•   Follow us
  •   Become a fan
  •   Contact
  •   RSS
  • When Theo Met Carlos: A Cubs Story [Kindle Edition]

    “We met today at his request,” Epstein said. “It went well. He expressed a strong desire to be a Cub (again) and an even stronger desire to have a strong 2012 season. He’s in great shape. He’s working out twice a day, pitching down in Venezuela. I told him that we’d let him earn his right back to being a Cub.

    “We said he’d have to work hard and that we aren’t welcoming him back unconditionally. We said he’d have to earn his way back.” – ESPN

    Last summer Tom Ricketts said that he couldn’t envision a scenario in which Carlos Zambrano returned to the Cubs, but Theo sees one. It’s possible, and maybe even quite likely that this is just posturing on the Cubs part. It does sound as if as Zambrano has to meet certain standards so at any point in the next few months we could learn he has not earned the right to return to the team.

    “Most of the details will stay confidential,” Epstein said. “But there are steps he needs to take to earn his way back. If he does so, we will see him in spring training and welcome him back.”

    Epstein said that Zambrano seemed sincere and contrite in the meeting, but he’s taking a wait-and-see approach.

    “From what I understand, he’s seemed that way before,” Epstein said. “So this is a trust-but-verify situation.”

    This could be one of those situations where you put on a game face and say you intend to keep the player so that teams aren’t expecting you to pay all of his salary. It could be genuine. Zambrano may meet all of the criteria necessary to return. He might still be traded. He might actually be a Cub next season.


    dmick89
    When I awoke, the Dire Wolf, six hundred pounds of sin, Was grinning at my window, all I said was "Come on in"
    dmick89
    OV Daily Facepalm 5.21.13 http://t.co/a0C86Ic4YC - 2 hours ago
    dmick89
    Contact me here

    100 Responses to “When Theo Met Carlos: A Cubs Story [Kindle Edition]”

    1. 1 Aisle424 says:

      We should put the posts about Carlos into an e-book and sell them. We have plenty of material.

      http://www.obstructedview.net/carlos-zambrano.html

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    2. 2 fang2415 says:

      [quote name=Berselius]I’m guessing WAP is other smartphone-like tracking?

      I wonder how everyone else follows games online. I only ever go to mlb’s site if I’m using mlb.tv or their online radio. Even then I still usually use some other site (usually yahoo) to track the game because I don’t want the 50000 bells and whistles of their gameday style app.[/quote]Just wanted to put in a plug for mlbviewer, which kicks so much ass that I forget how much ass it kicks until I try to use mlb.com’s shitty, bloated, processor-crashing official interface. Not sure if it’ll run except on Linux, but it’s so superior to the in-browser interfaces that if I’m ever on Windows I’d probably try to get it working anyway.

      http://mlbviewer.sourceforge.net/
      The dev is very responsive at http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/fedora-35/mlb-tv-in-linux-432479/page230.html , and tweaks the thing every year to respond to the random new bugs that MLBAM introduces every year.

      Who the fuck knows where that shows up in mlb.com’s stats…

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    3. 3 mb21 says:

      [quote name=Aisle424]We should put the posts about Carlos into an e-book and sell them. We have plenty of material.

      http://www.obstructedview.net/carlos-zambrano.html/quoteThe only question is how much do we charge? It’s free on our site, so I’m thinking if we publish an e-book we ought to be charging about $49.95.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    4. 4 Rice Cube says:

      Zambrano may meet all of the criteria necessary to return. He might still be traded. He might actually be a Cub next season.

      I suggest a new tag for these “it could go either way” posts.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    5. 5 mb21 says:

      I’d never heard of mlbviewer, fang. That sounds interesting. Does it install on a Mac?

