Rob

Is anybody saying that he actually can't hit? Or are they just saying he's probably not as good as he looked last year, and a 120 wRC+ bat and subpar defense means he probably isn't a 4-5 fWAR regular in the making?

Real talk: Would we have been better off with just swapping Schwarber 1-for-1?

McKinney now too? This is the type of package I thought it would take to get Miller. This is disgusting. What the horsefeathers is Theo thinking?

Much more meaning the Yankees are giving up more? Speculate on potential big league names? Eovaldi, Beltran, Ellsbury, Gardner are the most likely right? Cubs trade Rizzo and Torres for the rights to the Yankees 1999 World Series Championship. Chapman is a toss-in to offset some salary. Theo said, "losing Rizzo hurts, obviously. But now that we've already broken the curse, I feel much better about our odds this October."

Yeah, I don't actually follow the NFL. So I'm good on that account.

I would imagine that it's just a couple token 19 year olds with live arms and no ability to find the zone. It's standard practice so the fans wouldn't feel like the deal rides on just one guy, even if it really does.

What I'm saying is that I don't have to treat my opinions on an entertainment product the same as I do the strict rules of law and order. (For the record, Law & Order as an entertainment product was fantastic.) Chapman may or may not be a turd. But he seems like a turd and some evidence suggest he's likely a turd. That's enough for me to not like him. I'm not going to go around screaming from the rooftops that he should be in jail instead of earning millions of dollars, but the fact of the matter is that he's probably a turd -- and that's going to impact my enjoyment of watching Cubs games. I can totally respect that. I'll admit I'm probably weird when it comes to sports, because I never go that deep into it when watching my team. Do well, I like you. Suck for a long time, I don't like you. That's probably [expletive] of me. Meh, I wasn't always this way. I used to be like you. Then I got burned hard by Milton Bradley. Made me reevaluate the off-the-field aspect to these guys I had been rooting for. If you haven't read it yet, please do check out that article I linked. It's absolutely gutwrenching.

For me, it's simple. I spent months vehemently defending Milton Bradley on this board. I told everybody who would listen about how Jim Hendry was acting like a petulant child and his overreaction was what was killing Bradley's market value. I said we didn't have all the details -- that we couldn't in good conscience judge the man. I even implied that innocent until proven guilty meant that we should continue to support him until cold, hard evidence proved otherwise. Then we saw the evidence. I'm not making that mistake again. If there are rumors and whispers about a player being a [expletive] human being, then I'm not going to root for that player. And I don't want them on the Cubs. Sure, if I found myself on a jury for their trial I'd give them the whole "innocent until proven guilty" thing. But this isn't a courtroom, and it isn't a jury trial. We don't owe that to them as members of the public. We're just here to be entertained and root for our favorite players. Chapman wont ever be one of mine. So you're saying that you didn't want to convict Milton Bradley until the evidence came out? And that was a mistake? That sort of seems responsible, no, i.e. the Duke lacrosse team? What I'm saying is that I don't have to treat my opinions on an entertainment product the same as I do the strict rules of law and order. (For the record, Law & Order as an entertainment product was fantastic.) Chapman may or may not be a turd. But he seems like a turd and some evidence suggest he's likely a turd. That's enough for me to not like him. I'm not going to go around screaming from the rooftops that he should be in jail instead of earning millions of dollars, but the fact of the matter is that he's probably a turd -- and that's going to impact my enjoyment of watching Cubs games.

For me, it's simple. I spent months vehemently defending Milton Bradley on this board. I told everybody who would listen about how Jim Hendry was acting like a petulant child and his overreaction was what was killing Bradley's market value. I said we didn't have all the details -- that we couldn't in good conscience judge the man. I even implied that innocent until proven guilty meant that we should continue to support him until cold, hard evidence proved otherwise. Then we saw the evidence. I'm not making that mistake again. If there are rumors and whispers about a player being a shitty human being, then I'm not going to root for that player. And I don't want them on the Cubs. Sure, if I found myself on a jury for their trial I'd give them the whole "innocent until proven guilty" thing. But this isn't a courtroom, and it isn't a jury trial. We don't owe that to them as members of the public. We're just here to be entertained and root for our favorite players. Chapman wont ever be one of mine.

even with the rumored 4/60 extension? Ignoring the morality of the situation for the moment... I don't see the 4/60 extension as adding significant value to the deal. 4/60 is more or less market value. And while the certainty of having him under contract for that without duking it out for his services is worth something, I don't see it as adding enough to tip the scales. If it was something like 3/40 with a vesting 4th year based on appearances, maybe that would add enough value to get me over the hump.

Even if Chapman wasn't a turd of a human being, I wouldn't be in favor of trading Torres for him. This is extremely disappointing.

Honestly, I'm kinda thinking Pries might just be an older, slightly more advanced version of Blackburn.

[expletive]. My brother lives in Portland. I went to visit him and nearly OD'd on delicious gourmet donuts like these. If you don't want to eat a donut covered in Froot Loops, then you're a communist. There. I said it.

Yup. It looks like he isn't afraid to challenge RHB inside when he's facing them. Lots of low-inside fastballs and curveballs. http://i.imgur.com/t3R8TKN.png I wonder if that's part of the reason they targeted him. If Bosio worked on his cutter, that'd give him a good weapon to throw RHB a little more off-balance.

Doesn't Vogelbach have a pretty hot sister? Hopefully Montgomery has a cute wife or something to help even the trade out.

I don't see a 96.9 on that list. How many times did you have to round to get to that figure? I think your rounding routine might be broken. i didn't look at your crappy list i looked at fangraphs pitchfx http://www.fangraphs.com/pitchfx.aspx?playerid=4869&position=P Psssh, fangraphs is so 2014. Now it's about manually parsing through data. Get with the times, man.

I don't see a 96.9 on that list. How many times did you have to round to get to that figure? I think your rounding routine might be broken.

More like he peaks at 97... if you're rounding up.

His fastball has been sitting 93-94 out of the pen. Also throws a curve around 77-78. His cutter and changeup have been mostly show-me pitches this year.

Yeah, I could get on board with this trade. Vogelbach is forever blocked in our system, and Travis Wood's success this season has been mostly smoke and mirrors. Montgomery could be a nice reliever for now, and potentially be converted back to starter. Edit: And it has the added benefit of taking us out of the "Who's Going to Overpay for Chapman/Miller" sweepstakes -- which I was desperately hoping we'd avoid.

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Boone Logan is on the Mariners? He will be after Theo gets his Backtobanks on.

I saw somebody suggesting it might be as little as Boone Logan that we're after.

If memory serves, didn't Concepcion get mono or something? Or was that Hayden Simpson?

I am shocked to be watching Concepcion pitching in an MLB game right now...