***Chicago Cubs - oh no, we suck again***

Discussion in 'The Mainboard' started by Buster Bryant, Apr 11, 2016.

  1. Bankz

    Bankz Well-Known Member
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    Rodon is a name that is being linked to the Cubs by everyone with sources. Curious what the term will be if it happens.
     
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  2. RoderickJaynes

    RoderickJaynes Well-Known Member
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    He really is the most intriguing free agent. I can’t imagine he’ll want a short term high aav deal, so I think the cubs are just going to have to eat some risk on a longer deal there. Going into the free agency I was hoping for 3 solid starting pitchers, so something like Rodon, Miley, Kikuchi/Boyd would technically meet those parameters. Just frustrating to see little to no activity during this frenzy has been frustrating for obvious reasons.
     
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  3. Bankz

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  4. RoderickJaynes

    RoderickJaynes Well-Known Member
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    Honest question does he get more than Javy? I feel like he won’t.
     
  5. Bankz

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    I don't think he will. But he is the only guy I want back from that core.
     
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  6. Trofie

    Trofie Well-Known Member
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    I'm fine with not signing Javy. Roll hoerner and Madrigal for a year. I would have liked Jon Gray.
     
  7. devine

    devine hi, i am user devine
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    Coming and staying for a weekend this summer. Main focus and only part planned right now is wrigley field

    hotel or Airbnb recs? Best place to sit inside the stadium?
     
  8. spagett

    spagett Got ya, spooked ya
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    You going to more than 1 game?
     
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  9. devine

    devine hi, i am user devine
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    Yeah Friday and Saturday. Both day games
     
  10. tjsblue

    tjsblue I was right at the time
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  11. spagett

    spagett Got ya, spooked ya
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    I'd do RF bleachers (so you can see the video board instead of turning around to look at it) Friday. Grab a beer at Murphys or Nisei lounge for a more laid back atmosphere

    Then I'd suggest sections 115 thru 119 for Saturday. Get seats in the first 5 rows of the section so your view isn't obstructed. Seats should be in the shade all day.

    I don't think there are many hotels near the park, so prob airbnb if you wanna stay close to the park.
     
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  12. devine

    devine hi, i am user devine
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    Are right field bleachers a party area or is that just left field? Going with my dad so looking for just best views really
     
  13. spagett

    spagett Got ya, spooked ya
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    Ah, bleachers are typically more of a party, so yea... might wanna skip them. Plus no back support seating out there.
     
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  14. devine

    devine hi, i am user devine
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    There’s no purchase ticket options on the team site for the games I want to go to. Are they sold out already?
     
  15. devine

    devine hi, i am user devine
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    Also open to staying at a hotel or Airbnb anywhere convenient. Doesn’t have to be right by the stadium but close isnt a bad thing
     
  16. spagett

    spagett Got ya, spooked ya
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    Guessing that's because of the lockout

    Dates could change
     
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  17. spagett

    spagett Got ya, spooked ya
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    Or covid... I went in June last year and couldn't buy my tickets til a week or two before the game because they were slowly releasing
     
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  18. devine

    devine hi, i am user devine
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    Ha completely forgot about the lockout
     
  19. NilesIrish

    NilesIrish Not a master fisher but I know bait when I see it
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    Any hotel/Abnb near a red line stop works if you don't mind the train, there is a stop right outside the park (Addison) that works great.

    I'd probably stay in river north or somewhere else more downtown and either train or Uber up to Wrigley.
     
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  20. Trofie

    Trofie Well-Known Member
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    Don't buy the tickets until the day of
     
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  21. pianoman

    pianoman my drinks are free
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    Nice article from theAthletic today on the Cubs new offseason program for their top prospects. Instead of having their top guys go off on their own and train they've kept a core group in Mesa and are providing them with furnished apartments, meals, and flights home for the holidays.

    Inside the Cubs’ groundbreaking offseason program for top prospects: ‘It’s an awesome environment’

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    By Patrick Mooney and Sahadev Sharma 2h ago[​IMG] 15 [​IMG]
    The scene plays out like a kind of dance battle for the Cubs prospects yelling and cheering outside the weight room at the team’s Arizona complex. The 1080 Sprint is a machine designed to create resistance and reinforce the proper mechanics for an initial burst of speed, the first steps in running toward first base or chasing a flyball. Players put on a belt that hooks up to the rope which unspools for each sprint, essentially simulating what it would feel like to pull a sled. They talk trash, check their computerized times and compete for bragging rights as every repetition is recorded and quantified.

