Jason Mott....new Cub Pen guy

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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.’”

You read sources faster than Bernsie.

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Elections have consequences.

Awaiting terms but gotta be cheap right coming off Tommy John surgery??

They get him? Guess Theo wants upper 90s guys and try and lock every game after 6 innings. We will see.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

1 Year deal pending a physical

MY GUY!

"Loudest voice in the room"

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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.’”

From ESPN...
The Cubs have agreed to a one-year deal with free-agent reliever Jason Motte, pending a physical, a team source told ESPN.com.

Motte has spent his whole career with the Cardinals and was their closer in 2011 when they won the World Series. He later had elbow trouble and missed the entire 2013 season following Tommy John Surgery.

Last season, Motte struggled through back injuries, posting a 4.68 ERA in 29 appearances.

Before missing 2013, Motte had a career-year in 2012. He made 67 appearances, pitched 72 innings, racked up 42 saves and had a 2.75 ERA.

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"This is Chicago, my friend. Anything can happen."

have to balance Lester with Motte if you are going to lose in order to win

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And men have lost their reason.

http://www.chicagonow.com/cubs-den/2014 ... son-motte/

The Cubs added a much needed veteran reliever in Jason Motte, according to Bruce Levine. It is a one year deal pending a physical, though it was not specified whether it was a major or minor league deal.

UPDATE: It is a one year $4.5M guarantee according to Jeff Passan. That probably qualifies as a buy low in today's FA market.

I like the signing if it is a buy low situation. Motte was once a solid high leverage reliever for the Cardinals. After spending 2013 on the DL, Motte came back throwing as hard as ever, averaging 94 mph last season. His command wasn't all the way back but the Cubs are banking that it will be in 2015. Motte has averaged just 2.7 walks per 9 IP in his career while striking out just over a batter an inning. His career ERA is a solid 3.03.

Last year he struggled, though still kept the walks respectable at 3.24/9IP though he didn't miss as many bats (6.12 Ks per 9 IP) and was susceptible to the long ball, though we are talking about a very small sample size.

Steamer has him bouncing back to respectability in 2015, lowering his walk rate to 2.49 and projecting him to put up a 3.70 ERA.

If he's back it is a solid, low risk/high reward signing as Motte controls the strike zone when healthy and has the experience of having contributed high leverage innings on several Cardinals contenders. He gives the Cubs some veteran insurance on a bullpen that is talented, but young, and not yet tested in a long, competitive season.

Motte came back too early. His high cheese works a lot better at 98 than 93.

2 years back from TJS, he might get some mojo back under Bosio.

I'll always remember Motte for this...

http://m.mlb.com/video/v19960231/ws2011-gm7-motte-pitches-ninth-to-seal-series-win

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ok if this guy's derisive nickname isn't "applesauce" then you guys aren't trying anymore.

also isn't this the same guy who had 40something saves for the cardinals as recently as 2-3 years ago, but then fell off a cliff and was so god-awful like 7.00+ ERA bad that they outright demoted him to the minors?

so yeah instead of saying "hey the cubs took a punt on a guy who had 40+ saves a few years ago" i'd be more likely to say "hey the cubs took on a punt guy who totally lost his form 1-2 years ago" because that's closer than the 40something saves.

but since i assume the guy is dirt cheap with a previous trackrecord of 40+ saves in a season, and the cubs are now formally "all in" despite being bad-enough/not-good-enough-yet to be held accountable for 1 or maybe even 2 years, what the hell why not? this feels like more of a whitesox move, but with the cubs it could go either way where motte is still shit on a 77-85 team or perhaps he's dynamite on a 89-73 team. who knows?*

* = of course theo knows. he just can't tell us yet.

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He wasn't demoted. Blew out his elbow, had TJS.

The minor league stats you see are rehab stints. Also easily explains his drop from 98 to 93 (and the requisite drop in K/9).

It's a good buy-low type move. I wouldn't wager $4.5M on him doing so, but TheoJedRickett might (and will).

