veganfan21 wrote:
immessedup17 wrote:
Why do Sox fans get to determine what makes Theo and Jed's tenure a success or failure? Shouldn't the teams fans decide that?
For me...it would be a World Series victory...or at least several playoff appearances with a few NLCS appearances, or a World Series appearance or two.
A 2005 White Sox situation, to me, would be a failure.
Regular season record over the course of the tenure? Meh. That would heavily rely on how long the tenure is. 2016 and 2017 field only .500 teams? Not long. 2016 and 2017 are NLCS / World Series appearances and losses? Theo and Jed get a 8 year extension and have a lot more time to crest .500.
In that case what's the difference between seemingly random periods of success with a WS win or appearance mixed in with some bad, and three to four years of deliberate bad only for the chance of what you talked about: several playoff appearances, NLCS win, etc?
I mean...this is strictly having to do with my personality...or viewpoint...or whatever, but:
I think I can deal with "phases" a bit better than a mixed bag of win loss. It is much easier for me to discuss this now as the losing period on purpose is nearing its end...but I've been on board with a full rebuild for awhile. I didn't post much since 2006...but I believe if I still had some of those posts you'd find me wanting to rebuild as early as 2009...a complete overhaul. The Derrek Lee / Alfonso Soriano / Carlos Zambrano / Aramis Ramirez contracts put the Cubs in a crappy situation.
Some insight: I was not a Bulls fan in the 90's. I was a Magic fan. I then didn't watch much NBA from 1999 to 2002 or so...caught it here and there, but I wasn't a diehard. The Bulls piqued my interest with the drafting of Jay Williams. I had disliked Jalen Rose, Chandler, Curry, Mercer, E-Rob, Fizer, Brand...really the only Bull I liked was Brad Miller. The Bulls re-stocking with Jay Williams (and then his replacement Kirk Hinrich), Ben Gordon, Luol Deng...I enjoy watching young players develop. I'm a fan of teams, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a fan of individual players as well. Winning with a team full of homegrown talent "feels" better. I believe the Blackhawks are an excellent example. Doesn't it feel better that Toews, Kane, Niemi, Crawford, Keith, Seabrook led the way? Sharp to some extent, as he came over young. Hossa was the only big contributor as a free agent.
The Bulls teams centered around Kirk, Gordon, and Deng and then Noah, Taj, Rose, and Deng? I loved it.
This might be why I wore rose colored glasses with Felix Pie and Brett Jackson...you follow a guy for so long and you want that guy to be a part of the team that is successful.
A World Series win is a World Series win. But I'd cherish it some small amount more if Starlin Castro leads the way, rather than trade him for some David Price or Cliff Lee.
Boilermaker Rick wrote:
A season like 2005 would be the greatest time in your baseball life even if they lost every game after that for 10 years.
No. Honestly, no. Maybe if this wasn't a full rebuild, I'd be fine. But there is a trade-off for willingly accepting multiple losing seasons. And that trade-off is that the highs have to be higher to make up for the low lows.
I'm not a typical Cubs fan maybe - I'm not old enough to be. The losing has been terrible...but "culture" and all of that - it means nothing to me. As far as I'm concerned, the MLB was created around 1996, when I started watching baseball. The only World Series you care about is this year's World Series. And I was on board with sacrificing several chances to most likely provide better chances in the near to mid-term future.
Cubs win the World Series in 2016? In 2017, you will not once see me bring up the 2016 World Series as a reason why I care any less about the results of 2017. Because I'm going to be that adamant as to winning the 2017 World Series as if the 2016 World Series never happened.
I can't and won't speak for the Cubs fan who has been a fan for the last 40 or 50 years.
Sure, I understand that perspective. I'd probably enjoy it more if a core I followed also led the team to success. But that 2005 team had a decent amount of long tenured Sox and/or home grown talent. You had Buehrle, Konerko, Thomas, Garland, Crede, etc. And if you take a snapshot of those players' tenures together...let's say, arbitrarily I know, from like 2003-2009 or whatever, even though some guys moved on, isn't that something like 2-3 postseasons and a championship? Not dominant, but not forgettable either. So when you say 2005 for the Cubs would be unacceptable, I wonder if we are not seeing that what you might be hoping for is the same or slightly more sustained period the Sox enjoyed during parts of the 2000s, with the only difference being organic vs deliberate periods of bad. I mean the Sox weren't perennial favorites to be sure, but they often flirted with postseason births, and obviously flirting led to something bigger and better at least once. Now I'm only generally aware of the plan and whatnot, but given the Sox's example, does tanking really have to be part of the process?