Hairyducked Idiot

I'm not entirely sure what "Building a team through free agency" is supposed to mean. It's not like Hendry decided to suck at drafting on purpose. He needed players, the farm system didn't have any because he sucked at drafting, so he got them the only other ways he could.

That's certainly a distortion of the problems with the Cubs for the last 20 years, which weren't even that bad of a 20 years. I can't think of too many examples of overpaying, besides the obvious one. I can't really think of too many worthwhile young players who got blocked. And it ignores the biggest problem of all: drafting.

With even a half-hearted effort, they could have found better position players in a few spots for 2012. They are tanking this season in the truest sense of the word. There are positive aspects to the tanking, so I choose to focus on them, but that's still what this is.

Short answer: Yes, with an if. Long answer: No, with a but.

Travis Wood isn't the Super Awesome No. 2 starter I envisioned, the case against Darwin Barney has finally convinced me, and Ian Stewart's wrist still hurts. I'm lowering my expectations from high 70s to low 70s for wins.

What? Really? I know you are high on Wood, or I assume you were the one, but really? A positive case of Wood is ... Maholm. Jay Jackson has average stuff. Chris Rusin, if he goes down, is a softer-tossing version of Wood. Alberto Cabrera, a guy I'm higher on than most, should be in the pen. Who else? Nick Struck, another guy I'm higher on than most, is a ... righty version of Travis Wood basically, an end of the rotation arm with a mid-rotation ceiling. Who else? Dallas Beeler, another guy I really like, would be fortunate if he turned into a Volstad type starter. Maybe he can be a bit better, but Volstad would be a good outcome for Beeler in terms of the expectations game. McNutt has ceiling, but has to get consistent mechanics, and well, overall consistency. Are you really going to argue that any six you pick from AAA Iowa is going to have more days in the rotation where they would be better than the 6 on the major league squad against major league hitters? I didn't mean the rotation. I meant that assuming that Travis Wood isn't permanently broken or something, he's at least a reasonable comp for the back end of our rotation. Then you start including position players. Jackson and Rizzo are probably at least even with their big league counterparts right now. I've laid out the case before why I think Sappelt is pretty even with Soriano at this point in their careers. If Darwin Barney regresses to what everything outside of last April suggests, I don't think whoever ends up at 2b in Iowa will be much worse, if any. Warning, irrational hatred of a player ahead:

I think this one's pretty much settled. Garza/Dempster/Maholm/Samardzija/Volstad it is, with Wells possibly the swingman and Wood in AAA. Assuming that Wood can work things out and hasn't come down with Rich Hill disease, then the Iowa Cubs have an amazingly high number of spots where they are either better or even with the Cubs.

http://www.bleachernation.com/2012/03/20/the-bench-is-taking-shape-and-that-shape-looks-like-an-outline-of-joe-mather/

Well, I'm glad that it doesn't annoy you. It does annoy me "a little," as I put in the original post. We also disagree on which posts in this thread are inane.

Why in god's name would they detail that sort of thing publicly? What good would possibly come of it? From the post you are quoting. You had to have snipped this part directly to leave the rest in the quote box.

I will admit that a 25.07 ERA is testing my resolve to disregard the stats completely.

I didn't say I expected anything. I said I found it a little annoying. I find the sun in my eyes a little annoying, but I don't want it to be extinguished. I find the lack of openness from the Cubs (and any sports team) annoying, but I don't want or expect them to lay out their every thought in the media. But would I like to know how they rank Volstad/Wells/Wood/Samardzija and why? Absolutely. Why wouldn't I want to know?

Why do I want to know what's going on with the Chicago Cubs? I can understand why the concept may be foreign to you, but some fans *enjoy* their teams and want to know more about them. It's okay if you want to sit down and process that for a minute.

I don't know. If they thought Volstad was a better bet than Wood coming into ST, I respect that completely. It's a little annoying how quiet our management is on this stuff. I have no idea if turning the back of the rotation into some kind of ST horse race is coming from them or the media.

I would find that a lot more palatable than handing out jobs based on ST games. Just for fun, here's some 2011 spring training results: Awesome: Marmol, 2.00 ERA Wells, 2.10 ERA Dempster, 2.57 ERA Grabow, 2.57 ERA Awful: Russell, 8.03 Garza, 10.38

Sometime before spring training begins, you evaluate all the players based on many years of performance and scouting from actual, competitive games. You decide who your best five starters are. Then, in spring training, unless someone gets hurt or shows a wildly different skillset (loss/gain of velocity, new pitch, etc.), that's who gets the rotation spots. If the Cubs thought that Travis Wood was a better pitcher than Volstad on March 1, then nothing that's happened since should change their minds. Samardzija is a special case because we weren't sure if he could start, so he counts under wildly different skillset.

And another two-run homer. Wood to extended spring training. Don't want him ruining Boise's season.

Iowa it is... If we're really basing jobs on spring training performance, which it seems like we are, then I don't know if Wood is going to make Iowa. Does Tennessee have any open spots?

Out, walk, homer, single, out, throwing error when he tried to pick off the runner on a 3-2 count with no one covering 1st, strikeout. *sigh* Have fun in Iowa, Wood.

Cubs scored 7 in the top of the first. Please have a good game, Travis Wood.

Looking at that rotation, I marvel at how cheap, solid and young it is, with long-term upside. I think it should reasonably project as an above-average rotation for 2012. Which gives me two thoughts: 1) Epstein and Hoyer and etc. are very, very good at accomplishing what they put their mind to. 2) It's infuriating that they decided to give up on 2012, because with some offense this could easily be a playoff team.

I hold out hope that Wood will either pitch better in the last few meaningless games, or management will ignore spring training and give him the last spot over Volstad (or make a trade and get them both in there). But if that is how it shakes out, my excitement at Samardzija's development into a starter outweighs my Wood disappointment.

Obvious prelude to trading Dempster, imo.

Out of curiosity, what do people see as Dempster's peak potential trade value.

Depends on how many of these high-upside players actually turn into something useful, and how quickly the front office wants to contend. They seem content to punt on this season, so who knows how many seasons they don't mind giving up on.