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    6. 6 Berselius says:

      [quote name=fang2415]I use mlbviewer, which kicks so much ass that I forget how much ass it kicks until I try to use mlb.com’s shitty, bloated, processor-crashing official interface. Not sure if it’ll run except on Linux, but it’s so superior to the in-browser interfaces that if I’m ever on Windows I’d probably try to get it working anyway.

      http://mlbviewer.sourceforge.net/
      The dev is very responsive at http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/fedora-35/mlb-tv-in-linux-432479/page230.html , and tweaks the thing every year to respond to the random new bugs that MLBAM introduces every year.

      Who the fuck knows where that shows up in mlb.com’s stats…[/quote]
      I used to use mlbviewer back when I ran linux exclusively and their player had issues with linux flash. Let us never mention the year that they used silverlight again.

      I liked it okay, but it was annoying that seemingly every time a butterfly farted in MLBAM’s offices you had to wait for the coders to reverse engineer the fix. Once their flash player was working in firefox again I never looked back into it.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    7. 7 Rice Cube says:

      The alternate hypothesis is that even though Theo suggested Z has to do all that kumbaya crap with his teammates, in reality he doesn’t care and this is just a smokescreen to the media to make them think Zambrano has to jump through hoops on a unicycle to get back on the Cubs. When in reality, they were planning to keep him all along because trading/releasing him isn’t ideal.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    8. 8 Aisle424 says:

      [quote name=mb21]The only question is how much do we charge? It’s free on our site, so I’m thinking if we publish an e-book we ought to be charging about $49.95.[/quote]
      I’m pretty sure that is how supply and demand works. Don’t forget the $2.95 convenience fee, and the $4.95 processing fee. Plus $8.95 standard shipping and tax. All told, the book should be a real bargain at $72.92.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    9. 9 Berselius says:

      They also never had mlbviewer ready to start the season, since MLBAM would roll out its big update to the player on opening day and it would usually take a week or two to catch up. I’m glad to hear it’s still kicking around though. The vibe I got was that development died out after the flash player started working.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    10. 10 Suburban kid 22 says:

      He might still be traded. He might actually be a Cub next season.

      Cue Berselius in 1….2….3…..

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    11. 11 Berselius says:

      [quote name=Suburban kid 22]Cue Berselius in 1….2….3…..[/quote]
      What am I arguing about? I can’t remember. (dying laughing)

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    12. 12 Rice Cube says:

      [quote name=Berselius]What am I arguing about? I can’t remember. (dying laughing)[/quote]
      http://www.whatamiarguingabouticantremember.com

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    13. 13 mb21 says:

      [quote name=Aisle424]I’m pretty sure that is how supply and demand works. Don’t forget the $2.95 convenience fee, and the $4.95 processing fee. Plus $8.95 standard shipping and tax. All told, the book should be a real bargain at $72.92.[/quote]We should just round up to $99.99. Still a bargain and probably the best seller for Christmas.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    14. 14 Aisle424 says:

      [quote name=mb21]We should just round up to $99.99. Still a bargain and probably the best seller for Christmas.[/quote]
      Excellent stocking stuffer.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    15. 15 mb21 says:

      [quote name=Aisle424]Excellent stocking stuffer.[/quote]When you think about it, there’s no reason anyone will be doing any Christmas shopping away from the OV Store and our new e-book.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    16. 16 Berselius says:

      [quote name=mb21]We should just round up to $99.99. Still a bargain and probably the best seller for Christmas.[/quote]
      There’s no way it outsells our Alien Porn and Pizza Hut MILF anthology.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    17. 17 mb21 says:

      [quote name=Berselius]There’s no way it outsells our Alien Porn and Pizza Hut MILF anthology.[/quote]Time to box set that shit. Everybody loves box sets at Christmas. Combine it all and sell it for $499.99.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    18. 18 Rice Cube says:

      [quote name=mb21]Time to box set that shit. Everybody loves box sets at Christmas. Combine it all and sell it for $499.99.[/quote]I may consider this if you include the following:

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    19. 19 Suburban kid 22 says:

