Any chance the Cube could sign Dan Haren? He was much better in the NL.
Bruce Levine (1:05 PM)
Just depends on what Haren and his agent want. He is an ideal guy to sign to a one-year deal with an option, or a two-year deal and flip his contract either in July 2013 or 2014. One thing Epstein and Hoyer always insist upon is flexibility, meaning they don’t offer no-trade clauses to players.
@ josh:
That’s part of it, but if the White Sox had anything beyond a middle reliever I’d have pulled the trigger immediately. As far as my lying eyes have told me, Campana is a defensive replacement/pinch-runner and not much more.
Well, maybe more than I thought before since the White Sox tried to trade for you and were told you were not available.
This has to be a joke, right? That would be worse than any of Hendry’s untouchables and it’s not even remotely close. Campana being untouchable is about the same as if Hendry had said Ryan O’Malley was untouchable.
@ mb21:
I was unable to find any mention of Tony Campana being in any trade talk in the MLBTR archives and I doubt it’s on the 20th page of the Google search results either. So I have no idea where this came from, but it was a head-scratcher if it had any truth to it.
Also, writing a thesis has got to be the most painful experience of my life. Thank goodness most if it was pre-written in the form of proposals and manuscripts so it’s essentially a cut-and-paste reorganization job.
@ Rice Cube:
I’ll say what I said anytime anyone overreacted to who was or was not untouchable during the Hendry era: there is no way that any player on any roster wouldn’t be traded if the price was right. No player is untouchable. As good as Mike Trout is, the Angels would trade him in a heartbeat if it made sense (it would have to be a very friendly deal to the Angels, but they’d still do it).
Maybe the Cubs value Campana more than they think other teams will offer. Maybe they are trying to inflate his value by telling teams he’s untouchable when they have a lot of years of club control in which to eventually trade him. Maybe the White Sox wanted only Campana and the Cubs wanted to keep him as part of a package to get a better player from someone else.
Instead of trading him for a shitty relief prospect (or whatever crap we assume was being dangled), they could package him with a guy like Marmol to a team in order to improve the level of prospect you get back by just a bit.
That bit from Levine also had no context at all. Maybe Campana was possibly a key piece in a trade they were trying to work for Garza when the White Sox came asking. Then the Garza thing falls apart and the White Sox were happy with Wise, so no deal anywhere.
I don’t know what happened, but I have a real hard time believing that Campana is untouchable.
I don’t know what happened, but I have a real hard time believing that Campana is untouchable.
He isn’t. No Cubs player is and none of them should be. Mike Trout is the closest thing to untouchable that baseball has. I could even buy that the Angels simply won’t trade him though my guess is they would for the right deal. I don’t believe any other player in baseball is.
@ mb21:
When I say untouchable, I mean no realistic team would ever offer what would be necessary to move a guy. Of course, if the Nationals offered Steven Strasburg and bryce Harper for Trout, they would do it, but that would never ever happen and that is probably what it would take to get them to even consider it.
So I think there are a decent amount of guys in the league that are “untouchable” in all reality. I bet even Rizzo is in that group now since a package for him would have to cripple another team’s farm system to make it worthwhile for the Cubs.
But even if the Cubs think Campana is the next (dying laughing) or something, they’d trade him in a heartbeat for something decent with less risk, or younger with more upside.
Maybe the Cubs value Campana more than they think other teams will offer. Maybe they are trying to inflate his value by telling teams he’s untouchable when they have a lot of years of club control in which to eventually trade him. Maybe the White Sox wanted only Campana and the Cubs wanted to keep him as part of a package to get a better player from someone else.
Instead of trading him for a shitty relief prospect (or whatever crap we assume was being dangled), they could package him with a guy like Marmol to a team in order to improve the level of prospect you get back by just a bit.
That bit from Levine also had no context at all. Maybe Campana was possibly a key piece in a trade they were trying to work for Garza when the White Sox came asking. Then the Garza thing falls apart and the White Sox were happy with Wise, so no deal anywhere.
Levine is full of shit. Being told “no” is not the same thing as being told “don’t bother even trying.” A shame someone who gets paid to be able to make that simple fucking distinction can’t be bothered to make it.
