treebird

i haven't been that critical of sveum thus far, but i thought tonight's game was just inexcusable. there's just no reason at all to let garza take castro's at bats all game.

fffff i thought this game was at 1:20, how am i ever going to get through this afternoon now :suiciding: EDIT: looks like the smilies are broke tim

i reserve the right to permanently vacate my cubs fandom if aramis gets booed

excellent at bat lahair

agreed, and it looks like that's what we're going to do. though it would be hilarious if they sent garza out to bunt.

impressive photochop, too bad everyone knows that cespedes is going to need a few months in AAA before he's ready

i'm going to say that second one is broken

looked good on gamecast again >:-(

looked good on gamecast >:-(

i like this idea a lot, good work tt. and i voted no, thus creating an unholy vote no triumvirate with cc and kyle.

OFFICIAL DUMPSTER SUPPORT VIDEO http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWXjkvc--EM

It ignores the entire universe of existence outside of the conversation at hand, which was whether or not Theo Epstein decided to tank the 2012 season. I'm very happy with what he's doing with the minor leagues and the overall organization. I just don't think that the tanking of 2012 was necessary to support those actions. I don't think giving LaHair six weeks of time at 1B to preserve an extra year of eligibility for Rizzo is the same thing as saying the Cubs didn't make any upgrade at 1B. The plan isn't to replace Pena with LaHair, it's replacing Pena with Rizzo, and using LaHair for six weeks to bridge the gap. not a huge deal, but rizzo has to stay down for like 3.5 months in order to preserve that year.

They made moves to address 3B and RF, kept a cornerstone at SS, kept moderately productive pre-FAs at C and 2B, and have prospects ready to take over midseason at 1B and CF. I guess they could have sold Soriano and tried to fill LF a different way, but outside that, they either kept productive guys or made moves at every other spot. Wait, "keeping Castro" was a thing they did? Keeping him at short deserves at least a little credit, since there's a growing push to move him to 2nd or 3rd. i'm not giving him any credit for that at all, you need to get a dog and get off theo's nuts with that one

yay six man pen

theo epstein has obtained a position in which he: is compensated as well as anyone else in his position has no expectations for at least the next two years (and likely longer) is allowed to rebuild the team however he sees fit without regard for the quality of the product on the field will be allowed resources on par with just about everyone in his sport besides the red sox and yankees works with an owner who went extremely out of his way to obtain him and seems perfectly content to let him control every aspect of the team --- i cannot come up with a job of this nature that i'd rather have. is there anything else out there that compares?

did that guy just say that we should get dogs and have sex with them?

I almost want them to do it in LF too I would bet heavily that is what they do. Is there enough demand for private parties to sell both sections for 300 people at a minimum of 50/group? I think it'd make more sense to sell them the way they sell the area behind home plate. ugh, i hate the big group requirement thing, all it does is ensure we have a bunch of stupid looking empty seats in the corner all the time.

HATE

the four in the playoffs last year were pretty good

They weren't protesting the hiring, but they still have connections to the programs and heard about it. So smart. Do you test at high levels? Now go talk about your opinions on movies, because opinions can't be wrong. I mean if you aren't busy practicing law yet. Wait, abuck is going to be a lawyer? If so his posts make a lot more sense to me now. He's so smart it has to be either lawyer or doctor. you don't have to be smart to be a lawyer, it's just a bonus for abuck

What do you mean it averages 27.5% of the 2012 payroll? It only accounts for a percentage of the 2012 payroll once. It's pretty clear with all the money that most non-Cubs teams are willing to spend on players that money is expected to be there to afford all these players. Cincy's current payroll is roughly double what it was 7 years ago. If it doubles again that percentage will plummet. The obsession with payroll flexibility really confuses me. I would much rather have really good players than the flexibility to sign mediocrity. The Reds are closer to median payroll now than they were in 2004 which was the last time they were down that low. There isn't as much room for them to grow anymore, so they are dependent on MLB growing salaries across the board. I used the 2012 number because that's the only payroll number we know as of the moment so that served as a baseline. Obviously as I mentioned that percentage will go down as the payroll increases, but I would be stunned if there payroll was double or really anywhere close in the next 7-10 years. Payroll flexibility has to be balanced with the scarcity of playing time. For the Cubs, playing time is more scarce then money, so signing stars to that sort of deal makes sense. For the Reds, payroll flexibility is a big deal. They'll have some difficulty surrounding him in the early years because of how much his salary is, and in the later years he'll decline. That's a big problem. It's an even bigger one when they could trade him and get major assets back for him from a team who doesn't have to be as concerned by the financials. http://cincinnati.com/blogs/reds/2012/02/11/more-scary-news-on-tv-front-for-reds/?odyssey=obinsite the reds current tv deal is a joke, it's not unreasonable to think they'll be right there along with everyone else and get a real deal that allows them to significantly up the payroll in a few years.

what? no. the bullpen is where you learn to throw as hard as you can every pitch since you're only going to be out there for an inning.

it's fine, we're going to sign matt kemp and joey votto

fact

Eh, there are some Dodger fans scattered around the country. It's not the Cubs or Yanks, for sure. It seems like a lot of money to pay, but look at McCourt. He went from $420 million to $2 billion in just 20 years of ownership. *AND* he gets to keep part of the enterprise. Yikes. He made out like a bandit. And he sucked. how can 2 billion be too much to pay? just look at the last owner: he got some idiot to pay 2 billion for the team!