davell

He's been equally unimpressive in Summer League and Pre Season.

Down 23, with LaVine and Portis out with 4 fouls. 40 point loss a definite possibility lol.

41 1st quarter points, followed by 17 in the 2nd lol. I think this is gonna be fairly normal for this group.

Bulls hit 13 straight from the field in the 1st lol.

This group just isn't active enough. Those last few roster spots ought to be a constant shuffle and after enough of that, you might end up with a Covington..... I don't think they'll be a true contender for any elite FA next year. If anything, I'm hopeful they'll be able to take on bad salary then. I think the beginnings of this group is much, much better than the Baby Bulls honestly. I just wish we'd hire someone competent to go from this point forward.

I want Reinsdorf to sell and GarPax gone. But, I'm not sure what you're supposed to expect heading into the second year of a rebuild. Parker was a flyer. Nothing more. Probably more upside than using that same money to add another Chandler Hutchison type talent..... I think LaVine and Dunn improve off last year. And I think Lauri and Carter are excellent building blocks. Don't expect more than 25-30 wins, but I think they'll be back in the playoffs in 2019-2020, after they get lucky and get Barrett or Little in the draft.....

Also, Bryce is getting way more than that. And Almora doesn't get you out from underneath Chatwood. And Brendan Little ain't getting a Will Smith type of return.

The injury factor is a good point. I've got no idea how to gauge Monty from a trade value standpoint.

Sharma has brought up Doolittle on multiple occasions, even saying there's a reason he brings him up lol..... So, I'm guessing we really like him. He's got 2 club options left, at 6 and 6.5 mill. Does Happ, Monty, and one of Short or Ademan get him? Or is that not in the ballpark? Or straight up...... Schwarber for Doolittle? Issue number 1 being the Nats have Eaton, Robles, and Soto in the OF. Making Schwarber a rough fit. Unless they use him at 1st and platoon him with Zimmerman? No idea. Don't see him as a fit though....... Happ playing multiple positions makes him a fit, maybe even as a full time 2B, if they think he's able to hack it there.....

You've got these guys off after 2019- Duensing-3.5, Kintzler-5, Zobrist-14, Hamels-14(if we just pick up the option), Morrow-10.5, Strop-6.25, Smyly-5, Cishek-7, Total-65.25 On the other hand, these guys are due raises...... KB(2nd to 3rd yr arb), Hendricks(2-3), La Stella(2-3), Javy(1-2), Schwarber(1-2), Monty(1-2), Edwards(1-2), plus the 1st Year of Arb for Willy, Almora, and Happ...... Some of that group will be gone. But, if KB, Javy, and Hendricks have good years in 2019, that's 20 mill of raises right there. Let's say Willy gets 4 and Happ gets 3....... The rest are gone. Outside of Carl, who let's say gets a mill raise. So, the 65 mill you're losing, very quickly becomes 37. And then, Rizzo's 5.857 cap number also jumps to 14.5. That's over 8.5 more, to bring that number down under 30. And who knows what kind of needs we'll have to fill, at that point...... But, if we had my original offseason, Bryce, Marwin, Chavez, Rivera, and Robertson, that puts us at 285? Subtract what we've got coming off, and we're still over the top end, by 10 mill, before addressing any needs at all...... (Chatwood and his 12.666 and Quintana and his 10.5 are the likely contracts to be moved off by then) At any rate, all I'm saying is that once we go over(which I only expect us to go over the top end of it nets Manny or Bryce), it's not easy whatsoever to actually go back under...... Again, I think we'll go over. But, maybe not at the level I mentioned previously. Maybe the trade of Schwarber brings us our main pen arm. Maybe Chavez and Rivera aren't important. Maybe we go with the Hecchevarria type at 2 mill, versus the 9 or whatever Marwin costs...... No freaking idea. Other than even with our new TV Deal on the way, I don't see us just staying over the top end consistently. Don't see that being a Ricketts thing either, as much as I think it'll be a Theo thing..... But again, we've not even heard a single payroll rumor yet...... I'm putting the over/under at 265 myself. I think you can get Bryce and make smart, lower cost moves, to fill in the other holes, but mostly thru trade and not FA.

