davell

WTF? Please be OK.

This. Although at least the NHL point system gives even bad teams somewhat of a shot to close a substantial gap by reeling off 10 straight. Really should shorten it to something like 60 games for the NBA and 65 for the NHL. The Bulls likely aren't getting past Miami in the second round. Carmelo is on the radar, I guess, assuming that Boozer is amnestied (no reason to think he won't be). They will have two 1st round picks assuming they grab Charlotte's. I'd like to see them grab a SG or SF who can shoot from range and a big man with a mean streak. The middle of the 1st Round appears to be as fluid as any in recent memory. I've seen some mocks with Wille Cauley-Stein as a lottery pick, others having him grabbed by the Bulls in the 2nd Rnd. Kyle Anderson (probably because he isn't terribly athletic) is also all over the place. Aaron Gordon seems to have solidified his status as lottery pick after the tourney, but earlier on I had see him falling to the Bulls, to I put him on the list below (though I would prefer they avoid him). Potentially available players include: SG/SF Nick Stauskas Jerami Grant Zach LaVine Rodney Hood TJ Warren James Young Jordan Adams Kyle Anderson PF/C Adreian Payne Montrezl Harrell Aaron Gordon Willie Cauley-Stein Cleanthony Early Others who grade as 1st/2nd rounders depending on who you ask: PJ Hairston, Aaron Harrison, CJ Wilcox, Jarnell Stokes, James McAdoo, and Johnny O'Bryant. To me Payne is the choice amongst the big guys. He's got some polish, an NBA-ready body, and played in a very physical, defense-oriented conference. Aaron Gordon will likely be gone (I think he's Tyrus Thomas anyway). Harrell is a mean SOB, but I think Payne is more skilled. Its harder to get a fix on SG/SF. Stauskas strikes me as a specialist who would struggle in Thibs' system because he is limited on D. I love Anderson and Warren as college players, but I worry about whether their athletic abilities will allow them to succeed on the next level. Much as it pains me to say it (I am a UNC fan), to me you pick Hood if he falls to you. He can shoot and has height,length and agility. Plus he played in a system that stresses man-to-man D and its fundamentals, so he's likely to fit-in right away. All of that said, if Gary Harris miraculously falls, you grab him immediately. I'd also consider Hairston and WCS from the "reach" list (again, that list is very fluid these days) depending on how things shake out. As a diehard UNC guy myself, I'd absolutely love for the Bulls to take PJ. I think he's a legit scorer at the next level. Has ridiculous range and is strong as hell. I honestly think he'd be a better fit than Hood. On the other hand, I pray McAdoo isn't on the radar. 3 seasons of his [expletive] is more than enough for anyone to endure.

I guess it's possible. I remember reading he was a 91-92 guy, topping out 93, 94 on a good day.

Hoffman is easily still 4 for me. If our FO sees Jackson as a long time C and/or he signs for under slot-it's the only way I want him at 4.

He was a Ranger until this season and was under consideration as the PTBNL, which ultimately became Ramirez. He's been in his teams top 30 multiple times. 6 year minor league FA, just turned 24. Chose us mainly because we had shown interest in him prior. Is still a prospect, not just fodder.

Technically, the answer is yes. That said, the comp pick would certainly hold more value and other things would likely need to be included in the deal. Not to mention, if the Yankees are spending 15-20 mill on IFA this year, as it seems, I doubt there's enough IFA left over to entice another team to blow by their initial budget this year. Just my opinion though, as it IS possible the Yankees are spending on guys others don't think of as highly as they do.

Really? I disagree completely. My guess is Stephen Drew and Kendrys Morales side with me. I know I wish it had stayed the same, that's for sure.

Craig, that's very well put. I don't disagree with anything in that post. Honestly, I admit to letting industry evals influence my rankings. But my guess is everyone does. I'm still high on Martin based off what was said of his Boise season and give him a mulligan since then, due to his injury. If he fails to put up a .700 OPS(low bar honestly) he'll fall off my radar completely. However, if he puts up a .750+ or so, I'll have him inside my top 30 almost definitely.

