Magnetic Curses

if theo's going to be the GM, i kind of want Ryno back.

Kraplan, but this is good news. so very german

absolutely. & if it weren't so, no one would post. it's just that after so long, once the speculation has even grown weary with mounting ghosts of reports mirroring each other in the dark, [expletive] gets old, is all. i'll still read it all, continuing to refresh after every beautiful roberto bolano chapter of the savage detectives. :blush: "The crickets and the rust-beetles scuttled among the nettles of the sage thicket. "Vámonos, amigos," he whispered, and threw the busted leather flintcraw over the loose weave of the saddlecock. And they rode on in the friscalating dusklight. "

man, does it always have to be painful?

herron kills us, every single year. i thought he was supposed to be out.

huh

Brett Jackson might be an overreach because he's major league ready and seems to be fairly low risk. He does seem ideally suited to Fenway's spacious RF. As you said the precedent is going to be established, but I believe it will, and should be higher than compensation packages we've seen for field managers. I just don't understand the perspective of Cubs fans that Theo shouldn't be worth some serious on field talent. Friedman is no sure thing to leave Tampa Bay (he works on a handshake agreement with the Rays), Cashman is staying with the Yankees and the only other candidates seem to be unproven. Fact is, the Cubs have Theo in hand if only they can work out a deal. None of the other candidates are a sure thing, if the Cubs play ball with a fair deal Theo is a sure thing. He's reportedly already agreed to a contract. It could be argued that Epstein is the perfect choice for what the Cubs want. Someone with experience in big markets, someone who has shown the ability to work the draft and someone who has experience building a winner. For all his greatness Andrew Friedman does not have Epstein's experience with a big budget. There's a certain knack to running a "100 million dollar player development machine." As Epstein once referred to his goals for Boston's farm system. If Jackson was an untouchable then what about Vitters, Szczur, McNutt, Simpson, Dolis or Guyer? Shouldn't they be part of the conversation in regards to compensation? I can see where the Cubs would be reluctant to give up MLB ready talent but the guys in the lower minors might be easier to replace and their youth makes them unknown quantities. The feeling I've been getting (from news reports and this forum) are that the Cubs should give up nothing for a top executive and they could simply wait and snag someone else. Both cases seem incredibly unrealistic IMO. as i've said, if negotiations stall, the league will intervene and tell boston who they are getting. and based on virtually no precedent for a GM accepting a promotion with another franchise, it won't be much.

if nothing gets done, the league will step in and mediate and dictate what the compensation will be. this will get done.

the michigan state defensive front is dominant.

i think it's a bit too late for that. I don't think it is. They had to give him permission to talk to other teams to begin with. Sure, their feelings are hurt now since he not only talked to someone, but found somewhere he'd rather be, but those wounds will heal in time. The harsh stuff Henry is saying about Crawford is a whole different ballgame, however. Yikes. Could be an interesting offseason in Boston. they are jerking him around for fun right now. Thus my comments about their feelings being hurt, though I doubt they are doing it for fun. It's just negotiations and nothing for Epstein to permanently be scarred forever about. these are terrible people we are talking about here, evil, terrible people.

Right, a top executive changing jobs in the middle of a contract is much more rare than a manager doing it. My point is that managers are much less valuable to a team than a chief baseball operations executive. All we have to go on is a couple recent examples of managerial compensation and some rumored information about Billy Beane. IMO managerial compensation should be used as an example of the extreme low end of compensation required. Some Red Sox fans suggest the compensation should simply be the Cubs assumption of John Lackey's horrible contract but I think that's incredibly unrealistic. The quotes about Ricketts investing heavily in the draft (and to a lesser extent, international scouting) should be extremely exciting to Cubs fans, because while free agency hasn't been especially kind to Theo and the Red Sox, the draft has. IMO this should also lessen the anxiety about and the reluctance to part with minor league talent. Not saying you should give away the farm, just because Theo should rebuild it, but paying fair compensation and moving on would be best for both parties. Theo is the same guy who drafted David Murphy, Jon Papelbon, Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury, Clay Buchholz, Jed Lowrie, Daniel Bard, Justin Masterson, Casey Kelly*, and Anthony Rizzo*. All this in addition to other, more recent promising prospects. He is a master at using financial muscle to secure players with signability concerns and guys with money over slot. As an example, Boston's top prospect is arguably 3B Will Middlebrooks who Theo drafted in the 5th round and paid 1st round cash to. He definitely does have the chops to rebuild the system and in a few years I would expect Cubs fans to have a good laugh over giving up Brett Jackson for Theo and the fervent discussion that ensued. A quick resolution means Theo can get to work on the rebuild in Chicago and the Sox can get on with hiring a manager. One thing's for sure, I'd love to be a fly on the wall in those meetings. *The key pieces in the Adrian Gonzalez trade you didn't answer the question, though.

