Southpaw19

Done and done. This is your first bench transaction. Next one is eligible after 6/14.

That is correct. Done and done. This is your first main roster transaction for the first half. You have two remaining.

2023 HR DERBY SCOREBOARD (as of May 14, 2023) 1. Andy (88) +14 2. BaconRev (86) +9 SammySofa (86) +8 4. SouthSideRyan (85) +12 5. evv98 (83) +13 6. texascub (82) +9 7. sweetpeteman (81) +6 8. Tomthebombadil (77) +10 9. Rex Buckingham (fka abmillis) (76) +10 10. Derwood (75) +8 11. tinkertini26 (70) +14 12. The Hitmen (58) +8 13. Southpaw19 (50) +8 14. Ketel Corn (49) +7 15. McGlovin (47) +7 16. Strange Wizards (44) +10 17. YellowJackets (43) +8 18. Soler Storm (37) +5 The Lollygaggers (37) +6 20. Inglorious Batters (36) +4 Biggest Output of the Week: Andy and tinkertini26 BEST POSSIBLE TEAM SCORE (118) C Salvador Perez OR Sean Murphy (9) 1b Pete Alonso (13) 2b Brandon Drury OR Marcus Semien (7) 3b Patrick Wisdom OR Max Muncy (12) ss Bo Bichette (8) LF Randy Arozarena (10) CF Luis Robert Jr (11) RF Adolis García OR Hunter Renfroe (10) DH Matt Olson (11) B1 Ozzie Albies (10) B2 Josh Lowe (9) B3 Jarred Kelenec (8)

Done and done. x2 These were you first and second transactions for the first half. You have one remaining (main roster).

Done and done. This is your third and final (main roster) transaction for the first half.

2023 HR DERBY SCOREBOARD (as of May 7, 2023) 1. SammySofa (78) +9 2. BaconRev (77) +13 3. sweetpeteman (75) +9 4. Andy (74) +16 5. SouthSideRyan (73) +10 texascub (73) +11 7. evv98 (70) +14 8. Derwood (67) +13 Tomthebombadil (67) +11 10. Rex Buckingham (fka abmillis) (66) +14 11. tinkertini26 (56) +10 12. The Hitmen (50) +12 13. Ketel Corn (42) +7 Southpaw19 (42) +6 15. McGlovin (40) +8 16. YellowJackets (35) +12 17. Strange Wizards (34) +5 18. Inglorious Batters (32) +6 Soler Storm (32) +7 20. The Lollygaggers (31) +6 Biggest Output of the Week: Andy BEST POSSIBLE TEAM SCORE (105) C Sean Murphy (9) 1b Pete Alonso (11) 2b Brandon Lowe (7) 3b Max Muncy (12) ss Bo Bichette (7) LF Randy Arozarena (9) CF Byron Buxton OR Mike Trout (8) RF Adolis García (9) DH Patrick Wisdom (11) B1 Ozzie Albies (9) B2 Jarred Kelenec (7) B3 Josh Lowe (6)

1. Yes you can do this. 2. Julio is only $75. 3. These moves put your roster at $975. Move Vlad from DH to 1B Move Abreu from 1B to DH Drop Abreu Add Julio to DH Done and done - this is your first main roster transaction of the first half. You have 2 remaining.

Yes. I always go by post time/date.

The following is the Scoreboard I couldn't post 5/3 because of the site being down: 2023 HR DERBY SCOREBOARD (as of April 30, 2023) 1. SammySofa (69) +12 2. sweetpeteman (66) +13 3. BaconRev (64) +12 4. SouthSideRyan (63) +6 5. texascub (62) +11 6. Andy (58) +13 7. evv98 (56) +8 Tomthebombadil (56) +9 9. Derwood (54) +8 10. Rex Buckingham (fka abmillis) (52) +7 11. tinkertini26 (46) +9 12. The Hitmen (38) +6 13. Southpaw19 (36) +11 14. Ketel Corn (35) +6 15. McGlovin (32) +3 16. Strange Wizards (29) +9 17. Inglorious Batters (26) +7 18. Soler Storm (25) +4 The Lollygaggers (25) +10 20. YellowJackets (23) +2 Biggest Output of the Week: sweetpeteman + Andy BEST POSSIBLE TEAM SCORE (---) ~ Coming NEXT WEEK (5/7 updated scoreboard)! ~

Done and done. These are your first and second transactions of the first half. You have one (1) remaining.

