Rob

Oh, I really really hope Levine gets fired. But we aren't that lucky.

I still hit fangraphs pretty regularly.

I'm enjoying the Cubs doing a '94 Expos thing in what seems certain to be a lost year.

Yeah. The last couple years I've barely been able to watch a dozen or so games a year due to time constraints. This year, I haven't missed any. I figure I better get my yearly fix squeezed in for the very limited window in which baseball will be available.

The long offseason gave me too much time to forget how much I hate these threads and their hot takes when the Cubs are losing.

We are partway through our second game. And KB had two fantastic AB in the first one. Calm down.

Turns out that relative ranking was pretty accurate, actually.

I would just like to point out that this is the point where in a DH-less game that the Brewers would have to start thinking about whether or not to pull Woodruff when his spot comes up in the order. He's pitching well, but already at 85 pitches. Hendricks is absolutely dealing so far, so the Brewers would really be wanting to put the pressure on offensively, the Brewers bullpen is solid and very well rested, etc... But with the DH, we aren't getting any of that.

lol at Hendricks elevating on these guys

Blackouts are the freaking worst. At least MLB.tv hasn't yet started doing that annoying horsefeathers that Amazon Prime and the like are doing and fighting the VPN market. All I had to do tonight was tune in via Brazil.

They have him moving around more than a lot of other 3B. He'd be 7th or 8th playing 3B full time. And that sounds bad too but keep in mind that 3B might be the deepest position in baseball at the moment, like Arenado is 6th and Manny Machado is 8th. What is their top ten? For the Derwoods of the world who can't be bothered to look it up themselves, here's the top 15: Alex Bregman Matt Chapman Anthony Rendon Jose Ramirez Josh Donaldson Nolan Arenado Rafael Devers Manny Machado Yoan Moncada Kris Bryant / David Bote Justin Turner / Enrique Hernandez Eugenio Suarez Brian Anderson Jeff McNeil / J.D. Davis / Jed Lowrie Matt Carpenter / Tommy Edman Everybody ahead of Bryant has significantly more plate appearances projected at their position. For instance, Moncada is projected for 0.1 fWAR more than Bryant, but in 47 more PA. Machado is 0.3 fWAR more, but in 70 more PA, etc...

Grimm's stuff is entirely too good for his terrible results. I fully anticipate the Brewers making one minor tweak to him and turning him into an All-Star.

Didn't we have him in camp or on a minor league deal or something one year?

I saw a poll on twitter a while back that asked whether it was worth it to have a baseball season was worth it if just ONE person was going to die as a result. Most people, including myself, said no. Of course, there are fatalities that happen due to baseball. A fan might fall trying to catch a ball (or after having too much to drink). Somebody might get hit in the head with a bat or a ball accidentally. These things happen, and it's just the risk we take by going out the door every morning. By going to these places, we are accepting the 1 in a million possibility that it might be us that gets hurt. If it's just a matter of accepting that risk, I'm okay with having a baseball season. My issue is that most of the risk isn't being shouldered by the coaches, players, and fans. Most of the risk is that somebody will get sick at one of these events, and then come home and spread it to their families, their coworkers, etc... and those people will spread it as well. People far removed from the chain of decision-making will be the ones bearing the brunt of the cost. Something about that doesn't sit right with me. I hate this entire line of arguments because everyone *knows* they don't really live their life by the "if there's even a chance one person could die, we must shut it all down" standard, and they're just *daring* me to be the never-diagnosed-but-everyone-knows aspie who points that out. Again, that's not the part that bothers me. The part that bothers me is the one where the people taking the risks aren't necessarily the same people paying the price. I dunno. I'm fully willing to admit that I may be wrong about this one. But as I said, the whole situation just doesn't sit right with me. Maybe that's normal for a pandemic? This is my first, so I'm not entirely sure how I'm supposed to feel.

I saw a poll on twitter a while back that asked whether it was worth it to have a baseball season was worth it if just ONE person was going to die as a result. Most people, including myself, said no. Of course, there are fatalities that happen due to baseball. A fan might fall trying to catch a ball (or after having too much to drink). Somebody might get hit in the head with a bat or a ball accidentally. These things happen, and it's just the risk we take by going out the door every morning. By going to these places, we are accepting the 1 in a million possibility that it might be us that gets hurt. If it's just a matter of accepting that risk, I'm okay with having a baseball season. My issue is that most of the risk isn't being shouldered by the coaches, players, and fans. Most of the risk is that somebody will get sick at one of these events, and then come home and spread it to their families, their coworkers, etc... and those people will spread it as well. People far removed from the chain of decision-making will be the ones bearing the brunt of the cost. Something about that doesn't sit right with me.

I've come to like the Posey rule, and the DH sucks. But I generally agree with the premise that the playoff format and one game play-in was solid and I'd hate to see them ruin it.

For the record - with the way 2020 has been going, I’m just happy not to see Luke Heimlich reappearing and inexplicably going #1 overall.

The normal % of most prep kids picked in the 1st round, close to 0%. 0% chance he signs, or 0% chance he opts for college? Teams have a pretty good idea what players will sign for before they draft them in the early rounds. Usually it’s all but agreed to already. The only real chance he doesn’t sign is if his medical comes back with some new info and they can’t renegotiate.

What does that mean? Taking a guy who takes more than the slot amount to sign Or somebody related to Daryl Hannah

Just joining in and completely uneducated on this year's draft class. What are the best case scenarios for the Cubs? Any big guys dropping?

Try getting drunk with a friend and playing. Winner has to chug. It equalizes skill levels pretty quickly.

We're using Chess Time, which I'd never heard of before. I play on chess.com and lichess, most of the time. Limehouse on lichess and Limehouse2 on chess.com. Cubbieblue66 on lichess. I just pulled your profile and holy hell are you better than me. I just started learning last year.

What chess app are you guys using? I usually play through lichess.

Free Da Bum?

Yeah, that strikes me very much as one of those "throw a bunch of rumors out there and if I get close enough people might think I'm legit" sort of accounts. That said, I'd love an opportunity to buy "low" on Austin Riley and get a bunch of other pieces too.