KingCubsFan

That's a ridiculous lineup. I do t even know who is on the US team but it can't be better then that.

If there's an issue with his arm, I'd rather just take the comp pick next year and try again on somebody healthy.

No. One SI.com article said the only defensible thing about the deal is how bad it makes the team now, and I think that's the closest thing to a defense I've seen. And the hell of it is, it probably doesn't even make the team THAT bad unless Dunn and LaVine both turn into their worst-case scenarios. A basket of future picks probably would've made the team really bad, but they wouldn't even go that route apparently. FWIW, Boston supposedly wasn't offering 3 or next year's Nets pick (Danny Ainge is allergic to trading anything with any value at all), so who knows if there was a better deal out there. Based on the info coming out today, it sounds like neither Boston nor Phoenix was willing to give up their pick. This was the best offer.

I don't think they trade for George without getting a strong commitment he's re-signing. I think it's Butler they are going to target and either Heyward or sign and trade for Blake. I think they'd do it, without a commitment. He'd come cheaper and they'd have all year to get him into playing there. I honestly figure we want 3, NJ's pick next year, more picks, and Smart and Crowder. I know how ridiculous that sounds, but that's how ridiculous I think our guys are in valuing Jimmy. He's the team's only asset one of the best trade chips available. They should ask for the moon but I hope internally they're a bit more realistic

If they banned him from the park, I'd be OK with it.

I haven't seen much film on Darnold, so I can't really speak to his footwork or pocket awareness, but the hype seems to be regarding his physical tools. It sounds that his throwing motion may have to be rebuilt as well. Does he hang in the pocket as well as Trubisky, does he escape only after his receivers have had a chance to get open or when he's in imminent peril? Does he slide instead of scamper? Does he have the vision to throw receivers open? does he keep his feet under him? When his eyes move, can he keep his feet still? these are all things that Trubisky does well and set him apart from the rest of his draft class. he's not a freak from any kind of physical perspective, like Darnold is, but he's able to do most of the things that translate well to the NFL. does Darnold show these traits? I don't know. Lets say he has all those things. I can think of two or three recent guys who had those things and were pretty favorably ranked as top picks.... and returned for another year of eligibility. The whole idea is putting a bunch of hope in a relative unknown where the variables are wide ranging. All to fly in the face of whats known now because the opportunity later could be better. I actually think the next Luck could be sitting there and a sizable portion of Bears fans would talk themselves out of it because the prospect of some future unknown is more appealing to them than the chance of striking out on a QB. I'm sure the Bears scouted next year's prospects as well and determined that it was still worth going after Trubisky rather than tanking another year for one of next year's QBs.

Who cares? Sixth round picks are generally worthless.

Addy is gonna be just as difficult to extend as KB for the same reason Very true. One more question off the Willson one. Bryce Harper signs a 10-year contract with an AAV of $37 to $40 million after the 2018 season. Since Scott Boras would have just negotiated that, would you as GM be willing to approach him and offer the same exact deal for Bryant? Bryant would be entering his age 27 season in 2019 and would still be under control through 2021 even if you don't do anything. This would lock him up for his first 10 years of free agency, going through his age 39 season. Obviously, that deal would be rough in the final couple seasons, but that's also what free agency presents for the best of the best. OK. I'll stop now. Realistically, that deal is going to include an opt-out after a few years out, so you would really only be locking up 1-2 years of free agency with all the downside risk.

I like hearing both rumors, because the loser at 2 still probably wants to trade to 3. Yeah, exactly. I don't want the Bears to take Trubisky, but I want him available at 3. Otherwise, the Bears probably don't have much of an opportunity to trade back.

Being able to stay hitting, whether it's DH or position on non-pitching days apparently is a big deal to him. No team should be stupid enough to offer that, by almost all accounts I've read he's a non-prospect, essentially, as a hitter. Cubs should offer it. He'll realize it's a bad idea after a year or so.

Pineda with Bosio could be really intriguing.

I mean 1/4 of our playoff rotation was absolute trash last year and we still won the world series...and arrieta was just decent overall. lester and hendricks were great, obviously. the point is, our starting pitching was a bit of a mixed bag and we won it all. Arrieta was really good in 3 of 4 starts last playoffs. That team absolutely had a 3 horse rotation and to think otherwise is ridiculous. But he's gone after the season and Lester is another year older. You don't mess around with any of the premium years of this core by putting out a playoff rotation of Lester/Hendricks/Mike Montgomery?/Cobb?/Liriano?/Butler?/Mills?. This FO may be the best in the business at recognizing and developing amateur offensive talent. Up to this point, they've been bad at recognizing and developing amateur pitching talent. I have all the faith in the world that they can find another Happ. I don't believe they can find a guy like, say, Chris Archer. Eddie Butler and Mike Montgomery disagree.

So he can fight for 350 PAs each of the next 2 years at the big league level, while 60% of the starting rotation reaches FA? This organization knows how to find people to pitch well enough to win games with this defense and offense. I'm not all that worried about it, whether they sign a couple guys or trade for someone who is undervalued. Trading what is starting to look like an elite young bat (drafted and developed by guys who have had quite a bit of success with that recently) isn't a necessity. I generally agree, although I'd put him in a package for Quintana.

They gave away 30,000 of them at the game last night so I'm sure they'll start popping up on EBay.

Hopefully Rondon can keep it up. That way, our playoff bullpen can go from: Edwards .... to Edwards Rondon .....

Also, Arizona Phil mentioned Jose Paulino has been moved to Myrtle Beach's bullpen in minor league camp. What happened to Kyle Twomey? He didn't have a bad year last year.

I don't remember Ryan Kalish playing at all last year, but apparently he got 10 plate appearances.

The Cardinals would be even better. With the game ending on Javy throwing out somebody trying to attempt a meaningless steal.

The Patriots are running circles around the rest of the league. Looks like they may trade Malcolm Butler for Brandin Cooks.

He's going to the Patriots

I would have preferred Taylor, but I'll give Glennon a chance. He played well in his rookie year before Lovie stepped in. And we all know how well Lovie does with developing quarterbacks.

Is he really that different from Hoyer?

Javy

Jason Heyward: Takes Bad Swings, Makes Great Speeches

I would agree with you, except that the Cubs' staffs have been very healthy the past few years. So I think they've found something deeper than that. My guess is that they've found that there's no such thing as a "perfect" delivery and tweaking a natural delivery either increases injury risk or keeps it neutral.