Time to make some moves... Bench Drop Jordan Walker Add Brandon Lowe CF Drop Michael Harris $50 Add Byron Buxton $75 LF Drop Seth Brown $75 Add Joey Gallo $50

Done and done. This is your first bench transaction - April 26

Add Nolan Gorman (2b) $50 Drop Jazz Chisholm Jr (2b) $50 Add R. Devers (3b) $75 Drop Alex Bregman (3b) $75 Add Wander (B) Drop Gunnar (B) Done and done x3. These are your first and second transactions of the first half. You have one remaining. With your bench move made on 4/25, your next one will be eligible anytime after May 25.

2023 HR DERBY SCOREBOARD (as of April 23, 2023) 1. SammySofa (57) +19 SouthSideRyan (57) +19 3. sweetpeteman (53) +17 4. BaconRev (52) +15 5. texascub (51) +17 6. evv98 (48) +14 7. Tomthebombadil (47) +12 8. Derwood (46) +14 9. Andy (45) +14 Rex Buckingham (fka abmillis) (45) +14 11. tinkertini26 (37) +11 12. The Hitmen (32) +8 13. Ketel Corn (29) +11 McGlovin (29) +4 15. Southpaw19 (25) +6 16. Soler Storm (21) +4 YellowJackets (21) +5 18. Strange Wizards (20) +7 19. Inglorious Batters (19) +3 20. The Lollygaggers (15) +8 Biggest Output of the Week: SammySofa + SouthSideRyan BEST POSSIBLE TEAM SCORE (---) ~ Coming Soon! ~

Sorry for the scoreboard delay this week. I've been fighting with Xfinity about my Internet service. The updates through Sunday's games will be up by tonight.

According to MLB.com, it's Wesneski vs. Kershaw and Stroman vs. May

Good grief ... the Bad News Bears are embarrassed by the Oakland Athletics. Woof. But I'll take it.

2023 HR DERBY SCOREBOARD (as of April 16, 2023) 1. SammySofa (38) +18 SouthSideRyan (38) +12 3. BaconRev (37) +12 4. sweetpeteman (36) +13 5. Tomthebombadil (35) +13 6. evv98 (34) +13 texascub (34) +14 8. Derwood (32) +16 9. Andy (31) +12 Rex Buckingham (fka abmillis) (31) +15 11. tinkertini26 (26) +11 12. McGlovin (25) +9 13. The Hitmen (24) +11 14. Southpaw19 (19) +7 15. Ketel Corn (18) +6 16. Soler Storm (17) +9 17. Inglorious Batters (16) +9 YellowJackets (16) +4 19. Strange Wizards (13) +4 20. The Lollygaggers (7) +1 Biggest Output of the Week: SammySofa BEST POSSIBLE TEAM SCORE (---) ~ Coming Soon! ~

The great seat debate. Whether you’re going with friends, family, business associates, or even by yourself (I have done it)... one of the biggest decisions when going to a Cubs game is where to sit. Do you go straight to the bleachers? Is that your favorite place in Wrigley Field? Is the thought of no real, assigned seats up your alley? Are you young enough where no back to your seat will not cause excruciating back pain? Does Left Field suck? Does Right Field suck? Are you only going to the game to contribute to the beer cup snake? Perhaps behind home plate is more your speed? You could be as close to the field as your bank account will allow, and maybe you’ll be on TV! You could still be behind the plate, but further back, so that you’re closer to the concourse. Imagine your choice of food options, all right near your seats. (Although dare not dream too big; we all know it can be a bit of a bear to get down and grab certain items due to lines and congestion on the small concourses of the old park. Now that the game is held to a timer, that could cost you a couple of innings.) The biggest problem with sitting here, however, is depth perception. OH MAN, that ball is OUTTA…. Oh. Popped it up to the pitcher. Oh well. Maybe you would rather be down one of the baselines, but within the infield. You can have a clear view of the pitcher’s mound, and get an unobstructed view of the entire playing field. You could be down the baseline, but at the same time be in left or right field. Do you dare sit near the “Bartman Seat” in left field? Have you been to the Upper Deck level? This is another place where depth perception goes to die. Have you ever sat next to the media booths that jut out far enough, where you could be leaning up against a concrete wall? I have. It may not be the best seat in Wrigley, but it allows you to focus on the game below you. Until the renovation gave over too much of the space to wealthy, high-value ticket holders, the upper deck was where one could reliably find fans who had come out of sheer, unvarnished, unpretentious love of the game. I will tell you that for me, just about any seat in Wrigley Field is a good one, because you’re at Wrigley Field. However, probably where you don’t want to be is in the 200 level, where your view is blocked or impaired in some way by one of the posts. My blog is named with Aisle 220 in the title, because I had a good friend whose family had season tickets there. She would take a chunk of games, and we would all go to Wrigley Field. Sadly, she passed away in 2011, but I will always remember the fun times in Aisle 220. View full article

