I'm going to do this.....international that..... Big Z this... we talked about baseball 4 hours after dinner. Just shut the fuck up and do it

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I'm going to bounce from the spot for awhile but I will be back at some point to argue with you about this hoops stuff again. Playoffs have been great this season. See ya up the road.

I'm out.

Smoking after siphoning gas is dangerous.

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Kenny Williams fell for the banana in the tailpipe

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Yes, I am tired of Theo. Tearing it up to rebuild is bullshit. The Cubs could have built this lineup up in free agency without signing guys to 7 year contracts. They could have rented a few guys for a year or two to make this lineup respectable. At some point Ricketts needs to tell the "genius" this losing shit ain't selling tickets,beer and t-shirts.

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

You didnt get enough of that with Trib ownership?

what is being accomplished right now? All I'm saying is get at least a few hitters off the scrap heap. a 2nd basemen and a 3rd basemen would have been nice.

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

Maybe they'll audition guys there.

Its a full out rebuild, Jimmy. Why waste money to get 77 wins instead of 72?

5th playoff spot,that's why. I may be out of line,but I can't stand watching this shit anymore. Oh yeah,and tell that grubby MF'r of a manager that a shave and shower wouldn't hurt either!

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

Not tired.
Anyone that would not want the full stop rebuild is either stupid or on their death bed.

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Kenny Williams fell for the banana in the tailpipe

Hi, Frank!

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Give the guy a draft class at least, maybe even an offseason dedicated to finding players, not getting rid of them.

all that said, I am still putting extra pressure on Rizzo.

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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.’”

Ask Jed's finishing school, San Diego padres, how the perpetual rebuild is going. I understand what they are doing, but they better start spelling out their plans to the fans. Their lineups over the weekend were some of the worst I've seen in the majors around here in a long time.

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You cannot make me care about the WNBA.

Next year will be very interesting as they only have 35M in payroll commitments:

2013 Contract Issues: Chicago Cubs
By Ben Nicholson-Smith [May 17, 2012 at 8:42am CST]
The Cubs are next in MLBTR’s 2013 Contract Issues series:

Eligible For Free Agency (4)

•Ryan Dempster - Dempster owns a 1.74 ERA through six starts and could be traded this summer. The Cubs may make the 35-year-old a qualifying offer after the season, but I don't expect them to. Dempster's ERA is definitely not sustainable and he's bound to start declining at some point, so the Cubs may look to ensure that it doesn't happen on their roster and payroll.
•Shawn Camp - Camp has pitched well for the Cubs, and the team may have interest in retaining him on a minor league deal for 2013.
•Reed Johnson - Johnson, 35, has been a valuable extra outfielder in recent seasons, but the Cubs' offseason plans won't revolve around him.
•Jeff Baker - Baker, who is off to a slow start at the plate, won't necessarily be asked to return.
Contract Options (2)

•Paul Maholm: $6.5MM club option with a $500K buyout. Maholm has stayed healthy this year and $6.5MM isn't unreasonable for a back-end starter with some upside.
•Kerry Wood: $3MM club option without a buyout. Wood has struggled through nine appearances, as his 8.64 ERA indicates. However, this has the potential to be a bargain for the Cubs if the right-hander can stay healthy and show signs that he's the same pitcher he was in 2011.
Arbitration Eligible (8)

•First time: Jeff Samardzija, Starlin Castro, James Russell
•Second time: Randy Wells, Chris Volstad, Ian Stewart
•Third time: Geovany Soto
•Fourth time: Matt Garza
The Cubs face a relatively expensive projected arbitration class that includes some of the team's best players. Soto and Garza will earn raises next winter as they go to arbitration for the final time. Samardzija and Castro seem primed for salaries of at least $2MM (unfortunately for Samardzija, starters Rick Porcello and David Price didn't seem to be able to use their generous pre-arbitration salaries to boost their arbitration earnings this past offseason). Wells, Volstad and Stewart could each be traded or non-tendered if the Cubs aren't comfortable locking them in for raises and roster spots going forward.

2013 Payroll Obligation

The Cubs have approximately $35MM committed to next year's payroll, including Alfonso Soriano's $19MM salary. They have spent at least $100MM on payroll in each of the past five seasons, so president Theo Epstein and GM Jed Hoyer should have financial flexibility even after accounting for arbitration raises.

The idea is to draft and develop. If you sign a 3rd baseman and a 2nd baseman to try to be more respectable, but wind up blocking a spot for a young player that would otherwise have taken that spot, it's a terrible waste of money and counter-productive to the development of the young players. Had the Cubs signed Prince Fielder, many people would have been thrilled. Instead they gave LaHair a chance and he may well be an All-Star this season and is a true bargain. Better to develop as many players as they can, until they are poised to truely contend. At that point, they can add the last piece or two....Plus, having a worse record this season means a better draft choice next season. Let Theo and Jed have 3 years to work the drafts, trade for young talent (for guys like Dempster) and develop the guys the aquire. Patience...

