Theo Epstein Sploosh Thread

[Saul Goodman]

DOOM! http://www.majoronions.com/plain-simple-theo-epstein-baseballs-biggest-fraud/

"but outside of Dustin Pedroia, Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz – where was all this player development in Beantown that the boy genius talks about?"

Outside of those great players, what you got Theo?

Jacoby Ellsbury.

Yeah, but aside from drafting and developing those two MVPs, those two front of the rotation starters, Jonathan Papelbon, some other decent guys like Josh Redick, Jed Lowrie, and Justin Masterson (who you later traded basically straight up for Victor Martinez), signing Xander Bogaerts, and hiring Terry Francona after he was run out of Philadelphia ... what the fuck else did you and your boy toy Jed Hoyer do in Boston?

Well he doesn't get credit for Papi falling out of the sky. This is established.

Same goes for signing Schilling. And Keith Foulke and Mike Timlin. And Doug Mientkiewicz, Kevin Millar, Bill Mueller, Mark Bellhorn, Pokey Reese, Gabe Kapler, Orlando Cabrera, and basically every other position player on the 2004 playoff roster not named Manny Ramirez, Johnny Damon, or Jason Varitek. Those guys don't count.

Even John Lackey had a pretty good season. If he wasn't such a boy genius failure, I'd say everything is coming up Theo.

[Internet Apex]

DOOM! http://www.majoronions.com/plain-simple-theo-epstein-baseballs-biggest-fraud/

"but outside of Dustin Pedroia, Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz – where was all this player development in Beantown that the boy genius talks about?"

Outside of those great players, what you got Theo?

Jacoby Ellsbury.

Yeah, but aside from drafting and developing those two MVPs, those two front of the rotation starters, Jonathan Papelbon, some other decent guys like Josh Redick, Jed Lowrie, and Justin Masterson (who you later traded basically straight up for Victor Martinez), signing Xander Bogaerts, and hiring Terry Francona after he was run out of Philadelphia ... what the fuck else did you and your boy toy Jed Hoyer do in Boston?

Well he doesn't get credit for Papi falling out of the sky. This is established.

Same goes for signing Schilling. And Keith Foulke and Mike Timlin. And Doug Mientkiewicz, Kevin Millar, Bill Mueller, Mark Bellhorn, Pokey Reese, Gabe Kapler, Orlando Cabrera, and basically every other position player on the 2004 playoff roster not named Manny Ramirez, Johnny Damon, or Jason Varitek. Those guys don't count.

Even John Lackey had a pretty good season. If he wasn't such a boy genius failure, I'd say everything is coming up Theo.

That's a parody site right? Onions? He has a link on there to a video, which I refuse to watch, headlined: "Derrick Rose or Kyrie Irving. Who's the NBA's premier point guard?" Um, Chris Paul.

[R-V]

RT @BleacherNation #Cubs: There Are Increasing Signals That 2014 and 2015 Could Be Ugly http://bit.ly/1cDRefC

/Elibait

[Brownie]

RT @BleacherNation #Cubs: There Are Increasing Signals That 2014 and 2015 Could Be Ugly http://bit.ly/1cDRefC

/Elibait

Intrepid Reader: Some redneck from Cobb County 23 years ago
Daggummit! That Schuerholtzskink won't promise the Braves won't finish in last place in 1991  DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Besides, Sid Bream and Terry Pendleton their big free agent signings and Bobby Cox still the manager? Ted Turner doesn't get it!

[Eli]

RT @BleacherNation #Cubs: There Are Increasing Signals That 2014 and 2015 Could Be Ugly http://bit.ly/1cDRefC

/Elibait

Cool.

[Saul Goodman]

Obviously the Cubs aren't worried about winning in 2014, seeing as they just missed out on signing new Rockies closer (seriously) LaTroy Hawkins.

[CBStew]

I can't believe that I am the first to post about the Earth shaking acquisition of George Kottaras.  It isn't often that you can acquire a 30 year old .180 hitting catcher.  This is what re-building is all about.  Kudos to Epstein. 

[Internet Apex]

I can't believe that I am the first to post about the Earth shaking acquisition of George Kottaras.  It isn't often that you can acquire a 30 year old .180 hitting catcher.  This is what re-building is all about.  Kudos to Epstein. 

He'll be in the mix for the backup catcher spot in spring training. Fingers crossed.

[ChuckD]

I can't believe that I am the first to post about the Earth shaking acquisition of George Kottaras.  It isn't often that you can acquire a 30 year old .180 hitting catcher.  This is what re-building is all about.  Kudos to Epstein. 