I look at it from a tools standpoint. He's got the potential for average power, missed all of last season and is still starting in KC. I'm pretty sure(not positive) that he was ranked in our top 15 by one of the major publications for his Boise season and may have even been in the league top 20 with BA. Which tells me a lot of how his tools are looked at and gives him a slight advantage over Mejia and Paulino. Who I also have in my personal top 40 by the way. I wouldn't have Vitters, Cabrera, Jokisch, or Arias on my list at this point. But I'm an upside over closeness guy.(understanding Arias has upside)

Penalver should be much higher, he's easy. So is Martin. No reason he should still be on the board if Dunston is 27.

I'm saying that, banking on the idea that we'll no longer be PTR'd in 2019. I'm not expecting Dodger level spending, but I expect the financial advantage to keep us in contention over the long haul. Wouldn't dare argue this, if not for truly expecting a legit financial advantage to help keep us competitive. And I'm likely the biggest Ricketts hater here(with SSR anyway)

My best guess? 2016 or 2017, depending on how lucky we get with pitching injuries. Yeah, I won't argue that. Although I could see playoffs next year with a few things going right. But I think we'll have a long run of success, but so will the Cards and Pirates. My prediction is 8 playoff appearances out of 10, starting in 2016.

Kyle, the actual number is fairly irrelevant. They had arms. Cheap ones already in place. They added a marquee(for them) guy in Cespedes, had a reclamation pitcher turn into an ace(Colon), had a breakout guy with Donaldson, then added more by getting Reddick and Lowrie. By trading from their UPPER levels. Which we're just now having the ability to do. Same with them having more financial flexibility. We've got it now. If after this upcoming offseason, I'm not impressed, I'll let it be known loudly. I think we've built things to where we can and will contend with a 100 mill or less payroll. And I still think this was the best way to go about things, with the obvious financial crap. If we were allowed 130,150 mill or whatever, I'd think differently.

They had 5 top 100s in 2012, post Gio trade. They had plenty of cheap pitching options. They had more room for error. It's one thing to deal all you have when you're close. It's something entirely different to do it slowly, as they did. And it's something very far away from reality to expect a team to trade all they had, for a few pieces when it wouldn't have taken the team very far to begin with, yet hurt its ability to acquire true impact in the future. As you're seemingly thinking the Cubs should have done.

They had more in their system, more money to spend inside their budget and more already on their roster. Flexibility. And McNutt was no longer a top 100 type when Theo took over. They had more room for error. Now though, we ARE in position to make moves by trading obviously. Especially since we've got upper level depth.

The A's had Parker already.(I know he's just had TJS). They had depth with Griffin, Straily, Anderson, etc. Something we did not. They had Donaldson come out of nowhere(from us). They gave up two top 100 guys for Lowrie. They had an elite closer that netted them Reddick. They had built up quite a bit of excess value that we certainly didn't have at the time the FO took over. We had Starlin, Garza(dealt for an extremely good return) Marshall(extremely good return) Vitters and Jackson, Cashner(extremely good return) and we created value in Shark, which has yet to be figured out what to do with. That's it.

The A's had a much better group of young pitching to pull from and trade pieces to make a few moves as well, because they had upper level minor leaguers. Gio had quite a bit more value than anything we had, other than Castro, who I can't and won't get upset they didn't move. Yes, Beane certainly has made some good moves, no doubt about it. But didn't be go thru quite a long rebuild in order to get back there? 5 years in between playoff appearances actually. And Beane was at the helm for all of it.

