Hope Springs Eternal

[R-V]

What experiment?  Razing the organization and re-building?   

There's nothing Epstein & Co. laid out when they started that they're now contradicting.  It might be tough to weather the storm but Christ--this organization was rotten to the core.  All projections seemed to be trending upward.  Losing one's nerve at thispoint, after they've turned this elephant around, will never not strike me as foolhardy.  Foolhardy, I tell ya!

Stay the course, Theo.  Fuck all the instant gratifiers who seem to have forgotten how entirely messed up this organization was just a little over 2 years ago. 

I think "experiment" is a fine word to describe what's happening. Intentionally putting terrible teams on the field for 3-4 years, stockpiling high draft picks and mostly avoiding free agency is a little experimental, since this sort of thing has rarely (if ever) been done before. At least for a team in a huge market like the Cubs.

Sincere question - do you think living through Reinsdorf's skinflint handling of the Bulls affairs has influenced your skepticism of Cubs ownership?

[Eli]

What experiment?  Razing the organization and re-building?   

There's nothing Epstein & Co. laid out when they started that they're now contradicting.  It might be tough to weather the storm but Christ--this organization was rotten to the core.  All projections seemed to be trending upward.  Losing one's nerve at thispoint, after they've turned this elephant around, will never not strike me as foolhardy.  Foolhardy, I tell ya!

Stay the course, Theo.  Fuck all the instant gratifiers who seem to have forgotten how entirely messed up this organization was just a little over 2 years ago. 

I think "experiment" is a fine word to describe what's happening. Intentionally putting terrible teams on the field for 3-4 years, stockpiling high draft picks and mostly avoiding free agency is a little experimental, since this sort of thing has rarely (if ever) been done before. At least for a team in a huge market like the Cubs.

Sincere question - do you think living through Reinsdorf's skinflint handling of the Bulls affairs has influenced your skepticism of Cubs ownership?

I don't think so. The Ricketts haven't been around long enough to establish the sort of pattern Reinsdorf has as Bulls owner. Hopefully they don't mirror that.

[Chuck to Chuck]

Sincere question - do you think living through Reinsdorf's skinflint handling of the Bulls affairs has influenced your skepticism of Cubs ownership?

Weren't the Bulls in multi-year luxury tax mode until the Deng trade?  Don't think skinflint applies.

[CBStew]

I haven't heard Ernie Banks' rallying cry yet ("You'll wish you had gangreen, watching the Cubs in '14!"), but Tom Ricketts has released his forecast. And take this, Skilling: Nothing but sunny skies!

"I think we have a team right now that can go to the playoffs," Ricketts said during a 15-minute interview with reporters. "We have a good, young nucleus. We have to have guys step up, but we have depth in our system.

I'm reserving my space on North Michigan Ave. for the late October parade.

The World Series is won by depth in the system, every season.

ORGANIZATIONS WIN CHAMPIONSHIPS!

And then this morning I read in the SF Chronicle that the Giants gave Hunter Pence a 5 year $90 million contract.  HUNTER PENCE!

[WTB...A RING FFS!!]

I've been a Scrubbies fan since I was 4 in 1976 and have gone through a metric fuckton of annoyance and heartbreak due to this franchise. It's extremely irritating to see these whiners complaining about the last couple of seasons and prob this one as well. They act as if Theo came in claiming he was going to continue throwing money around to save this team, and they think he's fubared everything. He told us this was basically the gameplan and to be fucking patient. Unfortunately a lot of Cubs fans are drunken dunderheads. Now I understand if you're say retirement age+ and are worried you could die at any time and not see this plan come to fruition, but I'm 41 and have patience. After that pathetic performance in '08 I said to my future wife "I'm fucking done wasting my time and sanity watching the continued clusterfuck that is the Cubs. I will not watch the Cubs until I find out they're in the World Series to save a bunch of wasted time." I haven't watched more than an inning or 2 of more than prob 10 games since then.  The only reason I watched at all was when I was eating and nothing else was on worth watching, not that this club's been really worth watching in 6 years. I love this plan of scrapping the team and rebuilding with a REAL farm system. How many of you can actually say the Cubs have had a farm system that is deep, as talked about and as highly-ranked as this one? I made a bet 2 years ago at my 40th b-day party with a cousin that the Cubs would be in the World Series by '17 and win it by the next year. I stick by that, even if only half of their top 10 really pan out. With all the info/media avail now compared to 10-20 years ago, most of what we read about these prospects is much closer to the truth then years ago. Maybe I'll fold and watch them if they make the playoffs and not just the World Series, have to see how they pan out.

