UK

Was the Tupac avatar Roast's?

The 8 best hitters on this team are easy to distinguish from the remainder. (excluding Bryant's current injury)

I prefer this one...

I have their floor at 7 wins and their ceiling at 10 wins. I don't see them making the playoffs unless they sneak in as a 6 seed at 9-7.

Is it wrong I was still hoping Smith would start? Goals: O-Line doesn't get Trubisky killed. WRs look like a functional unit. Nagy develops a modern game plan. The defense pressures Rodgers.

Same This as well.

The two-handed swing (or finish on the swing) looks so weird for KB. I do like it and hopefully it leads to more power. I can't see it leading to more power, he's already at a 70 power so there isn't much room for growth there. It's going to change the bat angle as he'll finish on a more level than finishing higher. If he hits more line drives with a less uppercut swing, he should get more contact and hopefully the exit velo remains similar with expected less HRs but more 2Bs.

Would love to hear that you lost 10-15 lbs in October. If anyone loses weight around Halloween, they deserve a medal.

Cubs fans are in no position to take the high ground on racial equality. Having witnessed what Baker, Hawkins, Fukudome, etc. went through, I can only hope we have progressed and these examples are the miminorities of our fanbase as are the Cards fans highlighted here.

What type of PAP will Swarmer have after tomorrow?

man when amaury took that no hitter into the 8th in his debut, i thought for sure he was destined for the HOF so i decided to check myself on this https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHN/CHN199605160.shtml i was a little off...he pitched 7 innings of one hit ball, lost the no-no in the 6th. I did this with Jeff Pico. With the talk of bringing back Wilson, I had a Felix Heredia flashback.

Wilson has quietly had a good month, based on his tools, I think he can be a 4th/5th OF'er/Pinch-runner/defensive replacement, which is more than I could say for the rest of the SB team last year.

Another lefty by the name of Shawn Estes gave us one good game in '03 too.

14 mil, 59th overall pick, and 500k international bonus. At least his crash occured on the field.

Brant Brown.

Can I change my username to Almora's ball sack and have this as my avatar? http://www.trbimg.com/img-5b5a4a1e/turbine/ct-cubs-diamondbacks-photos-20180726-028/550/309x550

I need a Chapman for rotation post.

It's been 16 years since I've felt this vibe about a ballplayer... Mark Bellhorn touched my heart and made the Baylor/Kimm 02' Cubs watchable... He defeated gladiators... And single-handedly willed the Red Sox in '04 to defeat the hated cardinals when he hit a GW HR in Game 1 off of former Cub and Richard Speck look-a-like Julian Tavarez. http://didthetribewinlastnight.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Tavarez.jpg http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/23/164323-004-5CA60BC5.jpg Without further buildup.... (Unless Cubbyrage/Members Only Jacket objects). It's time for the hornywagon to be scrapped: Rest in peace '78 Ford LTD... The Cubs have upgraded and so has the Botewagon... http://www.loscabosguide.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/paseos-en-bote-panga-y-mas.jpg sB!

I was glad to see Ramos do well last night.

I wish Harold Reynolds said that.

Fwiw, I had Odorizzi and Foltynewicz with higher grades than I do Priester heading into their Senior seasons

Swap Nigeria with Croatia. The Peru/Denmark match will be the best one of the day.

be tough in 3 or at most 4 games and as your teams only real threat. They'll get by Senegal to get through the knockouts. Only question is whether they get Belgium or England, they would have a shot to get to the quarters against England, not Belguim.

My random prediction is that Lewandowski will lead the WC in goals.

