Clem Fandango

Soooo when do the Davis and HGH/Steroids stories start coming out? Speaking of...

Hale is arguably in their top 20. Mid 90s FB. Change. Slider. I'd have taken the deal. A 25 year old pitcher who is probably a 5th starter at best and a likely long reliever who just this year made it to AAA with a career 3.90 minor league ERA with a K/9 less than 7.5? Pass. You can find a more desperate team willing to give up someone of more value for Gregg, IMO. I'm not expecting greatness in return for Gregg, but I think the Cubs can do better.

*Looks up David Hale on B-R* http://i.imgur.com/qnniC.gif

Soooo when do the Davis and HGH/Steroids stories start coming out? I know that's kind of in jest, but in his defense, he has always kind of been a hulky lookin' dude. He'e been getting hits and hitting home runs all over the diamond, he's officially "figured it out"

Yes, I know. That didn't make it any less ridiculous at the time.

It's not that simple. A good chunk of Smardz' value is tied to his having 2 full years under team control. If the D Backs are willing to give up Skaggs for 2-3 months of Garza, then nice work if you can get it. Well they were willing to give up Bauer for a whole lot less. Unless people actually think Didi Gregorius is the 2nd coming of Derek Jeter like the D-Backs do. Less than Samardzija or less than 2-3 months of Garza? Either way, I made fun of them like everyone else, but Gregorius is pretty damn good. Gregorius has been pretty good this year, I'll admit. But that trade was pure lunacy. Trading away one of the best pitching prospects in all of baseball for a guy who just popped up on the Top 100 at #80? Obviously the D-Backs didn't agree with Bauer's methods and they wanted him gone, but they could've gotten a much better package and everyone knew it, but they were blinded by their gritty grit grit grit team building approach. But everything is coming out smelling like roses for them at the moment, so... more power to em EDIT: That being said, the D-Backs have a glut of pitching prospects. Skaggs has been less than stellar during the starts they've given him, and the D-Backs are 1st in their division and in need of a serious arm. Their collective ERA of all their starters not named Patrick Corbin is 4.82. That's awful. Corbin's ERA is bringing the team total down to 4.15. Only Milwaukee's rotation ERA is worse than that 4.82. D-Backs need a big arm, and I'd be willing to bet they'd let Skaggs go for someone like Garza given that they can fall back on guys like Bradley, Holmberg, Delgado, etc. Giving up Skaggs to fill a huge hole in your rotation with Garza might be something they would be willing to do if they get desperate enough/start to slip a bit.

It's not that simple. A good chunk of Smardz' value is tied to his having 2 full years under team control. If the D Backs are willing to give up Skaggs for 2-3 months of Garza, then nice work if you can get it. Well they were willing to give up Bauer for a whole lot less. Unless people actually think Didi Gregorius is the 2nd coming of Derek Jeter like the D-Backs do.

It will take a King's Ransom to pry Samardzija away from this team.

Off the top of my head I'd imagine the Cubs would be interested in guys like Martin Perez, Justin Grimm, Luke Jackson, etc. Their better pitching prospects, basically. They've got some decent pitching prospects to consider. As much as I like Olt and his upside, he made a lot more sense last year when the Cubs didn't really have a "3B of the future" and Baez was making people think he could move Castro off SS. With Bryant or Baez both likely capable of playing 3B long term, though, and with Vitters at AAA he becomes a little redundant at the moment and will eventually become an odd man out since those coming up behind him are probably a bit more talented. That being said, acquiring him could lead to a future lineup that includes in IF of Rizzo, Castro, Baez, Olt, and an OF of Bryant, Almora, and Soler. It'd be tough finding a better "lineup of the future" in all of baseball in that scenario.

If we can spin Olt's issues to make him an easily acquired secondary piece while acquiring a better prospect than him as the headliner in the same deal , that would be fine by me.

They'd have to go 32-52 to do it Don't stop believing! I would love to see the Bucs win the division overt he Cards and Reds, but after the past couple seasons I can't view their chances with anything but incredulity. Yeah. I really would like the Pirates to take the division. I know the Cubs haven't won a World Series and all that, but at least they've had several successful seasons in the last decade. The Pirates deserve a taste of glory for once.

Keep boosting that trade value, Garza!

They'd have to go 32-52 to do it Don't stop believing!

With the way Feldman has pitched this year combined with a weak crop of starting pitching trade targets and his low cost... I think he can fetch bit more. Not A LOT more, but a bit. He's just a rental so it's unreal to let expectations to get too high, but I think he can be used to get a prospect or two of a bit higher caliber than Blackburn and Susac. Possibly a guy in the Top 100 (in the 75-100 range), IMO.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2013/06/braves-expected-to-show-interest-in-gregg.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

Could've sworn they were in 3rd place in the central a week or two ago... winning 8 out of your last 10 can fix that while the Cards and Reds are 4-6 over that span

What the [expletive]. Who is he even playing for? Back with the Mariners.

From the "Is he still playing?" files... Raul Ibanez is batting .243 and has a .289 OBP... and he has an OPS of .822 thanks to his .533 SLG%. He hit his 18th home run today, good for 6th most in the AL. He hit 19 last year in 425 AB's, he's got 18 in 214 this year at the tender age of 41 and his projected year end totals have him on pace for 37 home runs.

It would be so wonderful if A-Rod kept Tweeting harmless things and Cashman kept flying off the handle reacting to them. A-Rod: Mom visited and made a really great meal for dinner! #momsareawesome Cashman: DAMNIT ALEX YOU PIECE OF [expletive]!!!!!

A few of those USA choices are horrid. Castellanos and Javy all the way.

It's a Phil Rogers article that says very little. Stop the presses

This was outstanding. That's awesome, but at the same time, Rodriguez didn't really do anything bad. Seems like Cashman just lost his marbles. I looked at that A-Rod tweet, which said "Just got the best news, Dr. Kelly cleared me to play games again!" or something to that effect and I was half expecting the Instagram photo to be of him playing XBox or something. Nope, just him talking to a doctor who gave him good news and he was excited about it. Apparently Cashman couldn't handle that because he wasn't cleared by Yankee doctors and he lost his [expletive].

my God, i just read about duck dynasty. it's in its THIRD SEASON. people will watch literally anything on tv. One of my best friends is the showrunner for Duck Dynasty. Spoiler alert: It's about 10% reality. That high? I know it only seems real that they casually decide to have auto races against each other and they bring in Nascar drivers as ringers cause they happened to be passing by, but unfortunately it's staged. Sorry guys!

I was just looking through Detroit's system. Those guys sure do love to rush their prospects through the minors.

my God, i just read about duck dynasty. it's in its THIRD SEASON. people will watch literally anything on tv. One of my best friends is the showrunner for Duck Dynasty. Spoiler alert: It's about 10% reality.