[Saul Goodman]

I've been a Scrubbies fan since I was 4 in 1976 and have gone through a metric fuckton of annoyance and heartbreak due to this franchise. It's extremely irritating to see these whiners complaining about the last couple of seasons and prob this one as well. They act as if Theo came in claiming he was going to continue throwing money around to save this team, and they think he's fubared everything. He told us this was basically the gameplan and to be fucking patient. Unfortunately a lot of Cubs fans are drunken dunderheads. Now I understand if you're say retirement age+ and are worried you could die at any time and not see this plan come to fruition, but I'm 41 and have patience. After that pathetic performance in '98 I said to my future wife "I'm fucking done wasting my time and sanity watching the continued clusterfuck that is the Cubs. I will not watch the Cubs until I find out they're in the World Series to save a bunch of wasted time." I haven't watched more than an inning or 2 of more than prob 10 games since then.  The only reason I watched at all was when I was eating and nothing else was on worth watching, not that this club's been really worth watching in 6 years. I love this plan of scrapping the team and rebuilding with a REAL farm system. How many of you can actually say the Cubs have had a farm system that is deep, as talked about and as highly-ranked as this one? I made a bet 2 years ago at my 40th b-day party with a cousin that the Cubs would be in the World Series by '17 and win it by the next year. I stick by that, even if only half of their top 10 really pan out. With all the info/media avail now compared to 10-20 years ago, most of what we read about these prospects is much closer to the truth then years ago. Maybe I'll fold and watch them if they make the playoffs and not just the World Series, have to see how they pan out.

LSA!

Seriously though, I'm getting exactly what I thought I was getting from Theo so far. And sure, not all of their moves have worked, and I really wanted Darvish and/or Tanaka because at the moment they have almost zero impact pitching talent to go with all those bats in the system. But if it's 2018 or 2019 and they still haven't won anything, I'll be reaching for my pitchfork.

[World's #1 Astros Fan]

I've been a Scrubbies fan since I was 4 in 1976 and have gone through a metric fuckton of annoyance and heartbreak due to this franchise. It's extremely irritating to see these whiners complaining about the last couple of seasons and prob this one as well. They act as if Theo came in claiming he was going to continue throwing money around to save this team, and they think he's fubared everything. He told us this was basically the gameplan and to be fucking patient. Unfortunately a lot of Cubs fans are drunken dunderheads. Now I understand if you're say retirement age+ and are worried you could die at any time and not see this plan come to fruition, but I'm 41 and have patience. After that pathetic performance in '98 I said to my future wife "I'm fucking done wasting my time and sanity watching the continued clusterfuck that is the Cubs. I will not watch the Cubs until I find out they're in the World Series to save a bunch of wasted time." I haven't watched more than an inning or 2 of more than prob 10 games since then.  The only reason I watched at all was when I was eating and nothing else was on worth watching, not that this club's been really worth watching in 6 years. I love this plan of scrapping the team and rebuilding with a REAL farm system. How many of you can actually say the Cubs have had a farm system that is deep, as talked about and as highly-ranked as this one? I made a bet 2 years ago at my 40th b-day party with a cousin that the Cubs would be in the World Series by '17 and win it by the next year. I stick by that, even if only half of their top 10 really pan out. With all the info/media avail now compared to 10-20 years ago, most of what we read about these prospects is much closer to the truth then years ago. Maybe I'll fold and watch them if they make the playoffs and not just the World Series, have to see how they pan out.

Not that I don't appreciate your sentiment, but you're saying you weren't closely following the 12 playoff games in 2003?

[J. Walter Weatherman]

I've been a Scrubbies fan since I was 4 in 1976 and have gone through a metric fuckton of annoyance and heartbreak due to this franchise. It's extremely irritating to see these whiners complaining about the last couple of seasons and prob this one as well. They act as if Theo came in claiming he was going to continue throwing money around to save this team, and they think he's fubared everything. He told us this was basically the gameplan and to be fucking patient. Unfortunately a lot of Cubs fans are drunken dunderheads. Now I understand if you're say retirement age+ and are worried you could die at any time and not see this plan come to fruition, but I'm 41 and have patience. After that pathetic performance in '98 I said to my future wife "I'm fucking done wasting my time and sanity watching the continued clusterfuck that is the Cubs. I will not watch the Cubs until I find out they're in the World Series to save a bunch of wasted time." I haven't watched more than an inning or 2 of more than prob 10 games since then.  The only reason I watched at all was when I was eating and nothing else was on worth watching, not that this club's been really worth watching in 6 years. I love this plan of scrapping the team and rebuilding with a REAL farm system. How many of you can actually say the Cubs have had a farm system that is deep, as talked about and as highly-ranked as this one? I made a bet 2 years ago at my 40th b-day party with a cousin that the Cubs would be in the World Series by '17 and win it by the next year. I stick by that, even if only half of their top 10 really pan out. With all the info/media avail now compared to 10-20 years ago, most of what we read about these prospects is much closer to the truth then years ago. Maybe I'll fold and watch them if they make the playoffs and not just the World Series, have to see how they pan out.