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Go Cubs!!!!

ES,
Unlike others on here,I respect your baseball opinions. All I'm saying is get a couple of "scrapheap" veterans that could hit for some power. No long term comitments. Besides the CUBS have no one I can see coming up to play 2nd or 3rd in the next two years. This team with just respectable hitting might have had a chance to grab that 5th playoff spot. The starting Pitching and a few releivers (Camp,Russel & Dolis) have pitched well overall

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

Jimmy you act like guys like this were just readily available this past offseason. They weren't. So who is it you would have rather the Cubs signed to be these scrapheap veterans?

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/transactions/free-agents


Go to this site,go all the way to the right column. The Cubs could have put 10-16 million into signing about 4-5 of these guys and upgraded some positions instead of just grabbing a few stiffs. Ian Stewart was a OK gamble,but they should have had a backup plan. Maybe they do in Joe Mather or go give Baker a shot for a few months and see if that's an improvement. Everybody could see this team was going to have a hard time hitting. It wouldn't have killed them to pick up some FA bats over the winter for a year or two commitment.

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

Jimmy, that list has a lot of shit on it. And you mentioned 3B specifically. There was one decent name on there for 3B and he was Aramis, and we already been there and done that.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Yes, It does have a lot of shit on it but it's better shit than what we have right now. In years past (except maybe a few times),the Cubs could have sucked but they seemed to always have at least 3 to 6 guys that were at least decent hitters. This team right now has maybe 2.5 hitters and LaHair is fading fast.

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

I wouldn't have minded seeing Eric Hinkse getting signed. Nice bat off the bench and pretty versatile.

And he has their prize with him. This is why he and Theo do not get YEARS to demonstrate how great they are, Rizzo is almost a MUST hit for these guys

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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.’”

Right and with all the success and World Series the Cubs have won recently, its natural to fear change

If anyone thought the Cubs were going to be good this season or that one offseason with Theo was going to turn this ship around, then you are living in some sad, false baseball reality.

The team flat out sucks, and it's been virtually and intentionally stripped of talent, the remainder only staying because of bad contracts and/or untradeable numbers. This patchwork roster of schmoes and bums was always going to be this bad, if not worse. How people are so upset about it is amazing.

Does nobody read? Did people think this would be a snap of the fingers and a flash of baseball magic then *poof* - world series? This is going to take years, and rightfully so. If you paid for season tickets or something, then I'm sorry, but seriously.

Seriously.

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This thread is priceless. 2 months into the first season and goodwill starting to leave from the fringe crazies.

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Team Cutler.

I especially like the wishing we would have signed a few journeyman FA.

What I DO know for sure is this would be a first place team with Sandberg as manager.

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Team Cutler.

If Theo wants only (or mostly) his draft picks/trades in here, things could get even worse before they get better.

You've gotta give the man time. He has a track record of putting winners on the field. Granted, he had almost an unlimited budget in Boson, but the Cubs are no slouches as far as getting their revenue. The team sucks now, nobody will deny that. But you gotta give Theo and Jed a couple of years of drafting and trading to see what they can come up with.

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Good points Frank. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if, especially this season, Theo/Jed were told to really curb the major league payroll. Attendance has been down. Revenues are down. No combination of moves were going to make this team more competitive so might as well save 20 or so million off payroll to offset the loss of butts in the seats. Don't be shocked if you see the same thing next year. Lots of terrible Josh Hamilton thoughts. Although, I would give Hamels a call.

Could they have signed a few different players and maybe have another 2-3 wins? Maybe. Would it have changed your expectations for this season? Nope.

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Team Cutler.

I wonder about the whole Theojed wanting their own guys, regarding....

Samardzija
Castro
B Jackson

The idea is to go out and get YOUNG guys that MAY have a realistic chance of being a part of a long term solution here. Stewart looks like a guy that may not fit. But he's a good glove man and has some power that translated into a 25 HR season a couple years ago. He was worth taking a shot with. If a guy like that doesn't work out, he bought the guys a season to draft/trade and develop someone else. Maybe they trade Dempster at the deadline and get a young 3rd baseman that is a great prospect at 3rd? They can get a 2nd baseman very easily. Look at Hudson (just aquired by the Sox). 2nd basemen are very easy to find. You can always take an old SS who's arm is fading and throw him in at 2nd too. They think barney can be an above average player there, so it would make no sense to aquire just an average player to take over that position. Then, they could not find out just what they had in Barney. Better to give him the whole season and see if he the guy going forward. It's not gonna be a fun year. But it's all about evaluating what we have, drafting smartly and trading for pieces we determine we do not have and need. Patience...

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Go Cubs!!!!