Spring Training Game Thread

[gflore34]

So the return on the Bryant trade is ultimately going to be nothing, great.

[mul21]

20 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

So the return on the Bryant trade is ultimately going to be nothing, great.

I mean, two pretty significant injuries derailed the tracks of both Canario and Kilian so I'm not sure that's a fair assessment.

[imb]

22 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

So the return on the Bryant trade is ultimately going to be nothing, great.

still better than paying him

[gflore34]

4 minutes ago, mul21 said:

I mean, two pretty significant injuries derailed the tracks of both Canario and Kilian so I'm not sure that's a fair assessment.

Yes, I can see that, injuries also took a toll on Bryant as well, maybe its a wash.

[Bertz]

- The Javy trade looks amazing

- The Rizzo trade looks good and decent chance it turns out amazing as well

- KB trade was a bust.  Weird trajectory too where it looked sort of bad initially, looked good for a while, and has now totally flamed out

- Kimbrel trade was disastrous, somehow for everyone involved

[gflore34]

10 minutes ago, Bertz said:

- The Javy trade looks amazing

- The Rizzo trade looks good and decent chance it turns out amazing as well

- KB trade was a bust.  Weird trajectory too where it looked sort of bad initially, looked good for a while, and has now totally flamed out

- Kimbrel trade was disastrous, somehow for everyone involved

Darvish trade?

[Bertz]

3 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

Darvish trade?

Probably bad.  Caissie looks like a good player but trading Darvish at that point and getting nothing of substance for four+ years is a tough pill to swallow.  Caissie's pretty much got to be star to salvage it IMO.

[gflore34]

17 minutes ago, Bertz said:

Probably bad.  Caissie looks like a good player but trading Darvish at that point and getting nothing of substance for four+ years is a tough pill to swallow.  Caissie's pretty much got to be star to salvage it IMO.

I agree, Preciado, Mena and Santana aren't going to make it, it's all up to Cassie.

[Thusly Boned]

Barring Caissie becoming a superstar I'll always be salty about the Darvish trade. It's pretty easily my least favorite Cubs deal in recent memory.

[Jason Ross]

I will always have a weird relationship with the Darvish trade. The timing and the return was rough - it was always going to be a slog to recoup value when you trade for four teenagers. 

The flip side is that Caissie was someone I really enjoyed as a 2nd round pick in the 2020 draft and was bummed when he ended in SD. Seeing him come back in that trade has always been fun for me.

It will probably be a disappointing outcome even if Caissie is pretty good due to the wait time and the other three flaming out nearly instantly. With that said, decent chance the Cubs get a single good player back so it'll be far from horrible.

[Eeyore]

5 hours ago, itisallpartoftheplan said:

Jed Bullied PCA into number change.

Now they can sell more jerseys 

[Rcal10]

2 hours ago, gflore34 said:

So the return on the Bryant trade is ultimately going to be nothing, great.

And what  Bryant provided after the trade was also nothing great. But it cost Colorado $27M a year to not be great. 

[Bertz]

Brad Keller feels pretty firmly like the most interesting of the NRIs

 

[BKHoo]

Wow do I love this guy......

Imanaga said through his interpreter during an interview with Chicago-based media in Mesa, Ariz. “I heard this will be the first time two Japanese MLB pitchers faced off in a series in Japan. I have to say that the reason we as modern Japanese players in MLB are getting all this attention is what the Japanese players did in the past to make the transition easier. They created this path, so we follow through the history they created. I want to say thank you to all of them.”

[Thusly Boned]

23 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

And what  Bryant provided after the trade was also nothing great. But it cost Colorado $27M a year to not be great. 

"Not great" is being kind. Bryant has been an expensive black hole of a roster spot. Of course few would have predicted just how little production he would provide going forward. Bryant scared me because of his propensity to be derailed  by minor injuries, but I didn't see it getting this bad.

The problem with the Bryant/Rizzo/Baez trades is that they weren't made earlier.

