As someone who likes to quote themselves on here I admire your hubris Steve. Please keep on providing your amazing Cubs insights. That sound you are hearing is the world moving to the edge of their seats waiting for your next missive.

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A few more of those starts and some enterprising Cubs fans are going to start looking at Epstien's recent history of free agent signings.

It might be better if thw Wrigley deal does not get done and he can only rely on the draft.

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

Did you know he signed David Ortiz?

For as many times as Ive heard he got a team with Ortiz and Ramirez already there, you'd think you would have heard that.

The recent ones havent been as good.


Id say its about 50-50


Which player was Theo Epstein's best free-agent acquisition?

David Ortiz, DH, 2003

Bill Mueller, INF, 2002

Keith Foulke, RHP, 2004

Hideki Okajima, LHP, 2006

J.D. Drew, OF, 2007

Takashi Saito, RHP, 2009

Marco Scutaro, SS, 2009

Adrian Beltre, 3B, 2010

Alfredo Aceves, RHP, 2011
Vote
View Results

Which player was Theo Epstein's worst free-agent acquisition?

Edgar Renteria, SS, 2004

Matt Clement, RHP, 2004

Julio Lugo, SS, 2006

Daisuke Matsuzaka, RHP, 2006

Brad Penny, RHP, 2008

John Smoltz, RHP, 2009

John Lackey, RHP, 2009

Mike Cameron, OF, 2009

Bobby Jenks, RHP, 2011

Carl Crawford, OF, 2011

Did you know that I used the word "recent" im first sentence for a reason?

He has had some huge clunkers of late.

Ortiz was an inspired signing. I know everyone talks about the steriods but the guy could hit for average with the Twins. Ramirez on the other hand...that was just a matter of who was willing to write the biggest check. He was an MVP who hadn't even reached his prime. It was like signing Cabrera.

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

Flip him,right Theo?

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

Dont be a Caller Bob.

I asked because its reported incorrectly on this site at an alarming rate.

So, Id say he's about a 50-50 shot with FA's and a good amateur talent evaluater.

Interestingly the bigger money FA were worse. The Bill Mueller, Okajimas and David Ortiz's are impressive.

Id say so.

Do you think that start yesterday destroyed any trade value?

No. And if you're even thinking about competing in '14 or '15 you're going to need guys like Jackson. You aren't going to do it with whatever prospects he may bring. He's signed relatively cheap for the guy he is and he has good upside to have a huge year within the next few seasons. I wouldn't be so quick to move him unless the shaky debt structure of the Ricketts family has pushed the ETA for competitive baseball back to '17 or '18.

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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

Depends on the pitching market too. Sometimes these signings look expensive and end up as bargains

He is fully capable of going out and throwing six shutout innings in his next outing.

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

This. I mean it was a terrible start with the win blowing out. You have the dude for 4 years. He usually manages 200 innings. Lets give it until May before we run him out of town.

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Yes he is. the problem with jackson is his inconsistency. For every good game, he has a bad one. thats why he's 70-73 in his career. He can't locate his pitches well, so he walks too many and gets into predictable (2-0, 3-1) counts, where he gets hit. I don't care if you throw 96. If a MLB hitter knows a fastball is coming, chances are decent he will hit it hard somewhere. In his no-hitter a few years back with Arizona, he allowed 8 walks!!! It wasn't a great game really. He got a lot of strikeouts against hitters dumb enough to swing at pitches out of the strike zone. Against patient hitting teams he tends to do poorly. On this team, I expect him to go something like 11-15. They could have brought Zambrano back for 3 million a year for 2 years to do that.

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Go Cubs!!!!

There were plenty of defending/supporting posts made for the Jackson signing, including those from Joe Orr, Phil McCracken, Drop In, cpguy and RFDC. Darkside only made his stupid post about "Everyone being against the signing" to try to minimize any credit I could claim for being staunchly against the signing from the start. I don't care if they had 200 million available for salaries for the 2013 season, to over-spend on mediocre (or worse) players, is stupid. He was a .500 pitcher with a 4.40 ERA. That translates into a #4 starter at best. You don't pay 14 million a season to a #4 starter.

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Go Cubs!!!!

Jesus. You are one weird fucker. "Credit" for being against a signing? Who else on this planet is this needy?

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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

Wow,This statement made last December,even impressed me.

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

This man can not be contained. HR!!!!! Finally on the right end of one.

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

Joe comes out as both the most wrong AND the most prescient in this thread about the Cubs. I think we are looking at '17 or '18 IF the Cubs have somehow worked out a far better TV deal. And the Jackson signing continues to mystify me as Gordon Whittenmire continues to say the Cubs are short on money. If you're going to be bad, be bad. Don't sign a bad pitcher to a bad (albeit frontloaded) contract.

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

I understand the Jackson signing, but I'm starting to think he may be a guy who never puts it all together.

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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

starting to?

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

He still has the kind of stuff that makes one want to believe he is capable of more. But maybe he just is who he is. Still, in a world where "Losing Pitcher" John Danks and Anibal Sanchez are paid the way they are, I don't think Jackson's contract is an atrocity.

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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

who would you rather have, Jackson or Sanchez?

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

He leads all of MLB with 17 losses.

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Are you suggesting that Anibal Sanchez isn't performing to the level that he is paid?



If that's the case, I'm just going to disregard your comments on pitchers even moreso than I already do

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1926-1931-1934-1942-1944-1946-1964-1967-1982-2006-2011

Sanchez is having a good year. But I don't think before this season there was a marked difference between him and Jackson. And for the money, I'd rather have Jackson going forward. My guess would be that at the end of their respective deals, their results and production will be similar.

_________________
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

I was in the camp of wanting Sanchez, at the cost that he eventually got paid. I wanted nothing to do with Jackson. I can't understand why anyone would have based on who he was and how old he was. I completely agree with the outcry that accompanied his signing. If possible, he's even worse than I thought he would be and I thought he would be pretty bad.

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

I suspect Jackson is a little younger than Sanchez.

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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

Jackson is one year older.

I'd rather the Cubs overspend for someone they wanted(Sanchez) than someone they settled on(Jackson). But I'm not ready to throw in the towel on Jackson just yet. Most big name FA signings suck in their first year with the Cubs. I'll hold out hope that Jackson rebounds in year two. If he doesn't, then it was a terrible signing.

Think JORR is implying the Venezuelan's age is doctored.

Yeah. In fact, I think "Anibal" is actually the guy's sister or cousin since it's a girl's name.

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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

I think the Cubs have the highest paid middle relief guy in baseball. Jackson can give you a solid 3-4 innings.

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