The edict should be to play the youth and winnow the team down to the best players for next year. They screwed up acquiring Lester, they will seriously regret that decision. You can say "all the losses" but when you say "all the prospects", that shows a willful desire to not understand how long it rationally will take to get those prospects to major league ready status. They won't win 87 games, by all rights they should win less than last year because there is more uncertainty with the roster than there was last year. Anyone who says differently is either drinking the Kool Aid or trolling. Not sure which camp you're in.

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

Sox have lost more games than the Cubs since Hahn took over.

because of the expectations, yes Bryant would be a bust finishing with less HR than Ramirez. Surely you understand this inherently.

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

he does not.

Exactly. The Really. Smart. Guys running the Cubs--who know more about their team than anyone--obviously know this and do not think, in their estimation, that the 2015 Cubs will be within even a few games of making the post-season this year.

Not saying there isn't a chance--there's always a chance--but in their calculations it's far less likely than likely the Cubs make the post-season in 2015 and so bringing up a guy with stats inflated by desert air and unfamiliarity to pitchers 12 games early doesn't boost those slim odds enough to make it worth giving up a year of team control (or the negotiating leverage) on the back-end.

Dr Ken nailed it. Cubs management have, wisely, written off 2015 before the first pitch has even been thrown.

Too many unknowns/unprovens/unlikelies + too much strength in the division = wait til next year.

If you want to ignore the first 2 years of Theo, that is fine. The fact is that those 100 and 90 loss season are now on his resume. And are more recent than his two rings.

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This is only Theo Epstein's fourth season with the Cubs coming up.

This is Hahn's third season as GM with the White Sox coming up.

Facts are anathema to White Sox fans.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

Frank, care to respond to either of my posts?

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

Bad info.

You frequently talk about the Cubs soooo many losses. Its kind of odd that I dont see you saying that about The White Sox and their losses since Hahn took over.


Hahn averages 94 losses per season.

If you want to go three years and include Theo's first year, that's fine. The White Sox have averaged 89 losses per year in the last 3.

I see what you're saying, but if the Cubs win fewer games than last year, the fans may make the rest of the park look like the bleachers are right now.

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honeymoon time is over. time to improve. david haugh will write bad articles about them.

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

see, they actually won't. People will come out this season to watch the kids play, this is how Cubs fans are. Plus seeing the park in some form of deconstruction will be a draw, mark my words. By the time the disappointment of this season is past, next season will be upon us and the Cubs will be winning again. They may have some drag in April but by May of 2016 everybody will be back. Opening day tickets for this year are off the charts.

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

Well, I'm working under the assumption that Kris Bryant is going to be good, or at least good enough to be a starter on your team.

Under that assumption, there is no additional information that is known at the end of the season than is known today with regard to who should be playing on your team. The only real variable is whether those games are meaningful or not. If they aren't, then they don't need to play him anyway.

But, you already know that these first few weeks are meaningful so you actually know more now than you know about the end of the season at this time and certainly know more about these first few weeks than you know about the 2021 season and beyond.

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You know me like that.

Cub on Cub arguing sure does hurt.

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2018
#ExtendLafleur
10 More Wins

This will all be a mute point when Bryant gets hurt next week





Yes, I know it's moot

I'll trade Kris Bryant for Mike Trout.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

Me too, but I believe Trout is a PED guy and might eventually go the way of Ryan Braun

What about Bryant for Brett Jackson?

Thought they did away with the "wait until June" to delay the arb clock thing?

http://m.cubs.mlb.com/news/article/1133 ... -in-minors

So if you've written off the 2015 season and you're delaying Bryant for financial reasons, no point bringing him up until June--when the bleachers will be open again.

In his "down" year, he still had a .777 OPS.

I think Braun will be fine going forward. .850 OPS guy.

The Cubs are set in CF and RF.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

That's the Super Two status that I mentioned yesterday. It's different from free agency.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

Super Two is for arbitration. Getting an extra year of it or not.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

it is easy to get caught up in all the excitement about Bryant and when he is going to get called up and the 12 days and all that. To be honest, i think it is the right thing to do to wait the 12 days, it seems like a no-brainer. Im much more concerned about how this pitching staff is going to win 85 games if that what the projection is that everyone is buying into these days. 12 days in the minors for Bryant is much less of a concern for this Cubs fan than seeing if Arrieta can repeat what he did last year. A lot of expectations that Hammell is going to be the same guy he was in the first half last year, and that seems unlikely to me. Hendrick looked good and i'm optimistic, but i'm not ready to pencil him in for 12-15 wins quite yet. Lester is a good pitcher no question, i feel pretty good about what he will bring at the top of the rotation, but the other guys are a lot of question marks to me and Bryant being 12 days late to the majors seems like not that big of a deal to me, outside of being excited to see if he can deliver the goods like everyone hopes.

Borat approves.

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Sex isn't dirty, sex isn't a crime. It's a loving act between two or more consenting adults.

-Hank Kingsley

After much consideration, I have decided that holding him down for 12 days is the right thing to do. If it's good enough for Evan Longoria...it's good enough for Bryant

The 2008 Rays went to the WS. They had a better team, esepcially pitching, than this years Cubs. If the Cubs really want to try and win now, Bryant will be here on opening day.

Longoria also signed a long term deal before he hit free agency.

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Frank, Im not being a dick but do you think I dont know those things when I make the post?

Cmon, give me some credit.


The Cubs are not ALL IN. They are trying to win, but they aren't completely selling out to win at all costs this season. Im not sure if they should either. You really have to pick your spots with that kind of thing because once you truly go ALL IN, often times you're making decisions that are not great for the team long term.

I understand that you might not feel like that is the best thing to do going forward. Your objection is noted.

I agree that they may not necessarily be "all in" for a WS, but you dont have to win 96 games to make the playoffs anymore. If after 3 years of being one of the worst teams in MLB and stacking the minor leagues with talent, you feel the Cubs cantput together a team to win a WC spot....then that is very sad.

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The Sox fans are going to attack Cubs management regardless of what they do. If the Cubs put Bryant on the opening day roster, you guys would be on here saying, "hah look at those idiots. They claim to be managing the team for the long term, and all they had to do was wait 12 days."

After the Blackhawks won the first Cup and were all in (salary cap wise), everyone was pissed the next year because of the talent unload. So even when a team wins, there are still critics.

I truly believe the Cubs are trying to manage the team in a sustainable fashion balancing the desire to be competitive now, while be smart about controlling costs and assets down the road. You might say, well there's no salary cap. True for sure, but there is a payroll limit. So each dollar spent on one player is a dollar less spent somewhere else. No one likes to hear that, but it is the reality of pro sports.

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Hawaii (fuck) You