May 16, 20187 yr 1 hour ago, LittleHurt05 said: Making 3 straight LCS trips and winning one World Series is close to a juggernaut to me. Do you know how hard that is in baseball? Winning in the playoffs requires just as much luck as skill. While they don't look great now, they are still on a pace to win 91 games and on paper are more talented than the two teams ahead of them. They have still have time left in this group. They've had a great run, no doubt. But my question is really more about what the Cubs are now and going forward, not an assessment of the last three years. Are they in the middle of their run, or on the downslope? (I assume "time left in this group" means you think the former). The next few seasons are what will determine whether they're remembered as a good team with a good run, or a dynasty. And by the way, as good as their run has been, I think that if the Cubs were to go out in the first round this year, and never win another title, I don't think most would consider the Cubs to have delivered on the full promise of the much hyped Theo renaissance. They've put together a run that's on par with say the Royals of this decade, or the Phillies of last. Really good teams. But one banner is not exactly the stuff of legend.
May 17, 20187 yr 4 hours ago, 35thstreetswarm said: They've had a great run, no doubt. But my question is really more about what the Cubs are now and going forward, not an assessment of the last three years. Are they in the middle of their run, or on the downslope? (I assume "time left in this group" means you think the former). The next few seasons are what will determine whether they're remembered as a good team with a good run, or a dynasty. And by the way, as good as their run has been, I think that if the Cubs were to go out in the first round this year, and never win another title, I don't think most would consider the Cubs to have delivered on the full promise of the much hyped Theo renaissance. They've put together a run that's on par with say the Royals of this decade, or the Phillies of last. Really good teams. But one banner is not exactly the stuff of legend. I see your point and the next few years will show us if they get on the level of the Bumgarner Giants or just another one time WS winner. It really depends on how their pitching holds up. If Lester and Darvish can keep it going, and if Q can go back to his South Side form. But winning the one WS with the Cubs is enough for Theos legacy there, just given the history. The other thing is we hype up these franchises and rebuilds and prospects so much now, most of them have to fail.on some level. Between the Astros, Cubs, Braves, Yankees, and White Sox, 10 of the next 6 World Series are already spoken for. And that doesn't count the high payroll Red Sox, Nationals, Dodgers, etc, nor other fluky teams that get hot in the postseason and play spoiler.
May 17, 20187 yr Theo's legacy in Boston was those two World Series titles (and putting a large number of players in place for the 3rd)...but also a TON of bad/expensive moves in Free Agency. They were able to sign the exact right mix of 4-5 veterans on favorable contracts for their 3rd title, but they had some really bad seasons mixed in there, overall. The same thing's playing out in Chicago. Heyward and Darvish. We'll just have to wait and see what happens if they go "all in" with Machado or Harper. Let's revisit all of his big mistakes in BOSTON: Signing Julio Lugo (character issues, too), letting Damon go to the Yankees, Edgar Renteria, JD Drew, Carl Crawford, extending Josh Beckett (leading to the chicken and beer clubhouse fiasco that cost them a great manager in Francona), Dice-K and John Lackey were all terrible moves. He hasn't made THAT many mistakes in Chicago, YET. The ones that stand out the most so far are Edwin Jackson (even that wasn't a huge contract, $52 million), Miguel Montero, Heyward and now (possibly) Darvish. Of course, you also have the Quintana trade, Jeimer Candelario/Wilson and Avila, letting Christian Villanueva go and the increasingly controversial Torres/Chapman move. Edited May 17, 20187 yr by caulfield12
May 17, 20187 yr Bleacher Nation guy who is a Cubs fan implied in a tweet tonight that Cubs fans are racist, because they complain about Edwards and other dark skinned relievers when they suck, but not the white relievers when they suck. All of that is filling in the blanks for his very tepid implications.
May 17, 20187 yr 15 hours ago, LittleHurt05 said: I see your point and the next few years will show us if they get on the level of the Bumgarner Giants or just another one time WS winner. It really depends on how their pitching holds up. If Lester and Darvish can keep it going, and if Q can go back to his South Side form. But winning the one WS with the Cubs is enough for Theos legacy there, just given the history. The other thing is we hype up these franchises and rebuilds and prospects so much now, most of them have to fail.on some level. Between the Astros, Cubs, Braves, Yankees, and White Sox, 10 of the next 6 World Series are already spoken for. And that doesn't count the high payroll Red Sox, Nationals, Dodgers, etc, nor other fluky teams that get hot in the postseason and play spoiler. I agree that it will come down to the pitching. I don't think the Cubs are shaping into quite the offensive powerhouse some predicted, and hot starting pitching was more of a key to their past success than many casual fans/media types think. And if you throw the Phillies and Padres in the mix, it might even be that 12 of the next 6 WS are spoken for
May 17, 20187 yr Author Cubs could be gearing up to try for Machado https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/cubs/manny-machado-thecubs
May 17, 20187 yr Seems dumb when Bryant is your best player, whose best position happens to be 3B, Machado’s best position. Sure, they can push out or trade Addison Russell, sell low on him and replace him with a much worse defender...and then turn around and buy high on Machado when he seemed disinterested at best last year on the offensive front.
