Hairyducked Idiot

It turns out that pitchers are weird and random. When your 5.XX ERA from Baltimore becomes peak Bob Gibson, you're a genius. When all your expensive, previously-good pitchers suck, you suck. We're through four years of window now. How long is the window supposed to last in a world of insanely early peaks, parity and attrition? It's one of the oldest pitching staffs in baseball, it can only expect to get worse from here on out without a major investment, and we don't have that many resources left to invest in it. On the hitting side, Addison Russell sucks as a human being and Albert Almora sucks as a baseball player. Everyone else in the lineup is already going to be at least 26 next year. And nobody really knows if Kris Bryant's shoulder will ever be able to do what it used to do. There's no more growth built-in, only the inevitable decaying decline that is existence. Basically, we're past the midpoint of the peak that comes with a Theo-style rebuild. When they reached this point in Boston in 2006, they stretched it into three more playoff appearances in a row and then were out 6 of the next 7 years. But 2006 Boston had 22-year-olds Jon Lester and Dustin Pedroia to help smooth out the second half of their run. If we want a similar second half, we're going to be aggressive in retooling the roster every offseason to fix the broken parts. It's not time to think about another rebuild yet, but it's time to think about when it will be time to think about one.

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2016 is what makes me able to find this funny and entertaining in a fun-bad way. If I didn't have to fear the Brewers winning the World Series, I honestly wouldn't care much at all about what's going on or even if we missed the playoffs. Yeah, that's the downside. I don't mind the Cubs imploding, but I don't want some turd-ass turds like the Brewers or Cardinals to benefit.

2016 is what makes me able to find this funny and entertaining in a fun-bad way.

A tiebreaker that feeds the loser into the Wild Card game is objectively cool, though. Can't deny that.

Less able to pretend he isn't hurt.

Bears fans are genetically engineered to pine for horsefeathers backup QBs to play Because we always had questionable at best starters.

Imb in here trying to get some Duke hate riled up so we forget it was his thread killed the season

Now that I know that rebuilds work, I'm excited to start the new one.

It's definitely possible it all snaps together for him one of these weeks. Just because I think the downside is very real doesn't mean the upside isn't too.

Losing to them would be nicer than losing directly to Milwaukee.

Why would something good happen when something bad could happen instead? (no, not really)

Gritty is growing on me.

This is the thread where we talk about how permanently broken Kris Bryant is

I don't want to step on Duke's lines, but they literally have the best record in the National League.

70% option 2, 30% option 3

DOOM BONER ALERT horsefeathers like this is why I no longer assume anything as far as the Cubs competitive window goes. Who knows what kind of crap like this pops up? And if Bryant's shoulder is a chronic problem going forward? I think it's safe to assume that Bryant's shoulder is a permanent problem and we can stop counting on him for 40 HRs.

What direction the QB is looking DOES NOT MATTER. He didn't lift him off the ground. He ran into him and he tackled him. It was a sack. If this is no longer a sack, then you simply aren't allowed to tackle the QB anymore. If that is what we want the rules to be...ok, fine. Just actually make that the rules. Two-hand touch, whatever. Just make the rules clear. The rule is simply "defenseless." Looking the other way is defenseless. I specifically outlined a way to sack the quarterback that doesn't involve a violent hit when he's not looking.

I again come down on the roughing the passer call, this time on Matthews, being just fine. The QB was looking the other way and he drove into him, lifted him off the ground, then lifted his own feet to drive him into the ground with his weight. It's not gonna happen overnight or with a single rule change, but what the NFL has to do long-term if they are really focusing on player safety is get players to think in terms of tackles and not hits. Your goal is to wrap a guy up and pull him to the ground, not to launch your body at him like a missile to knock him down.

I've got 2014 when they were tied with the Lions at 2-1 after week 3.

Dang it, I wanted that TD for PD purposes

All wins are good wins.

Mack is going to to drag this team into the playoffs whether they like it or not.

This game is so winnable.