Daily Facepalm 2.15.12

In Facepalm, News And Rumors by berselius69 Comments

Obstructed View Daily Facepalm

Jorge Soler a Cub, then Jorge Soler not a Cub

Reports that the Cubs had signed Jorge Soler yesterday proved to be premature. Could he be signed today? It could go either way. The Yankees have been added to the mix of interested teams, but given how this offseason has played out I'm betting on Mystery Team

Cubs transactions MB21 recently enjoyed

In the midst of yesterday's argument about whether the rumored Soler deal was worth it, we were reminded that MB does not seethe at every move the Cubs make. Let's not forget that the Sean Marshall and Andrew Cashner trades were pretty good, as well as signing Reed and DeJesus. We don't hate everything around here (laughing). Just Mish.

Is there a Cubs game today?

No.

News in pitchers that I thought the Cubs had already signed

The Cubs are interested in bringing Ramon Ortiz back to be the eleventh starter. Honestly I thought the Cubs had already signed him, but in my defense it's easy to mix him up with Andy Sonnanstine, Ryan Rowland-Smith, Casey Coleman, and Rodrigo Lopez.

This week in stellar Chicago media

The local NBC picked up an unconfirmed rumor "from Wrigleyville" that the Cubs were maybe thinking about playing at The Cell next year during Wrigley renovations. The Cubs denied the rumor. No word on the shirt color of NBC's source. I am disappointed that this didn't come from a certain ABC morning show, or Tribune Tower.

If the Cubs do need to clear out for a season (or at least a non-trivial chunk of time) it's pretty obvious that the Cell is where they need to go. How many fans, especially STH are going to schlep up to Milwaukee for 81 games? It's not bad to do for a single Brewers series but if they're already having trouble drawing fans for Wednesday Pirates-Cubs games, how many do you think would turn up if you add an hour or so drive (if there's no traffic) with no public transportation or Wrigleyville bar scene to the mix? It would be a disaster. Not to mention that the idea the Cubs would be ready for major renovations one year from now given the number of permits/kickbacks/paperwork they'll have to get through with the city.

Woodworking products Koyie Hill wishes he recently enjoyed

I'm too dumb to figure out how to embed this video, so here's the link (Don't be so hard on yourself, Bersy)

The Colbert Report Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
People Who Are Destroying America – SawStop
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog Video Archive

Cubs org meetings begin today in Mesa

Per Carrie Muskat the Cubs organizational meetings begin today. Usually these take place not long after the World Series but the org chart was a little unsettled this offseason.  Also per Muskat the Cubs are waiting with bated breath to see if they can keep Blakey.

Pitchers and Catchers report in 3 days

The official start day is Saturday. We can all get excited for 5 minutes before we realize that real baseball is still over a month away.

Fewer Noon games this year, presumably

FOX is moving many of its Saturday games to primetime, which means that there should be fewer noon starts caused by the national blackout worked into FOX's MLB deal. I'm guessing the blackout restriction is waived in these cases, because there's no way the 20+ other teams that play on Saturday nights are going to move those games.

Share this Post

Comments

  1. Suburban kid

    The Cubs are interested in bringing Ramon Ortiz back to be the eleventh starter. Honestly I thought the Cubs had already signed him, but in my defense it’s easy to mix him up with Andy Sonnanstine, Ryan Rowland-Smith, Casey Coleman, and Rodrigo Lopez.

    Don’t forget Trever Miller.

      Quote  Reply

    0

    0
  2. Suburban kid

    By the way, if anyone wants the link for buying bleacher season tickets (you use the same ticket buying interface as regular tickets, but just pay a deposit at this stage), let me know. I’m not going to be using it.

      Quote  Reply

    0

    0
  3. Rice Cube

    @ Suburban kid:
    I always thought there were walkways that allowed passage between the bleachers and the bowl, but since they go in through separate entrances perhaps the seat nazi who told me the tale of free passage was mistaken. Whoever takes this deal may be stuck in the bleachers for a wee bit before they will be allowed to relocate.

    I wonder why they don’t sell PSLs at Wrigley?

      Quote  Reply

    0

    0
  4. Author
    Berselius

    Suburban kid wrote:

    By the way, if anyone wants the link for buying bleacher season tickets (you use the same ticket buying interface as regular tickets, but just pay a deposit at this stage), let me know. I’m not going to be using it.

    If you can get me a job in Chicago and some money, I’m in.

      Quote  Reply

    0

    0
  5. Author
    Berselius

    @ Suburban kid:

    They’re just holding out for that customer that has piles of money and a large family and thinks that the best way to watch Cubs games is a mile away while surrounded by drunk Chads and Trixies.

      Quote  Reply

    0

    0
  6. Suburban kid

    Its funny how “bleacher season tickets” went from something owned only by an “elite” minority of olden-day bleacher bums, totally unavailable to anyone else but those chosen few, to something the Cubs are pushing out in wads of up to eight at a time while apologizing for them not being good seats.

      Quote  Reply

    0

    0
  7. Rice Cube

    After a few inquiries, it has been confirmed that indeed, one cannot access the bowl with a bleachers ticket and vice versa as the Cubs have put up a force field between the two sections of park.

      Quote  Reply

    0

    0
  8. Aisle424

    Rice Cube wrote:

    I wonder why they don’t sell PSLs at Wrigley?

    Because the team was so bad by the time it became an option for the Ricketts, there was no way it would fly.

    It would also be the first baseball stadium to sell PSLs for a stadium (or part of a stadium) that wasn’t newly built or refurbished. I did this post over on the old site that goes into more detail.

      Quote  Reply

    0

    0
  9. Aisle424

    Rice Cube wrote:

    After a few inquiries, it has been confirmed that indeed, one cannot access the bowl with a bleachers ticket and vice versa as the Cubs have put up a force field between the two sections of park.

    That’s what I thought. It seemed to be a security nightmare otherwise. I think they started screening it off because they didn’t want people buying cheap bleacher seats and sneaking into the bowl. Now I think it is probably reversed.

      Quote  Reply

    0

    0
  10. Author
    Berselius

    @ mb21:
    I used the wrong word. I’m sure there will still be blackouts if FOX isn’t showing the game you want locally. FOX negotiated an exclusivity window where their games were the only ones scheduled to be on the air. Their games ran ~3:30 to 7, so the only other times you could start if you weren’t on FOX were noon or after 7.

      Quote  Reply

    0

    0
  11. Author
    Berselius

    @ josh:
    I’m trying to decide if I want to shell out for mlb.tv again. Somehow I feel like the 20% or so of games on WGN-tv will probably be enough video for this likely awful season.

      Quote  Reply

    0

    0
  12. Author
    Berselius

    @ Berselius:

    Unless MB, Aisley, and AC want to buy it for me for the sake of the blog. I generally get several posts a year out of bitching about MLB.tv’s shitty customer service, advertising, and horrible product launches (dying laughing)

    /AlsoRepliesToSelf

      Quote  Reply

    0

    0
  13. AndCounting

    @ Aisle424:
    If the Cubs did relocate to anywhere for a year, you can pretty much bet the PSLs would go into effect immediately following, and that’s how they would make up any revenue lost while they played in the Cell or Milwaukee or Bolivia.

      Quote  Reply

    0

    0
  14. Mish

    Aside from obviously the Rays, I am getting mlb.tv again because I want to watch some quality baseball this season. Neither of the local teams seem intent on providing that to me.

      Quote  Reply

    0

    0
  15. WaLi

    @ josh:
    Right. With theo @ 4.36 WAR / player, that brings up the whole over 10 years 1st round draft picks are only worth (enter WAR amount here, I forget) figure that MB was using.
    I mean if we use Theo as a basis of comparison with what 1st round talent should do instead of the whole league (which includes the atrocious Cubs and Mariners), wouldn’t we get a better understanding of what value we can expect from Concepcion/Soler?

    Does that make sense at all? I mean there seems to be more than just luck to drafting.

      Quote  Reply

    0

    0
  16. Rice Cube

    @ mb21:
    I was more referring to the Yankees as they are fairly obviously trying to trim payroll (i.e. AJ Burnett trade possibility) and adding a guy like Soler seems counter to that plan.

      Quote  Reply

    0

    0
  17. Author
    Berselius

    Rice Cube wrote:

    @ mb21:
    I was more referring to the Yankees as they are fairly obviously trying to trim payroll (i.e. AJ Burnett trade possibility) and adding a guy like Soler seems counter to that plan.

    I don’t think the Luxury tax is going to be a big concern if they go after Soler. Moving Burnett is more due to the fact that he’s deadweight on the roster, any payroll savings they get is gravy. IIRC the rumors had the Yankees sending something like 70% of his salary in a trade.

      Quote  Reply

    0

    0
  18. josh

    @ WaLi:
    Exactly. Even if there is a speed limit, as someone suggested, the non-luck component of the draft will increase the minor leagues, long-term, and everyone has the speed limit. My guess is that the disparity will decrease somewhat, but there is still going to be an edge to be had.

      Quote  Reply

    0

    0

Leave a Comment