davell

Bulls up 14 with 4 to go in the 1st. Lauri is playing, Felicio is dominating. Of course.

Lopez only got a fine, so he's probably playing. Hopefully Lauri sits again.

Did we get $$ on Guerra? $10K? $20K? I think for a new guy in new country, going through full Mesa experience would seem to make sense, depending on what his life and language experience is. I think they have lots of English classes, plus of course lots of Cubs Way instruction and stuff. Much more teaching and practice, lots of fields, etc.. Once in full-season, lots of long bus rides gobble up time that can be spend on instruction in Arizona. I sometimes wonder how much instruction guys really get once they reach full-season? I'm pretty sure he got 250-300K. With some saying he was determined to sign this period, or he could have gotten more..... Your point about English classes may be valid, its obviously important.

Morel and Guerra both got sent down to EXST. I'll take it as an absolute positive, that Morel made them take that hard of a look at him..... Guerra is a bit disappointing though. With his pedigree, I expected full season ball for him.

4/5 starter kit for Rucker though. I guess even if he's not in the rotation to start the year out, he'll reach his innings limit somehow......

Might would have helped us more, if Orlando had beat the Nets. The Nets have no reason to tank, I "think" they'll wind up with more wins than the Bulls. Orlando still has us at home, the Hawks and Knicks on the road, then Dallas and Charlotte at home. They need to go 3-2 over that stretch somehow. I'd probably bet on us winding up in the 6 or 7 spot, but 5 seems fairly doable, and 4 is still a possibility.

So, with Lauri nursing his back, Dunn likely being shut down and LaVine very possibly being in the same spot....Can the Bulls lose out? 9 games left. At Houston is an L. A back to back at Miami and Orlando could easily be 2 L's as well. Washington and Charlotte at home are both losable, but the Charlotte game worries me somewhat. At Boston and home against the Nets follows that in another back to back. Then the Nets away and finishing at home versus Detroit, who's got nothing to play for to finish things off...... I see no more than 2 wins, very possibly 1 or even none. Brooklyn has no reason to tank, but they suck. Detroit in game 82 is scary, considering they've got nothing to play for either. Sacramento is at 24 wins too and has Dallas at home, with Phoenix and Memphis on the road, both trying to finish last. They've also got a home game against a Steph-less Warriors team, that they'll be trying to win and get Houston last, in a game Houston will be resting guys..... Surely, this is good for 2-3 wins. Brooklyn has the home and home versus the Bulls, plus a home game versus Detroit, a road game in Orlando, and finish in Boston, who will be resting guys too. At 23 wins, if they sweep us, we'll finish ahead of them. Dallas is at 22. They've got road games in Orlando and Sacramento, which realistically, we probably need them to lose. They've got Phoenix and Detroit at home though. They need to win those 2 and win in LA, against the Lakers, or pull out a home game against Minnesota or Portland somehow. Orlando is at 22 as well. They've got Brooklyn and the Bulls at home, followed by the Hawks and Knicks on the road. All are winnable, I think I'd guess they take 3 of those actually. Then they get Dallas and Charlotte at home too. It looks like they should win 4 of that total 6. If these things happen, the Bulls could wind up picking 4th, behind only Phoenix, Memphis, and Atlanta. Not all of this will happen, but I feel fairly solid they'll pass at least a couple of teams here. Probably Sacramento and Orlando. With the home and home deciding Brooklyn. Dallas looks to me to be the toughest to pass. But, 5th or 6th seems very, very doable, at least with a 1-8 showing. Lose out and 4th is very possible though.

Pretty solid.

[tweet] [/tweet]

Is this true or is it mostly that most guys don't earn promotions so fast? This is the same FO that has had several teenagers in full season ball during very recent seasons, got Russell and Baez to the MLs by 20/21, Bryant and Schwarber in the majors during their first or second pro seasons.... Yeah, you're right. They've had a few. But they're all elite, top 20ish prospects. I guess Happ is the lowest ranked guy? No pitchers though. Talent helps. Maybe we'll get a better indicator, with Lange this year? Just those 2 guys 2nd full year, obviously important for them. If they're truly highly thought of, they'll hit Iowa by midseason and maybe get a few ML innings in September. Which would be fascinating and excellent draft results for a college senior and a 4th year junior that weren't taken inside the top 200 picks.

