davell

Grant is easily the best person on baseball twitter and this is great even for him. Yeah, we need to trade for him somehow.

Its an interesting draft. Not sure I'd say its deep. Ayton and Bagley are studs. Doncic could be too. If Porter is ever healthy, add him to this. Trae Young is fun. Bamba doesn't really interest me, but he'd be fine in the 6-10 range. Although, I don't think we're even picking in that area, once alls said and done. Sexton could be fun. So could Knox. Miles Bridges seems like a solid pro. That's the group I want to get 1 of. And its tiered. Ayton/Bagley Doncic Young/Porter Bamba Sexton/Knox/Bridges 10-15(where I figure we wind up picking) McCoy/Carter/Jackson/Mikal Bridges/Diallo/Gafford If we wind up winning 30-35 games, I guess my hope is we take on an awful contract to add as many picks as possible. That'd hamper us in FA, but I don't think we'd be a destination for any guys as it stands anyway. Which is why I was really wanting a top 5 pick, until this horsefeathers started happening and horsefeathering with us all lol.

Seriously, I have no horsefeathering clue whether I want wins or losses.

I'm really not sure if they're in on Darvish at where the prices may go, or if they're trying to get him cheaper than the norm...... Either way, they're getting a starting pitcher and I'd be surprised if it was anyone worse than a Cobb type acquisition. If they spend big in FA on one, I don't think we'll see anything more than NRI's for the rest of the staff. And maybe a backup C. If they trade for the starter, I can see another major bullpen addition, plus some vet replacement bench type to replace whatever youngster we lost in the trade. And the backup C. Either way, there's enough pen arms left to get an interesting NRI or 2. Probably a 7/8 type starting pitcher type too, if we don't trade for one.

I'd put the odds of getting 1 of those 3 at under 10% honestly. Mainly because I don't see Machado getting dealt and Archer isn't likely to move either, in my mind. And if Yelich hits the market, other teams have more of a need and more to offer too.

Cafardo said we've had the most substantive talks on Machado. Bringing up Russell, Almora, and Montgomery again. No idea if he was going off the Orioles guy report or if there's more or less to the deal, if anything. Brett brought up an idea of not everyone being involved(obviously) but that maybe Russell could be used for pitching. Adding Machado and Archer would be one hellacious off season. CF Happ 3B KB 1B Rizzo SS Machado LF Schwarber C Contreras RF Heyward 2B Baez Bench Caratini, La Stella, Zobrist, ? SP Archer, Quintana, Lester, Hendricks, Chatwood RP Morrow, Cishek, Edwards, Wilson, Strop, Grimm, Maples, ? That'd be pretty sweet.

Minnesota is still trying to schedule a meeting with him. With the way FA is looking, January is going to be busier than December always has been.

Honestly, its Boston. They're horsefeathering good. I don't think this Bulls team is winning under 25 games, maybe not even 30. I hope they trade Lopez and Holliday. I guess Niko too? Not even sure what I truly want there. But, LaVine coming back is going to cancel out any personnel losses, via trade. If they stay healthy, I suspect 25-30 wins and a finish outside the bottom 5.

And like clockwork, he's 1-9 in the first half against Boston lol. That being said, it's pretty horsefeathering awesome that him and Lauri definitely look like longterm starters and we've not even seen the lead piece in the Jimmy trade step on the court yet.

Best article I've read on the Bulls in years.....

horsefeathers if I know. Its hard not to pull for them to win, this horsefeathers IS fun. Longterm, we need losses. But, this streak has been fun too. So, who knows? I am kind of sad to see the tank W. Even if its good.

The inclusion of Russell isn't about trading him, but about trading him for Machado. Think he's a bad person, or his injuries are going to rob his potential, or the bat will never come around? Fine. But trading him for one year of another shortstop(especially one who gets much of their value from defense and has 52 career MLB games at SS) doesn't make much sense to me. Use other stuff to get Machado and then use Russell to get the pitcher those other guys couldn't bring. If you can't get Machado without Russell, then just move on, you still have Baez if you're desperate to trade Russell. I'd love to know how our FO values Addy, Javy, Schwarber, Happ, and Almora versus how other teams do. I'd literally have them in the order I just listed them, from a value standpoint. But, there's not a single possibility of orders that'd actually surprise me either. Plus, service time starts becoming a factor in value at this stage too, now that some of these guys only have 4 years of control at this point.

