Little Slide Rooter

Speaking of relief pitchers, I just noticed that Zas hasn't pitched since 9/4. Could be injury related, but it would be interested to see him get a start or 2 before the end.

No Schwarber votes????????????? Ill have to assume that the "others" are all for Schwarber, unless there were a handful of Kawasaki enthusiasts. But who are the 11 meatballs who prefer Travis Wood to the 2 guys who finished just below him; you know, the ones who nailed down the 7th-9th innings for the first 3-4 months of the season.

Maybe I'm alone in this, but it really doesn't matter to me that they officially clinched on a loss, as they've pretty much had the division locked up since June.

It was more exciting when we'd flip our reclamations for more exciting reclamations. Then again, it's all we had to get excited about back then.

Those Mariners sure do love DH's.

Rick Porcello's 19-3 with a 3.23 ERA and 1.02 WHIP. Weren't the Red Sox laughed out of the building for giving him a 4 year contract? And who was it on this board who wanted him when nobody else wanted anything to do with him? One of the smart guys, I want to say Tiger or David.

Does he break our Top 10? I haven't been following much of anything below A, because of the whole big league club being good thing, so I'm not as familiar with the SL guys, though I have heard his name come up quite a bit. Could he fill the elite middle infield prospect void left by Torres, and Baez, Russell, and Castro before him?

Thanks to CR for this season, but more importantly, making 2010-2014 somewhat palatable.

Since his return, Joe Smith's pitched 4 IP with 0/7 BB/K, 0 H, 0 R. I know that 4 innings is a very S.S.S., but we had no problem condemning him after his first 3.2.

Rizz, Zobrist, Russ, KB, Soler, Fowler, Heyward, Ross, Montero, Javy, Coghlan, Contreras, LaStella, Lester, Jake, Lackey, Hendricks, Chapman, Rondon, Strop (barring further setback,) Edwards, Grimm, and Wood are virtual locks, leaving 2 spots: I'm thinking that Montgomery's left handedness buys him one. The next probably comes down to Hammel, Cahill, and Smith: Hammel: Now would be a good time to get him to the pen. Cahill: If deemed a better option than Hammel, which is why I think Hammel should spend season's end in the pen. Smith: We were quick to condemn him after 3.2 god awful innings; and while 2 stellar innings aren't going to cancel that out, who knows, maybe it really was the hammy. Dark horses: Zaz: He's been a nice late season surprise, and I look forward to seeing more of him; but I doubt it will be this October. Szczur: Perhaps in round 3 if they want an extra bat, but for now, I'm thinking that his right handedness makes him the odd man out.

Oh, and did they go over bullpen? Because I feel that's us, and it's not even close.

What was their logic for Gomez over Soler? And when picking Beltran>Heyward, did they take into consideration that one's a defensive liability and the other's one of the best defensive outfielders on the planet?

I'm thinking we'll see Almora, Candelario, and maybe Concepcion once Iowa's season's over, simply because they're going to be getting full playing time there, and by the time that happens, it will be time to give the regulars some time to rest up for the post season, so they'll be getting more time than they'd get now. Probably Kawasaki as well, because he's a loveable little mascot type. Murton, Rosario, and Rivero aren't on the 40 man. I agree with you on Murton on the nostalgia end, but if they were to make a change in the 40 man, it wouldn't be for that. They could maybe remove RJ Alvarez or Andury Acevedo (who I'm fairly certain that they simply forgot is even on the 40 man,) to make room for Rosario, Rivero or Leathersitch. But Rivero's an odd case; he was signed with some level of pro-experience, and despite his putting up mostly consistent numbers all along, he's never really made his way into the discussion for a call up or even the 40. Either way, I believe that anyone who wasn't on the 40 man as of yesterday isn't post season eligible. But seriously, how has Acevedo remained on the 40 man?

Wait, we won? And Joe Smith was back and was good?

I feel that Zaztrizzizziny (whatever) deserves a bit more credit for escaping a bases loaded, 0 out jam. He was looking rattled to the point where the inning could have been huge, but he fought out of it. Might have even saved himself a bus ride to Iowa, if for no other reason than to bring in a fresh arm after a long night.

I believe that the term you're looking for is "eclectic." But seriously, whether happened with this? If he is going to sign, it has to be in the next 24 hours, or he's not eligible for post season rosters. Right? I'm guessing he didn't get as much interest as he thought he was going to get. If I were him I'd beg a contender to sign him to a minor league deal with a 40 man slot just to have the chance to pitch in October. With someone like Pap with little left to prove, I'm thinking that he has his own short list of teams that he'd want to pitch for- probably the usuals (Cubs, Red Sox, Dodgers,) and none have shown interest. I mean if we were going to sign him, it would have been when Rondon and Strop went down.

I believe that the term you're looking for is "eclectic." But seriously, whether happened with this? If he is going to sign, it has to be in the next 24 hours, or he's not eligible for post season rosters. Right?

I just realized that Cardinals fans probably cheered for that too. I feel dirty.

Hooray for walk off wins! Hooray for *yaaawn* bed!

No. Sure feels like the longest though.

This game needs to end right about now before my eyes start to bleed.

And Eloy was pulled following a 2nd inning ground out. I guess we'll see him in a week or so.

I know that prospects switch hands all the time, but looking over some of the guys we gave up as either low level or mid tier prospects who became big league stars, it's kind of uncanny: On the top tier, there's Josh Donaldson, Chris Archer, and DJ LeMahieu (I know it's early to put him up here, but he's getting there.) Even if we didn't have the team we have now, it would be pointless to bang your head too hard over any of these guys, as you can't fault the trades that sent them off, and there was no indication that any of them would become what they did. On the new level are Josh Harrison, Wellington Castillo, and Justin Bour. Harrison's on a sharp and steady decline from his whole horsefeathers 2014 season. Castillo was pretty well blocked. As for Bour, I'm aware that as a 1B, his slash line is nothing special. However, I felt he deserved mention to the improbability of his amounting to anything more than a AAAA Slug Beast. And I suppose that I could also add Casey MaGehee here, though it's been some time since his improbable rise, inevitable crash, and lesser, repeat cycle. And then sprinkle in guys like Brandon Guyer, Marwin Gonzalez, Jerry Blevins, Al Alberquerque, and Ryan Flaherty (who's managed to maintain a big league job despite not being very good at it) who have or had strung together multiple productive, big league seasons. Again, this is by no means a lament so much as an observation. But how many teams have that kind of combination of former (mostly non top-shelf) prospects (meaning those who moved on from the Cubs before reaching the big leagues, Castillo being the exception) as stars or productive, big league mainstays at one time?

There is no drawback to this. I hope he is so good that he is worth a billion dollars by the time he hits free agency. I figure that between KB, Addi, and Jake, we should try and offer Boras part ownership of the team, and perhaps change the Wrigley to The Scott Boras Coliseum and Shrine.

Does Jeimer have any kind of trade value yet? The 3B job is kinda-sorta on lock down.