Tedward

My goodness, just went back & read his scouting report from the 2014 BA Prospect Handbook. Definitely a guy worth taking a chance on....

I'm fairly certain that the draft pick compensation slotting is done by team winning %. Thus, our comp pick for Dex should be the last QO compensatory selection before Compensatory Balance Round A begins.

He's the Phillies beat reporter. For either the Inquirer or Daily News, not sure which.

Today is QO deadline day. Ten players have been offered QO's and they have until 5pm to accept or decline the $17.2MM offer. Has anyone seen official word yet that Fowler has declined? I've only seen Heyman's report from last week that he intended to do so...

If the above is true, and Hammel is bent on testing FA, why wouldn't we slap a QO on him?

Joe West, lol

Troll Fair weather Been on this board longer than you clown

Troll

Heyward with a go-ahead slam in 9th to win it

You thought this was going to be easy?

+1

Mets getting blanked today, and about to be swept by the D'Backs at home which will drop them to .500. Wonder if a head or two will roll after this one. What a difference a year makes.... heck, even a month, when they last played us in Citi.... Couldn't happen to a nicer franchise.

Now he's on temporary inactive list, whatever that means, per Hoyer

Olney just said Mets are close to completing deal for Bruce.

http://twitter.com/JeffPassan/status/759731337284743168/photo/1

Wonder who that 3rd piece is, must be a decent prospect, because I have a hard time seeing MIL biting on a d'Arnaud / Nimmo led package.

if steinbrenner approved, and everything else has been agreed on, it seems like that has to be the hold up at this point. It's Sharma that keeps shooting down the extension idea though, right? Either extension or perhaps deciding who is responsible for the remainder of Chapman's $5MM 2016 salary.

For fun, Cameron is speculating the Cubs target may have been Jose De Leon http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/lets-try-to-solve-a-mystery/

Oh to be a fly on the wall in Theo/Jed discussions to know which pitcher they were looking to acquire with Pomeranz....

Didn't he get tossed the other day? Maybe just getting an inning of work in? Yep, for throwing at Utley early in the game

Keith Law updated his top 25 prospect list. Not going to post entire list since it's premium content but two Cubs have moved up. Especially nice to see a jump for Willson, now firmly in his top 25: 14. Gleyber Torres, SS Chicago Cubs Previous rank: 15 Current level: High-A Torres will play this entire year at 19 and is already in high-A, where he had a slow April but has hit .320/.363/.533 so far in May, along with continued strong defense at shortstop. The Cubs are going to get a lot of calls about this guy in July. 18. Willson Contreras, C Chicago Cubs Previous rank: 27 Current level: Triple-A Since the start of 2014, Contreras has hit .332/.415/.478 between Double- and Triple-A while throwing out 29 percent of opposing runners. He's a very athletic catcher but is considered a poor framer, though that seems to be a skill that can be improved, at least sometimes, with good coaching. I think teams would live with some below-average framing if they're getting a star-caliber bat behind the plate.

Uh, what's going on with Sonny Gray?

I was at the Pelican's - Blue Rocks game yesterday. Honestly, other than Happ and Torres, there wasn't much of anyone else doing anything offensively for MB, although Vosler had a couple hits. Happ looks like a player. Hitting RH he stayed back nicely in his 1AB on an offspeed pitch and launched a 2B to RCF. The ball appears to jump nicely off his bat, the last of his two singles he had turned around hitting LH. Where he was impressive the most, to me, was defensively at 2B. He looked very smooth fielding a couple of nice hot shot smashes and he also appeared to turn the DP nicely with Gleyber as well. I'm very intrigued if he can stay at 2B I was actually more disappointed with Gleyber's defense. He booted a ground ball hit right to him (ok, it happens I get it), & there was another ball, hit in the hole that appeared he should have been able to field if not easily knock down to keep a runner from scoring from 2B. By not keeping it in the IF it allowed the Rocks to score. The most disappointing play was on a pop up that was behind the 2B bag, that dropped for a 3 run double. I'm probably being a bit harsh because there was some wind involved that made it a difficult play, and there also may have been some miscommunication, but he called for it, and that was a key non made play in the game. Stinnett deserved a better line. Torres HR came on a line shot down the RF line that appeared to hook foul, but the umps called it a HR, saying it nicked the foul pole at 325 ft.

I think Hammel could be the Wildcard in determining whether Cubs make a move at the deadline this year. If he pulls another disappearing act (ala turning into Jason Marquis) I can see Cubs making a move. Here's to hoping Hammel has his career year this season, & the Cubs don't need to make an upgrade to the starting rotation.

BA Hot Sheet 4/29/16 11. Albert Almora, of, Cubs image: http://cdn.baseballamerica.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/3ds_cubs77.jpg 3ds_cubs77 Team: Triple-A Iowa (Pacific Coast) Age: 22 Why He’s Here: .407/.429/.704 (11-for- 27), 6 R, 2 2B, 2 HR, 6 RBIs, 1 BB, 2 SO, 1-for- 1 SB The Scoop: This is the Almora whom scouts expected to see when the Cubs selected him with the No. 6 overall pick in the 2012 draft. No one has ever questioned Almora’s defense, and he’s always been tough to strike out. But with little pop and few walks, his offensive value had been tied to his batting average. This year his walk rate is up, his power has improved and he’s still tough to strike out. It’s too early to determine whether these improvements are permanent, but it’s an encouraging sign for Almora. (JJC) 14. Ian Happ, 2b, Cubs image: http://cdn.baseballamerica.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/3ds_cubs77.jpg 3ds_cubs77 Team: high Class A Myrtle Beach (Carolina) Age: 21 Why He’s Here: .400/.550/.867 (6-for-15), 4 R, 1 2B, 2 HR, 6 RBIs, 5 BB, 2 SO The Scoop: After scoring with first-round picks Kris Bryant (2013) and Kyle Schwarber (2014), the Cubs have hit on another college bat. Happ has terrific bat speed and combines aggressiveness with great selectivity. He has drawn 15 walks already this season against 20 strikeouts. His power had been to the gaps, but he has four homers already, showing more lift in his swing. The Cubs are giving him a long look at second base this spring, but he could wind up as a successor to Ben Zobrist as a multi-positional, switch-hitting, bat-first player. (VLC)