Theo joins the show at 11.

Plan on listening today, plenty of hot thoughts to come.

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Team Cutler.

If the Cubs had spent on 3 year contracts when he started, they would been ending in 2014, just in time to load up on rookies in 2015 and without starting discontent along the way

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

True, but the money saved, at least I hope, is being put back into Wrigley under the renovation. That's worth 2-3 years of this for me at least.

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Team Cutler.

Sure it is...

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

Theo coming on after Kerry stumbles through this update

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Team Cutler.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

At the very least you will have a quasi-modern ballpark where you can buy tickets to watch a terrible team.

Question directly addressing JP's posts about why team can't rebuild and contend.

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Team Cutler.

Fuck, so unless Theo isn't being totally upfront (likely) he's pretty much calling out Ricketts for being cheap bastard. Debt is a bitch.

I didn't quite get that. I got more frustrations at how long this Wrigley stuff has taken and the fact that he's probably asked that question all the time.

He mentioned that every available dollar is being spent in both majors and minors.

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Team Cutler.

How many dollars are actually available?

Spiegel asking great questions.

Theo mentioned they don't generate enough revenue to make a move on a 200m player regardless if one were available.

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Team Cutler.

Spiegs: Theo is not a rich hobbyist...


good to know about your WCUB president.

I guess that answers my question or comes close to it.

Right, which is a huge issue. 2013 payroll is $104,304,476. Ricketts is tapped out. So the degree of rebuild isn't necessarily Epstein's plan.

I maybe misread your post Kirk. He gave me the impression that Tom is providing every possible $ he has to baseball ops. Team/Ownership. just doesn't have it currently.

Up to the individual to determine if you believe that or not.

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Team Cutler.

I'd say Theo won the interview. Good answers on Soler, the team and the money. He plowed through the possible negativity of the start of the season nicely and gave support to Sveum both short term and potentially long term.

Decent questions with a little bite and decent answers across the board. me thinks.

I thought Spiegel was outstanding. Real questions presented very well.

I don't think Ricketts is tapped out. I think baseball and business have a unified message when in public. It puts more pressure on friends of the neighborhood. Theo is being a company guy, and it only benefits him by getting extra revenue. It also makes for a convenient excuse when the team is horrible again this year.

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I'm having a little trouble juxtaposing the "we're spending every dollar available" statement. They have a payroll that is competitively a 100-loss team. Thus other teams spend less and are more competitive. So I wonder what is that magical dollar number that will make this team more competitive than those that spend less? The "genius" isn't so much better baseball insight but bigger and deeper pockets?

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DRINK BƎTTƎR. @theRIPH

Go hard Spiegs: "Wow, Theo Epstein crying poor"

That's the kind of hard-hitting interview Bernstein only dreams he can do.

Nicely done Matt.

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The way you win with a smaller payroll is with younger, cheaper talent. That doesn't exist at the big league level with a couple exceptions.

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Happens quite often, actually. Twins, Oakland, Tampa, Braves....

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I meant the 2013 Cubs.

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This caller is a dolt.

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Team Cutler.

This Castro to 3rd idea is real bad unless he starts hitting for a lot more power. His offensive value is largely influenced that he plays SS. 2B is a much more likely moved if he's going to have a .303 avg and .330obp

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Team Cutler.

When the Cubs were good in '07 and '08, they were drawing 3.3 million/year.

This year they'll probably be in the 2.5 million range. If you figure that each ticket generates roughly $100 in revenue, that's an extra $80 million/year. You could pay for a couple guys with that.

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You know me like that.

Mr. Baseball Candyman has never seen a rebuild and contender at the same time? Look down I-55. Cardinals have revamped themselves vastly from their World Series teams without skipping a beat.

Mac: "Boy Silvy isn't much better than Waddle"

Things are heating up.

Yea that was a drive by carpet bomb

"time to close the Cadillac Studios"

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Team Cutler.