[Thusly Boned]

1 hour ago, 1908_Cubs said:

I will always have a weird relationship with the Darvish trade. The timing and the return was rough - it was always going to be a slog to recoup value when you trade for four teenagers. 

The flip side is that Caissie was someone I really enjoyed as a 2nd round pick in the 2020 draft and was bummed when he ended in SD. Seeing him come back in that trade has always been fun for me.

It will probably be a disappointing outcome even if Caissie is pretty good due to the wait time and the other three flaming out nearly instantly. With that said, decent chance the Cubs get a single good player back so it'll be far from horrible.

To be fair, a huge part of my issue with the trade wasn't the return, but what it signified (cheapness) and that I just adore Yu Darvish in general.

[We Got The Whole 9]

Bryant made too much and produced too little and that was pretty well known before the trade. He didn't have many interested suitors. The projections were not great. Nobody thought much of the package at the time and it was pretty clear last year that the return would be the worst of those deadline deals. 

[JBears79]

52 minutes ago, BKHoo said:

Wow do I love this guy......

Imanaga said through his interpreter during an interview with Chicago-based media in Mesa, Ariz. “I heard this will be the first time two Japanese MLB pitchers faced off in a series in Japan. I have to say that the reason we as modern Japanese players in MLB are getting all this attention is what the Japanese players did in the past to make the transition easier. They created this path, so we follow through the history they created. I want to say thank you to all of them.”

Love that quote. That's really cool.

[imb]

2 hours ago, Thusly Boned said:

Barring Caissie becoming a superstar I'll always be salty about the Darvish trade. It's pretty easily my least favorite Cubs deal in recent memory.

i was mainly just happy for darvish that he didnt have to deal with the cubs anymore.

[Stratos]

 

[Hot Sauce]

KB met the devil at the railroad tracks and traded it all for that WS. 🥲

[BigbadB]

They talked to Wicks during the broadcast. He said his wife created a diet plan that helped him lose weight, which I think is code for "her cooking sucks". 

I noticed Kilian had 6 starts and 7 bullpen appearances in AAA last year. I wonder if he's about to be converted to a full time BP guy going forward. I'm guessing he's running out of time to prove he's a starter. 

[Jason Ross]

33 minutes ago, BigbadB said:

They talked to Wicks during the broadcast. He said his wife created a diet plan that helped him lose weight, which I think is code for "her cooking sucks". 

I noticed Kilian had 6 starts and 7 bullpen appearances in AAA last year. I wonder if he's about to be converted to a full time BP guy going forward. I'm guessing he's running out of time to prove he's a starter. 

I think we are past Killian as a viable MLB starter territory. He simply cannot induce enough swing and miss at the highest levels to be a starter. He's struggled to develop any sort of whiff or chase pitch. 

Id assume he spends most of his season as a BP convert where you hope he can run the fastball up to the high 90s and in short spurts can use velocity and continue to develop a 2nd pitch to be used in middle relief. 

[Rcal10]

13 hours ago, imb said:

i was mainly just happy for darvish that he didnt have to deal with the cubs anymore.

He didnt have to deal with the Cubs anymore? What does that even mean? He loved playing in the Cubs. So much so that he talks up the organization to other Japanese players. I doubt he was relieved to be traded. What did the Cubs ever do to Darvish that would make him want to leave? 

[Andy]

14 hours ago, BKHoo said:

Wow do I love this guy......

Imanaga said through his interpreter during an interview with Chicago-based media in Mesa, Ariz. “I heard this will be the first time two Japanese MLB pitchers faced off in a series in Japan. I have to say that the reason we as modern Japanese players in MLB are getting all this attention is what the Japanese players did in the past to make the transition easier. They created this path, so we follow through the history they created. I want to say thank you to all of them.”

That's a terrific quote, but I got a laugh out of him joking that he wasn't gonna help any of his teammates adjust to Tokyo during the series so they'd know how he felt last year.