davell

Why does that matter? If anything, it just means you'd have him for 6 seasons and may not have to worry about ever giving him a multi- year deal. He throws hard and K's a bunch of guys. I'll be extremely surprised if he's not added by someone.

All the obvious choices. I can definitely see any of: John Andreoli Stephen Bruno Armando Rivero Bijan Rademacher Tyler Skulina being taken. Anyone else isn't likely worth a roster spot (too far away or not good enough). I am surprised they didn't roster Rivero. Jose Paulino is the guy I'm a bit worried about. He hasn't pitched above SB, but could be stashed. I think Rivero is a lock to get picked. His command must truly be pitiful, for us not to have rostered him.

I know nothing about this guy, or the dude we took from the Yankees. But its kind of a cool strategy. That's 2 guys now we've picked up that have already passed thru every other team. Meaning its likely we can DFA them too, get them thru, and stash them in Iowa.

I'd think a Stroman deal is straight up for Schwarber. No, I wouldn't make that deal, but Stroman is incredibly valuable. You're not getting him for bit parts.

Dave Schoenfield did a piece making a trade for every team. His Cubs deal was Soler for Luiz Gohara. Value-wise, I can see it. I'd definitely prefer something closer to being ML ready though. For those that aren't familiar with Gohara. He's a 20 year old LHP from Brazil, that was the top ranked pitcher in his IFA class. He's had a few weight issues and has struggled somewhat at times, but put it together last year in A Ball. BA had him 11th in the MWL league top 20s. He throws very hard at times, supposedly touching 100. The upside is enormous, so I see that the value may be fair..... Eno Sarris was asked in his chat yesterday who says no to a Soler for Wade Davis deal and said if the Royals were to add a reliever to it(just a guy, not Herrera, I'm interpreting), it'd be fair..... Given those 2 options, I'd take the latter. But Soler for one year of Davis(coming off an injury) seems fairly meh to me, I'd prefer just signing a closer(even Holland) to using Soler for a rental..... Hopefully Soler is moved for a starter, that's ready, already in the majors, or at least close.....

Is anyone saying Soler can't hit though? The reason people don't care(or even want him to be dealt) is because of the constant injuries and the poor defense, that'll keep his overall value down.

Martin Perez is garbage. I'd rather keep Jake and take the pick next year Perez is worth far more than a comp pick. Jurado and Payano are good gets with a comp pick on their own. I'm not a Perez fan actually. I'm just trying to be realistic on Jakes value. He's certainly not getting multiple years of a front line starter, like Stroman. Perez is young, has a few seasons of control, throws pretty hard for a lefty, and gets tons of grounders. I get that his K rate sucks, but he's pitching to contact on some level. We may value Jakes 2017 potential contributions more than a guy like Perez and an upside type arm like Jurado or Payana. And that's perfectly fine. I'm looking around at the top end guys on the market, what its going to take for them.....Figure Theo has enough good will built up to take his shot.....May not mean Perez, but while I agree there's probably a sub 25% shot, the market is set up for Theo to strike early and give one of these teams an early start on everyone else.....

Theres obviously not a great chance of it, but with the upscale prices of Sale, Quintana, Archer.....I could see Theo jumping the market on something..... I kind of like Texas, for Martin Perez and a guy like Jurado or Payano....

I think Seattle make a lot of sense. Their team is filled with older players who are a year or two from decline in Felix,Cano,Cruz,Iwakuma etc. They push the chips all in on a run this year by acquiring Jake. A Felix,Arrieta,Walker,Iwakuma,Karns rotation is real solid. I wonder if SEA wouldn't consider Arrieta+Zagunis for James Paxton and Edwin Diaz. Paxton has a lot untapped potential and Diaz is the dominant closer this team badly needs. Sign Dex, Cecil and Trade Soler and whoever for the best SP possible and you're looking at SP:Lester,Hendricks,Lackey,Paxton,Trade RP:Edwin Diaz,Rondon,Strop,Cecil,Montgomery,Grimm,Edwards I think the template is perfect. A young SP with major league experience and a nice pen arm. I think Seattle would turn their noses up at that particular deal. In fact, I doubt they'd move either for Jake..... My guesses at some fits..... Seattle for Walker straight up? Texas, Boston, Detroit-if they shift and try buying one more time.....Toronto maybe? Angels, if they would move Skaggs maybe? The Yankees could try and beardless Jake would be funny. The Nats, Giants, and even Dodgers make sense on some level, but I seriously doubt we would deal him to a contender in the NL......

Rank these guys in order of current trade value.....Soler, Candelario, Almora, Happ, Cease...... I think its an extremely tough group and figure that first and fifth is extremely close, with my guess being all 5 would be ranked first by at least one club and all 5 would be ranked last as well..... At any rate, as much as I'd love for us to add the TOR type this offseason......I think that winning the WS takes some pressure off and makes the FO extremely calculated. Just don't see them dealing off too much currency for one guy right now. I'm expecting the Wisler type add, not the Archer type. Gray being the closest thing to an upper end guy, if Beane accepts a bit less than normal.....