    Welcome to the ground floor of what the Cubs are trying to build for the future, a close-knit team stacked with explosive athletes and power pitchers. Though Major League Baseball’s lockout has frozen transactions, stopped the clubs’ promotional engines and created serious doubts about an on-time start to spring training and the regular season, a segment of the Cubs organization continues to operate out of the Sloan Park facility in Mesa.

    The Cubs are funding a new offseason training program for a select group of prospects, sources told The Athletic, covering the costs of housing, meals, transportation and staffing from November through February. While teams have traditionally organized minicamps and instructional leagues at their spring training facilities, as well as professional development seminars in major-league cities, the Cubs are running a pilot project on a much bigger scale right now, according to multiple sources familiar with the landscape in player development across professional baseball. The Cubs hope the substantial investment — one estimate framed the total costs at less than $1 million but deep into the six-figure range — will someday pay huge dividends at Wrigley Field.

    The Cubs first hatched this idea before last summer’s trade deadline, but some of the young prospects acquired in those deals, combined with all the talent clustered at the lowest levels of the farm system, incentivized team officials to follow through and put together a concrete plan. Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts gives Jed Hoyer’s baseball operations department wide latitude in terms of setting priorities and making decisions within the overall budget, and the ownership group supported spending money on an initiative that is outside the industry standards. Cubs manager David Ross addressed the group near the beginning of the camp, giving them a pep talk and reminding them of the organization’s expectations.

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    Top Cubs prospect Brennen Davis applauded the team for its offseason program this year. (Daniel Shirey / MLB Photos via Getty Images)
    “The Next Great Cubs Team” remains an abstract concept. Still, club officials can find optimism in Brennen Davis setting an example with his work ethic, trying to build off a 2021 season that saw him emerge as the MVP of the All-Star Futures Game, reach Triple-A Iowa and establish himself as one of the best prospects in baseball. Pete Crow-Armstrong — a 2020 first-round pick acquired from the Mets in the Javier Báez trade — has been completely cleared after shoulder surgery and is showing his potential as a Gold Glove center fielder. Kohl Franklin, one of the organization’s top pitching prospects, is on a full throwing program after a shoulder injury wiped out his 2021 season.

    Roughly 30 players are participating in this program, though the Cubs staggered the arrival of some of their younger prospects from Latin America until January, so that they would have more of an offseason break. The overall group includes: DJ Herz, the organization’s reigning minor league pitcher of the year; Ed Howard, the No. 16 pick in the 2020 draft out of Chicago’s Mount Carmel High School; prospects added from the Padres in the Yu Darvish deal, such as Owen Caissie and Reginald Preciado; Kevin Alcantara, a freakish athlete with impressive power who was part of the return from the Yankees for Anthony Rizzo; and Caleb Kilian, who threw six perfect innings in the Arizona Fall League championship game, applying some of what he’s learned since the Cubs acquired him in the Kris Bryant trade with the Giants.

    “It’s a great atmosphere to push each other because everybody wants to be the best,” Davis said. “The only way you can compete like that is being around guys like this. It’s an awesome environment. We’re going to be in a really good spot heading into spring training. I’m excited to see where our minor-league (system) ranks after something like this. I think there’s going to be a lot of breakout years.”

    This offseason program doesn’t address the poverty-level wages that minor-league players have historically received, but it does advance the argument that they work year-round jobs. The work of organizations such as Advocates for Minor Leaguers has raised awareness of these issues, forcing MLB to require teams to provide housing for minor-league players, starting with the 2022 season. For this extended camp, the Cubs are providing furnished apartments close to the Mesa complex, breakfast and lunch at the facility, plus meal money and flights home for Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks.

    Young talent, as Cubs officials like to say, is among the most valuable currencies in the game, so it makes sense to invest more in those areas. In exchange for fair pay — the recognition that they are much more than “seasonal workers” — MLB teams could expand the offseason responsibilities of those minor-league players. If the best college players at the country’s elite baseball programs have regular access to state-of-the-art facilities, why wouldn’t a multibillion-dollar franchise budget a little more money to gain more offseason structure for talented prospects in a similar age bracket?

