The Cubs Convention took place this past weekend. OV's own Aisle424 was present and will summarize his thoughts on it shortly (I think). In the meantime, Josh has already weighed in. Bruce Miles was all over the goings-on, as well, and his twitter feed is well worth checking out. A couple of highlights: Sveum: Campana "has a really hard time …
Cubs signed Jeff Samardzija and James Russell
It was reported yesterday that the Cubs signed Jeff Samardzija and James Russell to avoid arbitration. The Cubs signed Matt Garza yesterday and earlier this week they signed Luis Valbuena. Those were the only four players the Cubs had eligible for arbitration. The Jeff Samardzija contract is worth $2.64 million and they signed James Russell for $1.075 million. Totals for …
Free agents want to play for Cubs
NASHVILLE — Despite 101 losses in 2012, Cubs president Theo Epstein said there is no shortage of free agents who want to be part of the organization. Epstein said free agents “believe in the positive direction that we’re going,” and heard about the clubhouse atmosphere under manager Dale Sveum. “When we express interest, we’ve been hearing back to us, ‘That’s …
Rice Cube on Theo and context
I love this blog. Last night, RC posted a link to a one-sided article about how Theo Epstein is overrated and I said that I wished someone would take a fair look at it. RC did just that and I'm glad he did. He was responding to this article from last year. Since that ‘04 title run, Epstein has been …
Epstein, Bush, and the coaching staff
Theo Epstein talked Cubs a year after his hiring was official. One year ago, the Cubs had one player who projected as part of the core Epstein and Co. are trying to develop and that was shortstop Starlin Castro. Today, Epstein said there are at least half a dozen in the organization, including pitcher Jeff Samardzija, first baseman Anthony Rizzo, …
Profiles In Rebuilding- The Cleveland Indians
After Theo and Co. were hired at the end of last season, Cubdom was collectively filled with a sense of manifest destiny. A majority of us, I think, breathed a sigh of relief and started channeling our inner Alvin. Finally, a front office on the vanguard, saying all the right things about performance evaluation, rebuilding the organization from the ground …
A Tale of Two Trade Deadlines
[Billy Beane and Kevin Towers] operate, as ballplayers do, without a fear of failure. This year Beane found too many phone calls that came his way that sounded like this: "I have interest in one of your players and this is what I'm going to give you for him." "That's not deal-making," Beane said. It's name-your-own price. The art of …
Theo on Dempster
Theo talked about Ryan Dempster a bit today. "Ryan never got the opportunity for more than an hour to fully contemplate Atlanta with a deal actually in place," Epstein said. "I feel for him. Instead of having time to contemplate it privately, he had everyone telling him what to do and asking questions about it. I think it's hard to …
The 45%: When Theo Epstein Is Wrong
During Theo Epstein's introductory press conference, as well as the many rounds he made to various radio and tv shows, there is one line that I remember more than any other. if you do a great job, you're right 55 percent of the time. Of the many hours Theo spent talking with people about the Cubs on that day, I …
Daily Facepalm 3.5.12 – Random state laws edition
This week in state laws Lots of discussion in the comments this morning about state liquor and marriage laws yesterday. Apparently WaLi tried to get drunk and marry his cousin yesterday, and needed to make sure what states he was allowed to do that in. Is there a Cubs game today? The Cubs play an A's split squad today at …