2025 Major League Baseball Thread

[Navster]

Originally Posted by bootsy

Doesn't sound like you understand business and in this case the business of baseball. The Cubs did the right thing, the smart thing that most teams would do. It's not like the guy is going to be down in the minors for the rest of his life. You don't trade a few days to lose one year that is just a stupid business decision. And who cares if you were pissed if the Giants had done that. And if you knew anything about your team the Giants you would know that they DID do this with Buster Posey.

I stand corrected, I thought Posey was called up early, but he wasn't by 5 days

All i'm saying is Cubs fans haven't had much to cheer for in a long time, and Kris Bryant is a stud, he wasn't very happy to be sent down after such a tear, sends the wrong message and imo that stupid rule needs to be changed.

[bootsy]

Originally Posted by Navster

All i'm saying is Cubs fans haven't had much to cheer for in a long time, and Kris Bryant is a stud, he wasn't very happy to be sent down after such a tear, sends the wrong message and imo that stupid rule needs to be changed.

He's going to be up likely before the end of this month. . And Bryant can be unhappy all he wants. The Cubs are a business/sports franchise and they are doing the best thing for their franchise first. As a Cub fan I have had ups and (way more) downs so waiting a couple of weeks for Bryant isn't going to change anything at this point.

[DamageINC]

Originally Posted by bootsy

Doesn't sound like you understand business and in this case the business of baseball. The Cubs did the right thing, the smart thing that most teams would do. It's not like the guy is going to be down in the minors for the rest of his life. You don't trade a few days to lose one year that is just a stupid business decision. And who cares if you were pissed if the Giants had done that. And if you knew anything about your team the Giants you would know that they DID do this with Buster Posey.

Agreed. Baseball is a business, first and foremost. It's a business for the owners and the teams and it's a business for the players. I had zero problems with the move by the Cubs. Plus, it's only 12 days.

I don't think any player is ever happy to be sent back to long bus rides, sharing motel rooms and being demoted. Part of the game. It's how a player deals with it that counts.

This Harvey vs Strausburg match-up was disappointing. Well , Harvey did pitch very well, which was nice to see. Straus got screwed by some errors and bloops.

[JackKnightStarman]

Originally Posted by Navster

I still cant believe the Cubs sent Bryant down to start the season, the kid is something special, haven't seen someone so locked in like that in a while, I saw his interview and he was very disappointed in the team for there decision to send him down citing "financial reasons" What bs, the team has more then enough money to afford losing a year of eligibility even though its only 12 games

IMO sends the wrong message to the fans that there not in a win now mode when they send one of there best hitters down, I"d be pissed if the Giants did that

Originally Posted by bootsy

Doesn't sound like you understand business and in this case the business of baseball. The Cubs did the right thing, the smart thing that most teams would do. It's not like the guy is going to be down in the minors for the rest of his life. You don't trade a few days to lose one year that is just a stupid business decision. And who cares if you were pissed if the Giants had done that. And if you knew anything about your team the Giants you would know that they DID do this with Buster Posey.

Originally Posted by Navster

I stand corrected, I thought Posey was called up early, but he wasn't by 5 days

All i'm saying is Cubs fans haven't had much to cheer for in a long time, and Kris Bryant is a stud, he wasn't very happy to be sent down after such a tear, sends the wrong message and imo that stupid rule needs to be changed.

Originally Posted by DamageINC

Agreed. Baseball is a business, first and foremost. It's a business for the owners and the teams and it's a business for the players. I had zero problems with the move by the Cubs. Plus, it's only 12 days.

I don't think any player is ever happy to be sent back to long bus rides, sharing motel rooms and being demoted. Part of the game. It's how a player deals with it that counts.

This Harvey vs Strausburg match-up was disappointing. Well , Harvey did pitch very well, which was nice to see. Straus got screwed by some errors and bloops.

It is a stupid rule. And yes while the Giants did the same thing with Posey, they at the time had a very capable player in front of him. Who is in front of Bryant? They have 2nd basemen and shortstops starting out of position, to save on his FA eligibility. And I don't remember Posey having quite the spring in Arizona his first year that Bryant had.

Bottom line...the Cubs will never be a top tier franchise. Stupid moves like this is most of the reason they haven't won squat in over a hundred years. I'll be the first to say that I think Theo gets to much credit for the Sox success. Duquette made the majority of drafts and free agent moves before Theo even got their. And look at the state the Sox where in after 2010? High priced contract after High priced contract, left the team in poor operating condition. The Sox were saved by new ownership in LA, and agreed to take those $#!tty contracts.

The Cubs are a very RICH franchise. They could afford to pay Bryant whether he was a free agent in 2020 or 2021. This isn't Pittsburgh or Minnesota in terms of revenue we are talking about here.

