Theo's admitted mistakes so far!

I cant help but pas this along from todays Chicago Tribune 2/27/12. David Haugh's columm

Here are a few quotes and commentary...

 Cubs'( THeos) first mistake he admitted to   was the trade to Colorado where  Cubs gave up Tyer Colvin and DJ Mahieu. The other  early mistake was when Cubs left Brian Flaherty unprotected and Using Rule 5, Baltimore drafted him and he started in in the play-offs for Baltimore.. Their very  first move was their finest succcess :  to get Rizzo from SD. That was through Hoyer's connections,as I remember it ( anyone want Fielder there instead now?)

Another quote from Theo: 'what I want to avoid is the middle ground'.. He either wants Cubs in  the playoffs, OR be  one of the bottom 9 teams so as to to get a protected draft pick.( playing 500 baseball is a wasted year) Thats why I now understand earlier  published quotes by THeo....that if Cubs look like theyre out of it by July players will start to go,' ,and it may get ugly again like last winter.., Theo sees no advantage  in leveling off as a 500 club,

 Ive always thought that 500 was a good(although temporary) goal because its within reach of being competitive).Theo is saying that if a team is only 500 he may go back and redo some or much what has already been done. His reasoning would be they have assembledld a  wrong combination of players and its not working. It reminds me how important "TEAM" is in Basbeall. You have 25 players and each must play a role if the team is successful.
 

This was great insight for me,especially when some one always posts  and predictably  has an agenda to knitpick every move Theo makes.  Ive always assumed Theo knew what he was doing, so im on the other side of realistic maybe. Here's a leader  who doesnt assume he KNOWS what the outcome will be of the moves he's making,and is ready to re-calibrate his agenda midstream. Probably signing Edwin J. was a move he felt he had to make. There was NO WAY pitching could be competitive any time soon building from scratch.Yet FA's is NOT wh ere rebuilding starts. David Haugh doesnt always have a column but on TV chat he can be quite critical . I just think he revealed some very interesting points of discussion revealing how Theo will proceed.I'd give a link to the article but that's  above  of my computer expertise level .


Hopefully someone will give the link,or just go look in TODAYS Chicago Tribune sports. This is one of the more interesting takes on Theos management style I have read  so far this year...very unique.I just touched  the surface..

Theo wanted to get rid of Jim Hendry players. He wanted this to be his team very quickly. That is why I hated the Colorado trade. He was not here long enough to evaluate the players. He knew Colvin was a Hendry guy and he wanted the slate wiped clean. I hated that trade from beginning and with Stewart hurt again. It seems the Rockies stole that trade. I also believe that is why Stewart is on this team. To try and justify the trade a little more to Theo. All Gm's make mistakes but I think ego got in the way of a sound baseball decision with that trade.

anyone want Fielder there instead now?

Do you mean would I want Fielder at first base now, and have Rizzo as depth in the farm system? Count me in. 
   
Just curious. What do you think Rizzo could have netted the Cubs in return after his performance in the minors last year. Do you think they could have gotten a solid 3rd basemen, an Upton, or a bonafide ACE prospect(s) from another team? I sure do.

Fielder, Rizzo, and Voglebach.........Hmmmm! Yeah, no trade bait there.   

I would venture to guess we would not have traded for Rizzo if we signed Fielder. Now, could we have flipped Cashner for just as good as prospect at another position. I do not know. We may have kept Cashner. Guy has a million dollar arm. He just has to show that million dollar durability.

"The Rockies stole that trade" Colvin will not duplicate last year, Lemahieu is a dime a dozen guy. The Rockies stole the trade if you consider getting a nickel for three pennies a steal. If the Cubs had Colvin and Lemahieu last year they would have won 61 games, instead of, umm, 61 games.

Tyler Colvin and Lemahieu are the take a penny leave a penny tray now?

man that is cold. 

They dont have to duplicate last year to still have the Rockies win the trade. Colvin would have been a better addition to the OF over DeJesus and LaHair. O and LeMahieu may not have power but he could play third and hit for a good average. Stewart did none of that. Dont downplay something just to downplay it. I didnt say this would crush the Cubs franchise, but the Rockies def. won this trade.

boobaby1 ,

I actually thought NOBODY would rather have Fielder at 1st base(lol) So thats why giving opinions is very eye-opening....And I never saw Rizzo  as trade-bait.  3rd base will get done in next couple yrs. Im seeing Rizzo as a FUTURE power-hitting,above average defensive ) 1st baseman.   I dont know if RIzzo will be as good as it seems he  might be,but I hope Barney thanked Rizzo over and over for helping him get his Gold  Glove award. I dont think he could have done it with LaHair.The first  thing that struck me about Rizzo was that he was a bigger framed guy than I had thought but was very agile and already as a rookie could  catch relays to him other 1bmen might miss.He controls a lot of terriotory around 1st...  I saw  Fielder as a power hitter,but not such much of a clutch hitter and I thought his defense was 'OK', But I dont look at stats usually thats where baseball gets boring for me...Thats why I appreciate those who DO analyze  stats and can give comparative comment on them on this comment page. I just remember what I see and that sometimes can be misleading because  no one can see everything,or remember.


To me baseball is purely a  team,spectator sport.( for what its worth).

Sorry, didn't mean to ruffle any feathers. Gotta remember that prior to last year neither Colvin nor Lemahieu had shown anything special with the Cubs, and Stewart was coming off an injury after posting 25 and 18-HR seasons. Obviously last year's stats make it look like a clear winning trade for the Rockies, but at the time the trade was made, calling it a steal would have been a stretch. And I will stand by my statement that neither Colvin nor Lemahieu would have made the Cubs any better last year, and neither was an irreplaceable building block for the future.