I'm with Hrubes on Robinson. He's a 91-93 guy who knows how to pitch. He's got 4 or 5 pitches and changes speeds well. He's not Hendricks, but he did go to Dartmouth, at least. Honestly, its kind of a pet peeve of mine when age gets brought up in relation to where a guys at, when he's only had one full season in the minors. Especially with our group, who aren't exactly quick on promotions. If Robinson and Rucker are in the AA rotation to start off their 2nd full season? That's great, in my mind..... I'm obviously much higher on Rucker than Robinson too, but I think both definitively deserve full rotation innings over some of that other pure crap competing against them.

I think its a matter of since they could absolutely field a WS contender without going over, it made sense to stay under until next year and start that clock then. Especially since adding those types of players weren't moving the needle much anyway, due to us already being excellent. Not to mention,if you were just skimming past the threshold, its not great strategy anyway. No reason to incur those penalties, if you're not blowing past it. Makes sense to push them back an extra season.

[tweet] [/tweet] Jed addresses spanking it.

My guess is they'll roll with what they've got, along with a 4th round pick probably. My guess is they're hoping a team gives Meredith an offer sheet, so they can match, like Fuller. Cutting White doesn't save them a penny, so there's no reason to cut him honestly, unless you need a roster spot. And that's not for a while..... With this offense, Cohen and Burton are going to be prevalent too. I think they're going to be fine with Robinson and Gabriel, with Meredith, White and a later pick as the 5th. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure they'll bring in some guys, but I doubt anything more than a minimum contract..... That said, I'd like to add him AND a pick still. We've got the cap space to do quite a bit more still.

Butters beat me. But, thanks Green Bay.

That's like top 10 of All Time idiotic takes.

Signed Tyler Bray as the 3rd QB. No idea if he can play, but its another guy who knows Nagy's system. I love how they're getting Mitch all these things that conceivably can help him out.

They legit tried to lose tonight as much as anyone could hope for..... Yet the result is we're now drafting 9th. Mikal Bridges or Wendell Carter. Which isn't bad, but its not what we were thinking in November, that's for sure.

I really like what's been done. If this is what they take into the draft, I'm OK with that. But, I'd love to get Justin Pugh at this point. He can play RT, but he's a stud inside. And it'd allow for you to grab D with each of your first 2 picks. I love Nelson, but I think adding Pugh now and using your top picks on D makes you the better team.

OK, so we went into this with 51.7 mill to spend, counting draft picks....This includes Fuller, Bellamy, Meredith, and Callahan. Although, we may need to match offer sheets, which would increase their number. Supposedly we're looking at extending Goldman and Amos too, which would increase their numbers as well..... We can save an extra 14.5 by cutting Sims, Wheaton, and Cooper. Of which I'd say Wheaton is definitively gone and the other 2 are 50/50.... No idea on cap numbers for the guys we've signed, but if you just use an AAV on what we know.... Robinson-14 Amukamara-9 Daniel-5 Burton-8 Gabriel-?(7ish?) Parkey-?(3ish?) Acho-3.75 At any rate, I'm sure the way these are structured will lower the numbers a bit. But, I was kind of hoping for a nice OL addition....I kind of doubt it happens, especially if we do extensions for Goldman and Amos and have to match offers on Meredith and Callahan.

Raisin, was there anything of note in Badler's new piece today? Evidently we're connected to an OF now?

What's left, a backup QB? Anything else? I figure the Edge will come thru the draft. An O-Lineman would be very nice at this point.....But, I could see them using their first two picks on those spots.

Damn, Gabriel is fun. I'm liking this.

Wilson was a perfect fit with Robinson. Now that's he's not an option AND we got Burton, what's the best fit at WR for us? Snead maybe?

Very pleased with this. Wonder who they'll get to compliment him, if Wilson is going to Miami?