      [quote name=Berselius]What am I arguing about? I can’t remember. (dying laughing)[/quote]I just expected an obligatory “It could go either way”.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    20. 20 Berselius says:

      [quote name=Suburban kid 22]I just expected an obligatory “It could go either way”.[/quote]
      Ah. You can’t count on my memory. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. It’s 50-50

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    21. 21 Suburban kid 22 says:

      Only just noticed this:

      stercus ad temere intempestivo temporibus

      Per Google, it means

      dung to the ill-timed at random times

      That is quite the slogan.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    22. 22 Rice Cube says:

      [quote name=Suburban kid 22]Only just noticed this:

      That is quite the slogan.[/quote]I think the gist is that this blog posts random shit randomly.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    23. 23 mb21 says:

      I think we’d have to ask AC, but if I recall it’s random shit at inopportune times.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    24. 24 mb21 says:

      [quote name=Rice Cube]I think the gist is that this blog posts random shit randomly.[/quote]at inopportune times (dying laughing)

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    25. 25 26.2cubsfan says:

      [quote name=Rice Cube]The alternate hypothesis is that even though Theo suggested Z has to do all that kumbaya crap with his teammates, in reality he doesn’t care and this is just a smokescreen to the media to make them think Zambrano has to jump through hoops on a unicycle to get back on the Cubs. When in reality, they were planning to keep him all along because trading/releasing him isn’t ideal.[/quote]
      Once it’s public it’s public though. Note that some of Z’s teammates will read this and be expecting some kind of bropology (copyright). At least the ones that give a shit (dying laughing)

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    26. 26 mb21 says:

      bropology (dying laughing)

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    27. 27 Aisle424 says:

      [quote name=26.2cubsfan]Once it’s public it’s public though. Note that some of Z’s teammates will read this and be expecting some kind of bropology (copyright). At least the ones that give a shit (dying laughing)[/quote]
      That would have probably been necessary whether Theo dictated it be so or not.

      Human decency would have required a fairly contraite, “my bad” just so guys in the clubhouse didn’t piss on him in the shower.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    28. 28 binky says:

      I think Theo has to seriously leave open the possibility of keeping Z. He doesn’t want to get hosed as his first major transaction. So partly he may be genuinely trying to see if it’s plausible to keep him.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    29. 29 binky says:

      [quote name=Rice Cube]The alternate hypothesis is that even though Theo suggested Z has to do all that kumbaya crap with his teammates, in reality he doesn’t care and this is just a smokescreen to the media to make them think Zambrano has to jump through hoops on a unicycle to get back on the Cubs. When in reality, they were planning to keep him all along because trading/releasing him isn’t ideal.[/quote]What RC said.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    30. 30 Rice Cube says:

      [quote name=Aisle424]That would have probably been necessary whether Theo dictated it be so or not.

      Human decency would have required a fairly contraite, “my bad” just so guys in the clubhouse didn’t piss on him in the shower.[/quote]I agree, I think Z would’ve done the kumbaya on his own anyway because he’s not as bad of a teammate as most people think. At least I don’t think he is.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    31. 31 binky says:

      [quote name=Rice Cube]I agree, I think Z would’ve done the kumbaya on his own anyway because he’s not as bad of a teammate as most people think. At least I don’t think he is.[/quote]Maybe, maybe not. I’ve never worked with the guy so I don’t know. My impression is that, going off what I’ve heard his teammates say, it’s a case where he’s a nice person outside of work, but on the job kind of a pain in the ass. We’ve all worked with people like that. There are limits to how much on-the-job bullshit you can put up with from a guy, no matter how cool he is to have a beer with later.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    32. 32 Berselius says:

      Guys, the Astros signed another top young Cubs prospect, picking up Scott Moore. Pretty soon they’ll drag that farm system to respectability

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    33. 33 Rice Cube says:

