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This guy is the real deal. He was the dominant pitcher during the world classic earlier this year and I was calling for the Cubs to sign him then and now.
<!--quoteo-->QUOTE <!--quotec-->"He's a hard thrower from the left side," David Lakey, the national cross checker for the New York Mets, told MLB.com. "I think they said [he hit 96 mph on the radar gun]. That kind of arm is hard to find from the left side."
According to sources, Boston is the only team known to have made an offer for Chapman, for $15.5 million. But that offer was made a few weeks ago to his former agent, Edwin Mejia.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
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He's worth the gamble, it's a matter of who can pay it to him/where he wants to be. Most consider him, Strasburg, and Darvish to be the 1-3 prospects in the world, in any order. Once this guy really learns how to "pitch", he will be dominant. Provided he stays healthy of course, but you have to say that about any young arm. I highly doubt it happens, but I'll react the same way to this trade as I did when we got Nomar. Anything near me will be humped for those next 30 minutes.
@TheBlogfines
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He has real control problems. Great stuff - but real control issues. Given financial constraints, I don't imagine this is a risk the Cubs can/will take.
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I would be absolutely shocked if we even made a serious offer to this guy. Won't happen. Something tells me the Mets will go after him hard after failing to add pitching early in the offeseason.
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Can't see the Cubs outbid both the Red Sox and Yankees for the kid.
It would be great to have an arm like his in the minor league system to call up or trade at the deadline but just can't see it this year.
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<!--quoteo(post=71848:date=Dec 16 2009, 10:07 AM:name=rok)-->QUOTE (rok @ Dec 16 2009, 10:07 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->I would be absolutely shocked if we even made a serious offer to this guy. Won't happen. Something tells me the Mets will go after him hard after failing to add pitching early in the offeseason.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I'm not so sure the Cubs won't make a hard push here. Ricketts has talked about putting an emphasis on bringing in young talent from the draft and international sources. He wants to try to build up baseball players from within the organization. Now, Chapman isn't a typical international free agent. But, it will be interesting to see how much Ricketts values guys such as him.
Remember, this isn't the same as Matzuzaka. There's no posting fee. He is asking for a pro contract though. I've heard 4 years $15 mill is on the table from the Red Sox.
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<!--quoteo(post=71857:date=Dec 16 2009, 09:20 AM:name=Scarey)-->QUOTE (Scarey @ Dec 16 2009, 09:20 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=71848:date=Dec 16 2009, 10:07 AM:name=rok)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (rok @ Dec 16 2009, 10:07 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->I would be absolutely shocked if we even made a serious offer to this guy. Won't happen. Something tells me the Mets will go after him hard after failing to add pitching early in the offeseason.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I'm not so sure the Cubs won't make a hard push here. Ricketts has talked about putting an emphasis on bringing in young talent from the draft and international sources. He wants to try to build up baseball players from within the organization. Now, Chapman isn't a typical international free agent. But, it will be interesting to see how much Ricketts values guys such as him.
Remember, this isn't the same as Matzuzaka. There's no posting fee. He is asking for a pro contract though. I've heard 4 years $15 mill is on the table from the Red Sox.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I understand that Ricketts wants to emphasize player development, but this would be much more along the lines of a top FA signing. I just can't envision us needing pitching that much or swooping in and outbidding another team from the East coast given our payroll constraints. And I believe all the reports about our interest in him are sort of meaningless. Almost every MLB team sent a representative to watch Chapman work out.
All that said, I'd love to have the guy.
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You know, it's too early to really say (but I'm going to say it anyway)...but so far there is no discernible difference between the Tribune and the Ricketts family.
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<!--quoteo(post=71865:date=Dec 16 2009, 10:16 AM:name=Butcher)-->QUOTE (Butcher @ Dec 16 2009, 10:16 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->You know, it's too early to really say (but I'm going to say it anyway)...but so far there is no discernible difference between the Tribune and the Ricketts family.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
And there won't be until Hendry, Lou, and Kenney are gone. I decided a while back to not judge the Rickettses until at least 1-2 years into the new regime.
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I honestly don't know why Ricketts didn't have security escort Hendry to his car right after the press conference.
