Have the Cubs been mathematically eliminated from the playoffs yet?

Fail on the headline, subby. Ramirez signed with the Brewers as a free agent.

"Fail on the headline, subby. Ramirez signed with the Brewers as a free agent."

That's okie, Cub fans are used to fail.

T-Plush loses the ball in the lights, botched fielding attempt at 3rd that could have ended the game on the double play...oye. Almost thought Axford wasn't going to get the Crew outta that mess.

That may be the most productive Ramirez has ever been in April at Wrigley.

Supposedly Darwin Barney added 15 lb muscle in the offseason. Either that is steroids, or he is lying about the amount of muscle...

Kornchex: Oh no! Now the Cubs won't win the Central!

/we already know this.

Book it, done.

/laughs at Aquigley as he cries into his Old Style
//all you Cubs fans can DIAF

machoprogrammer: Supposedly Darwin Barney added 15 lb muscle in the offseason. Either that is steroids, or he is lying about the amount of muscle...

Wait, adding 15 pounds of muscle in a few months is totally plausible without the use of performance enhancers...

...

If you're 15 years old

machoprogrammer: Supposedly Darwin Barney added 15 lb muscle in the offseason. Either that is steroids, or he is lying about the amount of muscle...

Whatever he did it's working. He made a hell of a play in the 5th or 6th last night to get to a ball up the middle and make the put out at first.

/brewers hitting YAY
/brewers pitching BOO

Kornchex: Oh no! Now the Cubs won't win the Central!

/we already know this

This will be a great summer for going to ballgames in Chicago if you accept that the teams aren't very good and just want to watch some baseball. Can probably go to two or three games for the cost of one game from a few years ago when both squads were competitive.

GQueue: This will be a great summer for going to ballgames in Chicago if you accept that the teams aren't very good and just want to watch some baseball.

Amen. I can root for guys like Soto and Byrd to do well enough to make them attractive to someone mid season and work on my repertoire of three stooges sound effects to accompany everything else.

japlemon: machoprogrammer: Supposedly Darwin Barney added 15 lb muscle in the offseason. Either that is steroids, or he is lying about the amount of muscle...

Wait, adding 15 pounds of muscle in a few months is totally plausible without the use of performance enhancers...

They also said he lost 20 pounds throughout last year due to the long season. He got on a better nutrition/workout plan this winter so I don't think it's that unreasonable to put on 15 pounds over 5 months (October to February). Remember: the Cubs don't play october baseball so they have an extra month of offseason over half the teams in the league.

GQueue: Kornchex: Oh no! Now the Cubs won't win the Central!

/we already know this

This will be a great summer for going to ballgames in Chicago if you accept that the teams aren't very good and just want to watch some baseball. Can probably go to two or three games for the cost of one game from a few years ago when both squads were competitive.

I'm a Sox fan but will be going to plenty of games on both sides of town simply because I love baseball. I already have free tickets to several games and hope to secure plenty more.

Sox/Hawks playoff double header next week should be a good time. Hopefully I remember being at the Hawks game.

WhiskeySticks: T-Plush loses the ball in the lights, botched fielding attempt at 3rd that could have ended the game on the double play...oye. Almost thought Axford wasn't going to get the Crew outta that mess.

Don't ever underestimate the power of the 'stache.

Scottybobotty: Kornchex: Oh no! Now the Cubs won't win the Central!

/we already know this.

Book it, done.

/laughs at Aquigley as he cries into his Old Style
//all you Cubs fans can DIAF

Why all the hate? Did a Cubs fan recently do you grievous harm? Did a scary looking man in a Cubs cap driving a pick-up truck cut you off on the highway? Were you at a bar where the only thing on TV was a Cubs game and you couldn't leave? Did some random guy in a Sandberg jersey (the 1984 blue road jersey, because it's cool) some up to you on the sidewalk and pour coffee down your shirt? Or was your biatch of an ex-wife (or husband) a Cubs fan and every time you see anything Cubs related, you boil over with unexplainable anger and venom? I'm just curious because otherwise, I can't for the life of me understand why you want all Cubs fans to DIAF. It's like picking on the slow kid at recess.

markyp09: japlemon: machoprogrammer: Supposedly Darwin Barney added 15 lb muscle in the offseason. Either that is steroids, or he is lying about the amount of muscle...

Wait, adding 15 pounds of muscle in a few months is totally plausible without the use of performance enhancers...

They also said he lost 20 pounds throughout last year due to the long season. He got on a better nutrition/workout plan this winter so I don't think it's that unreasonable to put on 15 pounds over 5 months (October to February). Remember: the Cubs don't play october baseball so they have an extra month of offseason over half the teams in the league.

That is actually harder to do. Gaining muscle and losing fat simultaneously takes twice as long (roughly). With perfect genetics and nutrition, the most a person can gain is about 2 lb a month, and that is a taller guy with flawless genetics (which Barney most likely doesn't have).

