"But because progress as an organization isn't linear, that's coming, and we just don't let it bother us. I think it's important to just focus on what we're doing internally and understand that everything outside is really, no offense, just noise. Whether it comes from (the media) or even comes from some fans who are deservedly upset at a given point, it's really just noise and if we let it affect our decision-making, shame on us.

"So as (Bill) Parcells said, 'If you listen to the fans in the stands, pretty soon you'll be sitting with them.' Don't take that the wrong way. I care more than anything what our fans think. But I also operate with the belief that ultimately the only way to make them happy is to be able to provide for them baseball in October on a consistent basis, and a World Series championship eventually.

"Any time they're frustrated, or there's negative feedback, it's just a reminder to me of what the ultimate goal is."
- Theo Epstein

I gotta say, I like it. Hendry reacted to Cub fan whining and crying. I don't think there's better examples of that than Milton Bradley and Soriano, except maybe Micah Hoffpauir.

oh, and the Castro investigation is ongoing still. Ol' Starlin might still end up in County.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Good stuff. Theo is the biggest Cubs hire since Dallas Green & I look forward to my favorite Baseball team becoming a real major league organization & team. The Cubs were so far behind the rest of MLB because of Hendrys lack of systems & progress, but Theo will get us there.

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CSFMB 2014 Nascar Pick 'em Champion

We don’t have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven’t taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much. — Ronald Reagan

Theo is correct, for a few years at least.

He was hired to build something. I would have given them more time but Rizzo moved the time line up a bit.

Having Castro and Rizzo, maybe Jackson provides a cheap base that should be built around.

I don't think Theo will care too much with a 1st or 2nd worst record this year. Gets him a top 2 pitcher int he draft. Guys who turned down millions to play at college. These are guys who are less than 1 year away from coming up.

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

He was on Rome yesterday.

Same interview he's been doing since he got the job about No Quick Fix but still a sense of urgency.


Im very happy they hired Theo

I'm not sure how this fits in with the modern baseball narrative that "the playoffs are a crapshoot". That being the case, Jim Hendry was one of the best general managers in baseball.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

Yeah, Hendry didnt have the Cubs behind MLB. Thats ridiculous.

They had a depleted farm system becasue they spent money and prospects going for the win.

Not all that rare.

To me there seems to be a lot of confusion about what Theo Epstein means to the Cubs, particularly on a certain radio show that airs between 1 and 6. If you listen to that show you are constantly lectured about sample sizes and how the playoffs in baseball are a crapshoot. Yet if that is truly the case, didn't Jim Hendry pretty much succeed the same way Theo Epstein did in Boston? Since the playoffs are a crapshoot, the Cubs achieving the best record in the NL was actually better than Theo winning a World Series with a Wild Card. Right?

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

Not really cause that Wild Card Red Sox team won 98 and the Cubs won 97. We cant pretend the Yankee thing doesnt exist.

The Red Sox were in the playoffs more often and that gives you the best chance to win the crap shoot

Their lowest win total with Theo was 89


Thats how you win. Keep getting there.


But youre right, by Cub standards, Hendry was great. He got there 3 times in 10 years.

I don't think baseball playoffa are a crapshoot. Not to get into a bern stine argument but how. An one sport be a crapshoot in a seven game series and in another sport a seven game series is where the best team usually wins?

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

The Numbers bear out that it is a crap shoot.


Over 162 games the best team is gonna win the most games. Over a 5 or 7 game series, no always the case.

And what ultimately did him in were the moves after that 2008 season. Yeah Soriano was a bad deal, but really the Cubs HAD to go out that offseason and get somebody...Soriano, Carlos Lee...somebody. It was the no trade clauses, and the Milton Bradleys, and the $ to Dempster and Z (with no trade clauses), etc that really did him in. If after 2008 he made some decent moves and continued to make some decent moves, he'd probably still be here. And if that really were the case, then Theo might not be here.

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Okay, that's fine. But Hendry certainly wasn't bad unless you think anything less than a championship is a failure. I guess we're having two different discussions here. I see saying "the playoffs are a crapshoot" and "all that matters is winning a championship" as the ultimate "Who Ya Crappin'". If there's nothing you can do to win a championship beyond getting to the playoffs, how can you be judged on how many championships you win?

But I don't really believe "the playoffs are a crapshoot". I think baseball begins and ends with pitching. And that's a constant through all eras regardless of the average offensive output of those eras. And pitchers go through form cycles. It's very similar to a racehorse. There are lots of moving parts. The major difference being that I can control more aspects of my racehorse's life than a manager or pitching coach can with a pitcher. For example, Joe Girardi can't stop Freddie Garcia from staying out until four in the morning. Ozzie Guillen can't stop Mark Buehrle from eating bacon double cheeseburgers. My horse is only eating what I want him to eat and he is working out on my schedule.

