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MLB: Cubs 2014

ketchupnmustard

ketchupnmustard

Well-Known Member
Oct 28, 2006
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It's cold outside. Depressingly cold. So I start thinking about Summer, watching baseball, cracking peanuts & drinking beer. Not necessarily in that order. So then I looked at my favorite team's site and look at the plethora of quality off-season additions.

Transactions | cubs.com: Team

Yikes! Me thinks Theo & Jed are not quite sure about what they are doing.
No arms + no bats = no real hope for improvement. What are the bright spots for this upcoming season besides giving Wrigley a facelift?
 
It's baseball. No one cares if your team is good or not. It's just an excuse to drink beer outside with other people.
 
I think it's pretty obvious (and has been for a long time) that this year isn't going to produce a lot of wins. The future is in the farm system, and the future looks pretty bright. But we won't see much of it until later in this season (at the earliest). There's no point spending much on the FA market when it's not going to make much difference for another year or two.

Next year is when we'll see some progress in the W/L column (think wins in the low to mid 80s), and 2016 is when things get serious.
 
I really am not sold on the idea of completely flushing a season away even before Pitchers & Catchers report.
 
ketchupnmustard said:
I really am not sold on the idea of completely flushing a season away even before Pitchers & Catchers report.
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That's the great thing about baseball - there's always hope at the start of the season. Ignore the dipsh*ts who don't care about baseball. Enjoy it for what it is and cross your fingers there is something worth watching (from your own perspective) after the All-Star break. ;) Personally, I cannot wait for baseball season to start up again.
 
It is a sad statement to say right now, but I think the Iowa Cubs are going to be amazing this year. Got to try and go to more games this year.
 
tm3308 said:
I think it's pretty obvious (and has been for a long time) that this year isn't going to produce a lot of wins. The future is in the farm system, and the future looks pretty bright. But we won't see much of it until later in this season (at the earliest). There's no point spending much on the FA market when it's not going to make much difference for another year or two.

Next year is when we'll see some progress in the W/L column (think wins in the low to mid 80s), and 2016 is when things get serious.
Click to expand...

I thought that was the line two years ago just change 2016 to 2015. Either way, the Cubs loss of relevance (or maybe I should say entertainment) has cause them to pretty much lose me as a baseball fan. Call it fair weather, but nothing about the whole game in general is as entertaining as it once was for me.
 
ketchupnmustard said:
I really am not sold on the idea of completely flushing a season away even before Pitchers & Catchers report.
Click to expand...

Well, that's too bad. Because the farm system guys are probably a year away and we've been working on getting rid of all the bad contracts that sunk the team in the first place. Rebuilding usually means tearing down first. This year will be rock bottom, IMO.
 
Short-term "fixes" caused the demise of Hendry. The way that Theo is going about this gives the Cubs the best odds for sustainable, long-term success.
 
Last year at Spring Training I had a great tenderloin from a vender. Guy had a giant hawkeye flag on the top of his stand.

I convinced everyone in line to order the "Cyclone Special".

Then I drank Old Styles......so it was a damn fine day
 
My understanding is the Cubs are on a long-term rebuild. They made the conscience decision go after young hitters, as they are cheaper than young pitching. They are hoping the hitters develop so they can turn them into pitching in the future. Obviously some of those hitters will stay with the team. That is why there isn't much concern for the overlap at certain positions.

I think Theo and Jed have a plan and are sticking to it. Rickets is willing to wait apparently. Although I would think financially he needs to get competitive again sooner rather than later. Once interest rates start going up his debt service is going to be a tough pill to swallow.

But maybe not, cause the big rumor is the Cubs will be creating their own network and that will be worth quite a bit. They may even go in with the Blackhawks, but if I remember correctly this is a few more years down the road because Sam Zell extended the tv contract with WGN and Comcast right before the sale.
 
I believe that they are in negotiations for tv right now.

The frustration is to be expected and is warranted. I don't mind the long term strategy. This team and franchise was in a big hole when the Ricketts took over in terms of contracts and operational deficiencies.
 
boone7247 said:
My understanding is the Cubs are on a long-term rebuild. They made the conscience decision go after young hitters, as they are cheaper than young pitching. They are hoping the hitters develop so they can turn them into pitching in the future. Obviously some of those hitters will stay with the team. That is why there isn't much concern for the overlap at certain positions.

I think Theo and Jed have a plan and are sticking to it. Rickets is willing to wait apparently. Although I would think financially he needs to get competitive again sooner rather than later. Once interest rates start going up his debt service is going to be a tough pill to swallow.

But maybe not, cause the big rumor is the Cubs will be creating their own network and that will be worth quite a bit. They may even go in with the Blackhawks, but if I remember correctly this is a few more years down the road because Sam Zell extended the tv contract with WGN and Comcast right before the sale.
Click to expand...

I thought the Cubs were part owners of the Comcast channel?

Either way the Cubs and Blackhawks channel would be a force. Plenty of high demand content and the Cubs still seem to be a national draw even with the lack of games on the WGN superstation.

Taking the games to an exclusive channel would be wise financially, but it sure seems the Cubs are starting to lose the Midwest for fan support. Taking the Cubs out of Peoria can't help.
 
Swanson10 said:
I thought that was the line two years ago just change 2016 to 2015. Either way, the Cubs loss of relevance (or maybe I should say entertainment) has cause them to pretty much lose me as a baseball fan. Call it fair weather, but nothing about the whole game in general is as entertaining as it once was for me.
Click to expand...
+1
 
ThatllDoCy said:
I believe that they are in negotiations for tv right now.

The frustration is to be expected and is warranted. I don't mind the long term strategy. This team and franchise was in a big hole when the Ricketts took over in terms of contracts and operational deficiencies.
Click to expand...

I agree with you, but I think a lot of people thought that Ricketts was going to come in and spend all this money, but honestly his hands were tied. I know I ran into some people, (who thought they were pretty smart) saying they would be competitive in two years after he bought them because his pocketbook was endless. What they didn't realize is Daddy only gave him enough money to buy the team, with a huge debt load.

My understanding is that Tom is the blacksheep of the family and this was a way to distract him from the family business. This may or may not be true, but so far the family isn't pushing much if any cash toward the Cubs. So Tom has to find a way to make the team successful on its own.
 
If we had a league average closer we would have won 8 more games last year.
 
Rabbuk said:
If we had a league average closer we would have won 8 more games last year.
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This is true, but there really is no point in paying for an average closer when its the difference between 4th and 5th place. I am completely fine with the strategy so far.
 
cloneteach said:
This is true, but there really is no point in paying for an average closer when its the difference between 4th and 5th place. I am completely fine with the strategy so far.
Click to expand...

agreed. I'm fine with the strategy that if you're not good enough to win 90+ games then you might as well be as bad as you can be to get better draft position/bonus money.

The Cubs are in a tricky spot because a lot of their young prospects are within a year or two of the majors so they can't block them by acquiring free agents at those positions.

I wanted them to go after Elsbury but given the size of contract he got I'm glad the Cubs didn't get him. He was the only player on the market that I though made much sense for the Cubs.

Let's put it this way, if the lack of spending goes on past next year I'm going to be really upset
 
I was more saying there are easy fixes to be had when we decide to compete were still a ways away.
 
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