Email a copy of 'Straight From The Heart: The Signing Of Ted Lilly' to a friend
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By Chuck Wasserstrom | at
Email a copy of 'Straight From The Heart: The Signing Of Ted Lilly' to a friend
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YesWeMcCann
quite the read
busmannyc
I would love to read this but not on my phone.
I would prefer my desktop or Mac.
I does look insightful
justinept
It’s worth the tea whenever you get to it.
justinept
The read. It’s what the worth the read!!! But I suppose it’s also worth the tea, too…
nccubsfan 2
The “War and Peace” of MLBTR articles.
lesterdnightfly
Pierre Bezukhov thought the article was wonderful.
lesterdnightfly
The amount of recall is amazing, and the unfolding of the story is fascinating.
Well-written indeed. Thanks to Chuck Wasserstrom and MLBTR.
Asides:
*It’s almost quaint how prominent the Won-Loss records seemed to be then.
*The Tribune and the Wrigleys were the paragon of bad ownership, which was the real “curse”.
*The Rickettses/Theo/Hoyer approach is a 180-degree departure from the frenzied free-agent construction of the ’07-’08 Cubs–who almost won anyways.
*Jim Hendry: You are a good guy. But no job is worth your health !
cubsfan2489
The 07-08 Cubs were nowhere near winning it all. They didn’t even win one playoff game. Get your facts straight kid
Kayrall
The 08 team was historically good. They were a very well rounded team that went ice-cold when they reached the first round. I read lesterdnightfly’s comment as an insinuation of how good those teams were.
A'sfaninUK
“Historically good” – LOL more like fake good/had a favorable schedule – they went 30-7 vs the Braves, Rockies, Pirates & Padres, 4 teams that averaged 68 wins. They got bounced by the superior Dodgers, who also were not an actually-good team either.
Fake good teams ALWAYS get swept out of the playoffs in the first round, while teams with harder schedules don’t even make them. It sucks.
Jeff Todd
Let me guess, we can identify the “fake good teams” by seeing who loses in the first round of the playoffs?
justinept
The ’08 team was good but not great. They struggled against good pitching all year, and it wasn’t too surprising when they got swept by a damn good staff in LA
jd396
It doesn’t suck nearly as much as your adorably poor reasoning.
Connorsoxfan
Last year’s Red Sox team was sooooooooo fake good! Ortiz? Garbage. Pedroia? Horrible. Betts? Awful. Hanley? The worst! You’re ridiculous.
lesterdnightfly
cubsfan2489:
That’s your only take on this entire article? And even that’s an arguable opinion. Sad.
p.s. I’m not a kid; my facts are good; my recollections and opinions are valid too.
Go back to your sticky vinyl chair at Murphy’s.
kayrall: Thanks, you have it right.
cubsfan2489
Your facts are good? Facts have to be facts to be anything, and all you have is opinion. Which I’m not knocking. If you want to talk about a Cubs team that was good, look at 2015. If you want to talk about a team that was great, obviously look at the 2016 Cubs. Oh and by the way, it’s not the only thing I took from this article. It’s the only thing I took from your original comment. Nowhere in my response, until now, was about the article.
lesterdnightfly
cubsfan2489:
Why should I comment on the ’15-’16 Cubs’ teams? This is about Hendry and that regime. Apples and oranges.
Facts? If you don’t see that the new ownership/FO is a departure from the old ones, you don’t know what a “fact” is.
Still don’t have anything you took from the article except criticism of my post. Is that why you’re here?
p.s. Still not a “kid”.
cubsfan2489
You can stop with the, “p.s. Still not a “kid”. That’s just making you look even more childish
lesterdnightfly
That’s all you have to say?
Good.
cubsfan2489
Don’t test me. You’ll come out on the losing end.
cubsfan2489
P.S. you’re a moron if you think there was such a thing as a curse preventing the Cubs for winning for 108 years. Grow up
lesterdnightfly
I don’t have to “test you”. What you are and aren’t as a “fan” is quite evident to all who read your punkish little snipes and your lack of perspective and history. Some fan.
You’ve had multiple chances to address the article in a substantive way, and have failed each time. So now you resort to a typical anonymous Internet tough-guy pose.
Might as well have said, “Oh yeah, sez who?” and run down the alley back to Halsted and 35th.
Adios.
cubsfan2489
You do realize I read the article. I remember the situation when it happened. John McDonnough was told to open the wallets and that’s exactly what they did. It was a great read, and brought back the memory of hearing how Hendry did it. Hendry wasn’t a bad GM, he just couldn’t draft. Gave into pressure too often, example being the call up of Cory Patterson. Brought up, sent down, way too many times before 03 and then his knee went out on him. The Cubs lack of leadership is the reason they did not win for 108 years. Hendry was good, but Theo, Jedd and Jason are the class of leadership. So now that I’ve elaborated, shut your mouth, know your role, and if you have a problem and think this is “tough-guy pose” then get your candy a$$ on a plane to St. Louis, drive up 61 to Bowling Green, and I’ll show you what a tough guy pose is. Peace
P.S. I’d put money on you not getting any reference I just made and that you took my last part seriously. Have a good night bud.
soxfan1
TL;DR?
johnrealtime
It’s cute when people take pride in their stupidity. Here’s a gold star
SamFuldsFive
You’re so witty. Your friends at the office must love your “barbs”.
deadmanonleave
What Sam said…. it’s politer than what that comment deserved.
johnrealtime
Too short; didn’t read?
bluejays4life
Awesome read, thanks for sharing!