WhiskeySticks: T-Plush loses the ball in the lights, botched fielding attempt at 3rd that could have ended the game on the double play...oye. Almost thought Axford wasn't going to get the Crew outta that mess.

That was horrifying to watch. The only comfort was the fact that they were bad to start last year and finished with 96 wins. Then, Ax locked it down. Let's just win by 4 next time, right guys?

I don't know what part of "we're rebuilding" people don't understand.

The Tribune Company went all-in to inflate the value of the team for sale (and maybe try to win). They signed backloaded player contracts they knew they would never be paying for. They all but ignored real minor league development.

This mess will take years to clean up. It's not enough that Epstein and crew have to get rid of the dead weight at the major league level, but the minors are full of guys who they didn't draft, and who haven't been learning the game properly.

They are now focusing on the correct way to do it: they have printed a manual describing the way the game will be taught and played. Everyone will be on-message and accountable for their part according to defined standards.

The kids that are drafted and acquired will learn the game the Cubs' way or they will be sent elsewhere. The team will be built out of homegrown talent under rookie contracts, freeing up money to be spent on select, top-tier free agents, as opposed to overspending for above average players. Eventually, the Cubs will become the team that seems to be in the hunt for the playoffs every year. Eventually, they'll win one. It's all in the math and the probabilities.

This will take YEARS. We might start seeing improvement in a couple years, but the "sustained success" that Epstein talks about will take a lot longer than that.

Orgasmatron138: I don't know what part of "we're rebuilding" people don't understand.

.....

This will take YEARS. We might start seeing improvement in a couple years, but the "sustained success" that Epstein talks about will take a lot longer than that.

It's just that the Cubs have been "Rebuilding" for the past hundred years or so.

someonelse: machoprogrammer: That is actually harder to do. Gaining muscle and losing fat simultaneously takes twice as long (roughly). With perfect genetics and nutrition, the most a person can gain is about 2 lb a month, and that is a taller guy with flawless genetics (which Barney most likely doesn't have).

All of which makes the booing of Braun somewhat silly.

Especially since those same people cheered Sammy Sosa.

Orgasmatron138: Cubs rebuilding...***snip***

As a Brewer fan, I hope not. As a baseball fan who has seen the results that Theo Epstein and Dale Sveum have produced, if ownership and fans are patient, you could have a very good team for a long time in a few years. Same to the Mariners fans with Jack Z. As a fan looking in from the outside, it seemed that Doug Melvin pulled the trigger, but Jack told him where to aim. I hope we can rebuild while winning.

Orgasmatron138:
This will take YEARS. We might start seeing improvement in a couple years, but the "sustained success" that Epstein talks about will take a lot longer than that.

3 years to be exact:



/2015
//Book it
///Done

IamSoSmart_S_M_R_T: Orgasmatron138:
This will take YEARS. We might start seeing improvement in a couple years, but the "sustained success" that Epstein talks about will take a lot longer than that.

3 years to be exact:

[www.11points.com image 640x345]

/2015
//Book it
///Done

Now we just need Miami to move to the AL instead of Houston...

Granolabar: Orgasmatron138: I don't know what part of "we're rebuilding" people don't understand.

.....

This will take YEARS. We might start seeing improvement in a couple years, but the "sustained success" that Epstein talks about will take a lot longer than that.

It's just that the Cubs have been "Rebuilding" for the past hundred years or so.

Not really. The Wrigley family wasn't really known as a great ownership, and neither was the Tribune Company. The office has been stuck in the 50s; too few people using archaic means of scouting and developing.

Overall, here's how I see it: I'm 33 years old. The Cubs have sucked every year I've been alive except six: 84, 89, 98, 03, 07, and 08.

I can be patient and wait for a good perennial contender; it's not like it's really costing them winning seasons anyway.

roc6783: Orgasmatron138: Cubs rebuilding...***snip***

As a Brewer fan, I hope not. As a baseball fan who has seen the results that Theo Epstein and Dale Sveum have produced, if ownership and fans are patient, you could have a very good team for a long time in a few years. Same to the Mariners fans with Jack Z. As a fan looking in from the outside, it seemed that Doug Melvin pulled the trigger, but Jack told him where to aim. I hope we can rebuild while winning.

Honestly, I never paid that much attention to Sveum before he came to Chicago, but I like what I've seen so far.

Even if Epstein's ideas aren't perfect, and even if he's wrong about some things, this will be the first time the Cubs have a plan that everyone follows from the President of Baseball Operations all the way down to the scouts.

When I was growing up, the team I was always jealous of was the Braves. They were always contending, and they got a WS out of it. I always wondered why the Cubs couldn't be like that. Now, hopefully, they will be.

FTFA:

Meanwhile, Cubs' ticket prices dropped by only 1.3 percent, according to Team Marketing Report, forcing fans to pay Lord & Taylor prices for a Walmart type of team.

