Cubswin11

Why do I think Albertos is a lefty? Am i thinking of someone else? Bryan Hudson?

Napoli?

I'm going to the first game in Milwaukee next Friday night. I expect there to be 80% + Cubs fans i've been kicking around the idea of going to one of those games. still not sure if i will or not. Tickets are cheap, relatively, got tickets about 15 rows behind home plate for $80ish

I'm going to the first game in Milwaukee next Friday night. I expect there to be 80% + Cubs fans

With Jay's defense, along with neutralish splits I could see him getting some early starts vs LHP for Schwarber and even Heyward to ease both in.

So he'll be able to be back in 5-7 weeks, in time to take Harvey, DeGrom's or Wheeler's spot. I'm heading to Vegas this weekend, planning on putting a not small wager on the Mets under 91 (where I last saw it, may be different at the book), think there's a lot of value there. The downside is huge and even their upside is a 87-90 win team.

I'm in favor of the 26 or even 27 man roster so if MLB teams playing shenanigans with the 10 day DL leads to that I'd be perfectly fine and would think that's part of the motive of teams pushing the issue on the 10 day along with why MLB agreed to allow it. Half measures will lead to full measures.

Nah, he's the Zobrist replacement when he leaves in 2 years and Javy fails to be a viable everyday player because he can't hit RHP.

They would be SOOOO much better off playing Kelly and using that $18M/yr towards, say, paying half of Machado's annual salary once he hits FA. There is a potentially historic FA class coming up and they'll be paying $18M towards Molina each year. I don't think they'll be bidding on M. Machado when he becomes available whether they re-sign Molina or not. He'll be FAR too expensive for their conservative FO and the bidding will be pretty crazy if the NYY are set on signing him. I think it's all a pipe-dream for Cardinals fans that dream on signing M. Machado -- it won't happen. They seem like the perfect team to throw a ridiculous amount at Machado, where does their projected long term money outlay fall in terms of meaningful players? It's rather minimal, Carpenter isn't going to take much to keep around and he's the only positional guy they currently have worth keeping beyond the contract he's currently under. C-Mart is the only pitcher who may be worth/will command big dollars, if they try to stay relevant without bottoming out FA is the only way to get there, overpaying for Machado makes a lot of sense. Their current roster has no real players worth holding back money on.

Bosio being able to keep Anderson healthy for a full season may be the greatest trick he ever pulled. I laugh of the imagine in my head of Bosio and his buddha belly watching film of Anderson thinking "If only he landed less on his heel," as he pounds Bud Heavy's.

Who was compared to Braun?

If that is the eventual outcome I certainly won't be upset, but I continue to think it's a mistake to not give him starts from Day 1. The 2018 rotation is currently Lester, Hendricks, and mystery, and by hamstringing Montgomery with relief appearances you lower the certainty that you know 2018 Montgomery 1) is a guy you want in the rotation and 2) can handle a SP workload. There might come a point where they need to prioritize 2017 success over that 2018 certainty, but Opening Day certainly isn't that time. I don't entirely disagree and looking forward to 2018 it probably does make sense to test him out as a SP to know what he is there. But at the same time maybe through whatever means they have to analyze him they don't like his ability to be a successful SP long term but see a potential valuable/versatile relief pitcher. Also like you said, it's a delicate balance to 100% competing in 2017 and putting guys in the best roles to accomplish that vs looking to build towards 2018 and Monty is pretty easily the #1 guy when it comes to trying to figure that out and weigh his usage as a RP/SP this year for whatever they think/want him to become in the future. Also with Anderson being healthy now it probably makes the most sense to get as many bullets out of his arm to start the year and if/when he goes down figure it out from there. Anderson doesn't seem like a guy who is worth trying to keep healthy for a full year by throwing him in the bullpen or whatever but rather when he's healthy ride him (not negligently obviously) until he dies. With the variables of pitcher health/our 5th spot and Joe/FO already saying they are going to look for opportunities to go to a 6 man rotation here and there I think if Monty is healthy he still should get 10ish starts, which keeps him fresher for a bullpen role in the playoffs where he will be used. I know it's jerking him around a bit but maybe they feel he can handle that.

I think he turns out to be a version of Andrew Miller out of the pen for us this year and doesn't really start many games. He'll prove his worth out of the pen more valuable than starting.

AL East: 1. Red Sox 2. Rays 3. Orioles 4. Jays 5. Yankees AL Central: 1. Indians 2. Tigers 3. Royals 4. White Sox 5. Twins AL West: 1. Astros 2. Mariners 3. Rangers 4. Angels 5. A's NL East: 1. Nats 2. Braves 3. Mets 4. Phillies 5. Marlins NL Central: 1. Cubs 2. Pirates 3. Cardinals 4. Brewers 5. Reds NL West: 1. Dodgers 2. D' Backs 3. Giants 4. Rockies 5. Padres NL MVP: Rizzo AL MVP: Correa NL CY Young: Arrieta (I believe in contract year Jake F U mode) AL CY Young: Archer NL ROY: Dansby Swanson AL ROY: Benintendi NL Comeback Player of the Year: Schwarber AL Comeback Player of the Year: Garrett Richards AL WC: Mariners over Rays DS: Indians over Mariners, Astros over Red Sox CS: Astros over Indians NL WC: D'backs over Pirates DS: Cubs over D'Backs, Nats over Dodgers CS: Cubs over Nats WS: Cubs over Astros Bold prediction: There are 4 100 loss teams this year, Padres, Reds, A's and Twins

Rondon's stuff looks okay, he just doesn't seem to be able to locate for horsefeathers

Very Jeter like hit by Almora there, guy just can make contact

Willy is gonna double up Molina on WAR this year

Heyman and Rosenthal both reporting progress on a new deal with Molina. This could be laughable

Wong is pretty bad and yeah he wouldn't make our 25 man sure there's a team like the Padres who'd take him. I also thought the Cardinals were going to focus on defense this year, so..... putting at Gyorko at 2B over Wong seems counterintuitive

Carlos Rondon starting the year on the DL, something with his bicep and he's having an MRI

Pretty sure they make a new one and then it pretty much goes with them saying they are fine because Wheeler can just take the injured pitchers spot (even tho he hasn't pitched in god knows how long) and then saying Syndergaard, Harvey and DeGrom are all good for 30+ ace like starts so who cares. Also Cespedes is the greatest offensive player ever so if he's healthy he will hit 100 HRs to make up for losing pitchers.

Welp, better luck next year Sean Miller. LOL

Don't know why Purdue isn't trying a zone against Kansas. They can't stick with their guards man to man. Especially with their bigs, just clog things up. All those open 3s were created off of the dribble drive which Purdue couldn't hang with, if you go zone at least you can contain the dribble/kick a bit.

I guess America is great and this is winning