But even if the Cubs think Campana is the next (dying laughing) or something, they’d trade him in a heartbeat for something decent with less risk, or younger with more upside.
I think the Cubs would trade Campana for a below average reliever. Considering all the shitty pitchers this team picked up over the last year I don’t see any reason to think they wouldn’t trade a guy like Campana for one. I think they’d definitely take the chance that they could fix something in that reliever for someone who really has no value to this team now or in the future. Unless you’re a contending team, Campana really has value and even then he’d have to be used exclusively as a pinch runner. This team ran Joe Mather out to CF over Campana and Mather couldn’t be traded for anything.
My guess is that the Cubs and Sox were working on some trade and it included Campana and the Cubs felt they weren’t getting enough. I don’t buy for a moment that they declined trading Campana to the White Sox unless it was part of a bigger deal. And by bigger, all I mean is that it had someone who had MLB caliber talent in the deal.
Apparently in the 70s the federal govt declared that all public universities that received federal funding for housing had to have at least some dorms that were co-ed. So my current univ closed all its dorms. Now, 40ish years later, and with 13,000 students, still no dorms.
Postscript: I’ve never seen so many pregnant coeds as here.
@ Berselius:
Oh, king eh? Very nice. And how’d you get that, eh? By exploiting the workers. By hanging on to outdated imperialist dogma which perpetuates the economic and social differences in our society.
@ josh:
I don’t like these 20 second clips they have during the game instead of showing the play plus the slow-mo replay, but I guess I’ll take what I can get.
josh wrote:
My extensive cultural/anthropological research (I watch a lot of cartoons) traces its use as far back as the early 30′s:
Download | Convert YouTube to MP3
Election?
@ Suburban kid:
Electing to ignore reality? I don’t know. It was 5am when I wrote this.
election (n) – the exercise of deliberate choice.
@ Rizzo the Rat:
“Why, if both sexes attend the same school, it’ll be nonstop sex!” <– sincere objection by previous generations, apparently.
@ josh:
Hmmmm, I think I did college wrong.
@ mikeakaleroy:
Yeah, no joke. Worked out well for the baseball players at my school.
The onion:
http://www.theonion.com/articles/jerry-sandusky-hoping-judge-takes-it-easy-on-him-w,29848/?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_campaign=standard-post:headline:default
I’m voting Nader…. he is still running, right?
(dying laughing)
@ mb21:

Gary Johnson still gets the short end of the stick in the candidate portmanteau. (dying laughing)
I think I found Alvin’s role model:
http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/DanBickley/172652?nclick_check=1
Not sure if this was posted over the weekend, but:
This is fun:
http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/10/09/best-hitters-in-playoff-history-ruth-gehrig-and-beltran/
Never would have figured that Carlos Beltran was so legendary.
Tell you what, this season sucked so much, I’ve started to question the very nature of perception and reality. Do I even enjoy this sport?
I’m not even being sarcastic right now.
@ WaLi:
It’s amazing what a bunch of nerds can accomplish.
@ josh:
I think you enjoy it. Like most of us though you just wish that your favorite team didn’t suck so bad.
@ mikeakaleroy:
Lots of intercourse at a single sex school?
@ GBTS:
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Joey Votto missed 51 games and led the NL in walks.
@ GBTS:
This obviously means that everyone else is impatient.
I don’t have enough $.
@ Rice Cube:
Get a Kickstarter up before softball practice starts is all I gotta say!
@ josh:
In about five years we might have enough to get 1/150th of a Dan Haren.
WUT.
@ Rice Cube:
We’ll just claim we’re making a TRUE sequel to Mario Brothers or something.
@ Rice Cube:
He runs REALLY fast when getting coffee and donuts for the front office, maybe?
@ Rice Cube:
B/c he’s cost controlled, maybe?
@ josh:
That’s part of it, but if the White Sox had anything beyond a middle reliever I’d have pulled the trigger immediately. As far as my lying eyes have told me, Campana is a defensive replacement/pinch-runner and not much more.
@ mikeakaleroy:
Chicago area Jimmy Johns restaurants should use Campana in their commercials.
