David

Did they, though? I wouldn't be surprised if they did, but I don't recall that being one of their big talking points early on.

That video kind of summarizes my thoughts on Mitch. I have no faith in him but a lot of hope. Agree with you. He's a baffling player. Who is better under pressure than they are with a clean pocket? I wonder how much of this is all the newness around him (receivers, scheme, etc). Kollman basically said he's best when he just lets it rip with confidence. My hope is that given this guy is by all accounts a very hard worker - as he gains confidence/comfort with his receivers and the system he'll do less thinking and more just playing. He couldn't do anything in that playoff game but when all the pressure was on him and he needed to put a perfect ball on Robinson to put them in position to win, he makes the throw of his life. Yet he's standing in a completely clean pocket in Miami and airmails a wide open Miller by 10 yards. Later that game he hits him in stride to put them ahead by a score with 3 minutes left. Just a baffling player, as I said. I'm really hoping that early in the season we'll see that he made a clear next step, otherwise, it's going to be a stressful season. This is pretty logical to me and I think it's exactly what it is. Clean pocket situations - he's in a brand new offense with brand new players and he's still learning. He should be much more sure of what's going on now, after a full season and a real full off-season with the offense. On the other hand, when horsefeathers breaks down and he's under pressure he is forced to freelance, he just lets his talent take over and lets it rip.

he know something we don't?

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I don't really like him as a catcher and our pitching has degraded each year hes been our fulltime catcher. So, yes. He's had the keys. But they have an opportunity to hand those keys to a better defender. So I'll rephrase and say that I'll be disappointed if he retains those keys. by pretty much every account I've ever read, the guy works his ass off to get better and is very open to instruction. I'd be interested in where you are getting your info that he has no "desire" to improve. Or admit that's [expletive] and what you really mean to say is that he simply hasn't gotten better at that aspect of the game. i mean that's not exactly true. i'm a huge fan of willson and don't really care about stuff like this but he flat out admitted he got comfortable last year, blew off his training, and figured he could just show up and play well. like i said, i don't really care about it. he's a human being and human beings do horsefeathers like that. god knows i do. i just felt like that was over the top praise for his prep given what he himself said.

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They have had a basically unprecedented hit rate(which absolutely includes Schwarber, Happ, and Almora) with first round picks, if you're expecting better you're expecting fantasy. Draft picks fail, as a rule. Even those at the very top of the draft. To draft 4 consecutive major leaguers who have had some level of sustained success there is incredible. Those 4 drafts also turned out Bote, Godley, and Cease. Especially in a world with draft pools, you aren't going to see aggregate results any better, it's a matter now of seeing if their last few drafts will pan out to lower ceiling/more depth once they lost a bunch of pool money/1st round position in 2016+. And even though they were IFAs, Eloy and Gleyber are only further a testament to their ability to identify and develop position players. You'd think the people complaining here didn't watch the Cubs go like 25 years without producing a decent position player while also frequently being bad and drafting high. Their biggest success story in that span was when CPatt was kinda good for 2 years. Yeah, a lot of that was just incompetence by previous FOs, but it also kinda attests to how you can't really do what this FO did in that 4 year span by accident.

http://studybreaks.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/0064005_4851_MC_Tx360.jpg

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Pirates eh?

Who are you talking about here? caratini (as opposed to contreras)

And the highlight is the Off-Field Activities section, specifically the Battles with Alcohol tab http://www.markgrace.com/otfalcohol.html Never a good sign when you have to point out it was the first. http://www.markgrace.com/gracephotos/markgrace_michellegrace.jpg so it's pretty funny that apparently the first job grace got back in baseball after his jail time was with a team called the hillsboro hops

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KB laughing at willson lmao

i believe this is correct

2005 was the "derrek lee goes HAM" year. yeah that's what i was saying he was basically pujols 2.0 in 05 and he was continuing down that path in 06 until that scumbag furcal ran into him .318/.448/.614 1.062 when the collision happened. i'm not sure what i lament more as far as injuries that i blame for ruining players/seasons...that one, or sammy getting hit in the head by torres. he was having a normal beast mode sammy season before that... .333/.518/.683 1.201 .271/.332/.536 the rest of the way

i have almost zero specific memories of the 05 and 06 teams. i vaguely remember getting excited for some Prior comeback starts and that's about it. well aside from the obvious d-lee becoming pujols and then turning into a (still really good in 07 and on) pumpkin after the wrist injury

[expletive] phil regan was 82 when he worked for the cubs like 20 years ago

WHY IS DANIEL DESCALSO STILL ON THIS TEAM

I'm struggling to understand this. plz explain The Bears held a fan fest type of event recently in honor of the 100 seasons thing. There was a panel with Mitch and McMahon. McMahon gave Mitch a pair of sunglasses and a headband.

Pimped the horsefeathers out of it, too. Always the best revenge. Is it me or did he stare at the pitcher for a bit before dropping the bat to start his HR trot? oh he did and it was glorious

They made the NLCS that year I'm gonna say I meant 2007. PROVE ME WRONG.

javy!