Hairyducked Idiot

Your getting awfully mad about not alot of substance.

So if you have a guy who has already had major surgery, many stints on the DL and bad mechanics, do you let him be one of the top 2 in the league in pitches/start (with your 21-year-old stud being the other)? Ruining Prior alone is worse than going 0-6 in the playoffs, mailling it in for 2 seasons, peeing on the Harry Caray statue and trading Starlin Castro to the Cardinals for a middle reliever.

Piniella didn't singlehandedly torch said WS chances while simultaneously destroying the most promising arm the Cubs organization is likely to get in any of our lifetimes.

He's bad now.

The cool story about the Pirates is that they've been lucky enough to be within striking distance if they can get lucky enough the rest of the way. Nothing more than that, though.

His mom probably gambled all the family money away.

The problem with Soriano is that the Cubs made up their mind to get the best player on the FA market no matter what, and it was an offseason where the best wasn't all that great. This offseason will not have such a problem.

Should have traded high.

Who? I see two of the best hitters in the game available in free agency, and the youngest will turn 28 early next season. But sabermetric measures, that's toward the tail end of his prime.

In all fairness, you'd get that in a lot of places. I never did when I lived in Chicago... Chicagoans don't generally care about college sports. /ridiculousovergeneralization

Well, we could fold the team or something, but I was trying to stay realistic.

We basically have two options: 1) Spend the money we have coming off the books in an attempt to become competitive immediately. An attempt that, granted, may fail. 2) Drop the payroll by tens of millions of dollars, put the difference in Ricketts' pocket, and field non-prospects like Campana all over the field. We'd have a guaranteed awful team and it would destroy the team's revenue stream. It's not like we have a bunch of MLB-ready prospects to throw into all these spots. We'll have openings, we'll have money, there's no reason not to spend it.

And how likely do you think that is? That he's been coasting on luck for several seasons? Roughly equally likely to having almost all of our rotation doomed by bad luck simultaneously.

The thing I hate about modern peripherals is that there's so many of them, it feels like you can always find one to project a guy you like to do better than he is and the reverse for someone you don't like. Not saying you are doing that here, but I am beginning to see that in some places. Anyway, more relevantly: Garza and Dempster I'll grant you, but Zambrano's xFIP is right in line with his ERA right now, 4.21/4.34. If we're putting that much faith in xFIP, then he's been an average or a little worse pitcher for a few years now and coasting on luck.

Skin color.

I'd like a real No. 1 pitcher, to not have 40% of the projected rotation rocking horrible ERAs this season, and to not have the No. 2 starter showing signs of wearing down over the last few years. We are seeing that rotation without Wilson suck out loud right now, so I don't think it's that hard to imagine a scenario in which that rotation is the weak link that prevents a pretty good offense from contending next season. Like I said, they might as well go for it because they've got the money to spend. That doesn't mean I have a lot of faith in it working.

I'm kind of pissed this isn't a more common belief. The Brewers are loaded and they can't even pull away from the pack this year. A good offseason and this team should be able to compete. Dream FA signings this year: Fielder CJ Wilson Beltran Keep Ramirez I think that'd make this team pretty damn watchable at least, and very competitive within this division. No way we could afford all that unless you mean Frances Beltran. I do think we could get Fielder and Wilson, or a similar pitcher and keep Ramirez. That would make the Cubs contenders, maybe even favorites in the division. Looking at what we have now, as well as some guys on the farm who could be ready to contribute, I can't imagine how anyone can't believe that we can't compete. Oh, and we could definitely use a new manager. There's still a decent possibility that rotation will suck.

I'm not entirely convinced they can actually pull it off next year, but they pretty much have to try. What would be the point of shaving a ton of money off the payroll and not spending it?

There's really no reason not to bring him back next year if we don't trade him now. Whether you pick up the option or try to re-sign him to a lesser money deal is irrelevant at this point, but the Cubs should definitely bring him back next year if they don't trade him now. The only possible reason not to would be if he came back after the break and was awful or if they were utterly convinced that he'd fall off a cliff next year, but the former is unlikely and the latter might still be a better option than anything else. Next year, if we have a lineup of: 1. Jackson CF 2. Castro SS 3. Aramis 3B 4. Fielder 1B 5. Byrd RF 6. Soto C 7. Soriano LF 8. Baker/DeWitt/Flaherty/LaMahieu/Gonzalez/Barney 2B That would definitely contend, especially in the NL Central. I would like to see some kind of upgrade in the rotation however, be it a decent 3-4 starter like Edwin Jackson or Hiroki Kuroda, or see if we could get a high reward guy like Ben Sheets or Chris Carpenter for cheap. Trade Wells, and go with a rotation of Garza, Z, Demp, ?, and Cashner. The pen would be very solid with Marmol, Marshall, Carpenter, Samardzhjia, and add on Dolis, Belevieu, and Rhoderick and a bench of Castillo, 2 of the Baker/DeWitt/Flaherty/DJ/Barney/Gonzalez lot, and throw in 2 of Campana/Colvin/Montanez/Ty Wright or even Flaherty as a super sub. Id really like that teams chances. That rotation isn't good enough, imo. The offense is above average, but the rotation has a high implosion risk.

Bandwagon fan.

Why since May 2nd?

If they'll take 75% of his contract, we should be sending them prospects.

What's the timeline on Brett Jackson getting a promotion?

Bad BABIP, imo.

I think it's racism that makes people hate it in MLB but love it in the NBA. If Derrick Rose did something like that you guys would all pitch tents. Well that's ridiculous. Its also racist that I don't like collar greens. Has nothing to do with that I don't like a lot of vegetables. The first step to recovery is admitting that you have a problem.