No Darvish For Cubs. What's Next?

Sucks not having money. Been there done that.

Then there’s always Ramon noodle soup.

…for the traditional draft. This Darvish thing was clearly a whole ‘nother cup o’ tea.

if the contract negotiations stall

I say butchering the english language. But that’s my business, and business is good.

Playing devil’s advocate here.

This is not a marginal market, this is the third largest city in the United States. I doubt a one or two year churn in the season ticket list is going to seriously affect the company’s long term revenue, especially given the high visibility and huge marketing power of the franchise nationwide.

If not for Hendry’s fetish for football players, Szczur wouldn’t even register as a prospect.

must be why he’s been named to a handful of top 100 prospect lists. All those evaluators simply owe Hendry a favor.

AT what point do you ramp those innings up for him to be a starter? Most PAP data seems to point at 20 to 30 innings Max per year as a legitimate ramp up.

Even if we ignore the 15 innings he pitched last year and look at the 110 he put up in 2010. Best case to keep the kid healthy would be

140 in 2012
170 in 2013
200 in 2014

So the best case is that he is fully ready to be a full time starter right at the same time he is ready to leave as a free agent.

If the plan was to make him a starter then needed to commit to that strategy on day one. Not waste 2 years of MLB service time yo-yo-ing the kid back and forth to the pen.

332 batters faced in 2010, 327 in 2011.

Because it clearly wasn’t I’m still in the “make Cashner a starter” camp

getting rid of Marmol and making Cashner the closer would be a plan B I could live with.

But after last year, I just think he — and the team — would be better served in my scenario.

Because he didn’t come back when the Cubs historically underperforming medical staff predicted he would (the Cubs’ recent history is literally littered with guys who spent far more time on the DL than the initial projection).

You just don’t take an arm like Cashner’s (who has been a starter virtually his entire career) and banish him to the pen because of one injury.

If he’s hurt again this year and/or ineffective as a SP, then you can start to have a different conversation. But it is at least one season too soon to move him to the pen, particularly given the lack of talent in the Cub rotation.

Carlos Pena walked a ton last year, AND had Aramis Ramirez batting behind him and our offense was still BAAAAAAAAD.

I don’t think Prince magically turns that around. I don’t think he makes us a contender in 2012. As Theo/Jed you have to weigh how long it will take to put other pieces around him that WILL make us contenders and then weigh whether its worth signing him at all. I think in the end they’re going to land on the side of “no.”

I should point out I hope I’m wrong on that, as I would like Prince to be a Cub VERY badly, but not for 8, 9 or 10 years

Certainly wasn’t the expectation level after a 66-96 season the year before either.

For that matter, the 2007 Cubs didn’t exactly overwhelm early in the year either. After they hit 16-16, they didn’t crack the .500 level for a month and a half and didn’t actually get into first place until August.

Of course there’s a risk. There’s risk in everything. Do you not have confidence in the Cubs current leadership/ownership that the chance of short-term hit turning into a long term hit would be extremely minimized? And if they couldn’t minimize it to an acceptable level, they wouldn’t do it?

… to see a 100+ loss team?

Answer: they wouldn’t.

crack me up…

And obviously the remaining portion of that revenue stream will be lost. That’s the short-term financial hit that Ricketts has assess and decide if he wants to absorb it or not.

probably would be good in 2013-15, too.

If Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are shutting the Cubs down in three years, I guess that proves you right that they should have traded Garza. In some alternative universe, I guess.