      [quote name=josh]Maybe, maybe not. I’ve never worked with the guy so I don’t know. My impression is that, going off what I’ve heard his teammates say, it’s a case where he’s a nice person outside of work, but on the job kind of a pain in the ass. We’ve all worked with people like that. There are limits to how much on-the-job bullshit you can put up with from a guy, no matter how cool he is to have a beer with later.[/quote]Other than the tussle with Barrett and the screaming at Derrek Lee it always seemed like Z and his friends in the dugout were having fun. But appearances can be deceiving.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    34. 34 Rice Cube says:

      [quote name=Berselius]Guys, the Astros signed another top young Cubs prospect, picking up Scott Moore. Pretty soon they’ll drag that farm system to respectability[/quote]It’s like nothing changed with the Cubs, always letting their good young talent go…

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    35. 35 Aisle424 says:

      [quote name=Rice Cube]Other than the tussle with Barrett and the screaming at Derrek Lee it always seemed like Z and his friends in the dugout were having fun. But appearances can be deceiving.[/quote]You’re forgetting about all the shit Hendry never told us about.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    36. 36 Mercurial Outfielder says:

      [quote name=Aisle424]You’re forgetting about all the shit Hendry never told us about.[/quote]Only Alan Solomon knows about that stuff.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    37. 37 GW says:

      [quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]Only Alan Sampson knows about that stuff.[/quote]
      Obviously you are clinging to lying old testament stats, otherwise you would know that it is Alan Solomon. Dick.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    38. 38 Mercurial Outfielder says:

      [quote name=GW]Obviously you are clinging to lying old testament stats, otherwise you would know that it is Alan Solomon. Dick.[/quote]Dammit. My overreliance on stats has clouded my short term memory.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    39. 39 Rice Cube says:

      [quote name=Aisle424]You’re forgetting about all the shit Hendry never told us about.[/quote]Crap.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    40. 40 fang2415 says:

      [quote name=Berselius]They also never had mlbviewer ready to start the season, since MLBAM would roll out its big update to the player on opening day and it would usually take a week or two to catch up. I’m glad to hear it’s still kicking around though. The vibe I got was that development died out after the flash player started working.[/quote]Yeah, that does happen since MLBAM changes its format regularly. Why they don’t test new changes during spring training, I can’t imagine. Apparently they also usually have a lot of things go wrong with the official player when they change everything on opening day every year. (dying laughing)

      But mlbviewer’s main dev is an out-of-market baseball fiend, so he makes heavy use of the program and makes sure it’s up-to-date pretty quickly; and when he does, it is waaaay better than the flash interface, especially if you’re on a slow machine. It also makes it quite easy to save games to disk, but don’t tell MLBAM that. (dying laughing)

      MB, I assume it’ll run on a Mac since the Mac OS is just BSD under the hood. You might need to install a couple libraries, but it’d be well worth a shot to me if I were on a Mac. If you have problems, post on that forum thread, daftcat and a few other people are pretty good about replying, especially early in the season when everybody’s trying to hit MLBAM’s newest curveballs.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    41. 41 fang2415 says:

      I should also mention though that if you like lots of bell-and-whistle features like skip-to-innings, pop-up stats, on-the-fly quality switching, etc., the flash interface is probably better. But if you’re like me and just want the plain video stream played in the video player of your choice, mlbviewer is totally worth it.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    42. 43 fang2415 says:

      [quote name=Aisle424]Human decency would have required a fairly contraite, “my bad” just so guys in the clubhouse didn’t come into his house and piss on his curtains.[/quote]You misspelled “contrite”.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    43. 44 fang2415 says:

      [quote name=ACT]Cubs exploring bringing Wood back. Also scheduled second interview with Sveum. http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20111115&content_id=25980896&notebook_id=25981538&vkey=notebook_chc&c_id=chc&partnerId=rss_chc&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=br_chicubs/quoteSo do they all have to do a second press conference now?