And in racing, just like in baseball, the "when" matters as much as anything. I can beat your horse five times in various races, but if you beat me going a buck and a quarter the first Saturday in May at Churchill, you're remembered forever and I'm nobody. While I'm on this, here's a little tip for you gamblers. I'm not predicting a Derby winner the first week in April, but I'll tell you this. There was a horse named El Padrino that raced wide the whole way in the Florida Derby last Saturday and finished very willingly under a hand ride like he was looking for more. They weren't trying to win. That isn't to say they wanted to lose, but winning was not the goal. And therein lies another difference between horses and pitchers, baseball and racing. Pitchers and baseball teams can rarely afford to give one away looking down the road. So in some ways, whether a pitcher is at his best at the right times is a crapshoot.

So, the key is to have at least two and hopefully three very good starting pitchers at the top of their form cycles heading into the playoffs. I think you can build a team- not to guarantee that- but certainly to facilitate it.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

hard to compare what hendry did (very little)to theos' track record...theo had to make the playoffs in the best division in baseball and won 2 world series.. the n.l. central is weak most years and ripe for the taking...the cubs under hendry over spent their division rivals and should have won the division when you out spend...boston gets out spent by the yanks... and tampa is very good...imo friedman is the best executive in baseball...theo should have no problem building a perennial winner in the n.l. central.

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Yeah B and B contradict themselves often.

And Hendry wasnt terrible




But it is. Even you say having your pitchers in the correct cycle is the key to winning and THAT is a crapshoot.

Its just the numbers, man.

And the more teams you add, the more random it becomes.

Of course there are things you can do to try and make your roster post season friendly but compaired to building a team for the regular season its a complete crapshoot.


Ive reached my maximum amount of times I can say or type crapshoot today so Ill be switching to coin flip now

5 game series, crapshoot. 7 game series, the team with the better pitching is going to win.

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I'm not sure random is the right word. I can understand why a statistician might use the term, but putting together a championship baseball team is a highly complicated endeavor. I think the question to ask is "what do those teams have in common"? I'm sure there are at least a few general managers asking it.

And I understand that you can't have absolute control over whether Pitcher A or Pitcher B will be at his best heading into October, but you can choose to build around starting pitchers that are more likely to be consistent. Or you can spend your money on Adam Dunn.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

Are you being serious?

You think the 2 games make all the difference?

And that's the issue. They DONT have anything in common. Nothing with high percentages anyway.

About 11% of WS winners have dominant closers and thats the highest percentage there is (or was as of my last readings)

If Bern Stine holds out wtih "playoffs are a crapshoot" I'm calling shennanigans on that.

Because a) it's not a crapshoot in other sports when Bern Stine will declare that it's not the NCAA Tourny where Anyone Can Win! it's where "the best team usually wins"

b) it invalidates what he's declared as the only true measure of success, winning a world series. Because really, if it's just a random crapshoot in the playoffs, then the ultimate goal is just getting the dice in your hand, because beyond that you're just a champion of chance.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Very well said by Theo. This is exactly how a big picture guy should operate.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

Yeah, Nothing but a Championship matters is one of the all time dumb sports thoughts

I agree. It's stupid and it conflicts with a lot of shit that guy says. Don't get me wrong, I love me some Bern Stine, I do, but he's so full of shit half the time I don't know how he can walk.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Its one thing to say, that you should look at moves in that way.

You want every move to be moving towards that goal.


But when the Bulls begin a season 0-11 and finish with 47 wins and a playoff berth after being terrible for 6 years....thats a good season

Yup. Cubs in '07 and Sox in '08 were good seasons as well. Sure neither won the WS, but I believe they were both coming off 90 loss seasons. To go from worst to first in MLB is a great success.

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Not really in the NL Central though.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Many of you big picture guys are full of shit. Those exact comments made by anyone else and you would be calling for their head. Now all of a sudden you're taking the long term approach.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Like who?
Isn't this a new, unique situation for the Cub fans to be in? I mean, this is basically the first true "rebuild" I've seen in my lifetime... this isn't repairing a roof here, this is foundation to flashing rebuild, so yeah, obviously you've got to have that in mind with expectations this season... meaning... if the Cubs wn 75 games this year, I'd say that's about what I had hoped for/expected... next year, I suspect I'll look for improvement.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

What?

Who are you referring to and why would they not want the long term approach? Thats the ONLY option at this point.

And if someone were giving a guy who has had a lot of recent success a little more room to work, why would that be an issue?

103 years of waiting...THERE IS NO BIG PICTURE...Nas is 100% right!

They lose on Thursday to a guy coming back from TJ surgery and I'll be all over their collective asses.

AND PRINT IT!

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

Thats like a homeless man saying "Screw gettting a job and a place to live, If I dont own a house and a Rolls Royce by next week, Ill be pissed"