Here we go again, [#$@K]!

Any decent breakdown of Colvin's numbers from last year are clearly a product of playing at Coors Field!  If the Rockies are so enamoured with him, why didn't they trade Cuddyer and put him in RF?  Because, Colvin is a situational outfielder who can't hit LHP.  DJ LeMahieu may not even break Rockies camp on their 25 man squad.  The Cubs needed a starting 3B because Aramis Ramirez refused to play on a single year deal, and the Cubs refused to offer him a 3 year deal.  Ian Stewart was the best option available to them at a cost of 2 players that were replaceable with Jeff Baker & David DeJesus.  Stewart didn't live up to his hype and the Cubs rotated him with Valbuena & Joe Mather.

Funny thing is, the Cubs may actually benefit if LeMaheiu breaks camp on the roster cause they might have a chance to pick up Jordan Pacheco or Ryan Wheeler on the cheap.

Here is a link to a newspaper that has the story and doesn't force people to pay for online news content.

[http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/02/
26/3256207/david-haugh-cubs-preside
nt-will.html]

I certainly was drawn to the statement, "There's no glory in 78 wins instead of 73. Who cares?
Sure does match what some of us have said on this board for some time now, that it makes more sense that if you aren't a contender for a playoff spot there is no reason to do your best to win 71 games.  Especially if it is at the expense of attaining players that can help the future of the franchise.

It seems the Rockies stole that trade. I also believe that is why Stewart is on this team. To try and justify the trade a little more to Theo. All Gm's make mistakes but I think ego got in the way of a sound baseball decision with that trade.

Nicely worded Silence.

I couldn't agree with you more.

Too bad Theo couldn't have had the patience to wait a little while longer for the Rockies to DFA Stew-Shart.

With all these "baby steps" Boy Blunder has taken, you'd think he wouldn't have jumped all over acquiring Stew-Shart.

It's been more mis-steps than baby steps with this regime unfortunately.

What are you talking about? Colvin hit .270 in a 100 at bats against lefties. Sure he only hit 1 homerun, but he put up respectable line against them. Colvin was much better at home, but still cranked 7 homers on the road. You are telling me Coors made his average jump? Well, wtf**** was Stewart hitting .220 there for. Rizzo hit .208 against lefties in the same amount at bats. I think Colvin handled himself quite well against lefties. O yea and Colvin can play all 3 OF spots and play them well.

DJ LeMahieu will def. break camp with the Rockies. He can play third, short, second, first, and outfield corner spots if needed. He held down the second base job the last two monthst last year and played really good D and hit for a good average.

What did the Cubs get back? Ian Stewart who sucked then went down with a wrist injury. Then for a pitcher in the minors that cant hit the broad side of a barn with his pitch. I dont know what you proved, but on my end, not much.

Also, there are reports before the Cubs ever traded for Stewart that he has a poor attitude. The trade sucked from the beginning and still does. Stewart may not even make the Cubs. Do you know how bad that is? Colvin and LeMahieu would most likely be starters for us and are 27 and under.

 

Tyler Colvin was worth a full WAR point better than DeJesus last year and is still under control. LaHair also completely sucked once he went to the OF. I guarantee you the Cubs would have been better with Colvin. Not contenders or close to contending but still better and he would have been in house.

To get back to the point of the article... THEO himself  considered the trade to Colorado his first  mistake.He was  even quoted in the article  that he didnt know the players well enough.If other people think Theo didnt make a mistake,thats another issue.If I had a link I would have sent it. I just picked out certain things...

Thats my point, Wrig. Theo knows it was bad trade. I dont think Theo is horrible because he made the trade. I just think the trade happened like I said. All GM's make mistakes. It is ok to say when they do. Theo will make more mistakes before it is done. He will also make right decisions. You just hope the right decisions outweigh the wrong.

So Theo himself admits that trade was a mistake and yet here are a couple posters still pounding their chests about what a good trade it was.

Clearly no agenda at play or anything.

and Stewart was coming off an injury after posting 25 and 18-HR seasons

Actually he was coming off a season where he hit an impressive .156 with 0 HR's in 136 PA's.

And Theo traded TWO players for him.

Any decent breakdown of Colvin's numbers from last year are clearly a product of playing at Coors Field!

And what does that say about Stewart's completely mediocre numbers than that got that same advantage??

Take away Coors Field and the 'boost' it has given Stewarts career and you find a player that in 929 PA sports a .223 BA, .293 OBP and .370 SLG for an impressive .663 OPS.

And the Cubs traded TWO players for him.

Several people stated at the time of the trade that it was terrible, so it wasn't this huge surprise that Stewart has sucked that the agenda people try to spin.  It was very obvious to knowledgable fans that Stewart was not a good player.  Those people were right and the agenda people still trying to defend the trade are wrong.

Ok at this point it looks like a mistake by Theo, won't argue that. But on the scale of F-ups, it barely registers, compared for instance to Brock for Broglio. Cubs gave up minor players hoping for a couple of guys to live up to their billing, didn't work. By the way, Rizzo for Cashner looks like a pretty good deal by the same logic. Some you win, some you don't.

I don't see the point in being so targeted and  short-sided in judgment. If Theo and 'his guys' dont get Cubs  into a World Series within 9 years then Theo's as bad as Hendry was in his almost 9 years of so-called 'total failure'.. But were going to have to wait and see and its just too boring to wallow in such misery! I have always enjoyed the Cubs and I will continue to enjoy baseball at Wrigley.A World Series is just an added treat.