@ Rice Cube:
Now that’s a million dollar idea! Also, I’m pretty sure he probably already has a JJ’s uniform…
@ mikeakaleroy:
It’s good to know that he’s already thinking of life after baseball
@ josh:
there’s plenty of room on the orioles bandwagon for you. the last two games were highly entertaining.
@ EnricoPallazzo:
Does their team feature apes swinging sticks at rubber balls? If so, I might be interested.
@ josh:
http://lockerz.com/u/21181847/decalz/12764073/chimp_plays_baseball_batter_up_vide
Rice Cube wrote:
This has to be a joke, right? That would be worse than any of Hendry’s untouchables and it’s not even remotely close. Campana being untouchable is about the same as if Hendry had said Ryan O’Malley was untouchable.
@ mb21:
I was unable to find any mention of Tony Campana being in any trade talk in the MLBTR archives and I doubt it’s on the 20th page of the Google search results either. So I have no idea where this came from, but it was a head-scratcher if it had any truth to it.
Also, writing a thesis has got to be the most painful experience of my life. Thank goodness most if it was pre-written in the form of proposals and manuscripts so it’s essentially a cut-and-paste reorganization job.
/cool story bro
@ Rice Cube:
I’ll say what I said anytime anyone overreacted to who was or was not untouchable during the Hendry era: there is no way that any player on any roster wouldn’t be traded if the price was right. No player is untouchable. As good as Mike Trout is, the Angels would trade him in a heartbeat if it made sense (it would have to be a very friendly deal to the Angels, but they’d still do it).
Maybe the Cubs value Campana more than they think other teams will offer. Maybe they are trying to inflate his value by telling teams he’s untouchable when they have a lot of years of club control in which to eventually trade him. Maybe the White Sox wanted only Campana and the Cubs wanted to keep him as part of a package to get a better player from someone else.
Instead of trading him for a shitty relief prospect (or whatever crap we assume was being dangled), they could package him with a guy like Marmol to a team in order to improve the level of prospect you get back by just a bit.
That bit from Levine also had no context at all. Maybe Campana was possibly a key piece in a trade they were trying to work for Garza when the White Sox came asking. Then the Garza thing falls apart and the White Sox were happy with Wise, so no deal anywhere.
I don’t know what happened, but I have a real hard time believing that Campana is untouchable.
@ mb21:
By that logic I hope whatever the White Sox theoretically offered was terrible, then.
@ mb21:
Can Trout play all positions at the same time? If so, let’s trade the Cubs for him.
@ Aisle424:
There was literally no indication on the internet whatsoever before today at noon that Tony Campana was of interest in any trade.
@ mikeakaleroy:

Aisle424 wrote:
He isn’t. No Cubs player is and none of them should be. Mike Trout is the closest thing to untouchable that baseball has. I could even buy that the Angels simply won’t trade him though my guess is they would for the right deal. I don’t believe any other player in baseball is.
@ mb21:
When I say untouchable, I mean no realistic team would ever offer what would be necessary to move a guy. Of course, if the Nationals offered Steven Strasburg and bryce Harper for Trout, they would do it, but that would never ever happen and that is probably what it would take to get them to even consider it.
So I think there are a decent amount of guys in the league that are “untouchable” in all reality. I bet even Rizzo is in that group now since a package for him would have to cripple another team’s farm system to make it worthwhile for the Cubs.
But even if the Cubs think Campana is the next (dying laughing) or something, they’d trade him in a heartbeat for something decent with less risk, or younger with more upside.
Aisle424 wrote:
Levine is full of shit. Being told “no” is not the same thing as being told “don’t bother even trying.” A shame someone who gets paid to be able to make that simple fucking distinction can’t be bothered to make it.
Aisle424 wrote:
I think the Cubs would trade Campana for a below average reliever. Considering all the shitty pitchers this team picked up over the last year I don’t see any reason to think they wouldn’t trade a guy like Campana for one. I think they’d definitely take the chance that they could fix something in that reliever for someone who really has no value to this team now or in the future. Unless you’re a contending team, Campana really has value and even then he’d have to be used exclusively as a pinch runner. This team ran Joe Mather out to CF over Campana and Mather couldn’t be traded for anything.