[doctor_who]

Originally Posted by Navster

I stand corrected, I thought Posey was called up early, but he wasn't by 5 days

All i'm saying is Cubs fans haven't had much to cheer for in a long time, and Kris Bryant is a stud, he wasn't very happy to be sent down after such a tear, sends the wrong message and imo that stupid rule needs to be changed.

The Chicago Cubs OF THE PAST would have called him up already. The Chicago Cubs of the past have made a lot of mistakes for the short term. Those Cubs are gone. Theo's Cubs are here.

W

[doctor_who]

Originally Posted by JackKnightStarman

It is a stupid rule. And yes while the Giants did the same thing with Posey, they at the time had a very capable player in front of him. Who is in front of Bryant? They have 2nd basemen and shortstops starting out of position, to save on his FA eligibility. And I don't remember Posey having quite the spring in Arizona his first year that Bryant had.

Bottom line...the Cubs will never be a top tier franchise. Stupid moves like this is most of the reason they haven't won squat in over a hundred years. I'll be the first to say that I think Theo gets to much credit for the Sox success. Duquette made the majority of drafts and free agent moves before Theo even got their. And look at the state the Sox where in after 2010? High priced contract after High priced contract, left the team in poor operating condition. The Sox were saved by new ownership in LA, and agreed to take those $#!tty contracts.

The Cubs are a very RICH franchise. They could afford to pay Bryant whether he was a free agent in 2020 or 2021. This isn't Pittsburgh or Minnesota in terms of revenue we are talking about here.

Not true. The opposite of what you say is true. Stupid moves like calling him up to start the season (8 games) and losing a season of control over a Boras client are the moves that have cost us for years. Theo's rebuild has been legendary for the Cubs and he will go down as a Chicago legend if the Cubs do win it. And he will be the number 1 reason. He was given trash and has done amazing things in 3 years.

[JackKnightStarman]

Originally Posted by doctor_who

Not true. The opposite of what you say is true. Stupid moves like calling him up to start the season (8 games) and losing a season of control over a Boras client are the moves that have cost us for years. Theo's rebuild has been legendary for the Cubs and he will go down as a Chicago legend if the Cubs do win it. And he will be the number 1 reason. He was given trash and has done amazing things in 3 years.

Sorry but when you are considered a marquee franchise even though you have 1 or two Pennant's in a hundred years, and have crazy money at your disposal, you have to promote your best player after the spring he had. This is just another stupid decision by Cubs front office. Again you don't have fairweather fans, bandwagon fans or whatever you want to call them. Your park is constantly sold out. You have more money than the bottom twenty teams in baseball. One year of early FA isn't going to hinder keeping a player. Stupid move is a stupid move, and why they've sucked for so long.

[MD-Blu]

Reds sweep the Pirates today.

[Belloche]

The Mets took 2 of 3 in Washington from a Nationals team that completely owned us last year. Matt Harvey is back and looking like an ace. It's a good day for Mets fans.

[Clark Kent]

Matt Harvey looked like he did before the Tommy John surgery.

[fatediesel]

Originally Posted by JackKnightStarman

Sorry but when you are considered a marquee franchise even though you have 1 or two Pennant's in a hundred years, and have crazy money at your disposal, you have to promote your best player after the spring he had. This is just another stupid decision by Cubs front office. Again you don't have fairweather fans, bandwagon fans or whatever you want to call them. Your park is constantly sold out. You have more money than the bottom twenty teams in baseball. One year of early FA isn't going to hinder keeping a player. Stupid move is a stupid move, and why they've sucked for so long.

Best case scenario for Kris Bryant being up at opening day is at best one more win. For that the Cubs would either lose Bryant a year early or have to give him a long-term contract a year early, which probably would cost them $30 million. The Cubs would love to sign him to a long-term deal now like the Rays did with Evan Longoria, but Bryant is repped by Scott Boras and Boras almost always takes his players to free agency so they aren't going to risk losing him a year early just so they can have him an extra 8 games this year. The system may suck but the Cubs would be idiots if they brought Bryant up to start the season.

[TxDave]

It sucks that cubs fans have to wait to see Kris Bryant playing for them in the majors but that is part of the business. So many teams are handling their promising young players this way. The Astros did the same thing with George Springer.

[fatediesel]

An example of a team that didn't keep a guy in the minors was the Braves with Jason Heyward. He was up opening day and played well but the Braves still started the season 6-9. If they had kept Heyward in the minors for that period he wouldn't have been eligible for free agency until 2017 rather than next season and the Braves wouldn't have needed to trade him this past offseason or at the very least they could have gotten a better return.

[JackKnightStarman]

Originally Posted by fatediesel

Best case scenario for Kris Bryant being up at opening day is at best one more win. For that the Cubs would either lose Bryant a year early or have to give him a long-term contract a year early, which probably would cost them $30 million. The Cubs would love to sign him to a long-term deal now like the Rays did with Evan Longoria, but Bryant is repped by Scott Boras and Boras almost always takes his players to free agency so they aren't going to risk losing him a year early just so they can have him an extra 8 games this year. The system may suck but the Cubs would be idiots if they brought Bryant up to start the season.

