nick23

I heard duck vagina was outstanding as well.

Top 100 guy going into next year?

If they are holding him out for shoulder/weather reasons that would not do any better. Has it been confirmed that's the reason he's sitting every other game? I hope that's the reason. I'd like to think it's just a coincidence he's been out of the line-up both games against right handers. And that he was pinch hit for in game 1 as soon as Liriano was pulled.

Did I see somewhere that Trevor Clifton signed? If so, that's pretty exciting right? Law had in his rundown that he regularly touches 97 and had a strong commitment to Kentucky.

Jay (IN) Cubs 4th/5th round choices of Skulina/Masek: solid value? Klaw (2:56 PM) Skulina's got a huge arm, good value at that round. Masek was on my top 100, future reliever but a solid one.

At the right price; say 12MM, 15MM max. We need someone in the OF until Soler and Almora are ready. Beyond Ellsbury, the FA market doesn't offer much, and now that we've drafted Bryant over pitching, a pick that I do like, I'd prefer use our trade chips toward pitching. And at 3-5MM/year, even if he does end up a platoon guy, he's on the right side of the platoon and should be very tradable if one of the internal options proves ready to take over. I just wonder if he'd accept that few years?

Based on what? Baez? Soler's been very good and Almora and Vizcaino have yet to play. Vogelbach and Shoulders have been very impressive. Anything from Vitters or Jackson is gravy as far as I'm concerned, and most of the other relevant prospects havn't done anything eye popping but have been pretty solid. Yes, based on Baez. And I guess we have different definitions of "very good" and "very impressive". Because i don't think Soler has been "very" good, or Vogelbach "very" impressive. I was also including Almora's broken hand and Vizcaino having yet to throw a pitch as reasons for the [expletive] season so far. Like I said, it's still a small sample size but it'd be nice to have a strong week or two to get excited about. Well, then you think wrong. Maybe so. My point is there just hasn't been a whole lot to get excited about so far this year. Still a lot of season left, but I was hoping for more early.

Based on what? Baez? Soler's been very good and Almora and Vizcaino have yet to play. Vogelbach and Shoulders have been very impressive. Anything from Vitters or Jackson is gravy as far as I'm concerned, and most of the other relevant prospects havn't done anything eye popping but have been pretty solid. Yes, based on Baez. And I guess we have different definitions of "very good" and "very impressive". Because i don't think Soler has been "very" good, or Vogelbach "very" impressive. I was also including Almora's broken hand and Vizcaino having yet to throw a pitch as reasons for the shitty season so far. Like I said, it's still a small sample size but it'd be nice to have a strong week or two to get excited about.

What a shitty minor league season so far. I know we're still in SSS territory but wow, a nice week or two sure would be welcomed.

I disagree.

3 or 4 Vogelbach questions in Law's chat today. He called Vogelbach an unathletic one step and dive 1st baseman who will be nothing more than a DH. At one point he did say he "can really hit though". People were trying to call him out on the unathletic part but he's not moving off that stance.

That's crazy to me. He had 48 extra base hits in 398 PA's. It's hard to imagine that doesn't come out to much of an upgrade?

Not sure if it's been mentioned but Heyman just tweeted that the Bourn market is starting to heat up. Then listed Mets, Braves, Rangers, Mariners, and Cubs. I thought the Hairston signing would take us out of the Bourn market?

Those were the "other options" only if you insisted on wasting a roster spot on a proven veteran backup catcher. How is it wasting a spot if the internal options are terrible?

Oh my!

FYI, Underwood has received a few Taijuan Walker comps. Probably because they're both black but I'll take it. I'm pretty sure that Klaw had him top 50 in his last top 100 list.

Closest thing to a lock as in he views almora as a lock to be the best pick there in his own opinion, as a lock to be successful, or that it's a lock that the cubs will take him? Lock that the Cubs will take him. He says his mock drafts are based entirely on what he's hearing. Not who he thinks should go where.

That's the worst lineup I've ever seen. How are we only 10 games out of first?

Slowly getting sucked in.

I had no idea how bad the flopping and whining were. I knew Blake Griffin had a reputation for it but Chris Paul takes it to another level. I don't see how anyone outside of LA could root for this Clippers team. It's just not basketball. I know Webber jumped on the Memphis fans last night for booing when Blake Griffin went down holding his knee, but hell, he literally falls down like he's been shot every time there's any contact. It's amazing that the refs still fall for this stuff.

A few observation from the Iowa/Memphis game. I'm really impressed with Brett Jackson's approach at the plate. He drew an impressive walk in the 9th after going down 0-2. In the first inning he hit a shot to CF that I thought was out but it died at the wall. His single was a solid line drive to RF. Rizzo looked really good at the plate. He seemed to always be deep in the count and roped a two run single to RF off Shelby Miller. His other hit was also a very hard hit ball up the middle. Vitters looked just ok. His one hit was one he took the other way but was more of a seeing eye single. His first at bat was a check swing groundout to 2nd on the first pitch. He also had a line-out to left that was on the 1st pitch. Pretty swing though. He only got two chances in the field. One he handled fine and the other he went to throw the ball and basically fell down without throwing it. Kind of funny actually. He got up smiling. He does seem to have a very strong arm though from watching him warm up between innings. Travis Wood was nothing sepcial. Gave up two big HR's to Allan Craig. Worked mostly in the 87-91 range. Wasn't fooling anybody with his offspeed stuff either. Also that Memphis line-up is pretty brutal. Both Batista and Beliveau looked good, but I was more impressed with Beliveau. Hitters just don't seem to pick him up very well. Both worked between 89-91 but that gun might be a little slow because Shelby Miller was mostly between 90-92. For some reason I thought Miller threw harder than that. However the closer for the Redbirds was mid 90's consistently. Oh, and the Miller Lite was cold. And tasty.

I'll be at the Iowa game tonight. Looking forward to seeing the big three, as well as Sappelt and Cardenas. Interested to see Jay Jackson too but i'm not sure why anymore. I'll keep an eye on the stadium gun and let you guys know tomorrow.

Hitting is down everywhere. The Phillies could very well be that bad offensively all year. The Pirates could very well be far worse all year. The Mariners, despite actually scoring runs to this point, could also be far worse. You seem to be working under the assumption that everyone who is doing badly will continue as they are (Soriano, Byrd, Soto, Stewart, bench), and everyone who is actually doing well will fall off a cliff. There's a simple logical fallacy there if you care to realize it. I'm not at all saying that. But Soriano, Byrd, and Soto all OPS'd in the low .700's last year. Stewart somewhere in the .400's. Even when they start hitting "better" they'll still be sucky hitters contributing to a sucky offense.

Yeah, nobody is hitting worse than their career norms except for Byrd, Soriano, Soto, and the entire bench. Really, the only two hitters hitting unsustainably well above their projections are LaHair and Clevenger. Are you arguing that this offense isn't pathetic? Are you reading anything? It's below average, more hitters are hitting unsustainably bad than unsustainably good, and several offenses are doing far worse. What do several offenses have to do with this one? You think the Phillies and Reds offense is going to end up beign worse than this one? Our second best hitter is a toss up between Bryan Lahair and David DeJesus.

Yeah, nobody is hitting worse than their career norms except for Byrd, Soriano, Soto, and the entire bench. Really, the only two hitters hitting unsustainably well above their projections are LaHair and Clevenger. Are you arguing that this offense isn't pathetic?