Hairyducked Idiot

I would not have guessed Pierce Johnson is about to turn 25

Yeah. Once we got Warren from the Yankees, my burning desire for another pitcher went away. I mean, there'd be a certain satisfaction in seeing Soler's 1.3 drop off as the only position or rotation spot where we project to under 2 wins, but we just ... don't need to get any better? That's a weird way to put it, but my god how good does a team have to be before diminishing returns kick in? If there's an amazing Soler for young pitcher deal to be had, I'd be intrigued, but the way pitchers have been going for nutso returns this offseason makes me believe that deal isn't out there.

If the world were a just place, yelling "THREE SECONDS!" at an amateur basketball game at any level would carry with it a prison sentence.

Wood, Cahill nor Richard all have no realistic chance of making the rotation. Your plan worked.

Pirates' SB Nation site at 3:19: Details of trade still coming out. Obviously Pirates getting somebody else because Walker is too good to 1-for-1 with Niece. Pirates' SB Nation site at 3:25: Walker for Niese confirmed

Those first 3 might be enough for a rehabbing Cobb? I'd be surprised if that's enough for McGee or Odorizzi If they wanted those first three just as a gesture of goodwill, it wouldn't be terrible value.

We could replace Rizzo with LaHair right now and still be slightly better than the Cardinals or Pirates on paper.

Warren >> Wood >> Cahill and Richard

Montero is a non-starter for me. We need his pitch-framing and not complete worthlessness on offense. Coghlan is easy to let go. I wish Tim could institute some kind of Phpbb thing where a water gun popped out of the computer and squirted right in the face anyone who tries to get us back down to five acceptable starters. Wood I can live with letting go, but I'm not thrilled with it.

Trying to put together a complex series of moves that ends up with stealing Heyward from the Cardinals feels *exactly* like Boston Theo. And just like with Boston Theo and A-Rod, it might not quite come together, but then the next offseason he tries something similar. Over and over, and sometimes it does work. (Until he decides he wants to back off for a couple of down seasons to regroup and management doesn't let him, but maybe by then we'll have our WS and he can retire and we'll let all this sick young executive talent we're amassing take over).

We're definitely in a different era. At that time, they were trying to build talent in the system while losing. They have now pivoted to actually attempting the dual fronts we were promised at the start. I like this era a lot better. That first era was stupid and annoying. He should run our baseball team like Barney Stinson puts together a mix tape.

Look at this offseason: http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2014/03/offseason-in-review-chicago-cubs.html And tell me it's completely unreasonable to feel like we're in a different era now.

If he can keep it up, he'll deserve all the praise he's gotten. We'll see. Here's two examples for why I think there's such a big demarcation to be seen. Almora with the No. 6 pick vs. Schwarber with the No. 4, and what we got for Garza vs. what we got for Samardzija. He hasn't always been this good with the Cubs, but lately he has been. If you're going to use hindsight to judge the return on Garza, then use similar hindsight to judge the return on Dempster. They botched the Garza deal even without hindsight. Or at least gambled and lost. The package we finally got for him was a fraction of what we were talking about getting the year before. answer the question, please. In fact, of that list of players I posted earlier (plus pitchers), Bryant, Rizzo, Arrieta and Soler were all acquired prior to 2014. Pretending that they didn't do much to lay the foundation before that time is disingenuous at best and ignores the three best players on the team. 1) You literally didn't ask a question. What would you like me to answer? 2) I didn't say "they never made a good move before that time." Arrieta and Rizzo were amazing. Bryant was a gimme putt at best, and there were lots of reports that they liked Appel more. Soler isn't actually good yet, so it's a bit premature to include him on that list. After acquiring Arrieta, they managed to make it through an entire offseason where their best move was 1/$6m for Jason Hammel. The reason I made the Arrieta god-mode comparison is because they've just been non-stop awesome sense roughly the Schwarber pick/Russell trade (which, even if you liked the Garza deal, it doesn't compare to getting Addison Russell, without hindsight). Arrieta had good starts pre-god-mode. What made it god mode was that it just never stopped.

I don't wanna put the line of demarcation back that far because the subsequent offseason was a huge turd. Right about the Russell trade and Schwarber pick is when he stopped mixing good and bad and just went all good forever.

If he can keep it up, he'll deserve all the praise he's gotten. We'll see. Here's two examples for why I think there's such a big demarcation to be seen. Almora with the No. 6 pick vs. Schwarber with the No. 4, and what we got for Garza vs. what we got for Samardzija. He hasn't always been this good with the Cubs, but lately he has been. If you're going to use hindsight to judge the return on Garza, then use similar hindsight to judge the return on Dempster. They botched the Garza deal even without hindsight. Or at least gambled and lost. The package we finally got for him was a fraction of what we were talking about getting the year before.

1990s Indians? 1990s Indians? 1990s Indians? cool cool cool It's still the pitching that can bring it all down. Kyle Hendricks is like the only pitcher in the organization between 21 and 28 worth a damn. (I'm probably exaggerating, but sheesh).

If he can keep it up, he'll deserve all the praise he's gotten. We'll see. Here's two examples for why I think there's such a big demarcation to be seen. Almora with the No. 6 pick vs. Schwarber with the No. 4, and what we got for Garza vs. what we got for Samardzija. He hasn't always been this good with the Cubs, but lately he has been.

We're talking about it in other threads too, but I'm just starting to look at the projections for next year and this team is just nuts. Theo Epstein's last two years have been the Arrieta god-mode of GMing.

5 is probably Lester's 70th percentile projection.

Now I'm getting nostalgic. We've had arguments about whether he could be waived for nothing and we've had arguments about whether he'd be fair value for Bryce Harper, and now he's gone.

I don't claim to know what they are thinking, but as of right now I feel pretty comfortable with Warren as our sixth starter, which as we've discussed is as likely to be in the rotation as not.

I really don't think it's a gimme that Wood is traded. That's nine guys for a team that frequently runs 8 relievers, a few of whom could be optioned or even sent away (Strop, Brothers, Wood and Richard all have non-guaranteed contracts as of right now). If we need to in order to sign Heyward, fine, but he's not superfluous.

I mean, we are kind of punting our longer-term pitching problems down the road this year, but for 2016 I'm finally happy with our pitching depth.

if you count minors in tenure (but only guys on the big league roster) is it javy? too lazy to check. Who signed first, him or Vogelbach?

I would have been happy with a lot less for Castro.