I'll just say it again. Its the Chicago Cubs. One of the richest teams in baseball. It doesn't really matter. This isn't Houston, or Minnesota, or Pittsburgh. The Cubs CAN afford to pay him a year early. But then again the fans like to be in rebuilding mode three or four times a decade...like the Cubs have been for over a hundred years...

[Clark Kent]

It is a dumb move for a franchise like the Cubs. By most accounts they are the second or third-most popular team in baseball and rolling in money. This is not a case of the Brewers or Rays.

[fatediesel]

Originally Posted by Clark Kent

It is a dumb move for a franchise like the Cubs. By most accounts they are the second or third-most popular team in baseball and rolling in money. This is not a case of the Brewers or Rays.

The team is rolling in money, but they're spending $575 million of their own money to renovate Wrigley Field and they've got significant debt from the purchase of the team to the point that MLB could have rejected the sale as they broke MLB's debt rules.

Regardless, the Cubs are just doing what everyone else is doing. Ted Lerner of the Nationals is the third-richest owner in MLB but he kept Bryce Harper in the minors for service time reasons. Arte Moreno is richer than the Cubs owners but he kept Mike Trout down for service time reasons. Noah Syndergaard is easily one of the Mets best pitchers but he's being kept in the minors for service time reasons. It just doesn't make sense to lose control of a guy a year earlier when you can keep him in the minors for less than 5% of the season.

[JackKnightStarman]

Originally Posted by fatediesel

The team is rolling in money, but they're spending $575 million of their own money to renovate Wrigley Field and they've got significant debt from the purchase of the team to the point that MLB could have rejected the sale as they broke MLB's debt rules.

Regardless, the Cubs are just doing what everyone else is doing. Ted Lerner of the Nationals is the third-richest owner in MLB but he kept Bryce Harper in the minors for service time reasons. Arte Moreno is richer than the Cubs owners but he kept Mike Trout down for service time reasons. Noah Syndergaard is easily one of the Mets best pitchers but he's being kept in the minors for service time reasons. It just doesn't make sense to lose control of a guy a year earlier when you can keep him in the minors for less than 5% of the season.

So what happens if the Cubs fail to make the playoffs this year by 1 or 2 games? Wouldn't Bryant have made a difference? We all know how difficult it can be just to get in the playoffs, but either way there is no guarantee that any of the Cubs prospects ascend the way everybody thinks....injuries, and player confidence/aptitude are all issues. Just look at some of the recent guys like Pedro Alvarez, or Bryce Harper, or former Cubs that didn't pan out for various reasons, like Mark Prior or Kerry Wood just to name two off the top of my head.

It's just amazing to me that Cubs fans accept the same crap with bad decisions that the Franchise has made for such a long time. Look at some of the bonehead decisions made by recent playoff or on the cusp teams...Nat's shut down their best pitcher in the midst of a playoff/world series run, and get run out of the playoffs early because of their pitching. And needless to say Strasburg hasn't been the same since. Pittsburgh last year with Polanco and Burnett...cost them a better seed in the playoffs.

[sycro]

Originally Posted by JackKnightStarman

So what happens if the Cubs fail to make the playoffs this year by 1 or 2 games? Wouldn't Bryant have made a difference? We all know how difficult it can be just to get in the playoffs, but either way there is no guarantee that any of the Cubs prospects ascend the way everybody thinks....injuries, and player confidence/aptitude are all issues. Just look at some of the recent guys like Pedro Alvarez, or Bryce Harper, or former Cubs that didn't pan out for various reasons, like Mark Prior or Kerry Wood just to name two off the top of my head.

It's just amazing to me that Cubs fans accept the same crap with bad decisions that the Franchise has made for such a long time. Look at some of the bonehead decisions made by recent playoff or on the cusp teams...Nat's shut down their best pitcher in the midst of a playoff/world series run, and get run out of the playoffs early because of their pitching. And needless to say Strasburg hasn't been the same since. Pittsburgh last year with Polanco and Burnett...cost them a better seed in the playoffs.

If they miss the playoffs by 1 or 2 games, then Bryant probably didn't make much difference. No single player is going to take a team from a losing record to 88 or 89 wins.

[sycro]

I wonder if the Astros are regretting trading for Evan Gattis yet. 0-15 with 9 Ks (he actually had 8 straight Ks over their second and third games - 0-4 with 4 Ks on 17 pitches in both games).

[JackKnightStarman]

Originally Posted by sycro

If they miss the playoffs by 1 or 2 games, then Bryant probably didn't make much difference. No single player is going to take a team from a losing record to 88 or 89 wins.

Look at the 2009 Giants record and then 2010. Posey undeniably had a impact. And then look at 2011 to 2012. You can't tell me if that idiot from the Marlins doesn't go out of the baseline to hit Posey, the Giants would have been battling for a second consecutive pennant.