Random cubs/baseball talks

Figured id start a thread that we can go to and just have open discussions about the cubs and baseball instead of kidnapping other threads with random stuff other then the main topic..

Yes im bored with the crappy weather and no game today.. im actually kinda watching the Mets Brewers on MLB network

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

Was listening to Murphy and Huebner yesterday on Radio with jesse Rogers

Murphy brought up something that was intetesting yesterday..

He mentioned how that window of opportunity for the cubs have shrunk from 6 yrs to maybe 3 years based on other teams getting younger and talented and the fact that their minor league system has gotten weaker..

He also brought up that Epstein has had 4 top 10 picks in a row from tanking and of the 4 (Almora Bryant Schwarber Happ) Bryant the only one that taken that step forward..

He says..

Almora is questionable and has yet earned the confidence in management to get regular playing time..

Schwarber is still questionable because outside of what he did in the WS/postseason, we've only seen his struggle at end of 2015 and last year..
We dont know what were gonna get yet this year..

Happ questionable because he still raw and new..

He also questioned Epstein ability to draft good and feels it not one of his best qualities in putting a team together..

He feels he very good at making trades and signing FAs but not so much when it comes to drafting..
As he points out a not so good farm system now and only 1of his 4 top 10 picks taking a step forward as of now..

He says the team is mostly built on FAs , trades, and hendry leftovers which were used to make some trades..not so much by guys he drafted..

Lets see..

Contreras signed by Hendry in 2009

Rizzo was traded for with Hendry guy Cashner

Baez was drafted by Hendry in 2011

Russell was traded for with Hendry guy Samardzija

Bryant drafted by Epstein

Schwarber drafted by Epstein

Almora/Happ drafted by Epstein

Heyward signed by Epstein

Zobrist signed by Epstein

Lester FA
Hendicks traded for Hendry guy Dempster
Quintana traded for with Epstein drafted players
Darvish FA
Chatwood FA


Of the 15 regulars above only 4 were drafted by Epstein and 1 was traded for for an Epstein drafted/signed prospect..

So, maybe there is something there that Murphy suggesting..

If this group dont come around and put it together again these next couple years, where does Epstein go to right it..

His rotation now is tied up for the next 3 years outside of Quintana who under options for 19 and 20.. you have to think theyll bring him back or hope they do because it cost them a big time prospect in Jiminez..

Bats outside of being tied into Heyward for 5 more years and Rizzo for 2 more years are mostly young and question marks and if they dont step up how does he replace them with nothing behind them in system that close to ready..


What are your all thoughts on this

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

Chance Maddon manages the Cubs next year?

Omeletpants said:

Chance Maddon manages the Cubs next year?

Click to expand...

Whole lot of other bad GM’s at drafting by this logic then. Go back and look at the picks following our picks. You could argue A Russell and Seager after AAjr, but even the later was much later in the first. Not much in the other drafts after Schwarbs and Happ, than you can crucify Theo for.

PickSix said:

Whole lot of other bad GM’s at drafting by this logic then. Go back and look at the picks following our picks. You could argue A Russell and Seager after AAjr, but even the later was much later in the first. Not much in the other drafts after Schwarbs and Happ, than you can crucify Theo for.

Click to expand...

First , im not criticising Epstein .
Cant criticize a guy much who put together a WS championship team after 108 years..

Im just posting something here off of what i heard on radio yesterday and thought it would be interesting to see what others think about this..

I just think Murphy has some good points as far as the now and the next couple years with this current team..

As far as the draft itself.. it always a crapshoot no matter where you pick..
Never a guarentee with any kid on how they will fare in the pro level..

Im sure in baseball there are a ton of guys drafted late that had better careers then guys drafted in first 2 rounds..
Just find it interesting of his 4 top 10 picks, 1 has taken that next step 2 are still question marks and the other seems to be in purgatory with the manager..


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

Omeletpants said:

Chance Maddon manages the Cubs next year?

Click to expand...

2019 is his last year of contract..
I say he has a 99.9% chance of returning..
Beyond that , depends on how they do this year and next IMO and if he wants to retire or not

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

chibears55 said:

2019 is his last year of contract..
I say he has a 99.9% chance of returning..
Beyond that , depends on how they do this year and next IMO and if he wants to retire or not

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

They could lose 100 games this year and there would still be a 10,000% chance Maddon returns in 2019 with an extension in hand. Suggestions to the contrary are just silly.

fatbeard said:

They could lose 100 games this year and there would still be a 10,000% chance Maddon returns in 2019 with an extension in hand. Suggestions to the contrary are just silly.

Click to expand...

Im not so sure about the extension part, especially if they dont win...

Let remember Maddon going to be 65..
We all appreciate what he done but he may not want to return and management just might look to add a fresh face, especially if his old bag of tricks aren't working anymore..

Their paying alot of money to players to not just compete for but win championships, so he going to need to lead them there..

They already let go of coaches, managers are next if they dont win..
Honeymoon dont last long

Joe Girardi still available if their still interested

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk
P

After spending two decades plus listening to Mike Murphy I came to the conclusion that he is dumb as a bag of rocks. He always takes facts that interests him and makes them mean something else. The window shortening argument negates anything else he might have said correctly. Plus, like most people of a certain bent, they refused to acknowledge that since coming up from AAA last July going into this year Schwarber has been quite good with a wRC+, the best thumbnail sketch available for a run producer, right about 130 or in other words he's a 30% above average run producer. He was really only bad for 6 weeks last year in May and June but since he was historically bad it brought his season wRC+ down to 102, which given those awful numbers was actually quite the accomplishment.. There are no guarantees in baseball but I'd venture a guess that his pessimism will be proven very wrong.

