Cubswin11

That's pretty bold. Actually if all those came true I'd be disappointed with 78 wins. Yea, I was about to say, I don't think anyone has a 1.000+ OPS these days. And when they do, there aren't very many of them. I meant to say .900... But still yes, not many even OPS that anymore.

Penalver Hatley Reed

Alex Smith to the Chiefs is "All but done." Hopefully they didn't make the trade while he was taking a nap http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/reports-trade-alex-smith-san-francisco-done-004247921--nfl.html

I know it's early but figured I'd start one of these threads up and get my, likely, wildly incorrect picks in. AL East: 1. Jays 2. Rays-WC 3. Red Sox 4. Yankees 5. Orioles AL Central: 1. Tigers 2. Indians 3. Royals 4. White Sox 5. Twins AL West: 1. Angels 2. A's- WC2 3. Rangers 4. Mariners 5. Astros NL East: 1. Nationals 2. Braves- WC 3. Phillies 4. Mets 5. Marlins NL Central: 1. Reds 2. Pirates 3. Cardinals 4. Cubs 5. Brewers NL West: 1. Dodgers 2. Giants- WC 2 3. Padres 4. D'Backs 5. Rockies WC Round: Rays over A's Braves over Giants ALDS: Jays over Rays Angels over Tigers ALCS: Jays over Angels NLDS: Nationals over Braves Dodgers over Reds NLCS: Nationals over Dodgers WS: Nationals over Jays AL MVP: Mike Trout NL MVP: Justin Upton AL CY Young: Josh Johnson NL CY Young: Stephen Strasburg AL ROY: Wil Myers NL ROY: Shelby Miller Stanton comes close to hitting 60 HR and ends up with 56 Strasburg K's 250+ Shelby Miller gets into the pixie dust and wins 17 and posts a sub 3 ERA Trout puts up a similar year to last year J. Upton goes 40/30 Josh Johnson leads MLB in ERA Wil Myers comes up right after his clock is pushed back a year and leads the AL in HR's from that date forward The Astros set the record for most losses in a season Cubs related: Castro has less than 15 errors all season, leads the NL in batting average, shows more power/patience growth hits 19 HR and takes 50 BB Rizzo has a .900+ OPS and wins a GG The Cubs are in 2nd place at the all star break in the Central but finish with 78 wins Edwin Jackson is our best SP Marmol regains his old form and has 30+ saves Soriano hits 30+ HR Hairston is the everyday RF by May Feldman posts a sub 4 ERA and wins 13 games Junior Lake starts 90+ games between 3B/2B/SS/OF Jackson's swing isn't fixed Garza has mixed results all season and ends up with a ERA in the 4's and misses 9+ starts Wellington Castillo finishes in the top 10 in MLB for catchers OPS Carlos Villanueva wins 12 games between the rotation and bullpen and is our second best relief pitcher behind Marmol

One of the posters on PSD said Lake grew again and is now at least 6'5" if not taller. He was 6'2" last year.

They are done, unless they somehow win out and win 1 or 2 games in the Big Ten Tournament.

Vitters and Stewart both out 10-14 days

How long with Baez and Soler stay in camp? Until real ST games start?

Tim Saunders?

Penalver Hatley Rosario

That HR was loud

Bucks reportedly had a trade with the Hawks worked out sending Monta Ellis and Epke Udoh for Josh Smith and Devin Harris but the Hawks pulled out last minute and demanded 1 or both of John Henson and Larry Sanders Bucks said no and Hawks pulled original trade. Edit: Full trade before Hawks backed out "Bucks had 3 way deal where they would acquire: J.Smith, Redick & D.Harris; ATL gets Udoh, Ellis & Udrih; ORL gets Lamb, Harris, Moute + pick"

Most major D1 universities probably wouldn't allow/offer a student to be in only online classes for a 4 year degree, probably would have to have physical classroom classes at some point (especially for classes in your specific major). But most, if not all, probably have the ability to allow students to at least have a few semesters completely online if they scheduled correctly. I'm guessing when he would be required to have physical classroom classes he'd schedule them in the summer when campus would be less crowded and he'd be a lesser distraction.

Future Cubs, Giancarlo Stanton got hit in the head today in BP. http://deadspin.com/5985679/?utm_campaign=socialflow_deadspin_twitter&utm_source=deadspin_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow

Didn't really know where to put this, but Almora got engaged https://twitter.com/albertalmora/status/304430962870206464/photo/1

Didn't really know where to put this, but Almora got engaged https://twitter.com/albertalmora/status/304430962870206464/photo/1

So the Kings are already giving up on on T-Rob, that's interesting.

That [expletive] guy, it's Dwight Howard's world and we're all just living in it

Crane Kenney, is that you?

I don't know who this guy is but that name is awesome. Replacement level player to slightly above but is nothing more than minor league filler http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=4719&position=OF Also inter-sqaud game got rained out today, practice moved to inside

From Wittenmyer

First inter-squad game is today, here's the lineups White Team DeJesus CF Castro SS Rizzo 1B Soriano LF Schierholtz RF Navarro C Stewart 3B Barney 2B Hairston DH Blue Team Valbuena 2B Sappelt CF Castillo C Nelson 1B Soler LF Baez SS Lake 3B Jackson RF Bogusevic DH

Wish it was in Indianapolis this year so I could go. There are eight teams that could win it without me being totally shocked. I'm expecting at least one big upset on Friday. I'm probably heading down for a day or two for it, should be a great time. I just want the regular season to be over with and the conference/NCAA Tournaments to start

I think it was just Northern California/Giants, due to the potentially cool weather at night which he didn't think would be good for his knees/joints. San Francisco's brutally cool weather at night is worse than Chicago, NY, or Philadelphia? That's what Soriano said sometime last year as why he wouldn't accept a trade to SF. In the summer it does get much cooler at night in SF than it does in CHI, NY, PHI and I think that's what he meant. As for the extreme cold you can have in October I guess he didn't factor that in, but he probably just figures it's likely going to be cold anywhere you have to play outside in the playoffs.

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/diamondbacks-acquire-tony-campanas-base-stealing entirely anecdotal yes, campana is fast. yes, he is incredibly successful at stealing bases. yes, in situations where he doesn't have hurt your team by wielding a heavy wooden stick, that is valuable now that we're through stating the obvious, let's just remember two things: a) the diamondbacks gave up non-filler prospects (TWO!) for that, and b) it is highly unlikely the diamondbacks only use him in the most optimal way way. singular. That and he only needs to continue to do something at a 90%+ success rate at the highest level of his profession when he was only about successful 77% of the time doing it over his 5 year minor league career which is just a bit above the success% he needs to be at for stolen base attempts to be worthwhile.