Kayrall
I felt like I was listening to a story while sitting around a campfire while clutching a cold beer. That was epic.
I’ll never forget my one encounter with Jim Hendry, whom I revered at the time: I was a teen in high school at my first Cubs Convention, seeing him frantically running towards a cab while clutching a phone to his ear. I said “Mr. Hendry! Can I get a picture?” He looked at me and said “Where’s my daughter.”
deadmanonleave
That just took my breath away, what a great story.
Connorsoxfan
Great piece.
Antdrew
This was amazing! Extremely interesting, and well written!
iceman35pilot
God I almost forgot how bad I hated the Tribune Company.
straightuphonestguy
love how the MLBTR staff and guests are branching out in a way that gives depth and weight to the players, agents, FO staff, etc. behind the transactions. fantastic piece.
lesterdnightfly
Who would down-vote that?
Never mind, I’ve read the other comments. It’s apparently someone who’s a frustrated being, and who chooses to take it out here — probably over some perceived “slight’.
JFactor
Wonderful. Probably the best contribution to this site yet
Kayrall
Why does this get a downvote??
A'sfaninUK
The long backstory of how a wealthy average baseball player signing a contract is worth a read? I don’t get it.
JFactor
It showed so much insight, and gave us the story of what Hebert was going through while trying to accomplish his job.
And say what you want about Lilly, but he earned his four year deal.
I can’t see how a baseball fan wouldn’t find this story enlightening
A'sfaninUK
Lilly was never elite though, and the “we need tv ratings to go up – lets get Ted Lilly” line sounds even dumber quoted than when I read it the first time.
I’m a massive baseball fan and this seems like a waste of words – I also don’t think that just because someone doesn’t use an editor and thinks all 50 thousand of their words are important and hiding behind the horrendous “longreads” genre, then that automatically means = respect. Some deserve your time, this is about a bad Cubs team trying to buy its way to success and failing – the more I think about this the more I hate it.
Boy, people sure are into the Cubs now, huh? I’m not. They’re just another team, and I’m Just Another Fan….a fan who can’t see the point of this story. I’d rather read how the Cubs bamboozled the Padres to get Rizzo for Cashner.
Tim Dierkes
This is not a sarcastic question…did you read the entire article from start to finish?
Kayrall
JAF, I am 100% convinced that you come on these boards to just rile up the commentors.
Also, this isn’t about the Cubs in any way related to peak in media attention because of the recent success. This is simply because MLBTR has access to Chuck Wasserstrom, whom has long ties to that organization and can regale us with a unique baseball story in extreme detail.
lesterdnightfly
Perhaps MLBTR can put out a Cliff’s Notes version of anything that requires a primary attention span.
But if so, they must only use the stories that appeal to a “massive baseball fan”.
justinept
You Clearly didn’t read the article if you think this was about signing Ted Lilly. This is a story about how a GM refused to stop working while going through a significant health ailment.
Dookie Howser, MD
Says the troll who just spent 150 words ranting about nothing.
Connorsoxfan
I hate JAF so much. He complains about all the content, and declares racism whenever someone says someone white is good, or whenever no one black is mentioned. It’s ridiculous. I’m confused as to why he still uses this wonderful free service if he hates the info it gives and the commenters as well.
Connorsoxfan
I mean, honestly, you’ve got to say some idiotic things if both Jeff and Tim comment against you in an article neither one of them wrote…
edawg1512
Amazing story
chasfh 2
Is this coming out on books-on-tape anytime soon?
hojostache
That was one of the best articles I’ve read on MLBTR, in regard to covering the backroom details and thought processes of the various sides. I appreciated the author telling a story instead of just reporting on a transaction. I know these can be time intensive, but I hope to see more articles like this next off-season. Great job Chuck!
asuchrisc
As a fan, we read about the transactions on this site, or through our phone alerts or whatever, but we don’t get to see what goes on behind them. Getting perspectives like this is something we rarely get to see. Sure it was lengthy, but in order to get all the angles on it, it needed to be. The fact that people take different things from the article (hatred of tribune, Lilly’s stats/career, etc) only prove how all the different viewpoints were needed and provided depth of the participants. Thanks for putting this on here.
CubsFanForLife
This is such an amazing article, and I haven’t even finished it. Awesome job, Chuck, and MLBTR – these insightful are awesome!! Definitely keep them coming.
Peart of the game
Looking back almost four years later and I still was engrossed in the story of this article. What’s great about it is that you could practically see it all play out in your mind in just how vividly detailed the article is.