Friend of Nordhagen

QUOTE (shysocks @ Dec 10, 2014 -> 10:23 AM) I need context. His glasses. His glasses are the context.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 10, 2014 -> 09:36 AM) No, he is loyal to Theo and Jed, and everyone wants to play for Maddon. The extra $20 million and possible 7th year at $15 million is just a coincidence. I'm super-excited to hear Len Kasper put it all into perspective for me, all while reminding me of how he plays in a band and is super-hip.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Oct 31, 2014 -> 10:09 AM) That's exactly what he came from in Tampa. He wasn't the lead dog there, he wasn't ordering all those shifts and what not on his own. Epstein is more probably more of a dictator than Freidman was, but it's not that different than in Tampa. Yep, I know that. Friedman hired Maddon, though; don't think that didn't establish and affect their relationship. Now, though, Maddon's a star, a celebrity -- and it wasn't Theo Epstein who gave him his start. Very different dynamic.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Oct 31, 2014 -> 09:56 AM) Baez didn't play well when he got to Chicago but he'd shown enough at Iowa to earn the callup. Don't look at this in hindsight. I'm not looking at it in hindsight. It wasn't just the strikeouts. He had been hitting below .200 in AAA into late June. You'd think for being so statistics-savvy, the Cubs braintrust might've considered the small sample size of his success (1 month) at that level. Even they said they were promoting him as a "reward" for his hard work and recent success.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Oct 31, 2014 -> 09:51 AM) How was bringing up Soler and Baez done for marketing? Sure it may give an attendance boost but those guys were ready to come up. Soler, yes. Baez, no.

Maddon's great. But I have a few observations, and potential pitfalls, regarding his hiring: (1) Two weeks ago, Renteria was swell because of the progress made by Castro and Rizzo. Why mess with that? (2) If we've learned one thing from the dominance of sabermetrics, it's that the front office guys run things, all the way down to the field. (Ask Art Howe and even Terry Francona about that.) Maddon is a lot of things, but one thing he is not is a shrinking violet. I'll be curious to see how it works out with Epstein and Hoyer. (3) There seems to be some groundswell that Joe's presence will lure free agents. But if the reason for Maddon's reputation was his ability to handle YOUNG players, how do we know he can actually handle a team with those veterans? In fact, the best Rays veterans were lost because of budget (Shields, Crawford).

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Oct 13, 2014 -> 11:40 AM) I found both WSI and this board in 2003 but when I first started posting I was mostly on WSI. But between the Mods just being complete assholes there, the minor league coverage here and just the people in general, I switched over here and completely stopped posting there within the year. Same experience here. Someone earlier in this thread mentioned Daver. I'd forgotten that guy. Good Lord, what a pud.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Sep 3, 2014 -> 11:01 PM) Fine, then there are still arguments to be made that Russell OR Schwarber (especially the former) might end up being better players than Baez or Soler. It's hard to argue against Bryant RIGHT NOW, but it's not simply three players in the discussion, it's at least 4 and possibly 5 (although Schwarber probably can't be in that conversation unless he can catch, as opposed to playing 1B/LF/RF). Who knows? At present, I'd guess that Schwarber will be an OBP machine but ultimately have no position; Almora will be a steady player, whose offensive shortcomings will have to be made up for by his defense (and other players). Russell, Soler and Bryant all have very high potential -- very impressed with their numbers and consistency. But Baez being discussed as Mark Reynolds, already, should tell us a lot.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Sep 3, 2014 -> 05:39 PM) Did anyone believe Alcantara would have more homers than Baez? That's been a surprise, although overall his offensive numbers indicate more or less a slightly below average MLB CFer...and he's doing on the job training defensively. Of course, Soler's the new "golden child" of the moment and Baez has been kind of been forgotten about, but his season, were it not for September...is to the point where you'd have to consider sending him back down or shutting him down if that was an option. So he has no choice but to struggle and try to battle his way out of it, which the Cubs ultimately believe he'll be able to do. While all the while, if he continues to struggle, we'll hear more and more how he was a Hendry guy. Funny how we didn't hear that when he was being hyped a month ago.

QUOTE (La Marr Hoyt HOF @ Aug 24, 2014 -> 02:04 PM) I'm going to mow the lawn ... As White Sox slogans go, this beats "The Kids Can Play"

DRAFT. PICK.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Aug 24, 2014 -> 01:53 PM) I am sick of Viciedo. He makes up for the D with his high OBP, impressive slugging average and blazing speed on the bases.