Interesting article in the Athletic about the Cubs draft, with some good quotes from Dorey etc.. https://theathletic.com/384762/2018/06/07/an-inside-look-at-how-the-cubs-2018-draft-class-came-together/ Show, I hope you're wrong. I think some of your arguments are a little mixed. Seems to me that one argument is: 1. Cubs haven't done well outside of the first round thus far (I agree), so they won't do well outside of the first round in this draft either. 2. A second argument is that have failed with raw prospects before, so will fail with Roederer and Davis. 3. A third is that they didn't draft upside guys. You may well be right. But I think your second argument is the hinge one. I think Wilson is the only $$-HS guy they've signed. Hanneman is another example of a raw guy who didn't work out, but he was college already. The others, Crawfords and the like, those are 3rd-day picks. So to me, it seems like the Cubs record with HS-hitters like Roederer and Davis is pretty much wilson and that's it. I agree, Wilson's been a hopeless failure, and a wasted pick. But I'm not sure failing on one HS pick, and then also some 3rd-day guys, I think that's a small data pool on which to conclude a trend. So I'm optimistic re both Roederer and Davis. I think your 3rd argument is somewhat confusing. You complain that they didn't select upside guys, when to my perspective they took two such in Davis and Roederer. Reading what Dorey said, they were very much looking for upside guys, and ID'd Davis and Roederer as such. So the attempt is clearly there. You've already concluded that their attempts will fail, and you'll probably be correct. (Most 60-80 picks fail, especially HS ones....) But that's a scouting evaluation on your part, I think, (or a scouting failure on their part), more than a strategic failure. If in fact they did fail. My thinking is that although some of their HS guys have failed (Wilson and Sierra), they've had good luck with Gleyber and Eloy and Amara. So I'm not sure it's as well established and conclusive that they will fail to identify and develop teenage hitting prospects. I don't know what to make of Roederer so I didn't actually mention him. I'm not sure how high his ceiling is or how his tools rate when he was fully healthy. I need to find out more info before I make a proclamation on him. Keith Law on Roederer: That doesn't instill me with a lot of confidence... I do count Hannemann as a raw guy who didn't work out even though he went to college. There are definitely parallels between Hannemann and Davis. I know Davis is the better athlete and has a higher upside. Brennen Davis actually has one of the highest ceilings in the entire draft... I just don't think he reaches it or even gets close. I believe Kiley McDaniel mentioned how some scouts were worried his bat was a 30 or 40. I don't count IFAs with amateur draft picks. I'm strictly talking about the draft and the scouts involved with the MLB draft. I don't want to compare Gleyber and Eloy against our draft picks because it creates weird comparisons and we lack a lot of knowledge about how they scout internationally. It's not fair to compare Kris Bryant and Kyle Schwarber to Gleyber Torres and Miguel Amaya and so on. MLB teams scout those kids at a very young age and come to agreements when they are 14 or 15. Sometimes even younger now... I do totally give credit to the international scouts for doing a great job and signing some top prospects. I think we need to ask UK what he thinks and what other scouts think of the Cubs 2018 draft class. Too early to tell. To grade a draft property, there are 3 components in order of importance: 1) Player development 2) Draftees signed 3) Players selected I don't know their strategy. From what I gathered, they went high contact ratios with hitters with athleticism with raw power potential. Contact rates are key among amateur hitters b/c swing and miss in HS, you're swinging and missing in pro ball. I like their strategy with position players. As far as pitchers, they're obviously collegiate heavy. They have their justifiable reasons, I would like to see more higher ceiling arms that might be more raw but more signable than someone like Rocker. Its fine that want to go safer usually 2-10 (minus Hudson and Little) but throw some 11-40 money on a raw HS pitcher who might go the JUCO route. As much as signability is a negative when they ask too much, the opposite is often ignored. If you get a marginal HS arm that will sign for anything, that increases his value. I remember we drafted a HS kid in the 13th rd and my boss said jokingly, here's 1000.00, he said where do I sign.... We had to tell him to take more. The college players are all pretty safe bets, lower floors/lower ceilings. Minus Artis, I cant see a collegiate player above slot. Maybe Reynolds/Thompson but that'll be easily off-set by earlier picks. The 3 HSers in the top 10 picks and their signings will determine the effectiveness of the draft.