I don't mind the pickup and maybe like it a bit. It's not a sexy trade, but they had to get someone to replace Navarro. True story: he saw more pitches per plate appearance than all but three players and his .349 OBP would be near the top of the team. He doesn't swing at much out of the zone but doesn't hit much of anything inside it either. He's a backup catcher that they give up basically nothing to get. He'll get a walk and maybe a hit every so often on the days that Castillo's not playing. That's basically all you could ask from a backup catcher this side of Hank White.

[CBStew]

I can't believe that I am the first to post about the Earth shaking acquisition of George Kottaras.  It isn't often that you can acquire a 30 year old .180 hitting catcher.  This is what re-building is all about.  Kudos to Epstein. 

I don't mind the pickup and maybe like it a bit. It's not a sexy trade, but they had to get someone to replace Navarro. True story: he saw more pitches per plate appearance than all but three players and his .349 OBP would be near the top of the team. He doesn't swing at much out of the zone but doesn't hit much of anything inside it either. He's a backup catcher that they give up basically nothing to get. He'll get a walk and maybe a hit every so often on the days that Castillo's not playing. That's basically all you could ask from a backup catcher this side of Hank White.

Except that the Cubs asked for more out of Navarro and got it.  I can't see this as anything but regression.

[Internet Apex]

I can't believe that I am the first to post about the Earth shaking acquisition of George Kottaras.  It isn't often that you can acquire a 30 year old .180 hitting catcher.  This is what re-building is all about.  Kudos to Epstein.  

I don't mind the pickup and maybe like it a bit. It's not a sexy trade, but they had to get someone to replace Navarro. True story: he saw more pitches per plate appearance than all but three players and his .349 OBP would be near the top of the team. He doesn't swing at much out of the zone but doesn't hit much of anything inside it either. He's a backup catcher that they give up basically nothing to get. He'll get a walk and maybe a hit every so often on the days that Castillo's not playing. That's basically all you could ask from a backup catcher this side of Hank White.

Except that the Cubs asked for more out of Navarro and got it.  I can't see this as anything but regression.

And some team will pay Dioner Navarro what he thinks he's worth and then expect him, at age 30, to duplicate last year's numbers, which exceed anything he put up in his previous nine years of MLB service by leaps and bounds. Is that something that you would do, if you ran the zoo, Mr. Stew?

That's exactly the type of maneuver that Cub front offices have made over and over again in the past. No more, Stewart. No more of this.

[ChuckD]

I can't believe that I am the first to post about the Earth shaking acquisition of George Kottaras.  It isn't often that you can acquire a 30 year old .180 hitting catcher.  This is what re-building is all about.  Kudos to Epstein.  

I don't mind the pickup and maybe like it a bit. It's not a sexy trade, but they had to get someone to replace Navarro. True story: he saw more pitches per plate appearance than all but three players and his .349 OBP would be near the top of the team. He doesn't swing at much out of the zone but doesn't hit much of anything inside it either. He's a backup catcher that they give up basically nothing to get. He'll get a walk and maybe a hit every so often on the days that Castillo's not playing. That's basically all you could ask from a backup catcher this side of Hank White.

Except that the Cubs asked for more out of Navarro and got it.  I can't see this as anything but regression.

And some team will pay Dioner Navarro what he thinks he's worth and then expect him to duplicate last year's numbers, which exceed anything he put up in his previous nine years of MLB service by leaps and bounds. Is that something that you would do, if you ran the zoo, Mr. Stew?

Was typing up something and saw this. This is exactly my thinking.

If you expect Dioner Navarro to duplicate what he did last year, then sure, go ahead and say that Navarro->Kottaras is a regression. Problem with that is that Navarro over-performed and now expects to be compensated for that blip in performance. Navarro was a really lucky last year while Kottaras was a little unlucky. Kottaras has a much better eye which should stay steady and assuming a few more balls drop for hits (and maybe even if they don't), he'll provide effectively the same value as Navarro for a third of the asking price.

Again, it's not a sexy acquisition but, given what we know, it's hard to pan the move.

[Eli]

I can't believe that I am the first to post about the Earth shaking acquisition of George Kottaras.  It isn't often that you can acquire a 30 year old .180 hitting catcher.  This is what re-building is all about.  Kudos to Epstein. 

You really have to stop looking at batting average by itself as a performance indicator.

[World's #1 Astros Fan]

I can't believe that I am the first to post about the Earth shaking acquisition of George Kottaras.  It isn't often that you can acquire a 30 year old .180 hitting catcher.  This is what re-building is all about.  Kudos to Epstein. 

You really have to stop looking at batting average by itself as a performance indicator.

Stew was born during the first FDR administration.  He deserves credit for being okay with darkies playing.

[Quality Start Machine]

There are still plenty of failure points that will prevent the Cubs from winning that are more critical than backup catcher.