demp has left, but if the Cubs don't keep at least one of he or Z, that leaves a lot of innings that will need to be eaten. And I feel like Dempster still has more to give than Z.

I'm not that old and the Ryno I remember most is 1989-90 Ryno. Winning the division, leading the league in homers, the consecutive GG streak and even becoming the highest paid player in baseball history for a brief period (@ about 7MM per, lol). I barely remember 1984, but I was pretty little then.

But I guess if it's what Theo wants, I can reluctantly get behind it though. you give managers way too much credit. ryno will be fine because he has a guy in the front office who knows what he's doing, any manager will look like a genius with theo pulling the strings. read the moneyball chapter about art howe. i just want a manager that looks the part. I agree. With the right people constructing the roster, the damage Sandberg could do would be minimized. With the rosters Hendry constructed, not so much. I'm pretty indifferent about him under the current circumstances, and it would be great for PR.

I'LL CUT A [expletive] TO GET ME ANOTHER EXEC Oh, and what kind of philistine hates Eddie Vedder?

What you're ignoring is payroll. The Cubs have the payroll level to be able to afford to sign a guy who will give us 2 WAR his final 3-4 years if he gives us 7 WAR on average the first 5. Mid-small payroll teams couldn't do that, but the Cubs can. By your reasoning, there should basically never be major contracts handed out to players at any point in time. You're not going to do it when a player is in his early to mid 20s since he's under team control and by the time 99.9% of players get into their mid 30s, they decline below a 6-7 WAR area (the few that are there to start with). So 8-10 year deals are out the window to anyone older than 24-25. If you have the means to sign a guy who will give you exceptional production for the majority of his contract, you should be open to doing that, even if it's not the most efficient way to do it. Yeah, the only realistic scenario in which you sign a guy to a contract that long that includes all of their "prime" years is if you can wrest a young stud from another team and sign them to an extension. Players don't generally reach free agency in their mid-twenties. That said, handing such contracts out to guys over 30 isn't a good strategy, though certain exceptions could reasonably be made. The problem with Soriano is that so much of his perceived value was tied to his legs, which are usually the first things to go, and he was already 31. At least all Pujols has to do to retain most of his value is hit. I am highly skeptical he'll still be OPSing 850+ when he's 38-40, though.

For reference, Pujols' 5.1 WAR this season was as good or better than 4 of Fielder's 6 seasons. Also, after a slow start, he hit .316/.383/.571/.954 over his last 520 PA's this year. Those numbers surpass Fielder's 2011 when you include park factors. That's the big difference. When Albert slows down, he puts up Prince Fielder seasons on the way down instead of Ted Williams seasons. When Fielder slows down, he puts up Dmitri Young seasons on the way down. I realize much of that, but my concern is that this season could represent a trend. That .954 would still represent the lowest OPS of his career. He could rebound, but you can't simply dismiss the possibility that he could drop off in a fairly precipitous fashion. I'm not saying he will or that such a decline is even likely, but this year threw up a red flag. And you can't dismiss the age factor, either. Yes, it's gonna be ugly when Prince hits the downslope. But how far away is Albert's decline phase relative to Prince's? Albert may already be in his. When camps break, Fielder will be 28 and Albert will be 32, and Prince sure as hell won't be getting a 10 year deal from anyone like Albert might. Don't get me wrong, I'd be tickled to see Pujols in Cubbie blue in 2012. But I'd be a little less confident about what that meant in the long term than if Al had posted numbers a little closer to his career marks in 2011.

It'd be cherry picking if I was using those two specifically to prove my point that Pujols would be great late in his career. My point was that there are other, better comparisons to be used than Soriano, who bears no resemblance to Pujols in any way, shape, or form. There are plenty of examples of historically great players who were very good to great into their late 30s and early 40s. There are also plenty of examples of historically great players who fell off a cliff quickly in their 30s. If we're going to talk about comparisons to Pujols, let's talk about those guys and not Alfonso Soriano, who most people on here seem to be using to argue against the Cubs giving out any more big contracts to anyone over the age of 26. It's not just his age. I felt a lot better about Pujols prior to this season. It could well have been the spectre of the contract situation hanging over him, but he did drop 100 points off his career OPS this year. In 2011 he had the lowest OPS, OPS+ and WAR of his career. And he has not been injury free in recent seasons, either. Having said all that, you are right that the Cubs will have the financial flexibility to absorb the hit if Albert tails off further in a few years (I actually made this argument myself earlier in the year and then contradicted that a page or two ago). But would I say he's a safer bet to outperform Fielder over the next 5-6 years? I have serious doubts about that. Of course you can factor in Pujols' defense, but I'd feel better about signing Prince, tbh.

I think it will be busy with regard to personnel, coaches and organizational infrastructure regardless of player movement. Add in whatever player movement does take place and it will make for a fascinating offseason.

Very, very, very few players, particularly position players, are really productive into their late 30's and early 40's. Albert Pujols is the best player in baseball right now, but you're really rolling the dice if you're going to pay him like he is when he's 38 years old. Not only his age is a concern, but health issues that could easily become more chronic as he ages. I've said it before, but the only way I'd sign Albert is at a higher AAV with fewer years (5/165-175 or something). Paying him $30MM per when he's 38 is a gamble that teams with money to burn can take. It easy to rationalize while you're watching him do what he did a couple nights ago, but make no mistake, it would be a huge risk. If the Cardinals want to hamstring themselves by doing that, more power to them. If he's willing to give another deep discount, we never had a chance anyway.

Yeah, this is going to be a really interesting winter. As soon as Hoyer is officially in position, a lot of stuff is going to start happening. It may not be what many are hoping for (spending spree), but it will be interesting.

Fielder, at least.