Russell could easily have been included in these talks. His off field horsefeathers and his lack of improvement at the plate could easily have the FO soured on him. He's not a guaranteed superstar at this point. Personally, I think he's still going to get better. But, the off field stuff has me not caring if he stays or goes. And none of this matters, since they're evidently keeping him, unless offers improve by a lot. horsefeathering Orioles lol.

Dunn looks really solid. At this point, I'd say he's shown enough to be part of the "core". The trade with Minny was a damn good one. You don't reset to just go right back to being a .500ish team though. You've got to move Lopez and Niko, get Lauri his 32 minutes a game, which isn't going to happen while Niko is here. Obviously, its fun watching this unfold, but its still extremely likely an aberration and is just costing us Ayton or Bagley. They need to start moving guys soon or this is going to wind up a 30-35 win team that picks 7-10.

Altman interprets a decision before Christmas, via translation. Brett interprets after Christmas. Any ideas here? I know that horsefeathers is funny, but is it remotely understandable to anyone?

Chacin is evidently getting 2 years, at about 8 per. That's a damn good deal for the Brewers.

This could make it more likely they move Archer, I guess. And they'd probably appreciate shedding the Span deal....

So, um. Yeah. What in the flying horsefeathers lol.

I doubt its a down market for him, as much as its the higher market for Cobb, etc. If its 20 mill and a draft pick for Cobb, versus 25 mill for Darvish, its a no-brainer.

Heyward's NTC goes to 12 teams next year. The question becomes if that's enough to insure him that he won't be dealt.....Plus, there's definitely the chance, that he'd prefer to play elsewhere, than sit on the bench for the Cubs. If I'm him and literally trying to make it impossible for the Cubs to deal him, here's my list of 12.... Batimore- I could see them showing interest at a discount. Take them out of the running. Toronto- Relatively decent shot they'll rebuild, but I'd still list them. Detroit- Odd choice? I can see them trying to fix him and flip him. Minnesota- Young contending team in need of vet leadership? Seattle- Its DiPoto and a player that's breathing. Can't give him a shot. Oakland- I could see Billy taking him on at a discount. Atlanta- He liked playing there before. Philadelphia- Putting a few vets with their young core makes sense. Arizona- Seems like a decent fit there. Colorado- Maybe the air cures his bat? San Fran- Makes sense. San Diego- They're sniffing around vets too. So, I left off some big names. Boston, the Yankees, the Nats, and the Dodgers. Why? Because they aren't going to want him at any price, when they're all going after much better players in FA. The Rays aren't trading for him. Neither is KC, the White Sox, or the Indians, who'll be trying to keep what they've got together. The Rangers, Astros, and Angels either don't need him or would want a better player. The Mets aren't taking on part of a bad deal. The Marlins explain themselves. The Central Division isn't helping us add Harper. I think he basically CAN keep himself from being dealt. But, I'll go ahead and make a prediction.....He's going to be a Brave in 2019. They'll show they want him and he'll accept a trade there, that saves us whatever money we can get them to take on, without us getting anything in return. I think he'll see that he's not a full-time player for the Cubs and decide he'd rather play everyday.

I'd explore it. But, only if its at the league minimum. He was awful last year obviously and lost close to 2 MPH off his FB. Is it real or did his pitching coaches horsefeathers him up? My guess is its the former and he may justbbe at the stage where he's not a ML pitcher anymore. But, I'd take a look and find out, I guess.

Yeah, assuming he's typical Kershaw and gets to 200 innings, I think the over/under is probably $300 million. Obviously a year out things will change a lot, but I'm expecting something like this Harper - $500 million Machado - $400 million Kershaw - $300 million Josh Donaldson and Charlie Blackmon - $150 million And then Andrew McCutchen, AJ Pollock, Dallas Keuchel, Yasmani Grandal, Garret Richards and maybe even one of the relievers all have a chance at $100 million with good walk years. I figure there's too many relievers for one of them to bust 100. But, I'd say Elvis Andrus opting out of 4/58 and getting 100+ is very realistic, if he has another good year. Kikuchi seems like he could get 100 as well, with another good year in Japan. Plus, I'm guessing Puig gets 100+ relatively easily. Assuming he's a FA, even though he's not on the MLBTR list for some reason.

Time to root against his annual back injury. Yeah, I think we need to pull for him to be lights out.

What kind of contract does Kershaw get next year? I can't imagine the Dodgers letting him walk, so our best hope on Bryce is the Dodgers really, really having to ante up for Kershaw and then going after some of the less costly names next year, to pair with him. Is 8/320 too ambitious, if he has a good year?