Single Greatest Thread Ever

[PenFoe]

I'm feeling too lazy to really crunch numbers, but I was wondering today if the Cubs are actually going to be worse in 2014 than 2013. Especially if they trade Samardzija for prospects. For some reason, that realization surprised me, perhaps because I had assumed we'd see linear progress for a few years even if they weren't a playoff team.

On the optimistic side, I think it's fairly likely that Rizzo, Jackson and Castro will have better years than last, but I don't see many other strong upside cases beyond those three (Olt, perhaps?). And bullpens are sort of fickle, so that's a potential area for improvement. It couldn't get much worse.

On the flip side, they'll be missing about 400 solid innings from Garza, Feldman and Shark, and I doubt Travis Wood will replicate what he did last year. Same for Welington Castillo and Nate Schierholtz. Soriano was up and down, but he was fairly productive overall. Same for DeJesus.

Of course, this is all back of the napkin stuff, especially with the offseason not over yet. But assuming they don't surprise us and add Tanaka, Choo or some other impact player, what is everyone's guess on how many games they win?

Can you go back to hating on the Bulls or something?  

Jesus, you are depressing lately.

[BH]

I'm feeling too lazy to really crunch numbers, but I was wondering today if the Cubs are actually going to be worse in 2014 than 2013. Especially if they trade Samardzija for prospects. For some reason, that realization surprised me, perhaps because I had assumed we'd see linear progress for a few years even if they weren't a playoff team.

On the optimistic side, I think it's fairly likely that Rizzo, Jackson and Castro will have better years than last, but I don't see many other strong upside cases beyond those three (Olt, perhaps?). And bullpens are sort of fickle, so that's a potential area for improvement. It couldn't get much worse.

On the flip side, they'll be missing about 400 solid innings from Garza, Feldman and Shark, and I doubt Travis Wood will replicate what he did last year. Same for Welington Castillo and Nate Schierholtz. Soriano was up and down, but he was fairly productive overall. Same for DeJesus.

Of course, this is all back of the napkin stuff, especially with the offseason not over yet. But assuming they don't surprise us and add Tanaka, Choo or some other impact player, what is everyone's guess on how many games they win?

Why do you have to be such a buzzkill? You couldn't even let us enjoy the Justin Ruggiano acquisition for a full day?

Wasn't trying to be a buzzkill at all. Genuinely curious what everyone else thinks. Personally, I'm going to guess 66 wins again since I really don't want them to be technically worse than last year. 68 wins if they keep Samardzija all season.

This is more like it.  I'm not sure where to start with that. It's amazing.

[R-V]

I'm feeling too lazy to really crunch numbers, but I was wondering today if the Cubs are actually going to be worse in 2014 than 2013. Especially if they trade Samardzija for prospects. For some reason, that realization surprised me, perhaps because I had assumed we'd see linear progress for a few years even if they weren't a playoff team.

On the optimistic side, I think it's fairly likely that Rizzo, Jackson and Castro will have better years than last, but I don't see many other strong upside cases beyond those three (Olt, perhaps?). And bullpens are sort of fickle, so that's a potential area for improvement. It couldn't get much worse.

On the flip side, they'll be missing about 400 solid innings from Garza, Feldman and Shark, and I doubt Travis Wood will replicate what he did last year. Same for Welington Castillo and Nate Schierholtz. Soriano was up and down, but he was fairly productive overall. Same for DeJesus.

Of course, this is all back of the napkin stuff, especially with the offseason not over yet. But assuming they don't surprise us and add Tanaka, Choo or some other impact player, what is everyone's guess on how many games they win?

Why do you have to be such a buzzkill? You couldn't even let us enjoy the Justin Ruggiano acquisition for a full day?

Wasn't trying to be a buzzkill at all. Genuinely curious what everyone else thinks. Personally, I'm going to guess 66 wins again since I really don't want them to be technically worse than last year. 68 wins if they keep Samardzija all season.

