FanPost

UPDATE: The 2009-10 Offseason IT'S HAPPENING!!!??? Contest

Remember this FanPost? Last Out to First Pitch – The 2009-10 Offseason IT'S HAPPENING!!!??? Contest

Well, 8 out of the original 15 possible events listed have been resolved one way or the other, so I figured now would be a good time for a scoring update.

Just to refresh your memories, here were the 15 possible events:

THE FIFTEEN BIGGEST EVENTS THAT MAY (or may not) HAPPEN THIS OFF-SEASON:
__ - Milton Bradley is traded or released by start of Cubs Convention.
__ - Cubs sell naming rights for entire Wrigley Field, e.g. Walgreens Park at Wrigley Field.
__ - Randy Wells finishes higher than Colby Rasmus in the ROY voting.
__ - Cubs lower ticket prices on some seats.
__ - Milton Bradley is traded for player(s) only, i.e. Cubs will NOT eat any of his contract.
__ - Cubs make an official announcement on a new Spring Training location (Az or Fla).
__ - Ryan Theriot is starting shortstop for Cubs on Opening Day 2010.
__ - Cubs’ broadcasting team stays intact - Len & Bob on TV; Pat, Ron, & Judd on radio.
__ - Milton Bradley is traded and Cubs WILL eat some portion of his contract.
__ - Cubs install additional scoreboard facilities, e.g. ribbon board.
__ - Aaron Miles is on the Cubs 25-man roster on Opening Day.
__ - Cubs offer arbitration to Rich Harden.
__ - Milton Bradley is on the Cubs 40-man roster on Opening Day.
__ - Cubs hires top-level executive, e.g. a "baseball guy", to oversee Hendry.
__ - MLB expands instant replay capabilities.

and the challenge was to arrange them in order of likelihood of happening, most to least. Weighted scoring so most likely was worth 15 points, next likely 14, etc. all the way down to least likely being worth 1 point.

I took all the entries from the original post and put them in a Google Docs spreadsheet which you should be able to view here. The first set of numbers represents everyone's original rankings. The second set reflects everyone's scores to date (1/30/10), based on the 8 events that have been resolved. The third set reflects - and I hope I did this right - the maximum scores that folks could still get if the remaining events all went their way.

As of 1/30/10, Sobenergy is leading with a score of 49; AndrewJStone and Trey2317 are next with 44; and brook and zambranofan have 43. FWIW, I check in at 45 but I've ruled myself ineligible to win.

As for possible maximum scores, Sobenergy leads here as well with 101, but carmen fanzone is close behind with 99, and Al is next with 98.

BTW, here's a BCB composite ranking, sorted most likely to least with average point values for each.

12.59 - Cubs’ broadcasting team stays intact
12.49 - Ryan Theriot is starting shortstop for Cubs on Opening Day 2010
12.00 - Milton Bradley is traded or released by start of Cubs Convention.
11.95 - Milton Bradley is traded and Cubs WILL eat some portion of his contract
10.73 - Cubs make an official announcement on a new Spring Training location (Az or Fla).
8.62 - Randy Wells finishes higher than Colby Rasmus in the ROY voting
8.11 - Cubs offer arbitration to Rich Harden
8.05 - Cubs install additional scoreboard facilities, e.g. ribbon board
7.38 - Aaron Miles is on the Cubs 25-man roster on Opening Day
7.05 - MLB expands instant replay capabilities
6.30 - Cubs lower ticket prices on some seats
4.57 - Milton Bradley is traded for player(s) only, i.e. Cubs will NOT eat any of his contract
4.43 - Cubs hires top-level executive, e.g. a "baseball guy", to oversee Hendry
3.32 - Milton Bradley is on the Cubs 40-man roster on Opening Day
2.41 - Cubs sell naming rights for entire Wrigley Field, e.g. Walgreens Park at Wrigley Field

Events in bold have been resolved, and those in bold italics are the scoring events, i.e. they've been resolved positively.

One final point: Never in my wildest dreams did it occur to me that Hendry would be on the receiving end of $ in the Bradley deal. So the "Milton Bradley is traded for player(s) only, i.e. Cubs will NOT eat any of his contract" event is slightly inaccurate as it wasn't for player(s) only - there was $ involved. But the second part of that event is accurate as the Cubs did NOT eat any money. And IMO, that's what best reflects the original intent, so I'm treating it as a scoring event.

FanPosts are written by readers of Bleed Cubbie Blue, and as such do not reflect the views of SB Nation or Vox Media, nor is the content endorsed by SB Nation, Vox Media or Al Yellon, managing editor of Bleed Cubbie Blue or reviewed prior to posting.