One, there's no vague insults. You know I respect MOST of your opinions. Two, your idea of just "draft better" works fine over the long run. It also puts a ton of pressure on the immediate when it's far from a sure thing. No one drafts great in the middle on a truly consistent basis. The higher the pick, the better chance of it panning out.(which you know) Taking advantage of that to get Bryant versus some dude that went after 10 last year? I think it'll prove worth it. Same with picking 4 this year versus the middle of the pack. I honestly think we'll pick in the 8-12 range next year and it'll be harder to come up with elite talent. They inherited the Almora slot and look to have done well there. They didn't miss with KB. PJ is a top 100 guy that they got later.(when you were dying to keep Aramis, if I'm not mistaken) They HAVE drafted well so far, early and later on.

Kyle, if I'm saying they'll spend it, I DO mean they'll spend it on something they want. I know I don't want them just spending it because they can. I guess you differ in that. You'd have been happy with another E-Jax signing, I guess. They [expletive] up. Everyone does. I'm much better waiting for them to find something they truly want, than shooting their wad just to up the payroll. They've made mistakes, but nothing that truly hinders us moving forward, even with a low payroll. By this time next year, considering where our prospects are, if there's not a true air of excitement around the Cubs, I'll start bitching. But all you're doing is being the little kid throwing a tantrum when you flat out know there's not much of a chance ANYONE could take a team with extremely little talent at any level, some bad contracts, and a finite budget and turn it into a world beater in this length of time. You're just arguing to argue, because I know you're too intelligent to be that unrealistic.

That's the truth. If we don't have the ability to carry more than around a 100 mill in payroll, none of this matters.

So you're going to ignore the part where you insisted Epstein would spend money if he had it, but he had money this offseason and didn't spend it? You can disagree if you want to put forward a coherent disagreement, but you should probably at least address it. Ricketts botching the finances and Epstein living out his fantasy rebuild are not mutually exclusive propositions. The generic aggression and "dumbest thing you've ever said!!!!!" is just stuff people turn to when I'm hitting a nerve. [expletive]. Just because you HAVE a little money to spend doesn't mean you HAVE to spend it. They liked Tanaka and evidently didn't have the funds to get him. They obviously didn't like Ellsbury or Cano or Choo enough to bid. Nor is it a known fact they had the money to even land one of them. Nor is it a fact that any of them were worth what they got. They said they rolled money over-I'll hold them accountable if its not spent by this time next year. It can be used on a mid season deal bringing in a long term fit, an IFA that's expensive, at any point. Or thru regular FA next offseason. Sorry, but those 3-4 extra wins you've been fiending over will have to wait til they see something that is a good fit. It'll get spent and then you can stop bitching about the one(singular) addition that got delayed a bit because there was only one of them last year and we couldn't outbid the Yankees.

Please. You have any issues with Grimm and Rondon? Even Strop moving forward? Between Parker and Schlitter, we could have a long term middle reliever. Between Vizcaino, Ramirez, and Rivero, we'll get one or two long term pieces out of it. Fujikawa could still figure in the mix. Between Russell, Wright, Rosscup, and Rusin-I'm not even worried about finding 2 lefties. I really, really like the pen moving forward and won't listen to 11games worth of [expletive] stats to make sure I get my daily doom boner.

Who [expletive] cares what Theo said back when he thought we'd have renovation money to spend almost immediately? Remember in that very first offseason when they had to use 3 [expletive] calendar years to give Carlos Pena 10 million dollars? The clamps being put on had NOTHING to do with that, did it? The way things have gone is not remotely how Theo envisioned it and he's said as much. You holding things over his head from when he first signed on is the dumbest thing you've ever done on this site by far.

We were eliminated on Sept. 28, 2011, when Epstein decided he was tired of all that pressure to win every year and wanted to go to a franchise that would let him play Farm System Hero. Stop that [expletive] [expletive]. If Ricketts had money to spend, they certainly would be spending it. But he doesn't and they can't. And you [expletive] know it. Why even bother responding to Kyle when he posts [expletive] like that? It's about every 100 times or so. I'm getting better.

You're a skank, Beth Murphy. Is it her? I thought I remember reading it somewhere that it's some absentee dude?