The Cubs Way/The Plan

[Transmogrified Tiger]

What if Dayton Moore was able to do what he did (add Kennedy, Vargas, Soria and Hammel) and still have money left over to add Lester, Lackey, Zobrist and Fowler? He'd probably look like a much smarter GM right now than he does, simply because his team would likely be a perennial playoff contender.

He would also have the highest payroll in baseball by about 10 million dollars.

I"m not sure how accurate it is, but this website says that the Dodgers spent $134 mil more than the Royals last year. I don't think that Lester, Lackey, Zobrist and Fowler made $144 million last year, did they?

http://www.spotrac.com/mlb/payroll/2016/

There's lots of ways to calculate team payroll(how you account for buyouts, pro-rations, opening day v. end of year v. dollars paid, etc), but I'm using USA today and have been referring largely to 2017 contracts/AAVs(the one exception being Fowler who signed a new deal between now and then). https://www.usatoday.com/sports/mlb/sal ... /team/all/

[Socnorb11]

OK. I was specifically talking about last year, because that's was the "storybook" season.

[dan_yall]

Theo's now being floated for political office:

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/ ... ats-215069

I'd vote for him in next year's Illinois governor's race. Although, it seems like the current regime is already employing the tanking strategy.

[Socnorb11]

Theo's now being floated for political office:

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/ ... ats-215069

I'd vote for him in next year's Illinois governor's race. Although, it seems like the current regime is already employing the tanking strategy.

[Popeye_Card]

World's greatest leader. You have to be [expletive] kidding me.

[stlouie_lipp]

Theo's now being floated for political office:

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/ ... ats-215069

I'd vote for him in next year's Illinois governor's race. Although, it seems like the current regime is already employing the tanking strategy.

Kind of why I started this thread. It's as if he walks on water.

[MrCrowesGarden]

I guess Aroldis Chapman didn't happen.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I'm in the middle of reading Verducci's book that talks about this at length. Character is probably the wrong word to use, because it's not talking about having a moral high ground or only having boy scouts on your team. The idea was that some human/subjective attributes(ability to deal with failure, being helpful to your teammates, etc) had become undervalued now that every front office is SABR-savvy. One of the examples the book talks about is being sure Rizzo was going to be a leader on the team after he charged the Cincinnati dugout(and Chapman himself, ironically enough) a few years back, which is not a good guy or 'high character' thing to do. Another talks favorably about Schwarber cussing up a storm when Theo interviewed him pre-draft and mentioning that they weren't sold on him as a catcher. There's obviously a lot of hindsight involved and there's plenty of room for that emphasis to be wrong or over-inflated, but they aren't saying that they're prioritizing better human beings.

[go birds]

just canonize the guy already!

[Hoot45]

I guess Aroldis Chapman didn't happen.

Well, Theo Christ does have the power to forgive sins so it's technically not wrong when revisionist history says that character was an essential part of his formula. Chapman's horrific abuse of his girlfriend was absolved by the Savior himself IIRC.