Fro

ok, Rizzo walkoff time

The real question to ask is "Where would Jimenez and Torres go if they were eligible in the amateur draft (with the high school & college players) this year?". More IFA money = more draft picks, essentially, but we're not exactly sure how valuable those are.

I think the key here is any of these IFA we sign with the extra money can be flipped again down the road. They're assets we can use to get better. It's not a case of "wait X years for them to make it to the majors or bust".

just like last year! I'm looking forward to hearing about imminent trades all the way until the last week of July when something will actually happen.

http://www.csnchicago.com/cubs-talk/cubs-select-bryant-no-2-pick

Appel seems like the safest pick to me and we need MLB-ready pitching. Would be happy with either Appel or Gray though.

They will, and it's still dismal. Epstein and Hoyer have been scrambling for pitching since the day they took over, and it's still this bad, which just goes to show what a hole they started with in that department. They did an amazing job of patching as many holes as they could with mid-level pitching free agents this offseason, but it still just took two injuries and a Baker setback to sink the ship. All of a sudden we've got Kevin Gregg closing and trying to figure out if we can get away with Michael Bowden in high-leverage 8th-inning situations. Contrast that with the Cardinals (a bit of an unfair comparison, because they are the best in baseball in this category). They've had just as many pitching injuries, and they still have the Baseball America podcast this week fapping over how they don't have room for three more young pitchers who could easily hold down an MLB rotation spot in a pinch. Under contract for 2014 (and excluding the indistinguishable waiver-wire replacement-level guys), we've got Jackson, Samardzija, Wood, Villanueva, Fujikawa, Russell, Vizcaino. Even if we rather prematurely add in the No. 2 draft pick, that's eight guys including a fresh draft pick and a recent TJ rehabber. That's half-a-dozen pitchers short of where we probably need to be to be comfortable, given the attrition rates the position experiences. The starting rotation's been good. The bullpen was really bad early but seems to have stablized in the last week or two. Obviously you'd like more depth in the minor leagues but that's going to work itself out over the next few years.

I can only assume these will go away with the next TV deal right? Unless WGN were to somehow re-up, then yeah. WGN America seems to be planning for a post-Cubs future... hiring some key executives/TV development folks away from FX and restarting Tribune Studios. I guess WGN America would look more like a FX/AMC-type network in a few years than a collection of reruns. http://www.deadline.com/tag/tribune-studios/

Bases clogged for Rizzo.

Don't forget we have the #2 pick this year as well. If we draft either Gray/Appel as expected at #2, I'd expect them to be up by the end of 2014. We should be in a pretty good position going forward.

Just keep it to legit Cubs fans/Chicago folks and not people showing up to promote their new movie and putting a Cubs hat on. The crowd likes it and it doesn't hurt anyone.

Rizzo will hit a gull that will turn a sure HR into an OF out.

Theo is out GMing Jocketty in this game... waiver wire bums coming through.

ransom refuses to lose :banghead:

Dat Theo dynasty.

Bad Valbuena should be called Valmala

Really love the concept renderings. I'm sure Rahm will twist some arms to make it happen. Seems like a no-brainer for the city.

Worth taking a chance on for sure. I think he could be useful as a LOOGY at least, and there's always the lottery ticket chance he could get his mojo back.

Garza will just say he was talking about Brett Jackson changing his number if he ends up being wrong again.

I think the biggest thing to worry about would be the TV money thing going away before we can take advantage of it. We should be fine in getting market value for the WGN games package, but it's the fact that the CSN Chicago ones that don't end until after 2019 that worry me. We may very well have ala carte TV channels by then. Obviously you could get more $$$ for the whole package, so I'd expect them to sign a short-term deal for the TV rights to the WGN games.

I believe this is going to come out of Goldman Sachs and Providence Equity Partners' stake, not the % owned by the Yankees which they are keeping.

Sign OF with range & power, convert them to 3B. Pretty simple. Any reasonably athletic guy who doesn't have a noodle arm should be able to play 3B.

Couldn't we actually sign someone who's assured to help the team between Baker & Navarro's money? (a little over $7 million)

Dusty cost the Reds the game with his garbage lineup order.

Okay, we've got the #2 draft pick clinched so we can win these last 2.