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    44. 45 fang2415 says:

      [quote name=ACT]Cubs exploring bringing Wood back. Also scheduled second interview with Sveum. http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20111115&content_id=25980896&notebook_id=25981538&vkey=notebook_chc&c_id=chc&partnerId=rss_chc&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=br_chicubs/quoteJust had one of those wait-a-minute-holy-shit-Hoyer-is-actually-our-GM moments reading this.

      I love this offseason.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    45. 46 mb21 says:

      Based on that article it still sounds like Maddux is conflicted. I doubt the Cubs hire someone who is having such a difficult time deciding if it’s the right job. Can’t blame them for that either.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    46. 47 Rice Cube says:

      Based on the title of this thread, I can’t believe I missed a meme-ish opportunity…but anyway, I’ll have what Z’s having.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    47. 48 fang2415 says:

      [quote name=Carrie Muskat]Hoyer and Theo Epstein, the Cubs’ president of baseball operations, have done followups with the six interviewed candidates so far. The list includes Sveum, Red Sox bench coach DeMarlo Hale, Phillies bench coach Pete Mackanin, Rangers pitching coach Mike Maddux, Indians bench coach Sandy Alomar Jr., and former Boston manager Terry Francona.[/quote]Does that make it officially official that they consider Francona interview’d? Or is that just Muskat paraphrasing “he’d be at the top of anyone’s list”?

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    48. 49 fang2415 says:

      [quote name=mb21]Based on that article it still sounds like Maddux is conflicted. I doubt the Cubs hire someone who is having such a difficult time deciding if it’s the right job. Can’t blame them for that either.[/quote]Meh, I don’t think it’ll affect whether they make him an offer. It’s not like he doesn’t have the fire in his belly; he just wants to see his family, which you can hardly hold against him.

      It should make them careful to make sure they’re ready to make someone else an offer quick if he turns it down though. And they shouldn’t spend too much time waiting for him to decide.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    49. 50 fang2415 says:

      [quote name=Kenny Williams]It’s one thing to trade a manager. But to trade yourself? And then to work out the compensation for yourself? That’s one [heck] of a trick.[/quote](dying laughing). I will now imagine that Kenny actually said “fuck” there.

      Also:
      [quote name=Carrie Muskat]Williams joked that some White Sox fans would love to give him away and wouldn’t require compensation.[/quote](dying laughing)

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    50. 51 Aisle424 says:

      [quote name=fang2415]Meh, I don’t think it’ll affect whether they make him an offer. It’s not like he doesn’t have the fire in his belly; he just wants to see his family, which you can hardly hold against him.

      It should make them careful to make sure they’re ready to make someone else an offer quick if he turns it down though. And they shouldn’t spend too much time waiting for him to decide.[/quote]
      If they think he might not take it, and the gap between him and whoever is 2nd isn’t large, then I’d go with the 2nd choice. I don’t think they want their first managerial hire to be known as the 2nd choice.

      Plus if they offer to Maddux, the chances are excellent that Sveum jumps to the Red Sox instantly so they lose him as an option if/when he declines.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    51. 52 GBTS says:

      Let me know if you need representation, RC.

      http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_19339786

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    52. 53 fang2415 says:

      [quote name=Aisle424]If they think he might not take it, and the gap between him and whoever is 2nd isn’t large, then I’d go with the 2nd choice. I don’t think they want their first managerial hire to be known as the 2nd choice.

