rawaction

Atlanta just traded Marvin Williams to Utah for Devin Harris, also.

Joe Johnson has been traded to the Nets for Anthony Morrow, Jordan Farmar, Johan Petro, DeShawn Stevenson, Jordan Williams, and a lottery protected 2013 1st round pick. Deal is contingent on Deron Williams staying with the Nets.

He went to Notre Dame. School full of groupie slumpbusters.

Not sure if anyone else cares, but there are two more posts about the Bears on this blog. The first one still about the D, and the second one comparing Cutler and Hanie. http://www.raiders1.ninjagoro.com/statistics/nfc-north-defense-chicago-bears-part-2-splits/ http://www.raiders1.ninjagoro.com/statistics/nfc-north-defense-chicago-bears-part-3-cutler-hanie/ Yeah, it's pretty decent stuff to read. Thanks. I read part 2 already. Didnt' know there was a 3rd.

I'd keep DeJesus at this point. He's the only player on the roster that gets on base at a consistent level. And he's not the type of player teams will give up a lot for. Plus, he's a guy the Cubs can use next year as they don't have a ton of OF talent coming up. Even if Vitters goes to LF permanently, Jackson comes up, and Soriano can't get traded....there's still plenty of PT to be had by a guy like DeJesus, and he'd be a valuable 4th OF. But I wouldn't be upset if he's a starter again for the Cubs in 2013. I think you only trade DeJesus if someone is willing to give up something absolutely stupid for him. If not, he's affordable and useful to the Cubs.

There's a joke in there somewhere. Trying to figure it out is giving me a szczur, though. Jerome Walton thinks that figuring this joke out is a Tuffy.

Vitters with a 1st pitch GIDP to end the game. 13-12 Iowa loses.

Iowa has come back from a 13-4 deficit thru 5 innings, and now have the tying and go ahead runs on 1st and 2nd with 2 outs and Brett Jackson up. And Jackson flied out to Corey Patterson.

Jackson RBI triple in the 6th.

Well, I'd certainly call Szczur's production this year higher. An .800 OPS in the FSL with a .390 OBP is better value than an .830 in the PCL with a .340 OBP, and it really isn't that close. That's even taking into account the fact that one is a somewhat raw 22 year old in high A while the other one is 23 in AAA. Then you look at the other factors. Jackson definitely has a much better minor league track record before this year. Jackson also has the higher ceiling, although Sczcur is more likely to stick in CF. But I think I'd label Sczcur as the safer one to hit his ceiling at this point because of Jackson's strikeout issues and the fact that Sczcur is going to get more value out of his defense (which is more easily projectable than offense). While Sczcur is still 2 levels below which throws more uncertainty in, his BB/K ratio and his speed should make him less prone to numbers collapsing at a higher level than some other prospects. So I'd probably give it to Jackson, but I could see people putting Sczcur ahead because there are so few comparables to what Jackson is doing right now. While Sczcur has definitely taken some big steps foward as a prospect this year, if you put him ahead of Jackson that's more of an indictment of Jackson than anything IMO. Track record is the key for me. Jackson's Daytona numbers run circles around Szczur's. Granted they are completely different players (Jackson in a different class power-wise). And it's hard for me to say Szczur is a safer bet to hit his ceiling, because he has a couple levels to go before the majors. Jackson is a call-up away from the majors. His K rate wasn't that bad in the lower levels of the minors, and while it's not likely to be anything as disturbing as Brett is going thru right now, Szczur could very well have more trouble making contact when he faces more experienced pitchers.

To temper some of the Vitters love. He's left 5 runners on base the last 2 times at bat, with popouts in foul territory (neither got past the dugout) on a combined 3 pitches.

I thought LaHair as an All-Star was a joke, but the NL 1B are pretty bad as a group. The only person with a possible argument over LaHair is Paul Goldschmidt for the D-Backs, who's been just slightly better than LaHair overall. Allen Craig would have an argument if he had more ABs.

Aw, Brett! K #2 swinging today.

Baez 1-2 with a single and just hit a ball to the warning track in dead CF for an out.

I'm fine if he doesn't leave Boise this year. But I'll be disappointed if he doesn't leave Mesa. I'm even OK with Peoria next year for a full season, but I agree with you Daytona would make the most sense for the reasons you stated. But Mesa to Daytona is not a realistic jump for anyone to have to make.

I hope not with Soler. Obviously, I want them to take whatever time he needs, but I hate to think that: A) He'll be pushed up an extra level going from Arizona to Peoria B) He'll be 21 all next year in Peoria, which isn't old for the league at all, but by my count 9 of the top 10 prospects in the MWL last year were 20 or younger (Szczur being the exception). I'd like to think that a legitimate top 25-50 prospect (that is not directly out of high school) can handle the NWL.

Didn't know how much interest a separate offseason thread would get. If the discussion goes well, I can always split up the thread. But looks like Kevin Garnett is going to re-sign with the Celtics. I believe free agency starts at midnight tonight.

Nice! I really want to see Soler either batting either before or after either Candelario or Baez at least a handful of games this year. I'd guess Boise is most likely.

Please say No Carlos! I'll gladly take Gould for Dempster/LaHair.

Going to be hard to justify getting rid of him if there's no in-house solution at 3B.

17 walks this season after a career best, 22 last year in 170 more PAs. On pace for best SLG of his career. 2 straight months of sustained production in the .850-.900 OPS range, after not doing so since a 1/2 season in Peoria 3 years. I'm not on the "he's better than Jackson" boat like some seem to be, but those would be the reasons people are excited.

Brett Jackson is probably my favorite, if for no other reason than I hope he becomes a star and I can get a Cubs jersey that has "JACKSON" on the back and it not be one of those stupid personalized ones. But also a big fan of Matt Szczur, because I was a fan of his on the football field at Nova.

How big is Torreyes, and how big is he expected to get? What position do most see him ending up at (I know he's only 19 and it's still a guessing game at this point)? Torreyes is a little guy, 5-9 at the most. He's a 2B now and a 2B he will stay. This reminds me, have we heard anything about Torreyes' defense this year? I know he was touted as a very good gold glove caliber defender going into this year. I don't think I've heard anything specifically this year about his defense, but he does have a very good reputation and ONLY has 6 errors this year (less than the rest of the Daytona IFs). He's had a wonderful June, with an OPS of nearly .950. Hitting .341 this month, which looks like it is more representative of what he can do as he is a .365ish (Good lord!) career hitter in the minors. 18:17 BB/K ratio is nuts....and that's his best walk rate so far in his career.

sulley does True.

Yes, I'm sure a white guy hates white guys.