2023 HR DERBY SCOREBOARD (as of April 9, 2023) 1. SouthSideRyan (26) +18 2. BaconRev (25) +20 3. sweetpeteman (23) +18 4. Tomthebombadil (22) +15 5. evv98 (21) +15 6. SammySofa (20) +15 texascub (20) +12 8. Andy (19) +13 9. abmillis (16) +13 Derwood (16) +13 McGlovin (16) +8 12. tinkertini26 (15) +10 13. The Hitmen (13) +9 14. Ketel Corn (12) +10 Southpaw19 (12) +10 YellowJackets (12) +5 17. Strange Wizards (9) +6 18. Soler Storm (8) +6 19. Inglorious Batters (7) +4 20. The Lollygaggers (6) +2 Biggest Output of the Week: BaconRev BEST POSSIBLE TEAM SCORE (---) ~ Coming Soon! ~

Stroman works out of a jam to keep it 1-0. Nicely done. Stressful, but nice.

Or more like the 2014 Cubs… or maybe somewhere in-between? At the end of the 2014 MLB Season, the Chicago Cubs finished sixteen games under .500, finishing in last place in the NL Central. During that offseason heading into 2015, the Cubs made radical changes, and that started with hiring Joe Maddon as manager. We all know the story behind that move, and how a contract loophole with Tampa Bay’s front office led to Joe being able to walk away and get hired elsewhere. Continuing on to the offseason, Theo Epstein signed SP Jon Lester, SP Jason Hammel, C David Ross, and RP Jason Motte. They did not stop there, however, as they acquired CF Dexter Fowler in a trade with the Houston Astros. Obviously we know in hindsight how much of a contribution most of these players made in 2016. However, this was the year they signed, and their first season as a Cub was 2015. Kyle Schwarber and Kris Bryant debuted in 2015. Javier Baez debuted in 2014. The Cubs did not really have any breakout prospects ready to start 2023 with the main club. There are one or two that are on the not-too-distant horizon, but I can’t see them helping this team to the postseason - at least not from April’s vantage point. If you want to just scratch the surface and look at wins and losses, the 2015 team was twenty-four wins better than the previous season. However, they still finished third in their division, thanks to bigger win totals from the Cardinals and Pirates (the Pirates?!). Taking a deeper look, you had a Cy Young season from Jake Arrieta, who had a record-setting second half of the season. In 2014, the Cubs’ monthly record hovered around, or several games below .500 all year. In 2015, they were 42-18 from August 1 onward. In one of my favorite stats - when scoring four runs or more - the Cubs were 71-20 in 2015 (improvement over the 54-20 record in 2014). Thanks to the Wild Card playoff qualifier, the Chicago Cubs made the postseason in 2015, thanks to having a better record than the rest of the teams in the hunt. They took care of the Pirates in that Wild Card game, and advanced to the NLDS where they played rival St. Louis and vanquished them as well. They made it all the way to the NLCS, taking on but losing the series to the New York Mets. Now I’m not writing this to take you down memory lane (good or bad). The point I am getting towards is: the 2014 Cubs were bad, and began an overhaul in that offseason looking towards 2015 as an improvement year - not necessarily with an eye to the postseason. They overachieved and had a great run in the second half. The 2022 Cubs were bad in the first half, but gained a little bit of momentum in the second half, finished strong, and provided some hope for 2023’s improvement. During the offseason, Jed Hoyer signed SS Dansby Swanson, CF Cody Bellinger, SP Jameson Taillon, DH Trey Mancini, 1B Eric Hosmer, among others. Manager David Ross remained, but he is not Joe Maddon. Now I’m not in any way saying the 2023 Cubs are a 97 win team. Far from it. They don’t even have a set “core” in place yet, as they did before. What I am asking is, who are the 2023 Cubs? Are they still in the 2014 realm, if we’re comparing rebuilds towards a championship? Are they going to be overachievers and show more improvement than projected? Can they make the postseason in the now-expanded Wild Card Playoff format? Perhaps more realistically – are they somewhere between 2014 and 2015, comparatively speaking? I will say this: the age-old adage of “You cannot win a division in April, but you sure can lose one” always rings in the back of my mind every season. As I sit here and write, we are only five games deep to the 2023 season. The Cubs are 2-3. In 2014 the Cubs were 1-4 after five games, and 9-16 in April. In 2015 the Cubs were 3-2 after five games, and 12-8 in April. Does any of that mean anything? Of course not. But … What can we possibly expect? Time will tell.

Mainly his spring, because I don't remember much of his '22. Though I know he's always been on and off during the regular season.

As much as I don't want to spread any negativity; I said before the season started, that I would assume a loss in any game Smyly starts. I would gladly take a win by surprise in his games though.