May 18, 20187 yr 17 hours ago, caulfield12 said: Seems dumb when Bryant is your best player, whose best position happens to be 3B, Machado’s best position. Sure, they can push out or trade Addison Russell, sell low on him and replace him with a much worse defender...and then turn around and buy high on Machado when he seemed disinterested at best last year on the offensive front. Machado's been playing short. Getting Machado would be a huge upgrade for them. And if they wasted the resources to get him (if they were to trade Russell and then have no SS going into the off-season), I assume they would be more in on re-signing Machado than signing Harper. Edited May 18, 20187 yr by soxfan2014
May 18, 20187 yr 1 hour ago, soxfan2014 said: Machado's been playing short. Getting Machado would be a huge upgrade for them. And if they wasted the resources to get him (if they were to trade Russell and then have no SS going into the off-season), I assume they would be more in on re-signing Machado than signing Harper. With the way Machado is playing, I wonder if the Cubs would have the bullets to trade for him even if it's a half season rental. Maybe something like Russell and Happ would do it?
May 18, 20187 yr Author 18 hours ago, caulfield12 said: Seems dumb when Bryant is your best player, whose best position happens to be 3B, Machado’s best position. Sure, they can push out or trade Addison Russell, sell low on him and replace him with a much worse defender...and then turn around and buy high on Machado when he seemed disinterested at best last year on the offensive front. I would LOVE to see them trade Russell for a rental.
May 18, 20187 yr We all know the Orioles front office is a joke so it could happen, but trading for Russell would make zero sense for them. The cupboard is Baltimore is empty, by the time they compete again Russell would be hitting free agency. They need more controllable talent.
May 18, 20187 yr 31 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said: I would LOVE to see them trade Russell for a rental. My god - if they traded Russell for a rental, flamed out in the playoffs, and then Machado went elsewhere....leaving them with no SS while Torres tears it up with the Yankees.... Probably too much to ask, I suppose. I have to think they only go that route if they have pretty good assurances they keep Machado after '18.
May 18, 20187 yr 29 minutes ago, LittleHurt05 said: We all know the Orioles front office is a joke so it could happen, but trading for Russell would make zero sense for them. The cupboard is Baltimore is empty, by the time they compete again Russell would be hitting free agency. They need more controllable talent. In terms of what they could receive from the Cubs, I'm not sure that they have "more controllable" talent.
May 18, 20187 yr 14 minutes ago, soxfan49 said: In terms of what they could receive from the Cubs, I'm not sure that they have "more controllable" talent. Yes, and if Russell is half the player he is supposed to be, he can be flipped as well.
May 18, 20187 yr 2 hours ago, 35thstreetswarm said: My god - if they traded Russell for a rental, flamed out in the playoffs, and then Machado went elsewhere....leaving them with no SS while Torres tears it up with the Yankees.... Probably too much to ask, I suppose. I have to think they only go that route if they have pretty good assurances they keep Machado after '18. I don't think they would want to keep him. They would move Baez to SS, Happ to 2b and then try to get Bryce
May 22, 20187 yr A message to Manny Machado from a couple of Cubs fans at the White Sox game... pic.twitter.com/FtrDHDkVzU — Danny Parkins (@DannyParkins) May 22, 2018 Did anyone else see this crap? And earlier NBC Sports Chicago was speculating that the Cubs could sign both Harper and Machado in the offseason. Edited May 23, 20187 yr by Sockin
May 29, 20187 yr 5 hours ago, Nokona said: Absolutely horrendous slide by Rizzo Yeah, that was dirty. I don't usually condone throwing at guys, but dirty slides seem to be commonplace for the Cubs. I think Russo should have been plunked in his last at bat.
May 29, 20187 yr I see Addison Russell is following the Shawn Kemp/Antonio Cromartie plan.. gonna have his 3rd kid with his 3rd different woman... at 24 years old.
May 29, 20187 yr 5 hours ago, Nokona said: Absolutely horrendous slide by Rizzo Dirty as hell. Of course the cubs broadcasters were defending it
May 29, 20187 yr 3 hours ago, Buehrle>Wood said: Dirty as hell. Of course the cubs broadcasters were defending it And Joe Maddon blamed the fans for it, somehow.
May 29, 20187 yr 10 hours ago, SoxAce said: I see Addison Russell is following the Shawn Kemp/Antonio Cromartie plan.. gonna have his 3rd kid with his 3rd different woman... at 24 years old. Apparently he's not as good with the glove as people think.
May 29, 20187 yr 14 hours ago, Jose Abreu said: And Joe Maddon blamed the fans for it, somehow. And MLB had to apologize today to say the replay official blew the call. Shocking, I know!
May 29, 20187 yr Maddon is acting like a total scumbag about the plate issue. He's basically acting like he's right and everyone else, including MLB, is wrong. https://mobile.twitter.com/C_AdamskiTrib/status/1001586631231590406 Edited May 29, 20187 yr by fathom
May 29, 20187 yr Rizzo was affected by the Florida school shooting at his h.s. so he deserves a free pass. Maddon hasn’t argued that yet.
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