    While the Cubs significantly deepened and widened the pool of young talent in their farm system by trading Darvish, Báez, Rizzo, Bryant and Craig Kimbrel within the last 13 months, no one is saying this is mission accomplished yet. Three of their top pitching prospects — Franklin, Riley Thompson and Brailyn Márquez (who’s ineligible to participate in this offseason program as a member of the 40-man roster) — did not throw a single pitch during the 2021 minor-league season while dealing with shoulder injuries. After the Cubs’ poor track record of selecting pitchers in the draft contributed to widespread changes throughout baseball operations in recent years, the organization’s shift to a Driveline-influenced, velocity-focused pitching program has led to more questions about how to keep pitchers healthy and properly develop them. An offseason program at this level should create more layers of oversight.

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    Caleb Kilian was part of the Cubs’ offseason prospect camp after coming over in the Kris Bryant trade. (Chris Bernacchi / Diamond Images via Getty Images)
    The Cubs are searching for a new minor-league field coordinator now that Ed Blankmeyer — the longtime St. John’s University head coach who managed the Mets’ Class-A Brooklyn affiliate last year — reconsidered and departed this winter shortly after accepting the job. The Cubs’ top four minor-league affiliates — Iowa, Tennessee, South Bend and Myrtle Beach — finished last season with a combined 208-269 record. Player development remains a trial-and-error process, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the 2020 minor-league season.

    For the first two-plus months of this prospect camp, the focus centered on strength and conditioning. For years, there had been a nagging feeling in the front office that younger prospects — usually international free agents or players drafted out of high school — were rushed into game action before their bodies were ready for a professional schedule. While that’s an issue all across baseball, the Cubs have tried to address it through multiphase plans that involve nutrition, weightlifting, yoga, speed training and plyometrics.

    Still, balance is required to make sure that players who need to reshape their bodies also improve specific skills that can only be sharpened by actually playing baseball. While there was baseball skill development during the camp’s initial months — hitting in the cages, light throwing sessions and drill work — the real on-field action started ramping up midway through January, lining up with the arrivals of international players.

    It’s an imperfect science. The ability to measure nearly everything comes with both benefits and drawbacks. Where some could see the process as treating players like robots, others could insist that because of the data, they can see what is actually impacting the players positively, negatively or not at all. Individualized player plans are designed to avoid a one-size-fits-all approach. The big idea is that the Cubs are supposed to be at the forefront of whatever happens next in player development.

    What can never be measured is the chemistry that develops when so many young players are working together, competing against each other and bonding through shared off-the-field experiences, like playing golf or video games and going out to dinner.

    Davis, who’s on track to make his Wrigley Field debut at some point this year, is living with Franklin and pitcher Ryan Jensen, a 2019 first-round pick who advanced to the Double-A level and the Arizona Fall League last year. They were already good friends before this offseason program started, but it’s an opportunity to meet new players, connect with coaches, strengthen their bodies and work on their craft in a low-stress environment.

    The Cubs believe those relationships will matter as players move up the minor-league chain and inevitably face adversity, trying to reach Wrigley Field and establish themselves as major-league players in a big market. Everything will be re-evaluated, but if the Cubs see results this year, this program could become a staple in player development.

    “When It Happens” became the rallying cry for players, coaches and staffers on the minor-league side of the organization when the Cubs last embarked on a full-scale rebuild, attempting to end a century-and-counting championship drought. That singular focus, attention to detail and sense of calm under pressure manifested when pinch-runner Albert Almora Jr. — the first player drafted by the Theo Epstein regime in 2012 — tagged up and then scored the go-ahead run in the 10th inning of Game 7 of the 2016 World Series.

    That once-in-a-lifetime moment is over. The Cubs are no longer the kings of baseball. But there is once again a collection of talent that’s starting to create a buzz in this system. There’s a lot of work to be done, but the confidence is building within the group that something special can be accomplished. It’s time for the next generation to prove themselves to the rest of the baseball world.

    “We always talk about how exciting it is for us right now,” Jensen said. “It’s just so exciting to be in this organization, knowing that they’re focused on developing their minor-leaguers and want to see the young guys that they have grown in their farm system to come up and perform for them. It’s exciting to think that we’re one jump away or a couple jumps away. It’s just right there. You can reach out and grab it.”
     
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  22. Bankz

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    He might be my favorite hitting prospect in the system. This kids going to be a stud.
     
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  23. pianoman

    pianoman my drinks are free
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    We got Suzuki, 5 years $70 million.
     
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  24. Bankz

    Bankz Well-Known Member
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    This is a very nice signing.

    Sign Correa and we can win this division
     
  25. pianoman

    pianoman my drinks are free
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    I doubt we sign Correa, but we do need either a 1B or DH. I hope we go after either Soler or Conforto.
     