      Plus if they offer to Maddux, the chances are excellent that Sveum jumps to the Red Sox instantly so they lose him as an option if/when he declines.[/quote]It does also depend on whether they can keep an offer to Maddux private. If they can’t do that, then you’re right on every point. But if they can make an offer that can be refused without anybody finding out about it, then nobody would know that Sveum (or whoever) was the second choice and so it doesn’t matter. Well, not until the beat writers find out in July, anyway. (dying laughing)

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    53. 54 Rice Cube says:

      [quote name=GBTS]Let me know if you need representation, RC.

      http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_19339786/quoteI'd insert a Breaking Bad joke if I actually watched the show.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    54. 55 Rice Cube says:

      Cubs kicking the tires on Mark Buehrle.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    55. 56 ACT says:

      St. Louis seems interested in this Pujols guy.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    56. 57 ACT says:

      Sounds like the Marlins made a pretty large offer on him, though. This page says they offered him 9 years: http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AiWlnZiBTYhSe7UCGqxKUqE5nYcB?slug=ti-brown_hardball_verlander_cy_young_111511

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    57. 58 Rice Cube says:

      [quote name=ACT]Sounds like the Marlins made a pretty large offer on him, though. This page says they offered him 9 years: http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AiWlnZiBTYhSe7UCGqxKUqE5nYcB?slug=ti-brown_hardball_verlander_cy_young_111511/quoteI feel like years 6-9 of that contract are going to be really interesting…Pujols seems to take care of himself and is pretty machine-like but I’m guessing he’s got five years at most before he falls off the cliff.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    58. 59 Aisle424 says:

      [quote name=fang2415]It does also depend on whether they can keep an offer to Maddux private. If they can’t do that, then you’re right on every point. But if they can make an offer that can be refused without anybody finding out about it, then nobody would know that Sveum (or whoever) was the second choice and so it doesn’t matter. Well, not until the beat writers find out in July, anyway. (dying laughing)[/quote]Maybe this 2nd round of interviews has been stalling while Maddux decides.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    59. 60 ACT says:

      [quote name=Rice Cube]I feel like years 6-9 of that contract are going to be really interesting…Pujols seems to take care of himself and is pretty machine-like but I’m guessing he’s got five years at most before he falls off the cliff.[/quote]If I were the Cards’ GM I wouldn’t be super-aggressive in signing Pujols, but I assume he will be.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    60. 61 ACT says:

      St. Lou already has a solid first baseman in Berkman, anyway.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    61. 62 Suburban kid 22 says:

      Cubs targeting another Cuban player and……Chris Capuano (dying laughing)

      http://blogs.suntimes.com/cubs/2011/11/sources_cubs_target_other_cuba.html

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    62. 63 Suburban kid 22 says:

      MB, berselius, Aisley, AC: please accept my sincere bropology for any all the stupid comments I’ve posted over the year.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    63. 64 binky says:

      [quote name=ACT]If I were the Cards’ GM I wouldn’t be super-aggressive in signing Pujols, but I assume he will be.[/quote]The rumor is that they aren’t upping their offer of $200M that they already made.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    64. 65 fang2415 says:

      So apparently Sean Marshall is the only one of the 52 type A relievers that actually deserves type A status (dying laughing):

      http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/if-elias-used-war/#comment-1472691

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    65. 66 Berselius says:

      Jack has a good post up about the BA Top 10, with a little insider perspective thrown in

      http://rooftop-view.com/2011/11/16/cubs-top-10-prospects-per-baseball-america/

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    66. 67 Berselius says:

      Fielder looking for 8/200. Good luck with that one.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    67. 68 mb21 says:

      (dying laughing) @ Fielder

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    68. 69 mb21 says:

      Here’s what it would take for Fielder to be worth 8/200: staying very good into his 30s, his defense improves, and he becomes the closer.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    69. 70 mb21 says:

      berselius, have you looked at how much Fielder is worth before? I can’t remember.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    70. 71 Mucker says:

      Can Fielder really look to make that kind of money? Does it depend on what Pujols gets?

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    71. 72 mb21 says:

      [quote name=Walter White]Can Fielder really look to make that kind of money? Does it depend on what Pujols gets?[/quote]I don’t see how any team will pay Fielder that much money. I do think Fielder will probably get only a bit less than Fielder per year, but I can’t imagine any team is going to sign him for more than 5 or 6 years.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    72. 73 Mish says:

      Has Ryan Howard’s $25M/year extension kicked in yet? It’s not as long but I’m guessing that might be what Fielder’s looking at.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    73. 74 Mucker says:

      MB, I can’t help but notice your avatar. Did I mention I blew that guy’s face off with a pipe bomb?