Man, nobody hates the Cubs more than Cubs fans.

/Brewers fan

Orgasmatron138:
Overall, here's how I see it: I'm 33 years old. The Cubs have sucked every year I've been alive except six: 84, 89, 98, 03, 07, and 08.

I can be patient and wait for a good perennial contender; it's not like it's really costing them winning seasons anyway.

That's what my grandfather (born in 1910) kept saying too.

/He died in 2003
//93 years of witnessing the Cubs suck, think about that for a second
///And his adopted hometown team wasn't much better (the Pirates), but at least they won 4x in his lifetime

IamSoSmart_S_M_R_T: Orgasmatron138:
Overall, here's how I see it: I'm 33 years old. The Cubs have sucked every year I've been alive except six: 84, 89, 98, 03, 07, and 08.

I can be patient and wait for a good perennial contender; it's not like it's really costing them winning seasons anyway.

That's what my grandfather (born in 1910) kept saying too.

/He died in 2003
//93 years of witnessing the Cubs suck, think about that for a second
///And his adopted hometown team wasn't much better (the Pirates), but at least they won 4x in his lifetime

All the more reason for them to do what they're doing now; it's radically different from what they were doing all the years your grandfather watched.

Orgasmatron138:

All the more reason for them to do what they're doing now; it's radically different from what they were doing all the years your grandfather watched.

Oh, no question they have to do something different, and Epstein seems to be the one to do it, I'm just saying that people have been saying "this is the year" for a long time now.

admiral_neckbeard: Meanwhile, Cubs' ticket prices dropped by only 1.3 percent, according to Team Marketing Report, forcing fans to pay Lord & Taylor prices for a Walmart type of team.

Which is why they've sold far fewer advance tickets this year. With ticket brokers having a bunch of season tickets plus other season ticket holders who don't want to give them up, there are loads and loads of tickets for cheap on Stubhub too. Fans who were paying attention last year weren't buying tickets this year before the season unless there's a game they feel they have to go to, knowing there are cheap ones for the taking. Take a look at this week's games on Stubhub -- bleacher tickets for 10 bucks on Thursday, tons of tickets for 5 bucks or less. Why would you pay face?

IamSoSmart_S_M_R_T: Orgasmatron138:

All the more reason for them to do what they're doing now; it's radically different from what they were doing all the years your grandfather watched.

Oh, no question they have to do something different, and Epstein seems to be the one to do it, I'm just saying that people have been saying "this is the year" for a long time now.

How about 2020 is the year? I'll go with that.

Orgasmatron138: I don't know what part of "we're rebuilding" people don't understand.

The Tribune Company went all-in to inflate the value of the team for sale (and maybe try to win). They signed backloaded player contracts they knew they would never be paying for. They all but ignored real minor league development.

This mess will take years to clean up. It's not enough that Epstein and crew have to get rid of the dead weight at the major league level, but the minors are full of guys who they didn't draft, and who haven't been learning the game properly.

They are now focusing on the correct way to do it: they have printed a manual describing the way the game will be taught and played. Everyone will be on-message and accountable for their part according to defined standards.

The kids that are drafted and acquired will learn the game the Cubs' way or they will be sent elsewhere. The team will be built out of homegrown talent under rookie contracts, freeing up money to be spent on select, top-tier free agents, as opposed to overspending for above average players. Eventually, the Cubs will become the team that seems to be in the hunt for the playoffs every year. Eventually, they'll win one. It's all in the math and the probabilities.

This will take YEARS. We might start seeing improvement in a couple years, but the "sustained success" that Epstein talks about will take a lot longer than that.

The Kool-Aid, you are drinking it.

bacongood: Orgasmatron138: I don't know what part of "we're rebuilding" people don't understand.

The Tribune Company went all-in to inflate the value of the team for sale (and maybe try to win). They signed backloaded player contracts they knew they would never be paying for. They all but ignored real minor league development.

This mess will take years to clean up. It's not enough that Epstein and crew have to get rid of the dead weight at the major league level, but the minors are full of guys who they didn't draft, and who haven't been learning the game properly.

They are now focusing on the correct way to do it: they have printed a manual describing the way the game will be taught and played. Everyone will be on-message and accountable for their part according to defined standards.

The kids that are drafted and acquired will learn the game the Cubs' way or they will be sent elsewhere. The team will be built out of homegrown talent under rookie contracts, freeing up money to be spent on select, top-tier free agents, as opposed to overspending for above average players. Eventually, the Cubs will become the team that seems to be in the hunt for the playoffs every year. Eventually, they'll win one. It's all in the math and the probabilities.

This will take YEARS. We might start seeing improvement in a couple years, but the "sustained success" that Epstein talks about will take a lot longer than that.

The Kool-Aid, you are drinking it.

Drinking the Kool-Aid of the GM overseeing the Boston Red Sox team that ended their drought with two WS wins, yes.