What do you mean, by any scenario? If you mean, on top of adding Bryce, Castellanos, and one of Iglesias or Kipnis, the answer seemingly is no..... If you look at our payroll after bringing back Hamels, we're basically sitting around 225, counting the BS extras that go into the LT. Add Bryce. That's gotta be a 35 AAV, right? Hell, might be more. At any rate, that moves you to 260. You've still got to add a pen arm with at least some back end experience. Maybe bring Chavez back too. Maybe look at a backup C. And still find a guy that can play some SS...... My ideal off season is Chavez at 5, Bryce at 35, Robertson at 12, Gonzalez at 9, and Rivera at 3. With Schwarber being moved for a solid pre Arb pen arm and a fairly solid starter prospect.(Alzolay level) At any rate, THAT off season puts the LT number around 285. And I don't think we'll go 40 over the top end honestly. If you go that far over, you've got over a 15 mill tax hit, just on the overage. Plus, more on the 206-246 range too..... And I truly feel like Theo will at least ATTEMPT to sell this as it only being a one year thing, then we can head back under the top end......(Although, I doubt we will actually go back under) So, I don't know...... Get rid of Duensing and Kintzler. Saves you 8.5. But, I'm still not sold on us actually attaching assets to move shitty deals. We'll see though...... I don't think Heyward or Chatwood can be moved personally. Or at least not in a sensible deal. Short of something like Chatwood and Kintzler to Toronto for Martin..... Maybe they'd look at Russell as the value needed to take on the 2nd year of Chatwood. No idea.

Hmm, I'm still seeing his last Arb year as 2019. At any rate, I figure he's a guy that gets 15-20 mill per on the open market. Assuming we do go over the upper end to get one of Bryce or Manny, I honestly don't see us filling in with even more relatively expensive guys. If Schwarber is gone, I'd figure Happ or some other guy we acquire, at well under that type of salary, since up being our answer....... Hence, why I'm liking a Marwin Gonzalez signing to pair with Bryce. He's probably half the eventual salary of a Castellanos, yet can also play back up SS.

Castellanos makes some sense for us. But, he's a pure rental. And as a horrible defender too, I seriously doubt he's costing very much in trade...... Corner guys don't bring that much of a return, in general. He certainly wouldn't cost Schwarber or Happ. The problem though, in figuring out potential landing spots for a Schwarber, is aligning his clock, with the acquiring teams clock. Kyle only has 3 years of control himself. So, a team like Detroit probably has little to no interest in him honestly, because their window isn't current or maybe not even for another couple of years...... I think that IF Schwarber gets dealt, it's to Tampa, Oakland, Seattle, Minnesota, Angels, or Texas...... 1) I think they'd trade him to an AL team to maximize value and 2) To a team that figures to think of themselves as competitive now and that may not want or have the funds to spend huge currently.

Hope he finds a good gig, but he clearly wasn't a good fit for us. Dongs shall make a comeback next year.

Nothing new.

They handled it really poorly for sure and I think Thibs isn’t that great a coach. But this is still a lot of Jimmy just being a complete horsefeathers and thinking he’s way better than he really is. I wouldn’t want my team to have him at this point and give him the big extension. I think he’s just incredibly hard to get along with and don’t think you ever are winning with him. Agree completely. But, Thibs knows him better than just about anyone. They needed to know the contract stuff and everything up front with Jimmy. If you think you're definitely keeping him long term, then its one thing..... But my honest guess is they made this deal and just hoped for the best. In my mind, Thibs needed to know more and should have known this was a potential outcome.

Man, we really got lucky...... So glad we dealt him when we did. Honestly, Thibs or Layden or both probably need to lose their jobs over this. His value is basically non existent at this stage.

So LaVine and Dunn have looked good so far. Carter too. Portis looks like he's taken another step too.... But Jabari lol..... He fits in much better with the second unit, but he's already making waves after one game. And its even the best he's looked lol. Personally, I want him and LaVine on the court together as little as possible. Much easier to mask one bad defender than 2.

The TWolves cancelled their practice today, so Jimmy couldn't bust in again lol. I'm assuming he's getting dealt today. If not, this is hilarious.

Assuming any trades bring us pitching and not hitting, which may not even be true, but whatever..... If we get Bryce, give me Marwin or Escobar, to pair with him. Although, going with Iglesias or Half is MAY be a better fit. If we get Manny, get me the same, or maybe Chisenhall, if he's healthy.

So, I'm guessing you're figuring we just don't have the luck for a pitcher to come back from TJS? Or do actually think Smyly healthy, is far worse than Monty? im saying expecting anything out of the guy who last pitched in 2016, had a 4.5 FIP that season (his only season with anything resembling a full workload) and THEN had TJ is probably not wise. But, we aren't looking at him as anything close to a fulltime pitcher, are we? In my initial post, I'm suggesting using him as a pen guy. We have 5 starters and Monty and Chatwood rolling around, with an entire off-season to add more depth too. Figure that trying to capitalize on Monty thru trade isn't a horrible idea..... We've got more depth right now than at any point under Theo, at this point anyway. After this season, I'm trying my damndest to find as many potential bright spots as possible.

Guess we're just fucked completely then and rebuild or quit watching baseball.

maybe it slipped that Drew Smyly, Alec Mills, and Alzolay are next up im not opposed to moving on from monty ahead of his inevitable turn into a pumpkin but hoisting up these three turds in his place is not exactly enticing So, I'm guessing you're figuring we just don't have the luck for a pitcher to come back from TJS? Or do actually think Smyly healthy, is far worse than Monty?

Certainly didn't say WE want them. But, they are evidently available, making Bradley realistic.