Little Slide Rooter

That's a pretty line from not-Edwin Jackson as far as non quality starts go.

Bonifacio has been a very pleasant surprise, but if the return is anything greater than a pair of raw, hard throwing A ball relievers, color me shocked.

How great would it be off all MLB teams plotted to break out in a televised flurry of dugout hugs and handshakes at approximately 8PM tonight, just to watch the blogosphere implode?

He's only 26? Could have sworn he was closer to 30.

Mark DeRosa 2008 WAR: 1.8 (149 games) Emilio Bonifacio 2014 WAR 1.3 (69 games)

Holy cow - that is Deeeeepressing. Shut him down for the season and try bringing him along slowly in instructional I guess. On the bright side, that 117.00 ERA has nowhere to go but down.

I was browsing the VSL/DSL rosters the other day and came up with 6 guys to keep an eye on based on stat scouting and DOB: Alfredo Colorado Erling Moreno (well, this one was kind of obvious) Eugenio Palma Luis Hidalgo Wladimir Galindo Yohan Matos No Carlos A. Rod?

They are all dcvalpo sock puppets. He's like the Mick Foley of NSBB.

Pretty much. Villanueva too. These guys are the equivalent of a $20 gift card to a store you don't really like. No harm in taking a look around, even if you only walk out with Post-Its and and paper clips.

I'd love to her ahold of Foltynewicz, McCullers, or Feliz without giving up any of the future five. Perhaps we could build something around Vogelbach.

http://giphy.com/gifs/ENSIvmfCrBER2 [expletive] it, I can't post gifs. So instead, I'll use this space to mention Shawon Dunston Jr. having himself a monster July. .410/.426/.525/.951 in 61 AB

Probably what's been going on in the Darwin Barney front the last week or so:

Darvish, eh?

What causes top prospects to do a belly flop when they get to the majors? I'm not talking about raw high schoolers who simply didn't pan out. I'm not talking guys who had one hot season, leading to one appearance on back half of a top 100 list. I'm not talking about guys who had initial success before being injured or exposed. I'm talking about guys who were drafted as stud prospects, did exactly what was expected of them throughout the minors, frequented the top 50 during their time in the minors, and immediately crashed and then flopped the moment the reached the bigs. IE Brandon Wood, Daric Barton, Andy Marte, Andy Laroche. Obviously the big leagues are a whole new world in terms of what you're up against, but there must have been some indication to those coaching and developing them that big league pitching (or in the case of pitchers, hitting) would waste no time eating them alive.

And he grounds out to former mega-prospect Andy Marte. When you see a brawl like that, you expect Low A or rookie ball, but half these guys are former big leaguers, though mostly AAAA. Hell, we had Kameron Loe for about a minute and a half last year. And all I remember of him looking like somebody you'd want on you side during this kind of melee.

Kris Bryant has been in a slump for the past 10 days. Slumping Kris Bryant hits .275/.841.

So Dan Straily is essentially AAAA Edwin Jackson. Next.

I thought its illegal to commit rape, murder, molest, grope, cork, stuff, bang, or commit battery of a baseball on NSBB as of last week? Javy sure did take that baseball to prom though if you know what I mean! Sorry. What I meant was Javy hit a ball really hard....right in it's tight vagina. Was it consensual? He identity thefted that ball and racked up several thousand dollars worth of Amazon and E Bay purchases.

Very weird, but I'm not bothered. Some seem to think it's to be stretched to start, others to give his arm a rest. Could simply be that I Cubs are winning, C Cubs, not so much.

That sounds horrible. Thank goodness they won't really do that. If they were relying on them, yes. But as depth, then would rather have youngish, one time well regarded prospects or random AAAA rank and file?

This should be good for my fantasy team (even though we use QS and not W) Speaking of fantasy, imagine Baumgartner, Peavy, Cain, Lincecum, and Hudson all in their respective prime and in a single rotation.

My guess is that it still flares up occasionally but not as often. If we win the WS, I'll still think it sometimes but probably won't feel like arguing it (kind of like how Epstein left Boston in a mess, but it's not worth arguing because they did win the WS the one time they made the playoffs). I hope it never comes to this, but I'm more curious what happens if we plateau out at benign mediocrity. What happens if the following plausible scenario happens: 2015: Finish around .500 2016: Contend for playoff spot all year but finish outside the playoffs, something like the 90-72 2012 Rays 2017: Have one of those "every pitcher gets injured" years that good teams have sometimes, finish 84-78, out of playoffs What will the fanbase's mood look like then? They'll do what every fan base does when this happens. They'll gripe, and they'll get over it by training camp. The whole point of this plan wasn't to win a World Series or to open a window. It was to position the organization to have the resources to win year after year after year. That doesn't mean win every year. It means that when there is an off year, they can get right back in it the following season without a massive splurge. Even as they win, they'll continue to build the farm. They'll continue building depth with low risk acquisitions such as Luis Valbuena, Scott Feldman, Adrian Cardenas, Mike Olt, Ian Stewart, Jake Arrieta, Scott Baker, Arodys Vizcaino, Ryan Kalish, Lars Anderson, and Chris Coghlan with champaign hopes but box wine expectations, as opposed to filling the same spots with proven mediocrity.

Happy I Guess It's Better Then Edwin Jackson Day Day.

Edwin Jackson day is like Christmas for the other team.

Valbuena, Coghlan, Ruggiano, Wright, Russell, and Lake could all be cost effective role players going forward. No point in dealing them for junk or even slot $. For Jackson, we're on the hook for 2 more years at $11MM a pop. If somebody wants to pick up a sizable chunk of that, or at least give us another Vizcaino type, sure. If not, no point taking that kind of bath at least until next year. It's not like we have anyone chomping at the bit for his spot.