Clem Fandango

Vlad's contact ability pales in comparison to the immortal Juan Pierre!!!!

Let's just all give thanks in knowing this was the result of him attempting to tag Anthony Rizzo at the plate, and this is his penance for trying to stop the Cubs from steamrolling his dreams.

Nationals are reportedly interested on acquiring Brandon Phillips. I'm sure Dusty has nothing to do with that at all.

You're 7,000,000 spots ahead of me.

I hope not. I feel like like every year there's reports or people overvaluing him immensely like he's some sort of heralded talent. Even at his most hyped I still didn't think he was anything special Did anybody still think Jake Arrieta was an important prospect 2 years ago? No, because Jake Arrieta had thrown 300+ innings and wasn't a prospect.

Ill buy them if he doesn't. For real.

I'm 100% happy with where the team is at right now. If they stopped their offseason today I'd be the happiest I've been in the last 10 years with a Cubs offseason. But like others have stated they can still do SO much more. We've added four quality pieces and are now the #1 projected team in baseball by a fair margin without trading any prospects or youngsters (save for Castro, but the return was good). That's ridiculous. What's even more crazy is some of those coveted young players/prospects are now expendable and they could add even more talent if they wanted. And they absolutely should. There are so many options available I can't even pick a dream trade to play around with that I like more than another.

http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-Momentum-On-Ear-Headphone/dp/B00D77UA44/ref=redir_mobile_desktop?ie=UTF8&keywords=sennheiser%20momentum&pi=AC_SX110_SY165_QL70&qid=1449808872&ref_=mp_s_a_1_10&sr=8-10 I'm not saying I'd make love to a pair of headphones, but if I would...

I hope not. I feel like like every year there's reports or people overvaluing him immensely like he's some sort of heralded talent. Even at his most hyped I still didn't think he was anything special

Do people still think Casey Kelly is an important prospect?

Theo, quick! Flip Jeimer for Bradley!

Not that it makes a huge difference with that list, but Karns got traded to the Mariners earlier this offseason

Kemp to the Padres made the Dodgers better and the Padres worse than the previous year. That's how bad Kemp is.

Well Kemp is hot garbage.

Hmmm... Hypothetical: Soler package for Miller or Teheran (and/or others) Baez package for Odorizzi & McGee (and/or others) Trade Wood, Hammell, and Montero for salary relief and farm replenishing and/or bench strengthening Sign Heyward Sign Span How plausible is that? Is that even a good use of resources?

And Schwarber. And Baez. And more than that.

I assume the outfield at Kauffman is a bit larger than Wrigley so perhaps the transition wont be all that difficult. I assume it also hinges on who they acquire for CF. Plus in an injury shortened year Gordon was still worth 2.8 fWAR. Unless he gets the yips I would fully expect a 3+ win season our of him at either corner. Plus Soler, despite his upside, has been somewhat babied because of his own injury history, which he was unable to avoid this season again on multiple occasions. In Soler injury shortened year he was worth 0.1 fWAR. I'm not necessarily advocating a trade of Soler or signing of Gordon, but I would totally understand if the FO went that direction and be fine with that decision for reasons IMB mentioned above.

That's why I don't understand so many posters getting excited about Heyward or Gordon. I figure we have around $14 million after signing Lackey with a few more holes to fill, so I can't see Heyward/Gordon playing for a backloaded contract paying about $10 million next year. Also, I don't understand the closer rumors, unless it's part of a package deal getting a CF and/or SP also. Playing for a lower aav early in the contract probably doesn't mean much to the player if you meet their overall cost demands. Unless they're an egomaniac who demands to be the highest paid player at their position, as long as they sign that contract they're getting paid and probably will be open to being flexible to helping their team be successful early on to be in a better position to win, I would assume.

Was he going to share the part that was creative?

Funny enough, apparently everyone jumped the gun. [tweet] [/tweet] From Brett...

The rich get richer

Sure, if he isn't gonna get pissy about not being a closer That's literally the only hang up I'd have on Storen. Don't wanna trade assets for a guy who isn't gonna be a team player if they don't want him to be a closer. That said, Washington really unfairly dicked him around that role his entire career there. I'd be pissed too considering the difference in being a closer of his abilities and a setup man of his abilities would probably be 10's of millions of dollars.

Well Gordon's mediocre years were the years he spent acclimating to major league baseball after being one of the most hyped prospects of the 2000's. Between him and Matt Wieters, scouts and analysts were hyping them up like they were gonna be the GOAT of their era it seemed like. It took Gordon a few years to find his groove and in 2011 that's when he started being a consistent, valuable MLB player. It was also the year he became a full time LF'er, after being moved off 3B in the middle of 2010. Since being in LF Gordon has arguably been one of the best overall left fielders in baseball. His 2015 doesn't look as good as Fowler's because his numbers were down this past season due to his injury most likely. He had a Grade 2 groin strain in July and was out until September. There was a stretch from the middle of September to the end of the season where he slumped and went 10 for 56 (.178 AVG). Could be plausible that the groin issue was preventing him from going max effort, but the fact is his offensive production suffered and really knocked his numbers down a peg. He was probably headed to the ASG before his injury (was batting .279 with 11 HR on July 9th) and probably would've finished consistently with his previous numbers. Only thing about Gordon that worries me is his age (he'll be 32 in 2 months) and, as such, how big his contract will be. I have the utmost confidence in his abilities to be productive and valuable, I just have no clue how long it will last before he starts declining due to his age and since he's been one of the most valuable LF'ers in baseball, how many years that's going to put the Cubs on the hook for if they can sign him. Also, Soler's offensive profile is pretty different from Gordon's so comparing the two is kinda like apples and oranges. Soler has been profiled as one of the strongest hitters in the game and if/when he can figure it out he'll likely be a 30HR type of guy, but Gordon is never gonna be that guy. At his absolute best I'd expect Soler to put up at least one .900+ OPS season with a bunch more in the mid .800's or higher, Gordon is more of a mid-high .700's to mid .800's OPS guy with stellar defense type player, which is immensely valuable in his environment. They're kinda two different players so it's hard to compare the two, IMO. Plus if Soler still ends up needing a couple years before he starts consistently mashing (it took world destroying super prospect Alex Gordon 4 years to find his stroke so anything is possible), the difference between Soler and Gordon could be a chasm of WAR. Gordon has been worth 25.2 fWAR over the previous 5 seasons (and was worth 6.6 just a year earlier in 2014). We know that Gordon would provide immediate value and instantly help the team win vs. waiting for Soler to figure it out which could be next year or it could be two years from now. He's a bit of a wild card at this point. He looked good to end the year this season, but he looked good at the end of 2014, too, and we can see how well his 2015 went. To me, if singing Gordon means Soler has to go, it basically comes down to whether or not you want the immediate confidence you get in putting Gordon out there, or rolling the dice and hoping Soler is more feast instead of famine. I'm kinda torn either way. Love Soler and what he can do, but we can't see the future. If we knew it was gonna take a couple more years for him to piece it together, I'd rather have Gordon and trade Soler while he still has some big value to help the team elsewhere. But Soler is the type of player who might end up crushing 30 dongs next year and you don't want to miss out on those early years of affordable power. It's a bothersome predicament.