  26. Bankz

    Bankz Well-Known Member
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    I'm not thinking it's likely either. I saw Kaplan reported we are talking to Schwarber
     
  27. pianoman

    pianoman my drinks are free
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    Schwarber signed with the Phillies this morning
     
  28. Bankz

    Bankz Well-Known Member
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    Ahhh shit... well i'm going to drink my kool aid and go all in on Correa
     
  29. Bankz

    Bankz Well-Known Member
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    This also very much works...
     
  30. Illinihockey

    Illinihockey Well-Known Member
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  31. Bankz

    Bankz Well-Known Member
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    Weird... All the takes in this thread about our awful ownership that forced our management to low ball the core players.
     
  32. Buster Mahomes

    Buster Mahomes "Don't buy a Lincoln you'll look like a pimp."
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    Fuck the Ricketts family.
     
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  33. Bankz

    Bankz Well-Known Member
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    lol... good on you.
     
  34. The Subspace Mariner

    The Subspace Mariner Well-Known Member

    The larger point still stands. The Ricketts family really sucks balls. Good trades though. They had to go.
     
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  35. backinblack23

    backinblack23 Bang Biscut
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    This is the correct take, the Ricketts still suck but we did the right thing and got rid of them for some decent prospects. I would have loved to have Baez, Bryant and Rizzo all back but not for the price they wanted, it would have put us right back into purgatory.
     
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  36. COVIDiskilingme79

    COVIDiskilingme79 Well-Known Member
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    And to be fair, I don't think many people in here were arguing that they should have resigned the trio. Most just wanted the team to show some life in free agency the last 2 years to try to contend.
     
  37. backinblack23

    backinblack23 Bang Biscut
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    I agree, but there were a lot of uncertainty the past 2 years and don't really blame them for just hanging back and letting things play out. Now they need to start to put a championship team together though.
     
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  38. pianoman

    pianoman my drinks are free
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    This was my issue. I never had an issue letting these guys walk. I was more upset about selling out on Darvish for what they did at the time and how Kimbrel essentially made up more than half of our free agency spending the last three years.
     
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  39. Bankz

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    Also good news on Davis. He is fine after being hit by a pitch yesterday
     
  40. pianoman

    pianoman my drinks are free
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    Keith Law had an article Tuesday after getting to see the Cubs A-ball game about our prospects. Said based on what he saw there that Kohl Franklin, who he has as our no. 15 prospect currently, made a case to be considered one of our top 2 prospects. I really hope we can fill up 2 or three spots of the rotation in the next three years with Kilian, Herz, Wicks, Franklin, or Marquez.
     
  41. Bankz

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    Cubs have about a dozen SP prospects that throw mid 90's or higher. Seems like a lot of hope that we may finally see some developmental success with those guys.

    I think the Cubs have done a great job over the last 3 years of revamping its development program.

    I know our farm system isn't ranked very high currently but in a year or these kids could vault us into a top tier.
     
  42. pianoman

    pianoman my drinks are free
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    ESPN had interesting rankings a couple weeks ago. They ranked teams like all other rankings and then ranked them by depth which was by how many guys in the system have a 45 FV or higher. We were 4th in those rankings. So we have a bunch of guys who have the ability to jump to another level, we just need some of those to pan out. I'm not sure how much we'll jump in rankings by next year unless we get a good haul for Contreras because Brennan Davis will be called up at some point and Caleb Kilian could be this year too.
     
  43. devine

    devine hi, i am user devine
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    What are some things in Chicago I should do

    only thing on the list is Cubs games

    Food/bars/sight seeing
     
  44. Illinihockey

    Illinihockey Well-Known Member
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    who are you going with
     
  45. Bankz

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    Skip the overrated and tbqh shit deep dish pizza.

    Go check out the Brookfield Zoo because Giraffe’s are awesome

    Grab a Chicago beef sandwich at Portillo’s. Put hots on it and extra juicy.
     
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  46. devine

    devine hi, i am user devine
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    Father
     
  47. Illinihockey

    Illinihockey Well-Known Member
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    Whenever I travel alone to big cities I always like to go check out the art museum and Chicago has one of the best ones in world.
     
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  48. Bankz

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    Navy Pier is ok. I enjoyed the boat tours on the Chicago river as just a simple chill thing to do.
     
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  49. ryno23

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    Wasabi for ramen
     
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