Chicago Cubs 2018 Season
In other Fowler news, his wife gave birth to a daughter today. She is named "Ivy."
https://www.instagram.com/p/BkyPkgaFuJL/?taken-by=dexterfowler
https://www.instagram.com/p/BkyPkgaFuJL/?taken-by=dexterfowler
Caratini promoted, Gimenez designated for assignment.
Serious Late
- Peoria via Denver via Ann Arbor via Albuquerque vi
If there is even 1% troll-job rationale in the decision to name their child "Ivy", then that is the most epically awesome rebuttal to Mozeliak's comments I can imagine.
I choose to believe. Therefore it is.
[ W ] #49
El Mago steals home in this one.
El Mago steals home in this one.
I’m gonna go ahead and say it...
Anyone who doesn’t enjoy watching Javy Baez play baseball doesn’t like baseball and should just plain and simple stop watching. Steve Blass and Marty Brennaman included.
Anyone who doesn’t enjoy watching Javy Baez play baseball doesn’t like baseball and should just plain and simple stop watching. Steve Blass and Marty Brennaman included.
I can't remember another player quite like him.
South Farms
- near Ogden & Rt 83
agree
He's the Cubs MVP this year, and its not even close regarding other position players.
Yesterday I read someone compare the excitement Javy brings to the game as the baseball equivalent of Devin Hester during his time with the Bears. Normally I don't like cross-sport comparisons of athletes, but I thought this one was interesting.
Worry if the Cardinals get a new manager? Uhhh no.
Get some talent that even approaches the Cubs then we may start to worry.
mattcoldagelli
- The Transfer Portal with Do Not Contact Tag
Eh. That’s assuming the only way a bad front office rep could manifest itself is in heads-up FA competitions. I would contend otherwise - getting dropped from consideration earlier on, guys opting out when maybe they would otherwise have been candidates to re-sign, etc.
You’re right that when push comes to shove, most organizations will find someone to take their money. You should want your front office to be doing everything it can to expand who is in that hypothetical pool, not shrinking it.
Managers have such a small effect on the season overall (Maaaaybe +/- a win or 2 over 162), ousting Matheny now does little to nothing.
But whatever the +/- is for managers, Matheny is very much the absolute bottom.
A bad front office manifests itself in many ways (a Chris Davis contract, perpetually bad teams AND farm systems ala the Royals, backwards trade values like the Shelby Miller for the entire Diamondbacks farm system, the whole of the Detroit Tiger's contracts under Dombroski, the Braves cheating on international signings, etc.), but Mozeliak's ill-timed comments don't really muster much thought towards "bad front office".
I mean under his 11 season helm, the Cardinals haven't won less than 83 games and have won a world series and been there twice. Perpetual competitiveness on a mid market team with no bad contracts (Fowler is quickly morphing into one, though) is something a "bad front office" wouldn't be capable of.
mattcoldagelli
- The Transfer Portal with Do Not Contact Tag
This is all fair, but if someone were to posit that Mozeliak was simply the person who received credit when the real organizational difference-makers were Luhnow, LaRussa, and Duncan...would that seem more plausible or less plausible today than, say, 3 years ago?
Do you feel good about the current direction of the organization?
They've continued to have a top 10 farm system after Luhnow, and that's while picking at the back of the 1st round. It's just hard to draft the no-brainers when you're picking that low year after year.
This team was projected to win 88-89 games at the start of the year, and unfortunately, 84 wins and no playoffs (current ROS fangraphs projection) is within the standard deviation of that.
But the organization is fine. They need to oust Matheny, but other than that it's hard to really find faults. You could fault them for not having that 5 to 6 win guy, but again that's hard to do absent luck and drafting in the top 5 picks. You could fault them for some of the reliever contracts, but that's small potatoes, relatively. They have what seems like unlimited good starting pitching depth and a farm system that churns out competent, 2-3 win position players. They have close to $30MM in dead money leaving this offseason (Wainwright and Holland), so plenty of money to add one of those 5 to 6 win guys as a free agent and shoot right back into the 90 win projection range.