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oh you know what, i must have mixed him up with mitchell boggs cuz i remember one of those cardinals closer/types was godawful and it turns out boggs had some 12.64 ERA or something when he started off a year as the setup man, and yeah that must have been it. so my apologies about the mixup, but either way it's a total punt to see if you can get anything out of the guy during a year where hey you're kinda expected to contend for a wildcard berth, if not a surprise division title, but if you dont it's still according to plan and rome wasn't built in a day and etc etc etc.

but hey you can always turn into a SABR geek and simply say that lester and montero are only adding 3-4 WAR so with those 3-4 additional wins you still have a ways to go and *claps hands* it's an open and shut case. i still like to think there's a little bit of baseball magic where the 2015 cubs being "all in" with the signing of lester and the arrival of babe bryant will lift the team to some kind of historic heights, and knowing the cubs if they go ahead of schedule and get to a NLCS/WS in the next 1-3 years that'll be their peak and then you'll have a handful of years where they walk to 90something wins and make the playoffs only to squarely get their asses kicked and then bow out of the playoffs with a whimper before they surprise you and start underachieving again in ~2018-2019 and then you fire the old and past it maddon and give theo one manager before you run theo and his plan out of town.

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4.5M? Way too much. Did they learn nothing about flushing down $4M with Veras?

I'm willing to risk 4.5 for Motte.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

Remember when they said the era of signing players in order to dump them at the trade deadline was over?

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

Time for a breather gd.

You are trying too hard.

Take some time off, your fastball will comeback

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--yet I can't look away."

I guess. I wish there was a club or vesting option

It is a gamble on both sides.

Cubs are guaranteeing a bit of cash, hoping that Motte returns to form. If he does, and the Cubs have a good year, Motte may want to stick around at a reasonable cost.

Motte is only signing for one year, in hopes that he returns to form and can aim for one of those $10M per season contracts that a lot of relievers seem to be getting. However, if Motte has another bad year, he may never get another good chance to perform on a decent team. He would be relegated to middle relief.

I doubt Motte wanted to sign a 2 year, $7M contract or anything like that. He doesn't have a lot of years left to aim for a big contract.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

I literally see no risk for Motte. Guaranteed 4.5 with upside for another 2.5. If he's successful he's dueces. Motte's 1st call is probably to 35th/Shields to see if Hahn is still giving generational wealth to relievers.

Which is why he signed this deal.

I meant a one year contract with no club option or vesting option is what Motte was looking for. He is gambling on himself having a good year, so before his Age 34 season he can get a nice 3 year, $30M guaranteed contract.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

A pretty reasonable gamble given the general rule of thumb that guys need a full year before considering being back close to form after Tommy John surgery. I think it's a phenomenal signing with huge upside potential.

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- Henry George

Phenomenal?! Money flushed down the toilet.

(a) not your money, (b) no salary cap, (c) not to put too fine a point on it, given your predilection for sports stupidity, since you don't like the move I think that only puts the move in an even better light.

The bullpen wasn't any problem to begin with; this either doesn't hurt anything not already in shambles, or it makes something good potentially great ... never mind that the bullpen excelled in light of being worked to death which one reasonably hopes will not be the case this year.

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

I don't know if I like the signing or not, but I personally cannot stand the guy. Not sure if it's the facial hair, the way he contorts himself on the mound, dunno but I hate the guy. Hopefully it's a decent signing but didn't he battle control issues?

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He lost the battle to control his facial hair.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

Guy will be 33 in Feb who Apologist said depended on velocity to suceed. Add he's a TJS guy. I think it's dumb. Save the 4.5M to chip in when trying to flip shithead.

He never lost the velocity. He was still flinging it last season. He just had trouble spotting it.

We have Bosio.

edit: According to charts, he lost maybe 1-2 mph off his 4 seamer, and negligible differences in his other pitches. I'm not worried.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

Flame throwing stoner


I think if Theo and Jed have earned any sort of the benefit of the doubt, its with picking up pitchers when they're down.


4.5 is a lot though. More than the usual prove it contract.

I will reiterate that most of the Cardinal blogosphere believes he tried to come back too early. I have to think that factored into the decision to nontender him. Check on his velocity in the spring. Some guys come back throwing harder after year one. He can't blow people away upstairs was thought to be the root of his command issues

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