Cubswin11

The main reason I have interest in Shields would be if taking him (and a good chunk of his contract) would help drive the price down on J. Upton. Shields is having a weird year tho, his stuff from a velo stand point seems to be fine and he's striking out more guys than he ever has. But his walk rate and HR rate (by a ton) are at career highs even though his GB% is right in line with his career norms. So I'm guessing it's some bad luck with the HR along with him being a little more wild than usual.

I wonder how much we'd have to give up if we agreed to take Shields and the shitty Upton's contract? Shields, J. Upton, and M. Upton for Mckinney, Edwards/Underwood/PJ, and a fringy prospect or 2 like Jeimer, Szczur, Lake, etc.?

Castro or Torres (whomever they like better), McKinney, Zagunis, Vogelbach and whoever they like best of PJ, CJ, Underwood for Jones, Hardy and Gausman?

How can you tell the difference when a guy is just playing bad, and when his head is not in the game? Just curious. I can't tell. I want to learn how. If they are Brown it means their head isn't in the game, if they are White it just means they are pressing and trying TOO hard.

For all the attention Kershaw/Greinke are getting.... Arrieta has an ERA .01 higher than Kershaw (2.52 v. 2.51) and this is after Kershaw has thrown 3 straight CG SHO. Kershaw does have better FIP/xFIP, Arrieta and Greinke essentially have the same FIP and Arrieta has a better xFIP than him. Kinda nuts Arrieta hasn't gotten much, if any, national attention since he came back last year as he's been arguably the 2nd best pitcher in the NL behind Kershaw and top 5 pitcher in all of baseball.

Wouldn't mind either [tweet] [/tweet]

If he goes to the Dodgers hopefully, somehow, they are swindled into giving up Urias or Seager

Zagunis, McKinney, Vogelbach and whatever pitcher they like the most

Agreed, plus his contract is pretty great. $4.5, $6.5, and $8 thru the 2016-18' and then 2 team options for 19' and 20' at $9 and $9.5. Looks like he has some durability issues, however.

Yeah, I don't quite understand the "seller" sentiment with them. They were 10 (division) and 4 (WC) out at the beginning of the week, I think the sentiment came from if they have a bad 10ish day stretch leading up to the deadline where they lose ground they "could be" sellers and then the media just ran with they are sellers.

What would it take to get Venable for Fowler's LH partner?

You'd give up 2 top 40 prospects for 11 starts? That's absolute madness. Yes. But I should've added the qualifier that they already planned/feel reasonably certain they'd sign/extend him in the offseason. Also we r in a really good playoff spot right now, just gotta get in and anything can happen. Lester/Arrieta/Price in whatever order gives this team a WS chance

There was talk of a promotion, but unless they're taking their time acclimating him, I've got no idea why it'd take 3 games. Yeah it's weird. But I guess it's possible with travel he didn't really get to SB until yesterday or even today at some point. He played Sunday so it's possible he couldn't get out until Monday or even Tuesday and going across country (nearly and losing extra time with time zone changes) maybe it took a day+ with all the travel (I would think going Eugene-SB there aren't any direct flights and at least 1 connector/long layover)? Just speculation, still weird there's been nothing on Twitter or anywhere.

I'd do 1 of Torres/Baez, McKinney and any pitching prospects they want because F pitching prospects

How do you score in boat racing?

Simmons is also going to be involved in producing some documentaries, seeing how he was involved in the 30 For 30s (or at least bringing them back) I have some hope there he'll do some similar things at HBO. If he's just going to mostly a TV/Talk Show format I'll follow him very little. He was terrible on TV for ABC/NBA.

Guys who are never going to play in the NBA are the new inefficiency. If only there was a way they could've known drafting big guys high in the draft with leg/back problems is usually a bad idea.

Kobe is undoubtably a dick, but him getting [expletive] for not calling a center who is terrible and could be out of the league soon, a reserve guy who just chucks and a backup PF to welcome them to the team/be excited they joined is really dumb.

Can Schwarber pitch?

Got it, my bad. I guess it's more of an offseason trade then.

[tweet] [/tweet] Trading for Gausman and fixing him would be awesome, but at that point I'd almost feel bad for so thoroughly taking advantage of the Orioles. I don't know if we match up all that well with them though. I just don't see the Gausman fit. In general, I'd be surprised if they dealt Gausman for anything other than a controllable, high level arm that they can control for a few years (basically, using Gausman as a part of a package for a top young starter). Beyond that, their needs don't mesh that well with us. They could look for corner OF, 1st, and maybe C, positionally, but they probably are searching for arms moreso than anything, with Bundy/Harvey dinged up, and Wei-Yin Chen likely on his way out next year (as, barring injury, he should be in line for a big deal). He needs to improve his breaking ball ... but he's been needing to do that since his LSU days. For some guys, it just never happens. Obviously, he's still young enough that you never know, but the biggest issue with the Orioles run for Gausman has been the way he's been jerked around. They have some solid pitching coaches in Baltimore (Dave Wallace being the big league pitching coach), but it's been their plan with Gausman. He was simply rushed too fast when the breaking ball was an issue dating back to college, and then being jerked between the pen/rotation, and majors/minors, didn't help. I wonder how much they'd value Zagunis? Not that Zagunis alone is likely enough but he could be a very solid 2nd piece or headliner with a 2-3 other guys.

Imagine how monstrous this offense could be if even 2 of Schwarber, Bryant, Rizzo and Soler are locked in

Cincinnati is like our halfway house for AAA prospects to the big leagues. Starlin, Soler, now Schwarber

THE GREEK GOD OF DONGS

OMG