ES,
When it comes to the Cubs,I enjoy reading your opinions. I think Cub fans who are pointing to POSSIBLE future MLB'rs makes them no different than any other baseball fan for any ML team. Who's to say if any of these guys are any good? In the mean time,it is not a good idea to fill your roster with garbage. They have guys who are marginal backups starting. I'm including Barney,Valebuena (great gloves are a dime a dozen),DeJesus. Nate Scherhultz has been a surprise and to be fair DeJesus is batting .290 but the bench is weak also. I guess this year,it's more of a bullpen failure more than anything else.

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

JP, although I disagree with your assessment, I'm asking a non-confrontational question here. Who would you have liked the Cubs to sign during free agency? Specific players.

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Good plan or bad plan, it is a plan to build and Jed and Theo cant be blamed for the Tribune cash cow that has been the Cubs.

Ricketts takes some blame here for being a slight pompus ass when buying this team and underestimating everything he was going to need to do here. This wasnt a quick sale, it was 2 years in the making, giving someone a ton of time to prepare for ownership. Add the 2 years after closing before he did anything significant and he is as much to balme as anyone.

All that said, he is paying (literally) for his mistakes and putting his money where his mouth is on this deal.

Hotel, extra building, extra space, seats, etc...all in about $500 Mill...which is all great but as Jerry can tell you, you can make the best churro in the world, but if nobody comes to buy one, who gives a shit. So all this building from the minors, getting better players, the Cub way, etc better turn into something more than an 81-81 team that fights for a wildcard spot every 3-4 years!

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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.’”

Gotta try and compete next year. I mean attempt to make the playoffs.


This is unacceptable

Agreed. This is last year I can handle watching pure shit.

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Theo keeps targeting 2015 as the earliest.

Hopefully he changes his mind.

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AAA and half of AA is total shit. 2015 is when you can expect the system to start producing major league ready players. They might make a run at a few good players this trade deadline and off season. They are tanking this season and its obvious. Next year they will actually try but not really expect much and then 2015 its go time.

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

Next year has to be a real team. Can't be shit 3 seasons in a row.

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Or what?

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Upon sober reflection, I stand by this.

I'm still on board. I'll wait it out but I don't have to enjoy it.

Plus, I'm dubious to this whole idea of doing this "the right way". There is no "right way". There are just ways.

So, great, it's "a plan" which I guess is better than absolutely no plan. But, it's a pretty shitty plan. Which isn't to say that it won't ultimately work. It might. But, I can't remember any other organization completely tanking 5 years of the major league program to rebuild a minor league system in the biggest crapshoot draft in all of professional sports.

I might even feel better if they've done this before but they haven't. Theo took over a 90-win Boston team and kept winning with it. I don't remember Boston completely sucking for 5 years.

So, the plan to "pick better players" doesn't really feel like a plan at all to me. Isn't that everybody's plan? Sure, the infrastructure of the minor league system needed to be revamped.

But, what is the competitive advantage of a major-market, major-sellout team like the Cubs? It should be $$. They can't revamp the minors and pick better players and still put out a somewhat competitive major league 9?

And that is my frustration as a fan that will now see another shit team out of it by May. I seriously am wondering if I will see the Cubs ever win a World Series. If this "plan" does not work, we're probably looking at the early 2020s. Not fun.

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You know me like that.

I said the same thing to my finacee while walking out of the Cell yesterday afternoon.

Bad bad bad bad all the way around town, Bulls included.

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I dont know man...

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Reflecting on today's discussions, I still stand by this.

This "plan" better work.

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You know me like that.

The hotel you are paying for with losses better be up to your standards.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

$32 million should cover my room. They'll need to suck a couple more years to build the rest of it.

Probably need to be bad at baseball, also.

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You know me like that.

The well worn board phrase that this place was better two years ago is coming to an end. This board is going to be fantastic two years FROM now.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.