I think Levine is full of shit.
C’mon, the Cube, isn’t it about this time you say Homer Bailey is making something or being something or someshite?
@ Suburban kid:
I will say that the Giants offense sucks.
And Homer Bailey is up to something.
My guess is that the Cubs and Sox were working on some trade and it included Campana and the Cubs felt they weren’t getting enough. I don’t buy for a moment that they declined trading Campana to the White Sox unless it was part of a bigger deal. And by bigger, all I mean is that it had someone who had MLB caliber talent in the deal.
Let’s talk some more about Levine being full of shit!
He’s full of shit!
On a chat, he was full of shit! SHIT!
@ Suburban kid:
You’re cut off.
10 strikeouts and only 86 pitches through 7 innings. That’s pretty damn impressive.
88 pitches
I feel like Ludwick is going to do something here.
@ Rice Cube:
False!
Somehow Aroldis Chapman can do this without his arm exploding into a million pieces.
@ josh:
Regarding non-stop sex in coed schools….
Apparently in the 70s the federal govt declared that all public universities that received federal funding for housing had to have at least some dorms that were co-ed. So my current univ closed all its dorms. Now, 40ish years later, and with 13,000 students, still no dorms.
Postscript: I’ve never seen so many pregnant coeds as here.
@ SVB:
Mission Accomplished.
But W standards, I mean.
@ Rizzo the Rat:
SK did some really great voice/sound effects work on that cartoon. He’s a real pioneer.
@ josh:
I blame the Pope.
@ SVB:
WE UN-BUILT THIS
The A’s are winning. Yay Moneyball!
Anyone see the cereal’s insane catch?
@ Rice Cube:
Dude, YES. Are you getting your LSD from Mack, too?
Seriously, though, hell of a catch.
Peasants! Arst thou conversing?
@ Berselius:
Oh, king eh? Very nice. And how’d you get that, eh? By exploiting the workers. By hanging on to outdated imperialist dogma which perpetuates the economic and social differences in our society.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
Some watery tart threw a scimitar at me, so fuck off
@ josh:
I don’t like these 20 second clips they have during the game instead of showing the play plus the slow-mo replay, but I guess I’ll take what I can get.
@ Berselius:
Some lovely filth over here!
Struck out the side! Moneyball!
‘elp ‘elp I’m being oppressed!
SVB wrote:
also obama.
@ Rice Cube:
agree. But it was an awesome catch in real time. He seemed to jump in the air and move horizontally. Not sure what devilry he posseses.
Watching the replay on the Cespedes catch, it doesn’t look like there’s anyway he’s going to catch that.
There shall be no sweeps!
Ah, Cats.
A sort of funny look at their prowess when you let them out…
@ SVB:
The artwork is similar to the people who did Simon’s Cat.
The picture they use here is very appropriate:
http://autos.yahoo.com/blogs/motoramic/camaro-owner-records-mechanics-abusing-car-scheming-damages-152707580.html
I’m putting all my emotional stock in the A’s. This should end well for me.
@ EnricoPallazzo:
Speaking of which, where’s bubbles been? I miss that guy.
@ GBTS:
Aisley, post the Kate gif.
@ josh:
Anyone seen the commercial where a father and daughter eat Frosted Flakes and then go outside and play hoops with a cartoon Tony the Tiger?
Frosted with what?
@ GBTS:
Nothing but carrots and peyote.
@ GBTS:

http://msn.foxsports.com/topics/device/mobile/t/64541905/nationals-sure-could-use-strasburg.htm?m_n=true
Wonder if Jordan Zimmermann said that. (dying laughing)
@ GBTS:
He left a comment on the Homeland thread on the forum, but he’s not around the comments much at all anymore.
aside: http://www.obstructedview.net/aside/war-conversion.html
@ josh:
Now we see the violence inherent in the system!
@ Rice Cube:
Insanical catch. Catch of the year. Catch of the land.
new shit: http://www.obstructedview.net/commentary-and-analysis/2012-cubs-catching-defense.html