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Transmogrified Tiger

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  1. Transmogrified Tiger
    Some photos/video from the new Cubs offices in the triangle building: http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/careers/topworkplaces/ct-biz-top-workplaces-2017-midsize-chicago-cubs-20170920-story.html Looks like there's a wall that recreates the chalk messages on the Wrigley brick from the 2016 playoffs.
  2. Transmogrified Tiger
    Once he's officially posted, there's a set time for teams to decide to bid up to $20 mil, I don't remember how long that is(maybe a week?). Once that's done and Otani can negotiate, I think it'll happen relatively quickly. He can't play teams against each other for more money, so he'll probably get a pitch from everyone and make his pick. i wonder if any team won't offer up the posting fee and make the pitch I'm sure his agent will make sure to tell all but 5-10 teams not to bother.
  3. Transmogrified Tiger
    Once he's officially posted, there's a set time for teams to decide to bid up to $20 mil, I don't remember how long that is(maybe a week?). Once that's done and Otani can negotiate, I think it'll happen relatively quickly. He can't play teams against each other for more money, so he'll probably get a pitch from everyone and make his pick.
  4. Transmogrified Tiger
    Something like 10 million per for those 3 years. The two contracts are nearly identical AAV for luxury tax purposes(22M for Zimmermann, 23 for Heyward), and I'm far more optimistic Heyward turns it around than Zimmermann, so getting salary relief that would represent a quality player in the short run is what it would take for me.
  5. Transmogrified Tiger
    Cobb is an easy one. I'd be willing to make the 5th starter more speculative(e.g. a Montgomery-esque trade, an FA like Hellickson/Vargas) if it meant they were able to get Darvish and make 1-4 in the rotation that strong. I'm open to signing Chatwood but I don't think the front office is going to be a big believer(I've outlined earlier the walks are a big deal). The specter of Otani looms a bit here too. Most importantly though, I think the trade market for Happ or Happ-headlined packages is able to get you a SP with a higher ceiling than Samardzija, a better contract situation, or both.
  6. Transmogrified Tiger
    If you're convinced that Zimmermann can bounce back and be simply a decent approximation of what 2017 Lackey was expected to be, and if Detroit picks up significant cash in the first 3 years(with the Cubs picking up significant cash in the last 3 years), then I can see that making sense. I don't see much purpose in swapping the contracts without up front relief, because I don't think 2021 payroll is a concern worth making that type of short run downgrade.
  7. Transmogrified Tiger
    Let me distill my point a bit further since I was a bit trite earlier. I like Shark, think he's a useful starter and even a guy you don't mind in your playoff rotation. I don't think he's going to be better than 3rd on the depth chart, and if that happens it's more likely others failed than he succeeded. With that in mind, this deal makes you choose between: Samardzija good AAA OF prospect who might be the next Happ decent AA SP prospect the absence of Underwood and Happ 18 million I take the latter every time, and use that money to get a similar caliber FA starter (maybe a reliever too if the deals are right), while retaining the present version of Happ.
  8. Transmogrified Tiger
    How does trading Happ for Samardzija help, Samardzija is neither inexpensive nor high ceiling and you're using your best trade chip to get him? Just sign Cobb.
  9. Transmogrified Tiger
    Well yeah, Theo is cutthroat. They'll have third, fourth, fifth parties, speaking to him, paying him in bitcoins, whatever it horsefeathering takes, to get his extension happening immediately. We're all going to feel awful when we find out Theo has been using Lurie Children's Hospital via Rizzo as a front for smuggling money to Otani. Using the same trick that Jack Donaghy's dirtbag brother used to steal/launder money is a bold move but I ain't mad about it
  10. Transmogrified Tiger
    The path to Otani preferring the Cubs is centered around him wanting to compete for championships and be part of a core with similarly aged players, while also being 'the guy' in terms of the rotation. The direction we've seen from him so far at least makes you think that's a decent part of his motivation(sacrificing millions to get over a year earlier), so that's good. The biggest problem is that the Yankees(despite me personally thinking they'll have a 2016 Astros regression next year) can say very similar things, give him a bit more money up front, offer him a rotation mate from Japan, and offer him more time as a hitter via the DH. He'd need to be turned off by New York the place/media, want to go lone wolf as the only Japanese SP, etc.
