Caught on ESPN they were saying all the bleachers opened and project done. Is that right? How does it look?

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Elections have consequences.

ESPN is wrong. Some of the bleachers are open. The bleacher portion of the project will not be done until June (and that only includes allowing people to sit in right field...not the concessions and final touches.)

Maybe someone should let ESPN know this is a four year project.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

no way dude... the 03 cubs had the tail end of super sosa (i wanna say he still had 40+HR) and you had a subdued moises alou like his usual .300/20/80+ and ummmm.... did they have ramirez yet? or shit wasn't he midseason?

* goes to bb-ref *

AHA! indeed sosa .279/40/103, moises alou .280/22/91, aramis ramirez 63 games of .259/15/39 and hell you had cubbie non-grata alex gonzalez chip in another 20. granted it's a different era but there's nowhere near that amount of pop on the mets. even if d-wright was healthy all year i'd be shocked if he got 20HR..... 15 might even be a pretty resurgent year for him, cuz last season when i ended up with david wright in a league it was like HELL YEAH DAVID WRIGHT!!!! but then a few weeks pass and he totally sucks without power and he's undroppable and it's like WHOA so i had to dump him off in a trade.

but yeah before i get reminded by the upright cubizens brigade that nobody cares about fantasy baseball and this is how to talk, yeah i dont think this mets team has anywhere near the offense of that cubs team. that's all i'm trying to say here.

in addendum, i think this rotation is finna be deeper than any rotation the 2000s cubs had at any point. and i cant wait to see what syndergaard looks like at the MLB level cuz i guess last year he was getting ahead of himself like WHY AM I NOT IN THE BIGS YET and now after some !!!! team ups with harvey he's flat out kicked ass in the PCL, so i wanna see him get up thre against the babe and have the closest thing i can have to the old glorious migcab vs pineda matchups in pineda's rookie year.

but yeah like i said b4, i cant wait for this series. it should be fun to see what happens when the immovable objects meet the irresistable forces.

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2nd hr in 3 days. Heating up!!

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And Rizzo with back to back jacks...
Too bad Rizzo isn't as good as Abroo.

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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

I feel I've been super nice to White Sox fans on this board. I mean...Rizzo's OPS about .200 higher at the moment...

But nope...I won't say Rizzo is far superior to Abreu.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

Degrom has a little Shark in him.

Cubs hitters too much for the youngster.

Yeah well so do a lot of boys.

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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

I thought it was clear but I was referring to the pitching only. 03 Cubs were further along overall for sure. They were a good team

Pitching wise, in 03 they had dominant Prior, Wood finally staying healthy for a coupoler years, Zambrano emerging and Guzman supposedly on way. Mets have a little more depth and are a liittle younger.



Bryant really got the hands in on that one but man Rizzo crushed his too. Nice start

Lester walk and a failed double play brings in a run.

too much for the youngster? dude he gave up homeruns to babe bryant and anthony rizzo.... that's not going to be a very exclusive club.

if you wanna see too much for the youngster go watch a taijuan walker start, but be sure to bring some air freshener for when he shits himself. at the risk of jinx i think degrom's given up a walk since the HRs, and i mean all across baseball many good to great pitchers are often vulnerable in the first. he'll show me something if he can hold the cubs to three through 6/+, but hey you never know.

one thing i do know is that degrom's better than samardzija #comeonson

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yeah i brought on the jinx so it's up to the babe to blow this one wide open. degrom seems to be vulnerable to falling apart mechanically in the face of adversity as this is pretty much what happened in the yankees game too..... but hey i think we're still under a full season of the kid so i'll sit back and see if i get a couple more RBIs in my winners league via the babe.

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We'll take it to clash chat as the idiot who purports it doesn't post here at the moment.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

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

Nice to see the Cubs working pitches. Over 80 pitches in 4 innings. Like that.

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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

Another double play blown.

I'm not liking the vibe of this game.

you know, i was thinking when degrom was standing on first what's stopping lester from throwing like 5 pickoff attempts over to first to try and get degrom sliding in head first a whole bunch of times so he's worked up up down down left right left right B A select start before he comes out for what you figure has gotta be his last inning.

and btw i realize now there's something about pickoff throws with lester, but i'm not harping on that. it's just a general strategy ?.... is it one of the unwritten rules that you dont work out your fellow pitcher like that?

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The "ace" starting to lose it.

Once again, the lack of the big hit comes back to bite them in the ass.

Yep , he's coming unglued a bit.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

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

He's getting squeezed man. I don't blame him for getting pissed.

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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

btw p-matt, i've asked this ? to a few cubs fans over the last few weeks, but who do you think starts game 1 of the 2017 world series for the cubs? i won't spoil the best answer i've gotten thus far.

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Time to bring Ross in to finish the inning.

Do you know the roster for 2017?

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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

I don't see a World Series in 2017 but I'll say Jordan Zimmerman.

easy there ernie, obviously we don't know the roster now and basically the ? i'm asking is if people think lester will still be the cubs' #1 starter in 2017, and if not who do they see the cubs potentially going to get. there's one pretty obvious guy out there who i think would make a lot of sense in chicago.... do you know who i'm talking about?

also

Jacob deGrom :: Bot 6th 0 Outs (New York Mets @ Chicago Cubs) :: R: 4 H: 5 BB: 4 SO: 5 IP: 5.0 ERA: 7.20 WHIP: 1.80 BB: 4 SO: 5 H: 5 R:

Jon Lester :: Bot 6th 2 Outs (New York Mets @ Chicago Cubs) :: R: 3 H: 5 BB: 4 SO: 6 IP: 6.0 ERA: 4.50 WHIP: 1.50 BB: 4 SO: 6 H: 5 R: 3

welp it's not the greatest start in the history of the world but i think even cubbie nation public enemy #2 JORR would agree that he pitched well enough to win and that's what's important here. it's on the bullpen now, so when does neil-ram come back?
4

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ok ok i didnt mean to be too outwardly dickish with the 2017 world series part, basically i was just asking if you think lester will still be the cubs' #1 starter in 2017 when i presume it'll be time for shit to get real. zimmerman's a good answer, but i think he's ideally a #3 on a no-doubt-contending rotation.... him and lester are grouped in roughly the same tier for me, but i give zimmerman the slight nod over lester.

and btw if you dont see a world series in 2017 are you thinking they fully hit their stride in 2018/19? like realistically what's the window for this cubs team? i've got them penciled in for at least contending for a wildcard this year and should definitely be perennial wildcard contenders if not division threats by 2017 and from there once they get a little success in the postseason they should be fighting for the division annually by no later than like 2018. if this isn't false modesty i'd find it kind of amusing that i think this team is closer to the promised land, erm, planned land than some proper cubs fans.

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I said 2018 last year. Nothing I've seen moves that up.

Lester had a good game today. He gave up 3 solo shots in Wrigley with the wind blowing out and an ump squeezing the lower zone... Not terrible.

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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

Isn't Rizzo tearing LHP up? Why do managers keep going lefty lefty against him?

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

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

Dude I was just saying that to the wife. And Kasper touched on it just now.

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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