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    74. 75 Berselius says:

      [quote name=mb21]berselius, have you looked at how much Fielder is worth before? I can’t remember.[/quote]
      I can’t remember if I did a what he’s worth post. All I can remember right now was doing one that looked at his PECOTA comps to get an idea of how long I’d prefer a team should sign him (5 years). I’ve been planning to a post that followed up on that age curve stuff that Jeff Sullivan (I think) did a week or so ago but work got in the way. So much for my optimism that traveling would give me more time to write stuff.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    75. 76 Aisle424 says:

      [quote name=mb21]I don’t see how any team will pay Fielder that much money. I do think Fielder will probably get only a bit less than Fielder per year, but I can’t imagine any team is going to sign him for more than 5 or 6 years.[/quote]
      Yeah, but will he be less than Fielder?

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    76. 77 Berselius says:

      [quote name=Aisle424]Yeah, but will he be less than Fielder?[/quote]
      He’ll certainly outperform Fielder.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    77. 78 AndCounting says:

      [quote name=mb21]The only question is how much do we charge? It’s free on our site, so I’m thinking if we publish an e-book we ought to be charging about $49.95.[/quote]There needs to be a special edition Kindle version virtually bound in Florentine-style gilded leather at $245.95. This is going to be a keepsake you pass on for generations.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    78. 79 AndCounting says:

      [quote name=fang2415]So apparently Sean Marshall is the only one of the 52 type A relievers that actually deserves type A status (dying laughing):

      http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/if-elias-used-war/#comment-1472691/quoteAm I reading this wrong, or does that suggest that over the last two years Sean Marshall has been more valuable than any closer in baseball?

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    79. 80 mb21 says:

      What did Jeff Sullivan write?

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    80. 81 mb21 says:

      [quote name=AndCounting]Am I reading this wrong, or does that suggest that over the last two years Sean Marshall has been more valuable than any closer in baseball?[/quote]More valuable than any free agent relief pitcher. Sean Marshall is very good. The Cubs would be smart to trade Marmol.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    81. 82 mb21 says:

      I take that back. Over the last two years Sean Marshall has been the most valuable reliever (5 fWAR). Papelbon is next at 4.2.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    82. 83 AndCounting says:

      [quote name=mb21]I take that back. Over the last two years Sean Marshall has been the most valuable reliever (5 fWAR). Papelbon is next at 4.2.[/quote]I was thinking it was free agents at first too but thought the numbers had to be way too high. That’s astounding.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    83. 84 ACT says:

      MIke Fast’s research on hit speed off bats: http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=15532

      Really interesting stuff.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    84. 86 mb21 says:

      [quote name=Dr. Aneus Taint]http://www.tigerdroppings.com/rant/p/29782356/Urban-Meyer-will-be-the-next-coach-at-Texasyou-heard-it-here-first.aspx[/quote]after the 2013 season (dying laughing)

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    85. 87 binky says:

      From Ramirez’s agent:

      they don’t give Silver Sluggers out to punch-and-Judy hitters

      There’s a term I’ve never heard before.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    86. 88 26.2cubsfan says:

      [quote name=ACT]MIke Fast’s research on hit speed off bats: http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=15532

      Really interesting stuff.[/quote]
      Yeah, I’m having trouble figuring out what to make of it. Batters have more control over the speed of the batted ball, but pitchers have a significant amount of control over it too. It passes the sniff test – Rivera and other effective pitchers (Marmol and Marshall) are at the top of the list, and crappy ones are at the bottom.

