Rob

I've got faith in Theo and Jed. There are more SP candidates out there than there are other teams competing to get them. We'll get a guy we like on a deal we like even better. Whether that's Yu, or Jake, or Cobb. I'll be perfectly content.

For reasons I hope not to understand, Neifi Perez is currently at the top of Fangraphs most searched players.

2016: WS Game 7 @ Indians - Perhaps the single most fascinating game in MLB history. The two teams with the longest active Championship droughts in a winner-take-all game that went back and forth all game, and ultimately required extra innings to sort out. 2016: NLCS Game 1 v Dodgers - Dodgers score 2 to tie the game in the 8th. Cubs take the lead on Miguel Montero's pinch hit grand slam after Joe Blanton throws him the same meatball twice. Go on to win 8-4. 2017: NLDS Game 5 @ Nationals - A terrible, but entertaining game. Hendricks gets beat on early, and Maddon doesn't trust his pen. After the Cubs rally against Scherzer by utlilizing RBI strikeouts and catcher's interference, Wade Davis holds on to get a 7 out save. 2016: NLDS Game 4 @ Giants - Cubs trailing 2-5 in the 9th inning. Cubs rally to score 4 in the 9th and hold on to defeat the Giants and advance to the Championship Series. 2015: Wild Card @ Pirates - Arrieta pitches a complete game shutout with 11 K's and ends the Cubs 9 game postseason losing streak. Cubs win 4-0. 2016: NLCS Game 6 v Dodgers - Hendricks absolutely shuts down the Dodgers. Meanwhile, the Cubs get to Kershaw and punctuate it with Rizzo's HR to put the Cubs up 5-0. Cubs win and advance to their first World Series since 1945. 2016: NLDS Game 1 v Giants - Cueto and Lester square off in a crazy pitcher's duel. In the 8th inning, Javier Baez manages to knock one through the wind and the Cubs win 1-0 to take an early lead in the series. 2016: WS Game 5 v Indians - Facing elimination, the Cubs go up in the 4th inning. Maddon uses Chapman to get an 8 out save, protecting a slim 3-2 lead. Cubs stay alive. 2015: NLDS Game 4 v Cardinals - The Cubs knock out John Lackey early. We win the series and knock the Cardinals out 6-4 while playing in front of the Wrigley faithful. 2017: NLDS Game 3 v Nationals - Scherzer and Quintana both pitch extremely well. But then Dusty did Dusty things with the bullpen. Almora ties it up in the 7th, Rizzo bloops one to give the Cubs a lead in the 8th, and we hold on.

Game 7 of the 2016 World Series aside, where would you rank the excitement level of that game with some of the others in recent years? I think this falls in between the Montero grand slam game and the clinch v the Giants last year.

Wow. That game. Just wow.

Passing Arizona and Colorado for the Wild Card is actually pretty helpful. Obviously the goal is still the division, but having a fallback option is never a bad thing.

Fangraphs projects us as the 3rd best. Yankees: Chapman, Betances, Robertson, Kahnle, etc... Dodgers: Jansen, Baez, Fields, Dayton, etc... We have a lot of very good relievers, but Davis isn't quite on the level of a Chapman, Jansen, Miller, or Kimbrel.

I actually feel kinda bad for LaStella. In three years with the Cubs, he's garnered just 314 PA at the major league level. But he's managed to hit .276/.362/.426. He's a quality, major league caliber hitter. He's slightly below average defensively at 2B, but the whole package looks like he'd be a league average starting 2B if somebody just let him play every day. While he's been stuck riding the pine or the bus to Iowa, he's watched guys like Javier Baez and Jorge Soler come up and hit worse than he has -- and they have been given every chance to lock down starting jobs and the contracts that come with that. And he's not getting a real shot. I'd be frustrated in his shoes too.

Trout, Harper, and Javy all with a HR tonight. Coincidence?

If the Cubs win all the rest of their games and the Brewers lose all of theirs, we can still finish 65 games up. Based solely on the last few days, I'm feeling pretty good about those odds.

Is there an estimated start time?

Cubs 2nd Half : Cubs 1st Half :: Rocky Balboa : Ivan Drago

god the debate was Prince or Albert. What a disaster that could have been. There were also the people who wanted to sign Adam Dunn the year before to avoid the Pujols/Fielder sweepstakes. He was worth -0.2 fWAR over four seasons while being paid just $56M. Compared to the other two, he's looking like a hell of a bargain.

This is going to be an unpopular opinion, but I'd prefer to see Montgomery moved back into the pen and Lackey hold onto the 5th SP slot. Lackey has mostly been doing what he's done in recent years, with the exception of his HR/FB suddenly skyrocketing to more than double his career figure. His velocity is down a bit, so sure -- maybe this is the end of the line. But it's only down about 1 mph, so I'm more inclined to believe that he's just having some bad luck. But it's not like Mongtomery is pitching significantly better. Even with his overall stats being padded due to his time in relief, xFIP and SIERA see them as virtually the same. And if they're virtually the same, I'd rather keep the guy who can be a solid left-handed reliever in that role. Here's our current options.

