DonnieD

I know it is just optical illusion from the picture angle but it looks like a super short "Pesky's pole" will be needed down the left field line.

This. Or would there be any rule against selling Otani say a 5% ownership stake in the team for a song and then signing him to a mimimum deal when he is posted?

I heard it is likely that the 25 man roster becomes 26 with this CBA. If that is the case can't everyone basically afford to be able to stash a guy this year.

What a rollercoaster of emotions from the blown lead until now. World Series Champs!!! :flythew:

I haven't been on the last couple of days so I just saw this thread. I've just finished reading the whole thing and have been wiping tears the whole time. I was lucky enough to meet Fred (and you Vance) at that Cubs Convention. I'll just echo what so many others have said and what is so evident in this thread, that one brief encounter was enough to confirm that Fred was both kind and funny. He was a stalwart for this team and this site and I've enjoyed his contributions immensely over the years. My condolences to the Hornkohl family. RIP Fred

Literally: I'm aware of what it literally said. CW11, Almora's in is that he has Inciarte traits without the trade cost or obligation to start. If they trade for an outright starting OF hopefully they aim higher. Aim higher than the 25 year old CF with 4 years of control remaining that will have averaged over 4 bWAR and 3 fWAR in his first 3 (less than full) seasons? I doubt there is much available that would be higher.

Is there any way to get WSCR to carry the 5th inning...

I would jump at #5. I think Kiermaier is going to hit (and he already isn't bad), and to have Heyward in RF and him in CF would be a pitcher's dream. I love Schwarber's bat but I think you have to do that deal.

This person does not properly value Kyle Hendricks. Or overvalues Ben Revere. Drastically. The Cubs need pitching, they shouldn't be considering trading Hendricks for a mediocre OF.

Worry as much as you want about Baez, I'm not saying there's nothing wrong with him or risky about his future. I'm saying that worrying about his winter league performance specifically is tantamount to worrying that he didn't hit enough home runs in a celebrity softball game. Would it be okay to worry that he struck out three times in that celebrity softball game?

I don't know enough about the rest of the league to answer your question, but I generally disregard most of these types of "voted" awards because they too often just go to the biggest name eligible (i.e. Jeter's GG awards)

I didn't think that looked right. Not sure if you meant it this way, but that is an NL only list and for some reason is from '81 - '90.

This is reductive nonsense. Having Bryant through age 29 is better than having him through age 28. If history is any predictor, it's a lot better because Bryant will be a really good baseball player at age 29. In order to *guarantee* they have him at 29, they're sacrificing having him on the MLB team at the tail end of a lost season, and for a couple weeks next year. It's a trivial sacrifice for the expected benefit. I say guarantee because despite pretending otherwise, there are no certainties when it comes to Free Agency. Guys leave big market teams all the time. Just last season Cano left the Yankees for more money/years, while the Yankees were in the process of spending a billion dollars in FA and giving the middle finger to the luxury tax. As a result the Yankees are going to miss the playoffs by about one Robinson Cano because they're playing the husk of Brian Roberts at 2B. Moreover, money is not the only consideration here and why this is such a false choice. I'm pretty certain that I want a team option on Kris Bryant for his age 29 season. I'm far less certain that I'll want to guarantee him significant cash through age 34, 36, or even 40(like Cano). So if I can get the former while not at all jeopardizing the latter for the trivial cost mentioned above, it's a no-brainer. This is very close to what I wanted to post, and I can only assume it has been missed by a handful of posters or there is a significant failure to comprehend. Control is extremely valuable and some of you want to piss it away for some negligible gain in a theoretical adjustment period. Well congratulations, a few of you can now claim membership in the elite club of NSBB posters that would clearly be worse GMs than Ruben Amaro.

Yeah, in no way was I implying that Dawson is an inner circle HOFer or even that those awards mean he was great, but anyone who would be disappointed with a replica of Dawson's career from Soler before he even has an MLB appearance has unrealistic expectations.

I would argue if Soler wins ROY/MVP and is voted into the HOF *despite* a .323 OBP then things went incredibly well. Glass half empty, eh?

I couldn't disagree more. Lester isn't hurting here, he's made almost $45M in salary in his career. We don't know what his priorities will be but I would be shocked if it ends up being money. He should get multiple competitive offers so I would expect "team situations" will be the deciding factor. Hopefully his experience with this Front Office, his experience "breaking a curse", and the promise of this rebuild can sway his decision.

I don't think it can possibly be correct. I just ran some (inexact) numbers and get .002 of OPS (almost all OBP), which is still impressive. And let me say, that year from a mid-prime first ballot HOFer is beyond impressive, from a 39 year old it is insane.

I actually thought Rendon deserves it most.

The problem with trading him and then resigning him is that with the QO no longer in play his market is no longer depressed, and you'll have to pony up both the years and dollars like anyone else. Even if he wants to be here and will give a "discount", that is likely more and definitely longer than Theo & co., would likely go. Now if he can bring back a premium talent, maybe it is worth pursuing that route. If it is for someone who might barely sneak into our top 10, and I think I'd just rather go the QO route. History has shown that the QO should drastically impact the market on a pitcher like Hammel, and don't forget, we'd be looking at draft pick compensation if he rejects the QO too.

I'm going to go a different route and say the Front Office actually sees 2015 as a legit opportunity to compete and the market never really materializes for Samardzija or Hammel so they don't make any major moves unless they can find a taker for Edwin Jackson. They slap a QO on Hammel, deflating his market and causing him to accept or take a 2/$22 + option type deal with the Cubs. Sign an OF (say Markakis), backup C, and a reclamation project or two. Rotation for next year is: Arrieta Samardzija Hammel Wood Jackson (maybe) + Hendricks/Wada/Grimm/Beeler/Rusin/Ramirez?/new reclamation project(s) for depth or replacing Jackson Lineup is: Castillo C Rizzo 1B Alcantarra 2B Valbuena 3B Castro SS Lake LF (for ~ 3 weeks) Ruggiano CF Markakis RF Bullpen stands pat with plenty of internal options When Baez/Bryant come up the lineup becomes Castillo C Rizzo 1B Baez 2B Valbuena 3B Castro SS Markakis LF Alcantarra CF Bryant RF

That math doesn't work out though. They should be on pace for 559 runs.

Jeff Brantley was the ace of that team but it was actually Bobby Thigpen who batted cleanup (sometimes). He was the closer and also played outfield for the team.

May 1st is a Friday day game but the other two are night/weekend games (the 6th is vs White Sox). I have a single bleacher ticket available for April 21st if you choose that game and an additional ticket is needed.

I know this is absolutely unprecedented, but I think they should take the MVP award away from him and give it to Kemp.

I don't think anyone is saying they shouldn't get some on field talent, and some of the names you mentioned would be acceptable. Mostly I've seen people not want to give up Castro, Garza, Cashner, Jackson, & maybe Szczur & McNutt. What I'd like to add as far as compensation precendents, is that (outside of intelligent fans) I think the consensus is that field managers are worth more than general managers not the other way around. Just look at their salaries. Also, the Rays could afford to give up Winn because he was going to be too expensive for them that year anyway. And as has been mentioned Oakland was not going to get Youkilis, and the Marlins sent more talent than necessary to make the tampering case go away. Part of the compensation package for Theo is already done and that is the $3.5 M lump sum payment that the Cubs are going to be responsible for, so what additional compensation should be necessary? I think one prospect in the #8 - 12 range should be suffucient.