Peoria Illini
- Peoria, IL
Says the Cardinals fan lurking in the Cubs thread
LOL... so true.
I've got a bad habit of having to read unread posts, etc. I usually just read and move on, but I must have had a burr in the saddle. Haven't given cub fans much crap lately.
Carry on with your quest to catch the Brewers and I wait impatiently for the Cardinals to get rid of Matheny!
:thumb:
Quit saying "quest to catch the Brewers". They have the exact same number of losses.
Thank you, and good luck in your team's quest to hold off the Pirates for third place
Peoria Illini
- Peoria, IL
LOL... sorry, hadn't checked the standings today. (But you still are 1.0 game behind in the standings, so you still are on the quest.)
Peoria Illini
- Peoria, IL
Thanks. But I'm more concerned with getting rid of the dead weight at the manager position. If we don't do that, then we will be more worried about holding off the Reds.
The weird thing about the Cardinals-Fowler thing is that from a Cubs’ fans perspective, Fowler was never anything other than a solid citizen in Chicago. He was an acknowledged clubhouse leader. He was popular with both his teammates and the fans.
So, we see these comments from Mo and from fans and we’re like, “It can’t be Dex. It must be you.”
Of course, Cubs fans had a completely different expectation level on Fowler coming in. He was totally stolen from the Astros in a trade for spare parts. (Don’t cry for the Astros - they seemed to have recovered.) He wasn’t a big money free agent signing.
Now, from a strictly analytical standpoint, I thought there was pretty much no way the Dex to Cards contract could end any other way than badly. You had a 31-year old center fielder coming off a career year boosted by defensive metrics that he’d never posted at any other point in his career.
The Cardinals were paying him like a 4 WAR player when he was really a 2 WAR player. Add to that the fact that when outfielders get much of their value from speed, they tend to hit a wall at some point after turning 30. It was only a matter of time before that contract started to look really bad.
(I have the exact same thoughts about Lorenzo Cain’s contract with the Brew - love the player, but that contract is going to look really bad in a couple years.)
So, we see these comments from Mo and from fans and we’re like, “It can’t be Dex. It must be you.”
Of course, Cubs fans had a completely different expectation level on Fowler coming in. He was totally stolen from the Astros in a trade for spare parts. (Don’t cry for the Astros - they seemed to have recovered.) He wasn’t a big money free agent signing.
Now, from a strictly analytical standpoint, I thought there was pretty much no way the Dex to Cards contract could end any other way than badly. You had a 31-year old center fielder coming off a career year boosted by defensive metrics that he’d never posted at any other point in his career.
The Cardinals were paying him like a 4 WAR player when he was really a 2 WAR player. Add to that the fact that when outfielders get much of their value from speed, they tend to hit a wall at some point after turning 30. It was only a matter of time before that contract started to look really bad.
(I have the exact same thoughts about Lorenzo Cain’s contract with the Brew - love the player, but that contract is going to look really bad in a couple years.)
This Fowler thing runs deep. Just glad the drama isn't in Chicago.
http://www.bleachernation.com/2018/...th-mike-matheny-responds-to-effort-criticism/
http://www.bleachernation.com/2018/...th-mike-matheny-responds-to-effort-criticism/
I love you Mike Matheny
It's a well known rumor that Mike picks "his guys" and if you're not one of "those guys" then you don't fit in well with Mike.
And "those guys" are usually the people that unironically wear outfits like this
So...
But Fowler isn't probably fun to be around in the clubhouse, and I doubt I would either if I went from a 3 win player last year to one of the least valuable players in the majors this year, with all my at bats taken away by a rookie who plays an antithetical style of baseball than me.
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Peoria Illini
- Peoria, IL
Yeah, the last 3 plus years of Matheny have been a struggle. I think it's time to make a change.