Gmoney08

Ive said this before but I think Baez to CF might be something we see in the future. I think he fits there much better than Castro. Baez is faster than Starlin & more agile & seems more explosive. Plenty of SS have made the jump to CF.

Maybe. It'll be nice to have Utley or Baez in that spot by next month though. Coghlan looks shaky. Utley is worse than Castro & less likely to have any bounce back considering he is 36.

you have literally no clue what they were asking for in what deals. and teams usually cherry pick players in trades. thats how they work. It was clear they wanted Baez. what does this mean? i'm sure they did. he's valuable. we don't even know which of their players the cubs wanted, let alone what they were asking for in return. also, the padres weren't the only team selling. there have been lots of really good players traded. not all of them would have taken baez. missing out on hamels looks especially bad now. You dont know what the trades were either. Theo pretty much inferred anything of good value was going to have to include Baez and they didnt want to trade him.

you have literally no clue what they were asking for in what deals. and teams usually cherry pick players in trades. thats how they work. It was clear they wanted Baez.

I think its obvious Theo/Jed didnt want to move Baez and on the other hand the trade partners werent interested in Castro.

I'm happier with this than giving up Baez in a big trade.

Canadian dollar is 77 cents now, so if he asks for $30M/per, they'll have to go $39M/per, won't they? (i'm probably in the minority when it comes to my lack of total utter desperation for adding a #1 SP, it's just kind of funny to consider) I'm confused. His contract will be in USD, so he'll have more buying power by being in Canada 81 days a year. why would his contract be in USD if he's employed by a Canadian company? MLB employees are technically employees of the MLB and all are paid in USD. Taxes are tricky though and have separate taxes for where the games are played.

I for one have major faith in Baez. I legit expect improved K numbers with the change in his hands, footwork and 2 strike approach. Mark my words this kid is going to be good. Will still K a lot but he will be much better than 2014 Javy who keep in mind was the youngest player in the NL.

My god what I wouldn't give to get Addy & Castro's bats going in the 2nd half of the season. Thought we would see much more of this on the year..

When does Javy start up in Iowa? I might get ripped for this but from what I saw of Javy in Iowa & his less violent leg kick with 2 strikes I am 100% confident that he is a more valuable player than Castro going forward.

My dark horse for CF of the future is Javy Baez. He is faster & the best athlete out of him, Russell & Castro. Has a pretty good arm as well. It's not out of the question to convert a SS to CF..

Have you seen him Catch? Could you or anyone here even tell the difference between an average MLB Catcher, and a below average MLB Catcher by watching on TV? Catching is not an easy eye test to scout, so many different factors come into play (pitchers holding runners on, pitchers missing their zones, pitchers crossing up catchers with wrong zones/pitches, catchers framing of pitches, how often a staff throws nasty sliders in the dirt, explosiveness of a catcher on their throws, arm strength, accuracy, blocking, etc). Nobody here knows what is going to happen to Schwarber, and nobody here has any idea what the best route is for him (staying at catcher, mixing catcher in while he gets taste of MLB, playing another position while getting taste of MLB but still working at catcher, or completely forgoing catcher to get his bat in the lineup). But, the Cubs probably have a pretty deep grasp on what should be done, what Schwarber can potentially do. So if they still think he can play catcher longterm I'm far more inclined to believe them than the fans who want to give up on it already without knowing two things about the position. From the scouts there seems to be an immense work ethic in Schwarber and natural athleticism, coupled with significant improvement since joining the Cubs system. He seems to have the ability to be average to below average defensively behind the plate in the future & even at below average to get that kind of bat production at catcher can be immensely valuable.

Pawelek gave up 0 ER in 63 IP while striking out 132. Even for fun, I just can't get excited by high school stats anymore. Why did Pawelek bust? Wasn't his stuff nasty? Just bad control or?

Why would they draft a starting 2B when we clearly need a pinch hitter for the playoff run. Wasn't there a guy with good pinch hitting experience available!

So whats the report on this guy? Hit .360, how does he compare to Benintendi? Any chance he is the best hitter when it comes to batting average/obp in this draft? How is his power?

That would be a monumentally terrible pick. Didn't his medicals come back pretty solid? I wouldn't mind Aiken here if you can get him underslot. A 1.1 talent who already had his TJS knocked out.

Screw Pitchers..

I sort of wanted him. He did have number 1 hype awhile.

To be fair his swing looked a lot like Ted's. Plus his lefty, wiry body made the low hand + load swing even more similar. The low hands is something that has become more rare in the game. Rizzo actually loads sort of similar to that (after adjusting a few things on his swing over the years) but with of course a much more bulky body than Ted/this Tucker kid.

Harold did somehow predict Trouts success. He said he would be the best player in the draft. I think that was followed by that he was a baseball player.. turns out he was a baseball player.

With his arm & SS range I'd bet Javy ends up very very good their though.

I met him at Spring Training this year. He was cruising around the different facilities at Sloan in a golf cart like he was Ted Williams on Yawkey Way. Seemed super happy and was signing tons of autographs, talking to all the fans. I miss the Z. I remember when we first brought him up (I think 02), pretty sure he was in the bullpen throwing 100mph. I think he was only 19 or so back then also. Didn't it come out Juan Cruz was two years older than the Cubs thought and Z was actually a year younger?

Which starting pitcher do we get to miss during the 4 game set vs the Nats?

Baez playing 3B in Iowa today. He has been tearing it up. For those that don't follow the minors a ton he has made some clear adjustments as well. - No big leg kick with 2 strikes (others have pointed out that recently has eliminated the kick early in the count at times too). - More of a closed stance - Crowding the plate Those are changes in his mechanics but the guys that do the Minor League Baseball Podcast on MILB.com also noted that he is going deeper into counts as well (hopefully this points to better pitch recognition or at least a better thought process at the plate for Baez). One quote mentioned during this 2 Homer game a week ago (not the 2 HR game last night) that he laid off two tough offspeed pitches just off the corner. The AAA manager even remarked the Baez of a year ago probably would have chased those. After laying off the two tough pitches he launched the next into the stands. Last thing of note.. Bryant had a couple remarks about Baez today. Says the Cubs could definitely use a hot Javier Baez bat in the lineup. The more interesting comment was KB said they informed him that Javy will likely move around a lot in the field. KB said he is definitely up for moving around in the field if it means getting Javy's bat in the lineup. Looks like as most would expect with Maddon as the manager that it won't be a cut and dry change to Bryant to the outfield. You will likely see Bryant at 3B and LF. Baez playing 2b, 3b and probably a little bit of SS & maybe even outfield as well.

Man that would be an amazing time. If there is anything better than a good Cubs team it will be a good Cubs team that insults the gentile sensibilities of those preachy coonts Don't forget about Castro who takes disrespectful home run trots or something. I think we should bring Zambrano back as our last reliever out of the pen just to blowup on umpire and attack Cardinals players. Plus how much worse can he be than that Schlitter guy we pitched this year.