i didn't think we would beat the packers or the lions. i think we beat the vikings.

i think it's a bit too late for that. I don't think it is. They had to give him permission to talk to other teams to begin with. Sure, their feelings are hurt now since he not only talked to someone, but found somewhere he'd rather be, but those wounds will heal in time. The harsh stuff Henry is saying about Crawford is a whole different ballgame, however. Yikes. Could be an interesting offseason in Boston. they are jerking him around for fun right now.

are they meeting on this today?

i think it's a bit too late for that.

That's actually a good point. Quit and if they make a stink about the contract money the Cubs will just pay it and he's home free. Call me crazy but that makes a lot of sense. there's probably some no compete clause in his contract, though.

Shimmy shimmy ya, shimmy yam, shimmy yay, Gimme the mic so I can take it away. Off on a natural charge, bon voyage Yeah, from the home of the Dodgers, Brooklyn squad Wu-Tang Killer Bees on a swarm! Rain on ya college ass, disco dorm! For you to even touch my skill, You gotta have the one Killer Bee and he ain't gonna kill. Now My producer slam, my flow is like bam! Chop that down, pass it all around! Lyrics get hard, quick cement to the ground! For any MC in any 52 states, I gets psycho killer Norman Bates! My producer slam, sharp like bam! Jump on stage, and then I dun-daaaah!

ayyo camouflaged chameleon, ninjas scalin ya buildin no time to grab the gun they already got ya wife and children

it's always been like that for you, huh?

awesome

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnofMbHgHfc

The point is, dragging it out impacts the Cubs more. If the Cubs do not have a new GM in place by the end of the World Series, that's a major problem for them. Ergo, leverage Red Sox. Well, no, because the reports seem to be indicating that Ricketts has had overtures out there to multiple candidates, so if they want to move on they can and could almost certainly have the position filled by one of their other top picks by the end of the WS. Which would hurt the Cubs more in the long run: losing one or two prospects they wanted to keep, or losing Epstein? If you say the former, you're lying. by all accounts the red sox aren't asking for 1 or 2 prospects, they're asking for the entire system. i wouldn't be surprised if they asked for javier baez, just to mess with the hog farmer.

mike murphy works for espn 1000, doesn't he?

how can the red sox function with a GM under contract that they will not release? he's got duties that he has been contracted to perform, if he is not allowed to perform those duties, yet is not given his release, that opens up a huge can of labor worms that they don't want. they cannot hold him hostage, and they won't.

Wait, what? They need to hire a new manager and deal with coming off a disappointing season, potentially trying to deal away bad contracts and dealing with expiring ones and singing new FA. In short, they have a lot do do and leaving the FA in turmoil isn't going to help at all. The Red Sox very much have motivation to get this done quickly. Like I said, they can officially name Cherington the GM anytime. He's already acting in that role, and presumably he's working on all the things you mentioned. This Theo stuff isn't holding up any of that. No, I'm sorry, that's an absurdly messy situation. To think it's likely they'd go through that just to play hardball over not getting top prospects is, well, absurd. It would be one thing if the Cubs were trying to force them to walk away with nothing, but the reports/rumors seem to indicate they're willing to give up players and money. The Sox are just trying to shoot for the moon with the player compensation, likely because they think they can push around someone they view (or viewed) as fatally green to this in Ricketts. Nevermind the legalities of Theo's contract and the dissent it would sow. i get the idea they think ricketts is some hog farmer from the midwest.