Cubswin11

I'd be interested in joining if you want to PM details

Pedro Alvarez is also a good fit there. Don't they basically have him in Singleton?

Votto to the Astros seems like a good fit, they should have the ability to take on a good chunk of his contract and have the prospects

They aren't all that dissimilar of offensive players

They could, I think the Brewers could/should be worse though. The Reds starting pitching could end up being above average and they still have a top 10 hitter in baseball in the lineup. They will still be bad, but idk about historically bad. The rotation could be good enough to keep them from losing much more than 90ish games.

Has there been any reports on Neil Ramirez yet with how he has looked/is he throwing?

Rizzo Bryant Heyward Schwarber Soler Zobrist Russell Montero Baez

The Cardinals got a .256/.293/.341 slash line out of their catchers last year the Mets got .222/.294/.353 and the Royals got .248/.275/.398 and they all managed to win games. If David Ross has to catch ~100 games in 2016 I think we can manage to still win games.

Law has Contreras as the #1 catching prospect in baseball, Happ as the #2 2B, Torres as the 6th SS, Jeimer as the #9 3B, and Edwards as the #5 RP

Simmons is starting a new site, The Ringer, sometime in the Spring/Summer. Taking a lot of ex-Grantlander's with him. From the looks of who is all on board currently it appears it will be more pop culture/TV/movie/music related than sports related.

I certainly get that but I am giving the FO the benefit of doing really well on 1st round college bats recently along with the scouting reports that Happ was one of the best college bats in the draft last year.

I bet that's part of it, but I also think most of the votes came from the old guard way of thinking "how do you pay a guy that much who's a career .268 hitter, never had over 100 RBIs and only hit over 20 HRs once" on top of a lot of guys inability to comprehend this offseason that a great defensive RF can't somehow shift to CF and at least be an above average CF.

The two good years of Bellhorn (7.3 fWAR) adds up to almost all of Walker's entire career fWAR (9.5). You absolutely want Happ turning into the good Bellhorn over any version of Todd Walker. I thought the career version of Bellhorn was being discussed as the comparison, not 2002. Do you guys really think Ian Happ could come somewhat close to replicating 2002 Bellhorn while playing a tolerable Second Base? Yes, I think it's possible 2002 or 2004 Bellhorn is what he becomes. It's the upper level of his ceiling but it's certainly possible. This year should give us a clearer picture of his long term position, but there's enough guys who think he can stick at 2B (including our FO) that I think he can at least be passable there.

I always go back to the good version of Mark Bellhorn for ceiling. Bellhorn was only good twice, and I think a few years apart too, but otherwise the heavy Iso offense, passable D, switch hitting 2B thing works in my head. --- Draft prediction: Cubs take HS RHP Reggie Lawson with the Fowler comp pick. Mark Bellhorn.......eek. I was hoping for Todd Walker. I felt like Walker's defensive shortcomings were overblown and he should have been given more credit for his bat. The two good years of Bellhorn (7.3 fWAR) adds up to almost all of Walker's entire career fWAR (9.5). You absolutely want Happ turning into the good Bellhorn over any version of Todd Walker.

Happ, almost went with him at 2. I think he's a top 20ish prospect in MLB by this time next year.

Slash line prediction, .270-.285/.340-.360/.450-.480, ~9% BB rate, ~20% K rate and 20 HR +/- 5. As for a comp, of current players Neil Walker seems like a decent one. I also like the good years Mark Bellhorn comp. A 2007-08' and 2010-12' switch hitting Rickie Weeks might not be a terrible comp either. His bat isn't on the Bryant/Schwarber level, so even if he "breaks out" I don't think his "break out" will warrant hugely aggressive promotions, especially to MLB.

- Almora/Jeimer both have disappointing seasons, Almora not being able to maintain what he did in August and Jeimer not doing it for a full year. - EJM is a lot more advanced than anyone thought and becomes a top 75 prospect with upside - Eloy and Torres both continue to perform well at young ages in older leagues, Torres becomes a top 15 prospect with Eloy top 50 - 3 of Cease/Underwood/Hudson/Sands/Steele/De La Cruz/Clifton/Kellogg/Twomey emerge as legit MOR-Fringe TOR type starters. - Contreras doesn't quite repeat what he did with the bat, but improves all around on defense and game calling ends year expected to be part of the starting catching unit in 2017 - Happ excels like the 1st rd college bats before him and sticks at 2B, turns out to be a top 20 prospect - Tseng, Stinnett, and Pierce Johnson essentially flame out - Mckinney starts the year slow coming back from the knee injury but turns it on by June and finishes the year strong and holds on to roughly where he is being ranked now - Ryan Williams continues to be Kyle Hendricks 2.0 - Vogelbach finally starts hitting for power, is traded by the deadline in a deal - Caratini gives us another legit catching prospect after an excellent year, some start liking him more than Contreras as our catcher of the future - Zagunis has a contreras/Jeimer type break out, tapping into some power and continuing excellent bb rates. Looked at more than a 4/5th OF.

Do it

I almost went Happ with similar reasoning along with the college bat success the FO has had, but Contreras got my vote thinking he can at least become an adequate defensive catcher, tools are there, and the bat is real. Happ will be my #3 vote.

I think Jeimer should probably be added, at least starting for #3. Not that I think he's #3 but he probably should be on the board

Law's top 10 for the system, top 100 ranks in parenthesis.... 1. Gleyber Torres, SS (15) 2. Willson Contreras, C (27) 3. Ian Happ, 2B/CF (47) 4. Billy McKinney, OF (69) 5. Albert Almora, OF (88) 6. Dylan Cease, RHP (91) 7. Eddy Julio Martinez, OF (Just missed) 8. Duane Underwood, RHP 9. Eloy Jimenez, OF 10. Jeimer Candelario, 3B

With so many NL teams throwing out bad rosters and trying to lose I could see inflated win totals for the top 5-7ish teams in the NL this year which makes me think the 101 shouldn't be all that of a surprise or even the cardinals in the 90s (though Istill think that's high for them).

Idk, to me he can be a right-handed Gerrardo Parra who can actually play CF and not have crazy platoon splits (at least poor ones vs one side of pitchers). Though that might not be exciting that can still be a really valuable player.

If he's averaging around 92 and can crank it up to 94-95, that's pretty good velocity.

That's my favorite 30 For 30 and it's not even close