The Cubs Way/The Plan

[Socnorb11]

The level of jealousy and crying in this thread is ridiculous.

Its preposterous to expect a team to waste money to get to mediocrity when the entire cupboard was barren to start with. When Hendry was fired the team was an absolute mess. It was saddled with several bad contracts, had few talented controllable assets (Castro is an idiot who had a poor work ethic and attitude from day one), and had a completely barren farm system. He recognized almost every successful team was built around internal (non-FA) assets and went about the smartest and most efficient way in obtaining them.

So he recognized what the Cardinals had already been doing for a decade?

[Famous Mortimer]

You highlight the bit where he says "almost every successful team", so you already know he's not just talking about the Cubs. Yes, it's one of the reasons the Cardinals have been successful...obviously. Should Theo not have done it that way, because the Cardinals did it too?

I just don't understand the attitude of some people, the complete refusal to admit any other team has done anything right. If you portray all your opponents as half-wits, what does that say when they thrash you?

[Joe Shlabotnik]

You highlight the bit where he says "almost every successful team", so you already know he's not just talking about the Cubs. Yes, it's one of the reasons the Cardinals have been successful...obviously. Should Theo not have done it that way, because the Cardinals did it too?

I just don't understand the attitude of some people, the complete refusal to admit any other team has done anything right. If you portray all your opponents as half-wits, what does that say when they thrash you?

That you are a Progressive/Democrat?*

* I can say this because I self-identify as one of the above-maligned group. Spare me the criticism, I am already posting from my Safe Space.

[Magneto2.0]

Cubs fans never give Cardinals team any credit, and vice versa. That's just how fans are.

[Socnorb11]

You highlight the bit where he says "almost every successful team", so you already know he's not just talking about the Cubs. Yes, it's one of the reasons the Cardinals have been successful...obviously. Should Theo not have done it that way, because the Cardinals did it too?

I just think it's ironic that he's on a CARDINALS forum, telling us how brilliant Theo is because he did what the Cardinals have been doing for a decade already. That's not brilliant. It's monkey see, monkey do.

I just don't understand the attitude of some people, the complete refusal to admit any other team has done anything right. If you portray all your opponents as half-wits, what does that say when they thrash you?

Nobody is saying they're half-wits. We're simply saying that there's nothing profound about how they rebuilt. It wasn't a Moneyball type of revolution. It's not book-worthy, in my opinion.

[Popeye_Card]

I just don't understand the attitude of some people, the complete refusal to admit any other team has done anything right. If you portray all your opponents as half-wits, what does that say when they thrash you?

The Cubs have done a lot of things right. I think most everyone here freely admits that.

I think we're all debating the degree of difficulty here. We're splitting hairs about how impressive it is that the Cubs drafted the best hitter in the draft at #2 overall. Yes, it is good that they didn't whiff on a #2 pick like many teams in the past have done, but on the other hand it isn't exactly amazing that they drafted Bryant. Personally I think the jury is still out on drafting Schwarber at #4 overall. He's an impressive hitter, but he has to continue to hit a ton to justify a NL team taking a DH-in-waiting at #4.

The Cubs deserve a lot of credit for making some shrewd trades. Arrieta was an excellent pickup. The prospect exchange to bring in Rizzo was great. Being able to pick up a Russell for Samaddijidizidijada rental was a really good move. The Chapman rental turned out well (we'll see how the prospects involved pan out). The free agent front has been much more of a mixed bag. I thought they paid too much for Lester, but it worked for them last season. Glad they signed Heyward. The Jackson deal was pointless. Zobrist has been OK thus far. Fowler was a good pickup.

Anyway, there's credit where credit is due here. But back to the degree-of-difficulty, the Cubs have had a pretty nice safety net. They've been able to draft near the top for a few years. They have been able to sell some rental players. They can afford to have a hit-and-miss record in free agency. It is impressive that Theo's staff generally makes the right choices. I'm just not ready to anoint him as far-and-away the best executive in the game. Even his championship teams have been pretty damn fortunate to climb out of 0-3, 1-3, and 1-3 series deficits to win.

[wart57]

I want to vomit.

[wart57]

This makes me feel a little better...

[dan_yall]

I just want to jump in and say that when it comes to hyperbolic praise of the Cubs, Maddon worship is WAY more annoying than Theo worship. Theo did a great job building the best roster in baseball. Maddon is the guy getting way too much credit, imo. I'm pretty sure Steve Spagnuolo could have won the World Series with that team.

[themiddle54]

You highlight the bit where he says "almost every successful team", so you already know he's not just talking about the Cubs. Yes, it's one of the reasons the Cardinals have been successful...obviously. Should Theo not have done it that way, because the Cardinals did it too?

I just think it's ironic that he's on a CARDINALS forum, telling us how brilliant Theo is because he did what the Cardinals have been doing for a decade already. That's not brilliant. It's monkey see, monkey do.

So the guys who did this in the early 2000s with Boston, by doing it again in the early-2010s with Chicago, are just bums copying the guy who did it in the late-2000s with St. Louis?