Not that I don't appreciate your sentiment, but you're saying you weren't closely following the 12 playoff games in 2003?

I was going to ask if he meant to say "that pathetic performance in '08". Because that would make much more sense.

[SKO]

I've been a Scrubbies fan since I was 4 in 1976 and have gone through a metric fuckton of annoyance and heartbreak due to this franchise. It's extremely irritating to see these whiners complaining about the last couple of seasons and prob this one as well. They act as if Theo came in claiming he was going to continue throwing money around to save this team, and they think he's fubared everything. He told us this was basically the gameplan and to be fucking patient. Unfortunately a lot of Cubs fans are drunken dunderheads. Now I understand if you're say retirement age+ and are worried you could die at any time and not see this plan come to fruition, but I'm 41 and have patience. After that pathetic performance in '98 I said to my future wife "I'm fucking done wasting my time and sanity watching the continued clusterfuck that is the Cubs. I will not watch the Cubs until I find out they're in the World Series to save a bunch of wasted time." I haven't watched more than an inning or 2 of more than prob 10 games since then.  The only reason I watched at all was when I was eating and nothing else was on worth watching, not that this club's been really worth watching in 6 years. I love this plan of scrapping the team and rebuilding with a REAL farm system. How many of you can actually say the Cubs have had a farm system that is deep, as talked about and as highly-ranked as this one? I made a bet 2 years ago at my 40th b-day party with a cousin that the Cubs would be in the World Series by '17 and win it by the next year. I stick by that, even if only half of their top 10 really pan out. With all the info/media avail now compared to 10-20 years ago, most of what we read about these prospects is much closer to the truth then years ago. Maybe I'll fold and watch them if they make the playoffs and not just the World Series, have to see how they pan out.

Not that I don't appreciate your sentiment, but you're saying you weren't closely following the 12 playoff games in 2003?

I was going to ask if he meant to say "that pathetic performance in '08". Because that would make much more sense.

A tragic time remembered as the week when the stupid Cubs drove away Fro dog forever.

[Quality Start Machine]

The sad thing here is that people (not smart people, mind you) are judging the Jepstink regime solely on the current state of the major league club. Fortunately, it appears the Ricketts family are not among these people.

[Yeti]

I've been a Scrubbies fan since I was 4 in 1976 and have gone through a metric fuckton of annoyance and heartbreak due to this franchise. It's extremely irritating to see these whiners complaining about the last couple of seasons and prob this one as well. They act as if Theo came in claiming he was going to continue throwing money around to save this team, and they think he's fubared everything. He told us this was basically the gameplan and to be fucking patient. Unfortunately a lot of Cubs fans are drunken dunderheads. Now I understand if you're say retirement age+ and are worried you could die at any time and not see this plan come to fruition, but I'm 41 and have patience. After that pathetic performance in '98 I said to my future wife "I'm fucking done wasting my time and sanity watching the continued clusterfuck that is the Cubs. I will not watch the Cubs until I find out they're in the World Series to save a bunch of wasted time." I haven't watched more than an inning or 2 of more than prob 10 games since then.  The only reason I watched at all was when I was eating and nothing else was on worth watching, not that this club's been really worth watching in 6 years. I love this plan of scrapping the team and rebuilding with a REAL farm system. How many of you can actually say the Cubs have had a farm system that is deep, as talked about and as highly-ranked as this one? I made a bet 2 years ago at my 40th b-day party with a cousin that the Cubs would be in the World Series by '17 and win it by the next year. I stick by that, even if only half of their top 10 really pan out. With all the info/media avail now compared to 10-20 years ago, most of what we read about these prospects is much closer to the truth then years ago. Maybe I'll fold and watch them if they make the playoffs and not just the World Series, have to see how they pan out.

Not that I don't appreciate your sentiment, but you're saying you weren't closely following the 12 playoff games in 2003?

I was going to ask if he meant to say "that pathetic performance in '08". Because that would make much more sense.

Because of the bold/italicized part?

[Chuck to Chuck]

Hard to blame him. Not much to enjoy about seasons that don't end in titles.

[Slaky]

Hard to blame him. Not much to enjoy about seasons that don't end in titles.

cool, Dan Bernstein posts here now

[Bort]

Hard to blame him. Not much to enjoy about seasons that don't end in titles.

Thanks, JewDog

[Chuck to Chuck]