Man, being a retired multi-millionaire must be awesome. I'd rent an apartment in Paris for a year.

I'd like to care, but really -- it's not like there's anyone on the Cubs major league staff or in the minors who took any sort of measurable steps forward in recent years... In fact, if anything - I think it might be correct to say that Cub arms have stagnated - Wells has taken backwards steps two straight years, Marmol is still an erratic, but electric arm, BJP is still a largely straight fastball reliever with poor walk rates, and none of the kids have particularly impressed at the major and minor league level.

Cerebral and pitcher's pitcher though he may be - and granted, he was some sort of nebulous 'assistant' not the pitching coach or even technically, some sort of roving minor league instructor - I think it's entirely possible that however much Maddux knows about pitching, he can't translate it to other pitchers.

This isn't a "don't let the door hit you on the way out" -- it's more of a "we have plenty of ambassadors of era's gone by, and while we'd love you to remain one of them - let's not pretend you have some meaningful impact on the organization's on-field success."

Don't you know that Maddux is the smartest pitcher who ever, ever, ever lived? His success had nothing to do with his ungodly stuff or his pinpoint control. It was all about him outsmarting every batter he faced. I mean, he wore those dorky glasses for crying out loud. The man is a genius!

Good move for the Rangers; with their scouting staff, Greg will probably have more to work with than he did with the Cubs' farm ssytem. If front offices themselves comprised teams, Texas would be the equivalent of the mid-sixties Dodgers.

Don't you know that Maddux is the smartest pitcher who ever, ever, ever lived? His success had nothing to do with his ungodly stuff or his pinpoint control. It was all about him outsmarting every batter he faced. I mean, he wore those dorky glasses for crying out loud. The man is a genius!

It's fascinating the personality types we associate with various skills.

Hitting for average - (at least my impression of mainstream thinking) studious, thinking man's, professional hitter.
Hitting for power - big dumb lug
Low walk rate - (among SABR circles) stubborn moron
Control pitcher - calm and cerebral
Power pitcher - unpredictable hot-head

Works in hockey too

Good defender - dedicated team-player who works on his skills every day (read: Canadian)
Good scorer - show off who god gifted with tremendous talent, but is too lazy to improve himself (read: European)

Man, being a retired multi-millionaire must be awesome. I'd rent an apartment in Paris for a year.

For me, a year wouldn't cover it.