you need two more quality guys. guys you roll out there in the playoffs with confidence they are not going to get their brains beat in. you know like the teams that got to the world series.

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

i actually don't care but complaining about the cubs would make better radio than making excuses for them.

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

per bernstein last season the probable bad money on the back end of lester's deal didn't matter and they would just pick up pitching with money being no problem.... fast forward to today and the were priced out of price

Signing Lackey pending physical. 2 years at 32-34 million.

_________________
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 Elon, Tulsi, and Don

the question is whether they thought he was worth it or whether they simply didn't have the funds.

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

Wow. 16 or 17 mil a year for a John Lackey.

on again year in an on again off again cycle

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

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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 like it better than the Lester signing or throwing any money at shithead Samardzija

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

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

It probably saved you from Samardzija.

_________________
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 Elon, Tulsi, and Don

analyze that roster and get back to me, chief.

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

seems like a reasonable move. dude's as old as methusaleh

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

I have to cheer for John Lackey? That sucks.

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

The guppy just turned 16 down from the Sox. Great acquisition.

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That cements it for sure.. The guppy was never coming here though.

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If their plan involved signing top of the rotation starters in free agency, the cost was always going to be crazy and beyond rational (especially when adding the long-term deals). I don't think they can be shocked that David Price got an insane deal, etc. If they want one, they need to get crazy again as they did with Lester last off-season, and costs have gone up since then. They aren't going to get discounts on elite talent in free agency. They may win a tie breaker, if the money is about the same, with Maddon as the manager, but that's it.

If they don't want to spend the money on another elite talent, then trading young talent for cost controlled pitching (Miller, a Cleveland pitcher, etc.), but that was also probably part of the plan as well.

I was positive Shark was coming.

I can't wait to see what idiotic deal he gets. That guy has a horseshoe up his ass. 1st Hendry gives him the huge deal, then he has a horseshit year and is going to cash in big time. Charmed life.

OMFG THEY GOT SUPERHAREN!!!!!

i just heard the update mention that he's done at least 189IP for the last 3 seasons after coming off of TJ surgery in 2012, and at age 36+ that's something where you wanna dust off that old ditka quote "he's thirty[-six] years old; he's not getting a hell of a lot better" --- but then again how long do you have until he's in soviet russia where the wall hits him?

i think he's basically a ~3.50-3.75 ERA pitcher who's capable of ~5+ start stretches of !!!NICE!!! pitching and eventually prone to have ~3-5 start stretches of OH FUCK!!! pitching which ends up being 3.50-3.80 ERA.... but hey, then again last year i see that he managed 33 starts of 2.77/1.21 with 175K in 218IP... and if the cubs get anything close to that (say 3.25 or below ERA) then they'll be pigs in shit cuz that's a steal for ~16mil/yr.... but hey didn't they give up a pretty good draft pick for this?

so yeah, i'd say that you've basically upgraded your dan haren slot to have a guy where if he stays on the mound he'll undoubtedly give you sub-4.25ERA ball and pretty good K ratios, and seeing as the wily veteran just came off of a !!!! 2.77/1.21 year, yeah, there's upside there that if he can stay healthy you've got a solid #3 and/or an absolutely ballin #4.... and he's won a world series or two, hasn't he? 02 angels and maybe one in boston as well? so there you go.... there's a guy who won't dribble down his leg when it's mid-october and the mighty daniel murphy is walking up to the plate.

good solid/cromulent signing for the cubs, and while it's not quite the ideal shitkicking #2/2A that would supplant lester and give you a nice triumverate spearheaded by the BPIB, still you could do a lot worse than lackey cuz i'd definitely call him a gamer out there on the mound. i wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't come anywhere near his lofty #s from last year, but as long as he doesnt go too much above and beyond that ~3.75/1.27 area i think it's safe to say that the cubs definitely got better.... and they've unequivocally gotten better if you view this as an upgrade of the haren slot as opposed to the #3 slot.

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They may be the favorite to win their division, but that's no certainty. Pittsburgh and St.Louis are still in their division.

btw you gotta love how bernstein is literally reading the BREAKING NEWS!!!! that the cubs have signed lackey and right after he finishes that first sentence announcing the signing he's already off to slay the suntimes/hater strawman in the form of people who dare to question his precious cubbies and their plan to give the city a winner (cuz we haven't had a real world series winner since 1908, since 2005 is just for losers and cowards and #miata's)

even my dad, a total sports radio neutral who isn't anywhere near as "into it" as i am with all y'all here, had to crack a joke about how bernstein is really going to bat for his cubbies on this one. has he all but officially retired the sox fan formality/schtick/etc?

at least dan can develop some serious muscle carrying all this water for his ownership buddies 1-6 every day on sportsradio 670 der schnorr!

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did BROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCCCCEEEEE LEVINE just basically say that the cubs are going to go out and sign denard span for CF? maybe i half-heard it, but it sounded like he said "they're going to go ahead and sign denard span for CF".... maybe i missed a "someone like" in there.... but watch this space for another thrifty supercub #Value signing. maybe theo's got a coupon too?

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If they are looking to avoid bad contracts, and keep some flexibility going forward, Lackey makes sense, but is he going to be a reliable #3 starter over the 2 years at his age?

Lackey will be a perfectly acceptable #4. They'll trade Soler or Baez to get a #3. Shelby Miller, Carlos Carrasco, etc.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

Danny's second question for Bruce was what kind of clubhouse guy Lackey is. I thought things like clubhouse chemistry didn't matter?

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Any past baseball thought is fluid at this moment. Very bad optics to break bad on the Cubs right now.

can somebody 'splain to be why span would be preferable to fowler?

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

way cheaper

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I thought Cubs were a major market team? can't foot the bill for a Dexter Fowler?

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