davell

Maybe its just me, but I figure that Kershaw guy is fairly popular.

A franchise's net worth has literally nothing to do with anything. Why in the world would it?

Ohtani almost signed with the Dodgers out of high school. I'd say that's a fairly significant factor, right off the bat. If that's not something you can read into, I'm not sure if anything possibly could be. The Cubs are at a large disadvantage here.

If that happens, its kind of justified, isn't it? If Garoppolo IS a good QB and could have been had for a 2nd, versus a 1st and a 3rd for Trubisky, it seems reasonable to me, to question things. He's older, likelier to be ready quicker, and the team could conceivably had a quicker path to success under him. I'm not saying he WILL be good or that Mitch won't be either. But, IF Garappolo does wind up good, its not a great look for Pace and this super slow rebuild. Especially when its not certain Mitch does wind up good, even if I think he'll get there in a year or two.

Doug Fister signed with the Rangers for 1/4, plus incentives. Can't believe it took this long for the first signing to happen. Hopefully the floodgates open up this next week now.

Now that was....Something. I hope they lose out at this point. I wouldn't say that if I thought Trubisky was going to have a true shot at getting better between now and then, but I don't think he will. Not even a knock on him, he WAS awful today, but with the playcalling and the receivers, him finishing the year healthy is enough for me. Get him some weapons and hope he's much better next year. Losing out may give us a shot at getting a nice trade back scenario.

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/262407198/shohei-ohtani-looking-for-best-mlb-fit/?topicid=151437456 Ohtani sent a questionnaire to every team.

I saw another report that says its just 100,000 that's capped. Not sure which is correct honestly.

It really pains me to say this, but Bagley lll is an insane talent. With where is right now, its hard enough to imagine what he'll look like at the end of the season. Much less, going forward from there.

https://twitter.com/Hoodmancy/status/934175184902328320

#neerillyhurding

I can see a "loading up for Bryce" approach to the off season this year possibly. Where we're very careful in adding multiple year deals. Its not sexy at all, but tons of depth..... Bring back Rivera at 1/3. That's it for the offense. Trade Caratini to Oakland for Daniel Mengden. Trade Alzolay, Ademan, and Montgomery to Tampa for Odorizzi and Colome. Sign the following guys to 1 year deals.... Boone Logan, Seung Oh, Luke Gregerson, Jeremy Hellickson, and Tyson Ross. Give 2 year deals to Mikolas and Neshek. Go into the year with rotation depth of Lester, Quintana, Hendricks, Hellickson, Ross, Mikolas, Odorizzi, Mengden, and Tseng. Pen of Colome, Wilson, Strop, Edwards, Neshek, Logan, Oh, Gregerson, and Maples, with the starter surplus also factoring in somewhat. Keeps you under the LT, keeps the overall budget down quite a bit for next off-season. Plus gives you quite a bit of depth to potentially get use out of. Not my favorite plan, but one I can see them using, probably with a different group of names.

This horsefeathers is so horsefeathering awesome. Theo's already said he's saving money for next year. Bryce is exactly the type of splash Theo loves. And he's showing so many signs its impossible not to connect some dots....Yet, lots of the media seems intent on thinking he's going to be a Yankee. This is going to be so fun when Bryce signs with us during the first week of Free Agency next year.

*looks at source and sees Sean Sears* Yeah, that's what I did too. But hey, he seemingly made this one up on his own. Progress, for him.

6-33 and counting, as Lauri finished with 3 points in the worst 24 minutes of his career.

Good God, since Lauri started out 9-12 against Phoenix, he's gone 6-32.....horsefeathers.

