Rob

Well, Heyward is a CF now. CF bats first.

I would definitely set the lineup like this: Heyward Zobrist Rizzo Bryant Schwarber Soler Montero P Russell L/R broken up perfectly and high OBP near the top. Leaves Schwarber and Soler near the bottom for double switch purposes.

Is that a Fletch reference?

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I'm a little surprised nobody took Black. I'm certainly not disappointed about that though.

Kershaw bringing the heat. [tweet] [/tweet]

Wow. That's a bit unexpected. So long, one or two of Starlin and Javy.

It went right over my head.

Lackey is a giant douchenozzle of a human being. That said, he's a 2.5 or 3.0 fWAR guy probably. And we're past the days of $5M per WAR on the FA market - it's closer to $7M or $8M now. So he's a fine bet to actually be worth the money. It's also a big bonus to only be on the hook for a two year deal. That's way less risk. It's a solid baseball move. Hard to root for the guy, but I get why they did it.

Carrasco is the only pitcher reportedly available via trade that I'd trade Soler for. If we were trading Baez too, I'd prefer something a bit more useful than Chisenhall. Jose Fernandez?

There's two years left on his deal. $15.4M next year, and $16.4M for 2017. He snuck under the radar pretty well, but actually had a pretty sold year last year. He missed a bunch of time early in the season and was awful when he came back. But he picked it up considerably towards the end of the season. He was worth 1.6 fWAR in about a half season of games. If the Padres are willing to eat $10-20M, I'd be interested.

I'm having a hard time getting upset about the idea that we didn't spend $200+ million on a pitcher. Besides, Tampa put a lot of mileage on his arm. It always felt like they knew they'd never be able to extend him, so his long-term health was ultimately of little concern. It seemed like every time I tuned in to watch him pitch he'd get damn near 120 pitches before Maddon would pull him.

This sentiment is so ridiculous. Samardzija was pissed that his team didn't try You can voice valid concerns about his performance last year. But yeah, stuff like "being a dick" is a pretty big stretch. He came up with a team that competed. Then he got to watch while the new ownership came in and gutted the payroll and moved all the good players off the roster... The Cubs were sold to Ricketts at the end of the 2009 season. Postseason 2009: Goodbye - Rich Harden, Reed Johnson, Kevin Gregg, Neal Cotts 2010 Season: Goodbye - Ted Lilly, Ryan Theriot, Derrek Lee, Mike Fontenot, Carlos Silva 2011 Season: Goodbye - Aramis Ramirez, Carlos Zambrano, Sean Marshall, Carlos Pena, Tyler Colvin, Kosuke Fukudome, Jim Hendry 2012 Season: Goodbye - Ryan Dempster, Geovany Soto, Marlon Byrd, Kerry Wood, Reed Johnson, Paul Maholm, Jeff Baker, Bryan LaHair, Randy Wells 2013 Season: Goodbye - Matt Garza, Alfonso Soriano, Scott Feldman, David DeJesus, Tony Campana, Carlos Marmol, Scott Hairston That is a long slow slide out of relevance. It's like watching what the Phillies are doing right now. And every time the front office would acquire a player that would break out and start performing (Feldman and Maholm notably, and Jason Hammel in 2014) you knew that player was going to be gone by the deadline. So why bother getting excited about anything? He was ready to go somewhere that was wanting to compete, and I can't blame him. It was frustrating for us to watch the team. I can only imagine how frustrating it must have been to be living in those conditions.

Rumor has it that the Yankees are getting pretty deep in a conversation about Gardner for one of the Indians young pitchers (presumably either Salazar or Carrasco)

They gave up John Ryan Murphy, who I know pretty much nothing about. I actually kinda like Hicks, despite the slow start to his career. He was pretty decent last year. It'll be interesting to see if he's just there to fill Chris Young's shoes, or if this is a prelude to a Gardner move.

Damn. That's some scary stuff...

When does middle aged officially start? I'm asking for a friend...

Damn, they got Kristen Chenoweth to sing the national anthem? I hope the Cubs have something equally impressive up their sleeves. What's Kelly Pickler up to these days?

Testing to see if I have an avatar. Edit: looks like I do.

After putting up a 9 fWAR season, Mike Trout is now at 38.5 fWAR for his career. Here's a short list of recognizable names in the OF that he passed in career value this year: Harold Baines Felipe Alou Chili Davis Dusty Baker Willie Wilson Roger Maris Magglio Ordonez Kirk Gibson Juan Gonzalez Tim Salmon Ryan Braun Dom DiMaggio Jayson Werth Jose Bautista Bobby Bonilla Ken Griffey Sr. Shane Victorino A lot of names on that list managed an MVP or two (or at least competed for them) and participated in quite a few All-Star games. Mike Trout is turned 24 just two months ago, and he's had a better career than any of them. He's poised to pass guys like Alfonso Soriano, Bernie Williams, Johnny Damon, and J.D. Drew by his 25th birthday. It's pretty ridiculous to think about. He may have a legit HOF case by the time he's 27 or so if he keeps this up.

http://i.imgur.com/fTTBLia.gif Yes

I don't know if I could be friends with a Cardinal fan. It might be a litmus test for me. He'd have to have a great personality. Personality goes a long way. He'd have to be one charming mother [expletive] Cardinal's fan. I mean he'd have to be 10 times more charming Jon Hamm. I've DATED Cardinals fans. Never in October though, come to think of it. I'm supposed to be marrying one next spring... pending how the next month goes, of course.

And a new article on fangraphs about his 2nd half. Link

People have been using that "4 ER over his last 11 starts" stat a lot. Here's a partial list of good pitchers who have given up 4 or more ER in a single start in that exact timeframe: (spoilered for size) If you're thinking that list looks familiar, it probably does. It's the Fangraphs leaderboard for fWAR for qualified pitchers. The entire top 50 actually, with the exception of Jake Arrieta himself and A.J. Burnett, who was injured and not pitching for most of Arrieta's dominant run. Pretty nuts to think about.

I'm really hoping the Giants pull this out. I'll be at the Cubs game tomorrow, and would love to see them clinch in person.