      What I don’t get is how a ball that comes off the bat at 100mph+ is NOT a hit 35% of the time if you’re not counting foul balls…

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    87. 89 binky says:

      Let the games begin:

      The Cubs are telling teams they’ll listen to trade offers on everyone this winter while trying to rebuild the team to be competitive in the future, tweets Bob Nightengale of USA Today

      http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2011/11/cubs-willing-to-listen-on-everyone.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MlbTradeRumors+%28MLB+Trade+Rumors%29

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    88. 90 binky says:

      [quote name=26.2cubsfan]Yeah, I’m having trouble figuring out what to make of it. Batters have more control over the speed of the batted ball, but pitchers have a significant amount of control over it too. It passes the sniff test – Rivera and other effective pitchers (Marmol and Marshall) are at the top of the list, and crappy ones are at the bottom.

      What I don’t get is how a ball that comes off the bat at 100mph+ is NOT a hit 35% of the time if you’re not counting foul balls…[/quote]Line drive outs? Really sharp grounders, maybe.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    89. 91 Rice Cube says:

      [quote name=26.2cubsfan]Yeah, I’m having trouble figuring out what to make of it. Batters have more control over the speed of the batted ball, but pitchers have a significant amount of control over it too. It passes the sniff test – Rivera and other effective pitchers (Marmol and Marshall) are at the top of the list, and crappy ones are at the bottom.

      What I don’t get is how a ball that comes off the bat at 100mph+ is NOT a hit 35% of the time if you’re not counting foul balls…[/quote]If the 100mph+ ball off bat falls into a glove or deflects to a defender the guy doesn’t have enough time to get to first base, I guess.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    90. 93 binky says:

      [quote name=Rice Cube]Is that like a fire sale?[/quote]I think it’s at the very least a willingness to do a fire sale. A slaughter of the sacred cows.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    91. 94 Mish says:

      Rosenbloom’s latest stupidity: http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/rosenblog/chi-cubs-arent-helping-new-manager-20111116,0,984170.column

      In summation: If Z pitches for the Cubs next year, Theo is an utter and complete failure.

      Also used the term “decimalheads”. Dunno if I’ve heard that one before.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    92. 95 Rice Cube says:

      [quote name=Mish]Rosenbloom’s latest stupidity: http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/rosenblog/chi-cubs-arent-helping-new-manager-20111116,0,984170.column

      In summation: If Z pitches for the Cubs next year, Theo is an utter and complete failure.

      Also used the term “decimalheads”. Dunno if I’ve heard that one before.[/quote]I wonder if anyone has ever written to Rosenblargh and suggested that if the Cubs valued his opinion, they would’ve hired him to run the team.

      /troll

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    93. 96 Rice Cube says:

      Passan on posting fees:

      http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=Ag1HLhfo4FhdvqvBYuaGd8g5nYcB?slug=jp-passan_yu_darvish_posting_japan_111511

      It’s a rather long read. Maybe it should’ve been a Fanshot.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    94. 97 binky says:

      [quote name=Mish]Rosenbloom’s latest stupidity: http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/rosenblog/chi-cubs-arent-helping-new-manager-20111116,0,984170.column

      In summation: If Z pitches for the Cubs next year, Theo is an utter and complete failure.

      Also used the term “decimalheads”. Dunno if I’ve heard that one before.[/quote]So by acting with cool calculation and not letting emotion be the primary motivator in your decisionmaking process you become Jim Hendry? Is this opposite day?

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    95. 98 Mish says:

      [quote name=josh] Is this opposite day?[/quote]
      I don’t know if “Yes” or “No” is the right answer to this…

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    96. 99 Rice Cube says:

      [quote name=josh]So by acting with cool calculation and not letting emotion be the primary motivator in your decisionmaking process you become Jim Hendry? Is this opposite day?[/quote]The media is still trying to come to terms with whatever the new “Cubs Way” is.

      Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    Leave a Reply

    RSS Obstructed View Forum