2021 Team

[jeffy]

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https://pointlessexercise.substack.com/p...e-all-gone

I used to love Desipio, but I find myself more and more irritated with him.  I used to find him hilarious when he'd shit on other team's and their players, but the 700 tweets a day shitting on Cubs players and how much he hates the team has really rubbed me wrong.  I'm bummed enough about the direction this team has gone in, I don't need him to endlessly rub salt in the wound.  I'm not real sure why he's still a fan, nothing they do seems to make him happy.</blockquote>Couldn't have said it better myself. I had to delete the Pointless Exercise pod back in the offseason. Excruciating listen.</blockquote>His schtick can get old, for sure, but I didnt disagree with a single word of that article. Did you?</blockquote>It's all his opinion so I'm not sure what I'm even agreeing or disagreeing with. I don't agree that the Rickettses ordered Jed to sell off. I mean they also included money in many of these trades, so it wasn't primarily financially driven. Other than never wanting to trade with the Sox ever, I'm also not sure that Madrigal is being evaluated properly. He's always been known as a decent defensive 2B, and I acknowledge that he has little power, but he's hit everywhere. The game is changing again, so it's hard for me to determine his long-term value without putting it into context with how Jed plans to construct the rest of the roster. I agree though that a middle infield of Hoerner and Madrigal scares me defensively, but we'll see. And despite the Kimbrel Renaissance, he isn't anywhere close to a sure thing. His wildness has returned since the ASG, and scouts I'm sure have picked up on this. It wasn't that long ago that we were talking about him being a sunk cost. I don't think we were fleeced on this or any of the other trades. Maybe I'm delusional or heartless, but I was 100% ready to move on from this core. I've been ready for probably 3 years since the offense broke. I will love Rizzo, Javy and KB forever, but it's a cruel business and I highly doubt Jed bumbled into any of these deals or was being pushed by ownership to deal anyone. Still fuck the Rickettses either way.</blockquote>I agree with all this. I will say that the one point that did resonate with me from the article is the idea that we had been conditioned to evaluate the core and their success, or lack there of, as rather static, as in they either needed to get it done or they should be broken up and the team should start fresh. The Dodgers had a strong core that would fall short and then they would do things like add Mookie Betts. I don't remember there ever being an attitude of "let's add to this foundation in a impact way". Once it was determined the offense "broke", adding a superstar wasn't an option to fix it, it had to be fixed itself or this. Maybe only the Dodgers and Yanks can think that way, but it would be nice if the Cubs could. Thus it does circle back to your last point.</blockquote>


Nick Castellanos cones to mind, but then they kinda threw in the towel after 2019.