I'll go with 73 wins. Their expected record last season was 70-92, so we should keep in mind that they underperformed a bit. I think with a full season of Strop & Villanueva in the bullpen, and a legitmate LOOGY to lighten the burden on Russell, the bullpen won't be a sinkhole of despair like it was for much of last year. I think smilin' Rick will coax a 3 win season out of Castro and I think Rizzo's BABIP luck will turn around enough that he'll put up a 3+ win season as well. I think between Valbuena, Watkins, Murphy etc. they'll greatly improve on their 2B production from last year. As for the starting pitching, overall it wasn't THAT good last year - they were 20th in starter's WAR per Fangraphs. So although it may drop off a bit, it's not like getting 10 wins out of your rotation is that tall of an order.

In conclusion, the slow & steady linear progression will continue.

[Eli]

I'm feeling too lazy to really crunch numbers, but I was wondering today if the Cubs are actually going to be worse in 2014 than 2013. Especially if they trade Samardzija for prospects. For some reason, that realization surprised me, perhaps because I had assumed we'd see linear progress for a few years even if they weren't a playoff team.

On the optimistic side, I think it's fairly likely that Rizzo, Jackson and Castro will have better years than last, but I don't see many other strong upside cases beyond those three (Olt, perhaps?). And bullpens are sort of fickle, so that's a potential area for improvement. It couldn't get much worse.

On the flip side, they'll be missing about 400 solid innings from Garza, Feldman and Shark, and I doubt Travis Wood will replicate what he did last year. Same for Welington Castillo and Nate Schierholtz. Soriano was up and down, but he was fairly productive overall. Same for DeJesus.

Of course, this is all back of the napkin stuff, especially with the offseason not over yet. But assuming they don't surprise us and add Tanaka, Choo or some other impact player, what is everyone's guess on how many games they win?

Can you go back to hating on the Bulls or something?  

Jesus, you are depressing lately.

I wondered aloud if they would be better or worse than last year, raised some potential pluses and minuses, then asked what everyone else thought. I'm sorry that bummed you out. I'm happy to stop posting if you all would prefer to get back to all of the other interesting topics being discussed around here.

[Yeti]

I'm feeling too lazy to really crunch numbers, but I was wondering today if the Cubs are actually going to be worse in 2014 than 2013. Especially if they trade Samardzija for prospects. For some reason, that realization surprised me, perhaps because I had assumed we'd see linear progress for a few years even if they weren't a playoff team.

On the optimistic side, I think it's fairly likely that Rizzo, Jackson and Castro will have better years than last, but I don't see many other strong upside cases beyond those three (Olt, perhaps?). And bullpens are sort of fickle, so that's a potential area for improvement. It couldn't get much worse.

On the flip side, they'll be missing about 400 solid innings from Garza, Feldman and Shark, and I doubt Travis Wood will replicate what he did last year. Same for Welington Castillo and Nate Schierholtz. Soriano was up and down, but he was fairly productive overall. Same for DeJesus.

Of course, this is all back of the napkin stuff, especially with the offseason not over yet. But assuming they don't surprise us and add Tanaka, Choo or some other impact player, what is everyone's guess on how many games they win?

Can you go back to hating on the Bulls or something?  

Jesus, you are depressing lately.

I wondered aloud if they would be better or worse than last year, raised some potential pluses and minuses, then asked what everyone else thought. I'm sorry that bummed you out. I'm happy to stop posting if you all would prefer to get back to all of the other interesting topics being discussed around here.

winner

The post, not the notion of you not posting

[morpheus]

Because someone has to say it...

[CT III]

I'm not sure what grand vision Pen has for the Cubs' record next year that he finds Eli's assessment so shocking.  I think it's pretty spot on.

[CBStew]

I'm feeling too lazy to really crunch numbers, but I was wondering today if the Cubs are actually going to be worse in 2014 than 2013. Especially if they trade Samardzija for prospects. For some reason, that realization surprised me, perhaps because I had assumed we'd see linear progress for a few years even if they weren't a playoff team.

On the optimistic side, I think it's fairly likely that Rizzo, Jackson and Castro will have better years than last, but I don't see many other strong upside cases beyond those three (Olt, perhaps?). And bullpens are sort of fickle, so that's a potential area for improvement. It couldn't get much worse.

On the flip side, they'll be missing about 400 solid innings from Garza, Feldman and Shark, and I doubt Travis Wood will replicate what he did last year. Same for Welington Castillo and Nate Schierholtz. Soriano was up and down, but he was fairly productive overall. Same for DeJesus.