Chris Archer is likely to cost more than Chris Sale For my money, I'm still really hoping that Teheran or Odorizzi are possibilities. Could/should be available and without really emptying the farm, 4 years of team control through their prime, past the injury nexus and have shown an ability to take a major league workload, and repertoires where you can dream on some improvement with Bosio's impact. Why do you think Teheran is available? They set the ask to "overwhelm the horsefeathers out of me and then maybe...."at the deadline. They're opening up their new stadium, they've added pitching already, and are being aggressive on Sale, Archer, and Gray.....They're trying to compete this season(even if its way too early for them), but at any rate, Teheran is going nowhere.

https://twitter.com/SInow/status/798683280669364224 Well, this should be pretty awesome.

If we do bring back Dex, I'd want to try and trade Almora AND Soler. You still likely have Zobrist getting lots of OF starts, to go with a Schwarber/Dex/Heyward grouping. You'd still have Szczur and you could sign Bianco or someone as additional depth. Obviously, you don't trade them just to do it. But I think there's all sorts of different pitching options that you could net by doing it. Same deal or separate.

There's no reason this shouldn't happen.

I read somewhere that Caratini's D regressed to below average. That said, he's still got time. I THINK he's in my 7-10 range, with Zastryzny, Paulino, and Zagunis. My 11-15 currently has Albertos, DeWees, Paredes, Hatch, and Ryan Williams if his shoulder is still attached. 16-20 is Wilson, EJM, Young, Kellogg, and Pena 21-25 is Moreno, Underwood, Rondon, Ademan, and Marquez But this WILL change fairly often, as 7-25 seems interchangeable, but I'll probably stick with 7-10 as my actual top 10 long term.

I'm not sure what we could get, but because the asking prices are sooooo high on others, I hope this is explored. We would need to find a SP, even with Monty joining the rotation. But Jake isn't likely going to be a Cub after 2017 and we're a playoff team without him.

Eloy, Happ, Cease, Candelario, Clifton, De La Cruz, 7-25 are damn near interchangeable

I don't know what the Nats are looking for outside of bullpen help, and the extra arms they have could easily help out there.....But with a rotation of Max/Strasbourg/Roark/Gio/Ross.....It does leave Giolito, Lopez, and Cole out in the cold. If there was a way to grab any of them, Giolito, then Lopez preferred, it'd be cool.

I'd love the Houston trade. But Houston likely wouldn't trade Paulino alone for that package. And Feliz is more valuable than either Soler or Almora too. By the way, I used Villanueva in a spring training swap of guys that are out of options.(I'm not even positive Butler is). But that's the type of deal I see him moving in most likely. Anyone have some sort of list with young, out of option pitching on it?

While I agree that a deal for Gray would be far outside the MO for our group, they've also said that at some stage they'll have to make a few moves that are uncomfortable. I think there's a distinction between uncomfortable and out of character. Uncomfortable is trading more than you want to get a guy you really like(for me this would be Teheran, Quintana, or Odorizzi), or trading for a guy who doesn't check every box because the opportunity is there(for me this might be Manaea, Bradley, or even Bauer). It doesn't have to mean trading for a guy who is probably more likely than not to need arm surgery at this point, especially when he would cost more than scraps in return. I won't argue that. But my reasoning hinges partially on the fact that each of those 3 guys you just brought up are extremely unlikely to be Cubs. Quintana because he's crosstown, Odorizzi because the Rays are likely wanting Javy+, and Teheran because he's not on the market whatsoever. I get that Gray isn't ideal by any stretch. But they've got a great relationship with Beane at least. Which would conceivably help things a bit. I think they'd weigh the possible upside here versus the return, which equates to giving up depth, but no true impact, and be fine with the risk. Especially when the other impact arms are costing way, way more than this.

While I agree that a deal for Gray would be far outside the MO for our group, they've also said that at some stage they'll have to make a few moves that are uncomfortable.

We'll probably sign someone soon or make a trade. Guess we should put one of these up, to try and guess in before we do..... My first crack at one..... Signings Joe Smith- 1/3.5 with incentives that could get him to 6 Gregor Blanco-1/5 with incentives that could get him to 8, with a team option at 8. Jon Niese-1/2.5 with incentives that could get him to 10, team option at 7.5(non guaranteed) Brett Cecil-3/21 Trades Sonny Gray for Soler, Candelario, Zagunis, and Clifton Leonys Martin for Szczur, Strop, and de la Cruz Eddie Butler for Christian Villanueva

Law and Longenhagen don't see him as a major league caliber hitter.