sneakypower

i don't think we'll be getting a senior season from Devin Funchess

nice drive by Hackenberg

Baez, Almora, Vogelbach, Edwards

i like the high ones! http://captainseabeans.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/screen-shot-2013-09-05-at-00-09-37.png

Shelby Miller doesn't strike out guys and is HR-prone...i'm a little exited by this matchup

brett posted this today ...also, that hyperbole never gets any less stupid; folding a 7-2 is losing on purpose, i suppose

i love bunting maybe your best hitter when Hamilton v. John Baker is an auto steal of 3rd anyway

i just saw we signed him for 1y/$200k and went off that so, even better

roster holdovers # Pitchers (13) B/T Ht Wt DOB 49 Jake Arrieta R-R 6'4" 225 Mar 6, 1986 (empty) 28 Kyle Hendricks R-R 6'3" 190 Dec 7, 1989 37 Travis Wood R-L 5'11" 175 Feb 6, 1987 (empty) 67 Tsuyoshi Wada L-L 5'11" 180 Feb 21, 1981 38 Jacob Turner R-R 6'5" 215 May 21, 1991 52 Justin Grimm R-R 6'3" 210 Aug 16, 1988 53 Wesley Wright R-L 5'11" 185 Jan 28, 1985 54 Neil Ramirez R-R 6'4" 190 May 25, 1989 46 Pedro Strop R-R 6'1" 220 Jun 13, 1985 56 Hector Rondon R-R 6'3" 180 Feb 26, 1988 (empty) 2 open rotation spots: -Lester a strong possibility, with Maeda/Shields as Plan B -assuming above hypo happens, winner of Straily / Turner / Wada EPIC BATTLE goes here -pen spot can be filled with Rivero / Arodys / veteran FA [Romo? Janssen?], or 2 of the above if Turner/Wada move to rotation -Brett Anderson / Josh Johnson reclamation? # Catchers (2) B/T Ht Wt DOB 5 Welington Castillo R-R 5'10" 210 Apr 24, 1987 (empty) -Baker hasn't provided much, but seems like affable clubhouse leadership type, and pitchers have fared well with him receiving; FA sucks: Martin will get huge money, so either we just bring back Baker or pursue a trade (Grandal?), with Nick Hundley as maybe a dark-horse possibility # Infielders (5) B/T Ht Wt DOB 44 Anthony Rizzo L-L 6'3" 240 Aug 8, 1989 9 Javier Baez R-R 6'0" 190 Dec 1, 1992 13 Starlin Castro R-R 6'0" 190 Mar 24, 1990 24 Luis Valbuena L-R 5'10" 200 Nov 30, 1985 45 Logan Watkins L-R 5'11" 195 Aug 29, 1989 -Watkins is versatile, and Alcantara can fill-in if needed; no changes expected # Outfielders (5) B/T Ht Wt DOB (empty) 7 Arismendy Alcantara S-R 5'10" 170 Oct 29, 1991 68 Jorge Soler R-R 6'4" 215 Feb 25, 1992 6 Ryan Sweeney* L-L 6'4" 225 Feb 20, 1985 20 Justin Ruggiano* R-R 6'1" 210 Apr 12, 1982 -LF is seat-warmer for Bryant: Coghlan makes sense if he doesn't get too overvalued on FA market (Dio Navarro last year), and Szczur's probably a semi-capable call-up if either bench guy has issues -going after Tomas opens up trade possibilities: Bryant maybe stays at 3B, Castro gets moved for C / SP help - or - DREAM: trade Baez, Almora, Vogelbach, Edwards for Stanton; sign Rickie Weeks for part-time 2B duty

Soler's just going to stop at first base after his HRs, and when Castro takes him to task for it:

jersey's right that this is a pretty stupid point / post; Castro's 24 and making less money than we paid Jason Hammel, not that it matters...Edwin Jackson must have HUGE leadership obligations - i hope he reads "Goodnight Moon" to the rookies on team flights and having a 24yo as your de facto team leader is a problem of team management, not the 24yo

if i were one to nit-pick semantics, sure i think he does make more silly gaffes (probably sometimes made to look worse by being deceptively slow) than the average player, but he's 24 and had minimal seasoning in the minors; it sort of comes with the territory Coghlan & Bonifacio before him seem to have had their fair share of [expletive] ups, too

i don't disagree with much of this, particularly the bolded, but that is something that's quantifiable* and even with those habits he's still quantifiably a very good player, so what's the problem here? it's not even one of those dumb issues we had with Soriano/Ramirez where you start bringing in a player's salary into the discussion and argue they should be held to a higher standard *per UBR, he's cost the club less than 2 runs with his baserunning

Huh? Is he invisible to the camera or something? When he screws up it's on TV just like Castro's. viewers have trouble making out whose tiny face it is screwing up

no

i see pitchers are now spiking the ball directly into the ground to see if Baez will still swing

our problem is that we're hitting rally-killing HRs, not singles

Soler's swing looks like Hulk-y Torii Hunter

lol, Piscotty/Mondesi/Almora/every pitcher

this feels like a good time to check that BP list again to see who are the 50 prospects better than Soler

hahaha omg this isn't real

stop trying to make Chris Valaika happen

yeah, i'm not sure what purpose it serves WAR is meant to be a descriptive stat; FIP-based WAR: how well a pitcher performed if you assume BABIP and LOB% are outside his control...RA9-WAR: how well a pitcher performed based on actual in-game results this doesn't really describe anything, though

yeah, and just replace them with a full season of Jacob Turner's 2.08 ERA and Dallas Beeler's 3.27

that's what it's all about- guns and butter, baby!