I like the deal. Eloy is a fascinating prospect, but he still carries a lot of risk. It's a lazy comp, but I've been worried he was going to end up more like Jorge Soler than somebody like Justin Upton. I think he's a bit over-hyped at the moment and we may have sold high. Meanwhile, I think we bought low on Quintana. His ERA is inflated a bit this year, as he's allowing more walks and home runs. But while his Zone% is down a bit, his F-Strike% is up significantly, as is his swinging strike rate. Honestly, I think he's just pressing a bit to be a more conventional, strikeout-based "ace" since Chris Sale was traded. And the HRs just look flukey -- his Hard% is actually down from last year and his batted ball allowed profile hasn't changed aside from the uptick in HR/FB. If he can get back to being himself and see the bad HR luck disappear, this is a huge bargain. Here's his rank in fWAR among qualified pitchers: 2014 - 10 2015 - 15 2016 - 10 2017 - 18 He's not the first name people think of when they think "ace." But his production speaks for itself. He's a top of the rotation guy under team control through 2020. Good deal for the Cubs.

Time for a periodic update for players Mike Trout has passed this season in career fWAR -- now at 50.9. David Ortiz Robinson Cano Jim Rice Minnie Minoso Matt Holliday Luis Aparicio And here's a short list of people he's likely to pass later this season with a typical Mike Trout year: Larry Doby Enos Slaughter George Sisler Will Clark David Wright Gabby Hartnett Vlad Guerrero Todd Helton Yup, at the age of 25, Mike Trout's career value is in that "low-end Hall of Fame" or "high-end Hall of Very Good" range.

My problem was apparently a rather stupid one -- I thought that the in-market streaming would be through mlb.tv. So I was searching all over MLB's site for a way to enable that. Once you guys said NBC Sports App, I had no issues. Thanks!

I haven't been able to figure out how to activate in-market streaming. Is there some trick that I'm missing?

I'm still not sure I'm ready for opening day. The Cubs won the World Series last year. All my life, I've waited for that to happen. And it feels like I've had so little time to properly enjoy it and really let it sink in. I guess they'll just have to do it again. Go Cubs !!

My reactions. Pitch clock: "Okay, I guess. They could probably stand to increase the pace a bit." Automatic IBB: "I don't really like this one. Some really memorable plays happen on these, however infrequently. Besides, an IBB is usually a sign that the tension is really high right now, and I like to savor those moments." Runner on 2B in Extra Innings: "What the heck is Manfred smoking? These are some of the best and most memorable games -- why ruin that?"

If Anderson shows he's healthy in ST I'm fine with him being the 5th starter and Monty starting the year in the pen Definitely not, Montgomery has to explicitly fail out of the rotation. Otherwise as things stand you're signing yourself up for having 2 incumbent SP after '17 with the benefit being that Anderson is hopefully a small bit better and doesn't have his arm fall off. I hate to say it, but I'd rather see Montgomery in the pen for the first month or two. He's maxed out around 150 IP in the minors, and only threw 100 IP last year. I'd rather he not be gassed at the end of the season when things actually matter -- it's not like we're projected to actually need him to win the division outright. Give Anderson the 5th SP gig out of spring training. Let him start while he's healthy. If by some miracle all of our starters are still healthy and effective when Montgomery is ready to transition back to starting, we can explore using a six man rotation or trading Anderson.

Wow. Such a shame.

He's definitely been mentioned and for good reason, but for me I don't know that I'd even bother trying to make him a starter anymore. I throw him in the pen and try and turn him into a closer. There was some talk about that with Arrieta too. I'm glad they gave him a few more months to prove what he could do.

No, that is not the only acceptable ballot. That's dumbass Joe Sheehan inflammatory rhetoric. People can discount time spent at DH or time spent in Coors or defensive metrics or whatever differently than you without being Murray Chass. ETA: I'd add Sosa and Sheffield to ensure they stay on the ballot, and drop Schilling because he's an horsefeathers and ain't getting in this year anyway, and Martinez because of a DH punishment. Fair enough. Let me rephrase: If you're a math nerd who doesn't care about PEDs or racism, that is the only acceptable ballot -- provided you aren't playing ballot triage in an attempt to get some lesser (but still deserving) candidates a real shot in a year or two. I will admit that there's definitely a need for the triage component. Some candidates who should have been very, very close (Brown, Lofton, Edmonds) have dropped off the ballot with little fanfare while people pretended Jack Morris was something other than a less effective version of Frank Tanana. I want to be receptive to the argument against Schilling solely for his being an awful human being. But this isn't a borderline candidate who broke some laws... His numbers are definitely HOF worthy and he hasn't done anything illegal. I don't see a way to keep him out of the Hall forever. But maybe he's the type who doesn't deserve to enjoy it while he's alive? I dunno. As for Bonds, Clemens, Pudge, and anybody else accused/convicted of PEDS... I don't care. It would appear that everybody in the 90s and early 2000s was using them, and those are the guys who still managed to rise above the rest.

I forgot to put together a Christmas list this year, but the one thing my family knew I couldn't get enough of was Cubs world series swag. So I got a bunch. Autographed Kris Bryant World Series ball. 8 disc box set 3 Sweatshirts 2 T-shirts Thermos Set of 4 beer mugs Blanket Growler And probably a few more items I'm forgetting at the moment. The holidays were nuts this year.