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<!--quoteo(post=71867:date=Dec 16 2009, 12:30 PM:name=jstraw)-->QUOTE (jstraw @ Dec 16 2009, 12:30 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->I honestly don't know why Ricketts didn't have security escort Hendry to his car right after the press conference.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Because a year ago, he built a team that won 97 games?
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<!--quoteo(post=71868:date=Dec 16 2009, 10:33 AM:name=Scarey)-->QUOTE (Scarey @ Dec 16 2009, 10:33 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=71867:date=Dec 16 2009, 12:30 PM:name=jstraw)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (jstraw @ Dec 16 2009, 12:30 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->I honestly don't know why Ricketts didn't have security escort Hendry to his car right after the press conference.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Because a year ago, he built a team that won 97 games?
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Yeah. That was a good season. Of course, he followed that season with one of the most fucked-up offseasons ever by basing all of his moves on handedness. Now he's in the process of fucking up another offseason.
Hendry has made some nice deals, but the amount of fuckups are quickly outnumbering his good moves.
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One big difference with Chapman is when he is expected to make it into the majors.
My understanding is that he is anywhere from a couple of months to 2 years away from making his MLB debut.
The kid is young and somewhat raw but his arm is electric and he is a lefty. Not too many clubs can allow a kid making $15 MM per year to sit in the minors so he will be rushed regardless of his readiness.
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<!--quoteo(post=71869:date=Dec 16 2009, 11:55 AM:name=Butcher)-->QUOTE (Butcher @ Dec 16 2009, 11:55 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=71868:date=Dec 16 2009, 10:33 AM:name=Scarey)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Scarey @ Dec 16 2009, 10:33 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=71867:date=Dec 16 2009, 12:30 PM:name=jstraw)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (jstraw @ Dec 16 2009, 12:30 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->I honestly don't know why Ricketts didn't have security escort Hendry to his car right after the press conference.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Because a year ago, he built a team that won 97 games?
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Yeah. That was a good season. Of course, he followed that season with one of the most fucked-up offseasons ever by basing all of his moves on handedness. Now he's in the process of fucking up another offseason.
Hendry has made some nice deals, but the amount of fuckups are quickly outnumbering his good moves.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
That's fine. But to act like Ricketts should have without a doubt kicked Hendry to the curb after acquiring the Cubs isn't really fair. I wouldn't have blamed him if he got rid of Hendry, but on the same token you can't just crucify a guy that only a year ago was running a team that won almost 100 games.
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<!--quoteo(post=71898:date=Dec 16 2009, 11:52 AM:name=Scarey)-->QUOTE (Scarey @ Dec 16 2009, 11:52 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=71869:date=Dec 16 2009, 11:55 AM:name=Butcher)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Butcher @ Dec 16 2009, 11:55 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=71868:date=Dec 16 2009, 10:33 AM:name=Scarey)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Scarey @ Dec 16 2009, 10:33 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=71867:date=Dec 16 2009, 12:30 PM:name=jstraw)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (jstraw @ Dec 16 2009, 12:30 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->I honestly don't know why Ricketts didn't have security escort Hendry to his car right after the press conference.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Because a year ago, he built a team that won 97 games?
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Yeah. That was a good season. Of course, he followed that season with one of the most fucked-up offseasons ever by basing all of his moves on handedness. Now he's in the process of fucking up another offseason.
Hendry has made some nice deals, but the amount of fuckups are quickly outnumbering his good moves.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
That's fine. But to act like Ricketts should have without a doubt kicked Hendry to the curb after acquiring the Cubs isn't really fair. I wouldn't have blamed him if he got rid of Hendry, but on the same token you can't just crucify a guy that only a year ago was running a team that won almost 100 games.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I was sort of hoping that the Ricketts family had some idea of how the team is going to be constructed, going forward. That they'd clean house and bring in their own guys -- modeled after what they're doing in Boston. If I'm spending $600M, I'm going to run it my way -- not the way the previous owner ran it.
That said, I'm not going to make any sort of conclusion on the Rickettses yet. But I'd like to see some serious changes over the next few years.
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