this can be today's show thread or it can be its own thread. From here on out with the Bulls done, Theo and Jed will be announced all summer as the smartest men in town. Glorious things will be said, exceeding even the initial love for Phil Emery and his coach hiring process. Now is the time to start writing down their over the top commentary in order to feed it back to them when inevitably Theo fails and is run out of town/runs himself out of town. Begin recording, gentlemen.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

Why would a person with that viewpoint pay for season tickets?

it's a question I have asked myself many many times. The difference the last couple years? Splitting up the investment amongst more friends. I think it will be the ownership with the majority of the blame in the end (no money) but Theo will take the fall.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

And remind me whey Theo's failure is inevitable?

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1. Not enough money-a combination of turning fans off to attending games due to not rebuilding on the fly, no one around to give you that "huge tv money" you keep talking about, ballpark repairs that will certainly exceed their budgets, etc.

2. Theo's record on trades is not really good. Starting pitching will continue to haunt this team unless they hit and hit big in this draft, one thing Theo does seem to be good at though.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

You keep saying this like it's an accepted fact, it's anything but.


Two trades he made had HUGE impacts on both World Series he won

The Schilling trade and the Hanley Ramirez trade

Even the Nomar one turned out well.

What trades are you talking about?

Hopefully Theo's replacement is able to right the ship...

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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!

Im literally reading thru all his trades trying to find the bad ones. Not much there.


City of Fools is a silly goose of the highest order

http://evonsports.wordpress.com/2011/10/15/breaking-down-the-theo-epstein-era-in-boston/

Im using this article for reference. Maybe the writer just likes Theo


So to recap, Theo excelled with the buy low signings early in his career but when teams started to retain those guys he started to flex the team’s financial muscles, often to dubious results. As far as trades go his record his stellar. Only two real questionable decisions where he seemed to have overreached (Gagne and Bedard) but for the most part never gave anything up unless it was for real value and stayed away from giving up too much for rentals.

first off, he didn't make the Hanley trade. He took off for that one and was gone for two months (see: Gorilla suit). Most people thought he wouldn't have made that move. Edgar Renteria? Pretty sure he traded for Mike Cameron. Eric Gangne? The Doug Mirabelli screwup? Eric Bedard? Pretty sure he traded away Victor Martinez...

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

Here's Theo's trades.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc ... n_US#gid=0

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Not true. Some say he wouldnt have made it while others say Hoyer was still consulting him and would never have made a non Theo move.




Free Agent


Free Agent


One of two bad trades

and he gave up nothing:
David Murphy, Kason Gabbard, and Engel Beltre,


Got him and Mark Loretta back for
Josh Bard and Cla Meredith


The other bad trade...and again, gave up nothing good.

Acquired Erik Bedard and Josh Fields from the Seattle Mariners for Tim Federowicz, Stephen Fife, Juan Rodriguez, and Chih-Hsien Chiang


[/quote]
No, he traded FOR him and then Martinez left via Free Agency



So basically, you have done no research on this, the things you think you know are wrong, but you still feel strongly about your position.

RPB is owning COF in this thread. Damn!

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I don't mean to sound bitter, cold, or cruel, but I am, so that's how it comes out. - Bill Hicks

Let's do it for Johnny!

I dont know what CoF is talking about or if he just thought a couple of bad ones were trades and were really free agents signings.

Theo's FA signings can definitely be criticized, but the trades have been a strong point.

wait a minute. It's pretty much known that Theo did not make the Hanley swap and did not approve of it. So other than the Bedard trade, the Gangne trade, not as many bad trades as I thought. I rescind my position on Theo trades. Until he makes more here.

And on to the free agent signings.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

my main issue with Theo is an insistence on building the minor league while basically giving up on the major league team. At least try to sneak into the playoffs, anything can happen. Instead, they're killing the attending fan base that's left, and eventually the out of towners will stop coming. And buying my seats.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

Theo has a great record as as GM's go.

The again, I dont care what he did. Tell me what you are going to do and do it.

He has told me what he is going to do, now he is doing it.

I dont ask for much more. It's sports, it's not that hard to explain to people what you are trying to do and how you will go about it.

Theo did it very well, Phil Emery did it very well. I think Hahn has done a decent job on this topic, but still has much of the Sox "We have a secret special method that doesnt really rank us 30th every year in our minor league rankings".

I think Hahn would like to do things much different than Kenny and it's smart to ease into his regime as he sees it working.

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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.’”

Easier to rebuild the minor leagues by tanking. The Cubs are given a bigger purse to spend internationally and in the draft.



Given the Cubs lack of minor or major league talent when he arrived, Theo would've had to use free agency to build a team that would sneak into the playoffs. You've made your position clear you don't trust Theo in free agency.

"tell me what you are going to do and do it". Well, he better draft real good at #2, etc because pitching will hold this whole thing up otherwise. Unless there's really more money in the owners pockets than he's letting on.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

Agreed. Not sure its completely Theo's idea, but I agree

here's what I expected Theo to be...an even better version of Billy Beane. Someone who sees the one or two year low to no risk veteran pickups and gets them to fill the exact slots needed and wins ugly. Beat everyone else with your edge and build a team on the cheap that can contend until the minor league system is well stocked.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

Everyone sucks on Billy Beane's balls...What has Beane done that Jim Hendry didnt do? Get to the postseason and hope to get lucky. They went about it in two entirely different ways but the bottom line is neither way got the job done.

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uh....Beane did everything Hendry did with a lot lot lot less money.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

That's Hank's point.

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Ironically, Beane and Epstein would tell you that the best a gm can do is consistently get their team to the playoffs and hope for the best

Hendry was a good gm who made some memorable mistakes

So? Great for him, he's good at accounting.

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Two words...Alfonso Soriano. Two more words...Milton Bradley.

I don't know if Hendry let people suck his balls. Hanley maybe?

Two more words

Sexual. Tension.