Northsider

Lucroy's cost would be too high to not take advantage and play him every day, so that'd be a definitive win now move at Contreras' expense. Next year too. Not necessarily wrong, but very opinionated to the short term. Outside of Lucroy I don't see a practical option for this year outside of hoping Contreras catches on quickly or Montero gets right. Maybe Derek Norris if you think his bat is easier to turn around than Montero's? I'm not sure it is a plan to supplant Contreras. They could easily use Lucroy and Contreras platooning Left and Catcher. Maybe they think framing is less valuable than they originally thought (so long as its positive)? Cause Statcorner is showing Montero as best (per-game), with Ross at 11, Lucroy 19, and Contreras at 24. Interest in replacing Montero suggests either they're conservative on framing value or think it can be taught (or that pitchers have something to do with it).

Poor orioles fans

DBacks have a completely traditional (or, as they call it, 'real') approach to baseball. They liked Castillo so much cause his fastballs are fast. Makes me kinda wish we had a Junior Lake in the org, a raw but athletic AAA guy is exactly what they'd want for Miller at this point. As it is I see them asking for one of Eloy, Cease, EJM, or De La Cruz (in suspected order of preference). One might be able to sell them on Underwood and a rookie-league type tho, since Underwood's pitches are generally well-respected. I may be ignoring a Theo tax - was it Towers or Stewart who was afraid to deal with Theo?

Choking doesn't have to leave marks or even redness. I took Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for about a year, and I don't recall seeing any indications on choke-hold days though I admit I wasn't looking for them (and we were using arms, not hands). Not trying to criticize you though - your point, that we should be careful about snap judgements, I agree with completely. I do have to disagree that a feeling of unease isn't warranted though. In his favor, that one incident appears to be the only history of DV. On the other hand, we know for certain is that he fired a gun off after some sort of fight (physical or not) with his girlfriend. That's not ok. Whether intended or not a threat is implicit in that action, and the fact that his mind apparently went to guns (and not even a gun range) right after a fight with his gf is frankly flat-out frightening. The reaction I'd like to see from him now is 'I did this, I hate that I lost control like that, and I'm doing everything I can to become a better person, the sort of person that can handle this in a mature way.' Maybe even "I'd rather leave my mistakes in the past." Instead, he's getting defensive, proclaiming that 'nothing happened, so why should I care' (see here). We had ONE brief instance of an appropriate-ish reaction at the start of the suspension (here), but obviously he dropped the good parts of that on coming back, as in the WaPo article. He appears to have no understanding as to why people see this incident as problematic. I'll feel better about this as time passes IF nothing else happens, but ... I really, really wish I could be confident that he's learned anything from this.

You must be CEO of your PR company. Such a CEO (or PR employee) would be taking that idea to Chapman however possible, have him volunteer at women's shelters, and have him write about the harms of violence and his volunteer experiences at The Player's Tribune - ESPECIALLY since this is a contract year and domestic violence is a significant issue right now. And maybe get him a translator that turns 'I don't remember the specifics' into 'I don't want to discuss the specifics'. Also - I'm a little upset at your willingness to deride my reaction to the trade.

Maybe we should start a donations thing, send $x to a local women's shelter everytime he appears in a game ...

Oh man, I'll go even further and be okay with parting with Happ if necessary. I'd love acquiring two controlled pitchers Archer/Colome on top of Montgomery. On the other hand, Shelby Miller for Ian Happ feels like a massive overpay. I can't imagine the DBacks would want less for Miller. If they'd take Caratini or Cease or something like that I'd be thrilled. Miller IS still young and talented, but he's been affected by a short stay in an awful organization. What do you think the Cubs were offering the Braves for him? We know they weren't willing to go as high as Soler, but I suspect Happ+ (or Torres, or Eloy) was the approximate deal. Getting him off the new Orioles could be an easy coup, even with someone like Happ.

Oh I don't think Miller and Paxton are in the majors in this scenario. More like, get them now and they'll contribute long-term (particularly Miller, who should do better in a non-terrible organization), possibly as early as September. And Archer alone sans Baez has an asking price of pick-2 from Torres/Happ/Eloy, probably with extras. Colome (based on the Chapman asks) will command the third, again with extra. I don't like that deal at all; we'd have to save one by throwing in Soler, and (because Rays) we'd have to eat his contract for the asking.

Who would you like to see the Cubs obtain, and for whom? I'd like to see, with fillers going both ways: Cubs acquire: Reddick, Colome, (Shelby) Miller, Paxton For Reddick: Zagunis For Colome: Torres, Clifton For Miller: Happ For Paxton: Soler Sent down/DFA'd: Richard Rationale: Reddick's plate discipline should help give the lineup some consistency, but will require the DFA of Szczur or LaStella, or the trade of Soler. Soler and Paxton match up well - both have flaws, both have ridiculous potential, and the Soler injury history should balance out the fact that Paxton is a pitcher. Colome I like better than Chapman. In part of course this is due to Chapman's legal history and the potential for ill-timed legal problems; but Colome's K/9 and BB/9 aren't THAT far off Chapman's, and his GB% is in the low 50's compared to Chapman's high 30's which plays to our strengths. Someone suggested the DBacks would be willing to sell low on Miller, now that he's been sent to AAA. I say we get it done.

I'd add Machado and Kershaw, with maybes for Corey Seager and Francisco Lindor.

Challenger was a tragedy, Diaz is clearly a comedy. I propose "Jeb Busch" instead.

Given their recent spate of injuries, that may be depressingly optimistic for the Pirates ...

Is Hendricks using a new pitch or something?

You may be right. My concern was the Marmol-esque walk rate at AAA so far, and I'd certainly want assurance from scouts that Marmol is a poor comparison. IIRC, control is one of the hardest things for coaches to help a player with. That said, looking at major league starters since 95 with a K/9 of at least 10 and BB/9 at least 4 gives Nomo, Colon, Pomeranz, Archer, Salazar, and Wood (Wood appears 3 times). That's 8 seasons with those stats, and only Archer (projected) and Nomo will have had seasons with a WAR below 4. Salazar and Pomeranz are projected to reach 5 WAR (and will be the only ones to do so). So Glasnow is in very good company from that perspective. So ... maybe. I'd still worry that the control would screw him up against the better hitting teams, which has playoff implications. As for Taillon, I wasn't aware of the velocity drop. If that's deliberate to improve his control, it's working and I'd still do it - Hendricks with better stuff or Corey Kluber would be viable comparisons. If the velocity drop isn't explained by some deliberate change, then Taillon's just an injury risk (and not worth Contreras).

Taillon and Bregman for me. I'd love to get Bosio a top-tier young talent for once, and Taillon is that right now. (Arrieta was older, and hadn't been thought of as a top talent for several years at the time). Bregman looks like what would happen if Rogers Hornsby possessed a younger Baez (BB%/K%, Hornsby career, 11.0%/7.2%; Bregman 2016, 12.0%/7.8%. Bregman's ISO is .326, Baez was .344 at AAA). Especially since right now the weakest hitting league in AA is the Texas league, with .320 wOBA above average (~.324 is average for the other two leagues).