Eh, I'm honestly not that sure about that. This is MLB coming down super hard on a team being super stupid. Coppolella and the gang were really stupid and brazen. Trying to package guys from different classes, including a year you're under the penalty? I think there's a wink-wink, nudge-nudge to how things get done in that market, but the Braves went a bit too far, plus they were stupid with hiding things. And trying to do a package deal with a 14 year old? They were just too brazen and too dumb. On top of that, Coppolella was hated by the rest of the league. If it were someone else, I honestly doubt the penalty would have been as harsh. He just pissed everyone off, by being greedy. And then by being stupid. I think all this does is helps get rid of the buscones and makes teams cover their tracks a bit better. Now that the precedent has been set, teams would be STUPID to even try it. Packaging bonuses can lead to a lifetime ban. You can’t do it for an impact guy because it would be obvious. Why would you take the risk for a non-top 30 guy when the chances they will even be major leaguers is slim? Plus as dirty as international markets are, you could have buscones bribing you not to dish dirt to MLB, that could suddenly be more profitable than peddling prospects. If I’m Theo Epstein especially, why would I risk a lifetime ban, tens of millions in future income, and no HOF induction (that is certainly coming) so I can get a few marginal prospects that have a very slight chance of becoming an impact player. If the organization can be out $15M in bonuses plus the personnel penalties, I could see a 16 year old bonus guy who flames out by age 18 and has only pocketed a total of $600k (but the team reported $300K) demanding more money not to talk. There is suddenly too much risk for too little reward in my opinion, this stuff will be a thing of the past. The large majority of teams won’t participate so if a team does decide to be shady, it will stand out since it won’t be SOP anymore and it won’t blend in with what everyone is doing. Those are great points. But, I don't see this stopping very soon. Teams have to deal with the buscones. Those deals will still happen because of that. Its just part of doing business down there. If MLB could figure out a way to install a draft, the buscones would be gone. But those guys take these kids under their wings sometimes at 8, 9, 10 years old, 13 or 14 at the latest and most of them are not going to throw them into some MLB Academy and lose their potential income. Its why the draft has been so slow to develop down there. I think MLB knows that there's going to be SOME shadiness down there, but just want it curbed as much as possible. Until they can find their way into instituting a draft. Again, to me, the Braves got way too ambitious and the guy leading the charge was widely hated, to begin with. That's why they came down on them, in my eyes. It wouldn't shock me in the least if there's been or will be meetings of "Hey, just don't get too stupid" down there. Until you can eliminate the business, SOME stuff is going to go on. Eliminating them in the process of these Braves guys hitting the market a second time, is a slow start towards finding a way to get rid of them completely, in my eyes. Its just not something that happens overnight.

Actually though, its two years. If he wanted to wait to get paid, he'd be coming over after the 2019 season.

Yeah, probably the worst shooting game of the season for him. Didn't hit double digits until 2 minutes left. Did grab 14 boards though. Love that he's a pretty rounded player at 20. Finds a way to contribute. Dunn started, but went 5-14, with 4 boards, 6 assists, and 4 TO's. Gonna be some ups and downs..... Still, those 2 are making this season interesting. Blakeney went off in his first run tonight. I'd be just fine giving him 25-30 minutes a game until LaVine comes back.

The stuff that's illegal that all teams actually trying down there do.....They'll make agreements with 14 and 15 year olds. They'll even package players together, to help pay the buscone(that's the players trainer) and to get a guy or two at a lesser price that fits your budget. I'm sure they'll give additional " gifts" too, houses and cars, etc, that are untraceable. If you're going to package players together though...its ridiculous to expect it to slide, when you're getting guys worthy of 500k to a million dollar type of bonuses......For the 300k max, by funneling money thru the lesser players or buscone. Especially, when you're trying to package guys that aren't even in the same draft class. Or start packaging guys that are still two years out from signing. They were taking too much advantage. Its one thing to get a player or two into your class every once in a while, that's kind of shady. Its another thing to do it as often as possible, which is basically what the Braves were doing. And they weren't even good at hiding it. Honestly, I think most teams can still get away with these things. Because they're not insanely greedy about how often they go to that well...... Thanks, that makes a lot more sense! That whole packaging players thing just sounds like amateur hour. Our FO can cheat way better than that. Oh, I'm sure we've packaged guys before. Henderson and Herson Perez are brothers. One was highly thought of, one wasn't. The older one(18 or so, I think) still got a relatively decent bonus, that didn't make sense. That money likely went to something other than him, in my mind, at least. The difference though, is we weren't packaging top 30 in the class types, but only showing them getting 300k, like the Red Sox did. Or make things stupid complicated, like combining multiple classes into a package, like the Braves. But, you're right, it was amateur hour, with those guys doing it.