  11. Transmogrified Tiger
    The Cubs can spend pretty significantly this year and still stay under the luxury tax and be able to make a big signing like Harper the next year without going to 40+ over the luxury tax, which I think they intend to fly by for at least a couple years starting in 2019.
  12. Transmogrified Tiger
    interestingly enough, David is the only real person here
  13. Transmogrified Tiger
    I think the biggest barrier is probably Stanton saying 'nah I don't want to go to St. Louis' with his NTC.
  14. Transmogrified Tiger
    Yes, he was Renteria's bench coach.
  15. Transmogrified Tiger
    Will it have the first down line? The angle makes that part tougher to eyeball as is, that's the only criticism I can think of, save for maybe having too distant of a view for deep balls.
  16. Transmogrified Tiger
    I saw a tweet from her about "going to discuss this story on my show" and then a bunch of back and forth about the appropriateness of discussing this on her show, despite it being widely reported fairly quickly, and people accusing her of making others feel bad. I assume she kind of laughed at the whole stupid story and embarrassed people lashed out at her. I think this is a decent summation of the backlash against her, click through for the thread/replies for full context: [tweet] [/tweet] [tweet] [/tweet]
  17. Transmogrified Tiger
    I try to not come across as victim blaming, but that was definitely an 'am I out of touch, no the children are wrong' moment in my head.
  18. Transmogrified Tiger
    http://www.northsidebaseball.com/archive/viewtopic.php?p=2043244#p2043244
  19. Transmogrified Tiger
    We live within walking distance of a Mod Pizza(for those unfamiliar, think Chipotle for pizza) which is what we get most of the time.
  20. Transmogrified Tiger
    No one who wants Teheran thinks a FIP near 5 is his new baseline. His career line is a FIP of 4 that he has consistently beaten his FIP by .35 or more every year. Interestingly enough, there's at least a slight reason to think his drop off was related to pitching half his games in Sun Trust park instead of Turner field. That can be a positive or negative thing depending on your outlook, but worth noting if the counterpoint about his 2016 being the new norm is related to the juiced ball.
  21. Transmogrified Tiger
    Having attempted the bolded within the last few days, be careful what you wish for. As an aside, since they were brought up, Little Caesar's new option where you pay a dollar more and get a healthy amount of cheese and toppings is a much bigger improvement than I thought it would be.
  22. Transmogrified Tiger
    Fair enough, I agree there are certainly red flags but there are also some things I really like that he's a top target of mine if we go the FA route for that 2nd or 3rd starter. I don't even necessarily disagree, but I do think that Theo means business about limiting the walks. Not only the stuff about the bullpen, but the guys he's targeted for the rotation(Anderson, Hammel, Feldman, Jaxon, Lester), the way he's treated Montgomery who has similar issues with being effectively wild, all of that points to wanting a lot of strikes to go with your stuff if you're gonna make 30 starts for the Cubs.
  23. Transmogrified Tiger
    I don't think Chatwood is going to throw enough strikes for the front office to bet on him for a 3 year deal or for 8 figures per. Same goes with Chacin. Maybe you get one of them without that restriction, but it's one of the reasons that I do think Cobb is a likely target.
  24. Transmogrified Tiger
    This is a good analogy overall but misses one piece: If half of your potential customers (people who don't buy today) overwhelmingly say that they need the product to do XYZ or cost less in order to buy, the company would probably try implementing some of those changes to see if it impacts sales/profitability. They wouldn't just say "well, a lot of people say these things and don't mean it... no one is going to buy the product so we shouldn't listen to them. Let's just keep the product as-is and hope some people change their minds." The business-specific advice is to take suggestions from non-customers with a grain of salt. Obviously you don't want to be ignorant to customer demand, but by and large the people who have already decided you were worthwhile and became customers are going to have suggestions that are more valuable than those who tell you why they didn't buy. This may not generalize to every last industry, but enough that it works as a truism for this analogy.
  25. Transmogrified Tiger
    I don't see why an AL team wouldn't let him DH at least part time.
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