File under The Grass is Always Greener: I'm hard on Hawk. But I flipped over to the Cubs game for a minute and -- once again -- Len Kasper was critiquing music. That guy is insufferable, in his own non-Hawk way. Too cool for the room, no matter the room.

Other gems from Hawk today: free-associating on the shortcomings of Joe Pepitone and Ed Whitson, extolling the virtues of Bert Campaneris. Soon he'll get to the year 1988.

Nice job by Hawk there. In one sentence, he was able to over-promote one prospect ("Sanchez is gonna be a good one") while still pumping a lousy departing player ("But right now, in the field, he's no Beckham."). Hawk is a genius.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Aug 4, 2014 -> 11:34 PM) Pretty soon you may be talking about him with those guys. Rodon, Adams, Danish, Montas, and Martinez is nice though. It sure would be interesting if Rick Hahn -- very quietly, modestly and without benefit of total tank job -- has done on the pitching side of the ledger what the ballyhooed boys on the North Side supposedly have done with position prospects.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Aug 1, 2014 -> 10:53 PM) That trade started and ended with Samardzija. Oakland is trying to win the World Series, not build depth. Are they hang another Baseball America top 20 banner at Wrigley? Right next to the Len Kasper "I know more about rock and roll than anyone alive, and did I mention how cool I am?" banner. It'll be a set.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Jul 7, 2014 -> 06:33 PM) I'm not trying to hate on the Cubs system, because it's clearly one of the best in baseball, but it does get over-hyped to some extent. 2014 Baez is a perfect example and some of their secondary prospects get more kudos than they deserve. Again, it's a great system, but a lot of these prospects get extra hype for that very reason and would definitely be rated lower if they were in another organization. This was one of Epstein's great strengths with the Red Sox: have some top-line legit prospects and then a handful of B+ prospects who were trumped-up and Gammons-fed into something much more than they were. Very helpful when it comes time for trades.

QUOTE (Feeky Magee @ Jul 5, 2014 -> 12:10 PM) No? 22-27 range. And he has been walking a lot. And enormous power. He's put up a wRC+ of 209 or better at every extended stop. That's utterly insane. Bryant is truly a stud prospect. So is Russell. Baez (contact, glove) and Almora (bat questions) are less so. But the key is whether the Cubs can convince teams they are premier prospects, too, much like the Red Sox used to convince the world that their guys were. If so, they can flip them for the pitching they need.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Jul 5, 2014 -> 01:36 AM) I've noticed that no one is mentioning anywhere that I've seen that Addison Russell has suffered 2 desperate hamstring injuries this season, the latest one being a complete tear. He has only played 18 games this season as a result. I feel like that makes him a risk that Beane was willing to take by trading him. Billy Beane is not a dumb guy.

QUOTE (gosox41 @ Jul 4, 2014 -> 11:02 PM) They do have one thing the SOx don't. A fanbase that will actually go out and pay to watch them play, especially with any sign of being good. Even now the Sox are a better team and the Cubs draw more and are charging higher ticket prices. Bob This can't be overstated. There's really no mystery to it. If every team could simply take every decent major league player they had and "flip them" at the deadline, they'd have a lot of good prospects, too -- and an awful lot of high draft picks as well. Then add the minor league players that Hendry signed before he left (for which he'll never receive credit because the media is TheoJed brainwashed) -- guys like Baez and Alcantara -- give it 3 years and . . . yes, you have a deep farm system. But that only happens when you can still draw, and they can.

QUOTE (South Side Fireworks Man @ Jun 24, 2014 -> 09:17 PM) We're buyers again! And we have a pair of goggles to trade!

QUOTE (Big Hurtin @ Jun 24, 2014 -> 09:15 PM) Pitching blind? Harder to see the home runs.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ May 8, 2014 -> 10:48 PM) 3 K's for Sox....................having to listen to Cubs guys on WGN 2 times this series is torture. Hawk/Stone should of had 1 game on WGN. Len Kasper is a complete asshat. Talk about a guy who thinks he's too cool for the room -- Mr. Hip and his Music Knowledge. Go pound, dickweed.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Apr 26, 2014 -> 11:22 AM) Thanks for posting this. Anyone have a guess to what Balfour screamed in the dugout? Sounded like "f*** money" to me. I think it was "These are the worst PED's ever!"