Eh, I'm honestly not that sure about that. This is MLB coming down super hard on a team being super stupid. Coppolella and the gang were really stupid and brazen. Trying to package guys from different classes, including a year you're under the penalty? I think there's a wink-wink, nudge-nudge to how things get done in that market, but the Braves went a bit too far, plus they were stupid with hiding things. And trying to do a package deal with a 14 year old? They were just too brazen and too dumb. On top of that, Coppolella was hated by the rest of the league. If it were someone else, I honestly doubt the penalty would have been as harsh. He just pissed everyone off, by being greedy. And then by being stupid. I think all this does is helps get rid of the buscones and makes teams cover their tracks a bit better. So this is the closest I can find as far as an explanation of what the braves actually did. Did they basically just spend a ton more money than they were allowed under the CBA? What are some of the similar things that teams like the Cubs have likely done to circumvent the rules, but less "brazenly?" The stuff that's illegal that all teams actually trying down there do.....They'll make agreements with 14 and 15 year olds. They'll even package players together, to help pay the buscone(that's the players trainer) and to get a guy or two at a lesser price that fits your budget. I'm sure they'll give additional " gifts" too, houses and cars, etc, that are untraceable. If you're going to package players together though...its ridiculous to expect it to slide, when you're getting guys worthy of 500k to a million dollar type of bonuses......For the 300k max, by funneling money thru the lesser players or buscone. Especially, when you're trying to package guys that aren't even in the same draft class. Or start packaging guys that are still two years out from signing. They were taking too much advantage. Its one thing to get a player or two into your class every once in a while, that's kind of shady. Its another thing to do it as often as possible, which is basically what the Braves were doing. And they weren't even good at hiding it. Honestly, I think most teams can still get away with these things. Because they're not insanely greedy about how often they go to that well......

Eh, I'm honestly not that sure about that. This is MLB coming down super hard on a team being super stupid. Coppolella and the gang were really stupid and brazen. Trying to package guys from different classes, including a year you're under the penalty? I think there's a wink-wink, nudge-nudge to how things get done in that market, but the Braves went a bit too far, plus they were stupid with hiding things. And trying to do a package deal with a 14 year old? They were just too brazen and too dumb. On top of that, Coppolella was hated by the rest of the league. If it were someone else, I honestly doubt the penalty would have been as harsh. He just pissed everyone off, by being greedy. And then by being stupid. I think all this does is helps get rid of the buscones and makes teams cover their tracks a bit better.

The Cubs can choose to use their 2018-19 allotment on any of these players. They don't have to be limited to the $300k in 2016-17. Cool! I read it as they can dip into their 2018-19 pool money but that their restrictions would still be in place until July 2nd. But you're saying that with these specific players released from the Braves, their current restrictions don't apply, is that accurate? Yeah, from everything that's out there, if we wanted to drop 3 mill on Maitan, we can do it.

- BA I'm really hopeful we've kept our money free. No idea if we've spent big in Venezuela, Colombia, Mexico or wherever, but it definitely seems we've not done it in the DR..... This seems like more recruiting than normal. We've got multiple looks at these guys in game action at this point. May take less for them to sign now? No idea. But, it seems very possible to me, since they've already received a bonus and there's a finite amount of money to be spent on the entirety of the class by MLB and in reality, most of that money has been committed already. I'd love to get Maitan. Gutierrez would be my second choice, then the two pitchers, Rosario and Contreras. It'd be ridiculously nice if we could fit ANY (not thinking those 4)of the released prospects into our 2017-2018 poolfor 300,000 or under.

[tweet] [/tweet] Lol