Of course, this is all back of the napkin stuff, especially with the offseason not over yet. But assuming they don't surprise us and add Tanaka, Choo or some other impact player, what is everyone's guess on how many games they win?

Why do you have to be such a buzzkill? You couldn't even let us enjoy the Justin Ruggiano acquisition for a full day?

Thank you for reminding me.  I had already forgotten his name.

[PenFoe]

I'm not sure what grand vision Pen has for the Cubs' record next year that he finds Eli's assessment so shocking.  I think it's pretty spot on.

What's depressing is not that my playoff dreams for the Cubs next year are now totally shaken, I was pointing out the accumulation of Eli's last 3 months of posts about the Cubs and Bulls and the overwhelming and continuous theme of "this sucks."  

I mean, Eli can't even muster up the energy to crunch numbers anymore?  I don't want to live in that world. 

[CT III]

I'm not sure what grand vision Pen has for the Cubs' record next year that he finds Eli's assessment so shocking.  I think it's pretty spot on.

What's depressing is not that my playoff dreams for the Cubs next year are now totally shaken, I was pointing out the accumulation of Eli's last 3 months of posts about the Cubs and Bulls and the overwhelming and continuous theme of "this sucks."  

I mean, Eli can't even muster up the energy to crunch numbers anymore?  I don't want to live in that world. 

Hey, if you want to cheer up, you're all invited to the Blackhawks' thread.  I'm not sure what else I can do for you.

[Quality Start Machine]

I'm feeling too lazy to really crunch numbers, but I was wondering today if the Cubs are actually going to be worse in 2014 than 2013. Especially if they trade Samardzija for prospects. For some reason, that realization surprised me, perhaps because I had assumed we'd see linear progress for a few years even if they weren't a playoff team.

On the optimistic side, I think it's fairly likely that Rizzo, Jackson and Castro will have better years than last, but I don't see many other strong upside cases beyond those three (Olt, perhaps?). And bullpens are sort of fickle, so that's a potential area for improvement. It couldn't get much worse.

On the flip side, they'll be missing about 400 solid innings from Garza, Feldman and Shark, and I doubt Travis Wood will replicate what he did last year. Same for Welington Castillo and Nate Schierholtz. Soriano was up and down, but he was fairly productive overall. Same for DeJesus.

Of course, this is all back of the napkin stuff, especially with the offseason not over yet. But assuming they don't surprise us and add Tanaka, Choo or some other impact player, what is everyone's guess on how many games they win?

Why do you have to be such a buzzkill? You couldn't even let us enjoy the Justin Ruggiano acquisition for a full day?

Wasn't trying to be a buzzkill at all. Genuinely curious what everyone else thinks. Personally, I'm going to guess 66 wins again since I really don't want them to be technically worse than last year. 68 wins if they keep Samardzija all season.

I don't get the schadenfreude over the Cubs. The major league club doesn't have more than maybe 2 good players. That's why they're working on developing guys to replace them.

[BH]

What's depressing is not that my playoff dreams for the Cubs next year are now totally shaken, I was pointing out the accumulation of Eli's last 3 months of posts about the Cubs and Bulls and the overwhelming and continuous theme of "this sucks."  

What about the bulls and cubs currently doesn't suck?

[Eli]

What's depressing is not that my playoff dreams for the Cubs next year are now totally shaken, I was pointing out the accumulation of Eli's last 3 months of posts about the Cubs and Bulls and the overwhelming and continuous theme of "this sucks."  

Not to be glib, but ... it does suck. I remember last year at this time being convinced the Cubs could push .500, so it's not like I've always been a doomsayer. Just calling it like I see it right now.

[PenFoe]

What's depressing is not that my playoff dreams for the Cubs next year are now totally shaken, I was pointing out the accumulation of Eli's last 3 months of posts about the Cubs and Bulls and the overwhelming and continuous theme of "this sucks."  

What about the bulls and cubs currently doesn't suck?

This.

[BH]

What's depressing is not that my playoff dreams for the Cubs next year are now totally shaken, I was pointing out the accumulation of Eli's last 3 months of posts about the Cubs and Bulls and the overwhelming and continuous theme of "this sucks."  

What about the bulls and cubs currently doesn't suck?

This.

And Mirotic! Get excited chicago!