TC in Mississippi said:

After spending two decades plus listening to Mike Murphy I came to the conclusion that he is dumb as a bag of rocks. He always takes facts that interests him and makes them mean something else. The window shortening argument negates anything else he might have said correctly. Plus, like most people of a certain bent, they refused to acknowledge that since coming up from AAA last July going into this year Schwarber has been quite good with a wRC+, the best thumbnail sketch available for a run producer, right about 130 or in other words he's a 30% above average run producer. He was really only bad for 6 weeks last year in May and June but since he was historically bad it brought his season wRC+ down to 102, which given those awful numbers was actually quite the accomplishment.. There are no guarantees in baseball but I'd venture a guess that his pessimism will be proven very wrong.

Click to expand...

He definately picked it up the last week or so...
I think he going to have a good year

Love seeing him going the other way a few times against the shift too..
He keeps that up itll force them to loosen up a bit on that shift and give him more room on right side..

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

TC in Mississippi said:

After spending two decades plus listening to Mike Murphy I came to the conclusion that he is dumb as a bag of rocks. He always takes facts that interests him and makes them mean something else. The window shortening argument negates anything else he might have said correctly. Plus, like most people of a certain bent, they refused to acknowledge that since coming up from AAA last July going into this year Schwarber has been quite good with a wRC+, the best thumbnail sketch available for a run producer, right about 130 or in other words he's a 30% above average run producer. He was really only bad for 6 weeks last year in May and June but since he was historically bad it brought his season wRC+ down to 102, which given those awful numbers was actually quite the accomplishment.. There are no guarantees in baseball but I'd venture a guess that his pessimism will be proven very wrong.

Click to expand...

Oh, gosh...yes. There's a reason why he been bounced around from station to station and currently any of the short list of his fans have to hire a PI to find where they can find his babble on the air. He's a master at hindsight with exactly zero foresight....the worst kind of baseball fan.

Diehardfan said:

Oh, gosh...yes. There's a reason why he been bounced around from station to station and currently any of the short list of his fans have to hire a PI to find where they can find his babble on the air. He's a master at hindsight with exactly zero foresight....the worst kind of baseball fan.

Click to expand...

Worse kind of fan i 100% agree with..

I remember during the McPhail ERA "F-A-I-L", he would aggravate me with all his trashing of the cubs..
I thought he was worse then a sox fan bashing the cubs..



Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

chibears55 said:

Worse kind of fan i 100% agree with..

I remember during the McPhail ERA "F-A-I-L", he would aggravate me with all his trashing of the cubs..
I thought he was worse then a sox fan bashing the cubs..



Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

That exactly was one of the things I was referring to. He was all in on a lot of the moves MacPhail made....when he made them....but as soon as they went bad, he was all over him. But it wasn't just him.....Himes, Lynch and Hendry got raped by him as did all of the Cub managers. Goof sat in the bleachers and thought he was smarter than the guys on the field and in the front office....sometimes he was right but NEVER before the move had gone bad. Worst Cub fan.....EVER.

chibears55 said:

Im not so sure about the extension part, especially if they dont win...

Let remember Maddon going to be 65..
We all appreciate what he done but he may not want to return and management just might look to add a fresh face, especially if his old bag of tricks aren't working anymore..

Their paying alot of money to players to not just compete for but win championships, so he going to need to lead them there..

They already let go of coaches, managers are next if they dont win..
Honeymoon dont last long

Joe Girardi still available if their still interested

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk
P

Click to expand...

Maddon has given no indication that he wants to hang 'em up, so the default assumption is that he comes back for one more contract that takes him to 70. And Theo is not going to make a meatball decision about Maddon's fate based on small-sample size postseason variance. As for the bag of tricks "not working anymore," Maddon has three NLCS appearances in three seasons and a .671 second-half winning percentage with the Cubs. So yeah, no real problems there.

Diehardfan said:

Oh, gosh...yes. There's a reason why he been bounced around from station to station and currently any of the short list of his fans have to hire a PI to find where they can find his babble on the air. He's a master at hindsight with exactly zero foresight....the worst kind of baseball fan.

Click to expand...

Definitely the worst kind of fan. Also was one of the worst interviewers I've ever heard. He basically talked over his guests and tried to imprint whatever point HE was trying to make on their comments whether they fit or not. I can't remember who it was, it was a long time baseball guy, that he tried this "technique" on and the guy said "clearly you know more than I do so thanks for having me on. Goodbye" and hung up. Wasn't having any of his shit. I think the guy works in radio for the sole reason that he likes to hear himself talk.

Maddon is gone if they don't make the WS

Omeletpants said:

Maddon is gone if they don't make the WS

Click to expand...

"The 2016 Cubs have morphed into one of baseball's worst teams. No way in hell they would win a single playoff game."

Do the cubs have one of the worse starting outfield in baseball to date?
Schwarber Happ Heyward

https://twitter.com/BleacherNation/status/986691792715337728?s=19

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

What an insane at bat this is....

Mentioned this in the IST but figure some might miss it there and this is definitely worth checking out.

Matt Harvey got released by mets..

Dont quite know his whole story of his downfall, as far as Injuries or stuff..
But
If he willing, why not pick him up and work him out of pen in Iowa and see if he can be useful as a bullpen guy later in season

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk