Bryants Disco Ball

Well, this is the perfect pickup for what we are doing so long as it doesn't cost any real prospects. He is on a one-year contract. We need starting pitchers. If he does well, he is traded at the deadline. If he doesn't, he's gone after the season. We also don't have to convince him to only sign a one-year contract like we would some free agent pitcher. I'd almost be surprised if this didn't happen, unless multiple teams have strong interest and start to actually offer up some sort of package.

Jason Berken is my friend, so I'd ask that we all cheer for the Cubs tonight and let him screw our draft position.

I think you don't have to look at the exact draft spot to be realistic about the value of the prospect you are going to get there. There are two phases of the MLB draft: the first round, and then a gigantic craps shoot of lottery tickets. 2nd-round picks fall into the latter category. I'm not particularly worried about losing out on one. The possible trade value of a mediocre MLB player we sign >>>> the value of a 2nd-round draft pick. From your list, I'd have no problem sacrificing a 2nd-round pick for any of the 3b and most of the pitchers. Haven't really looked at the outfielders too closely. Now, granted, the Cubs aren't exactly a model franchise for drafting and development, but the Cubs haven't had a 2nd-round pick produce more than 0.5 bWAR since Maddux in 1984. That list I just posted are the guys we should be able to choose from WITHOUT giving up picks. The other list, I posted earlier, probably not in list form, so here it is..... SP- Greinke, Sanchez, Dempster, Jackson OF- Hamilton, Bourn, Upton, Swisher I think that was everyone I thought had a chance at receiving the qualifier. Kyle Lohse goes on the other list as someone we conceivably could get without one, by the way. Wait, Greinke, Dempster and Sanchez can't receive the qualifier. Correct?

Except he's at least going to be used as a starter.

Not sure if this is what you are asking, but he was on the Orioles' 40-man and they designated him over the weekend. The Cubs put in a claim, so I assume that means he is now going to be on our 40-man.

I figure going from the AL East to the NL Central can help a pitcher, too.

I expect to see them use him as a starter the rest of the season.

In this regard, I'm like that Marlin dude.

Berken is a 28-year-old reliever who has spent the past four seasons with Baltimore. No link yet, but you can book this transaction.

In first with the, "Hello, Aramis fan."

I wouldn't think they would have to give up a ton of good stuff if they are actually taking Crawford's contract, and in a smaller way, Beckett's.

There's evidently a 16 mill option for that year too though. It looks like it could be 8/76. Plus, we could always pull a deal like Tulo or Braun did and extend him in the middle of the current deal. Yeah, it appears the Cubs have him locked in through his age 30 season, provided they want to pick up the option. And at a very, very reasonable cost. I'm not going to complain having Castro locked up that long. If he's still the man in 2021, we will worry about it then. This has to be viewed as a great deal for the Cubs, and you can't blame Castro for wanting to set himself up for life even if he would have made more if he stayed healthy and productive.

Because he's white.

Brenly is pretty low on the list of media racists; he's the least of the problems. His was the question I was trying to answer. However, I suppose the flipside is that he's the one, more than the others, who yields the most influence as the color guy. Kaplan and Rozner are the worst; Rogers is just an idiot, Sullivan is a lazy, cynical writer. Miles is by far the most objective of the bunch. I have no right to do this since it's an opinion-based conversation, but I'm going to eliminate Bob as a racist in the context that we are talking about today. I'm going to put him put him back on the list based on his obsession with Blazing Saddles, which is a movie that middle aged white men love just so they can hear the word [expletive] stated over and over and over and over. :lol: You win this round.

Brenly is pretty low on the list of media racists; he's the least of the problems. His was the question I was trying to answer. However, I suppose the flipside is that he's the one, more than the others, who yields the most influence as the color guy. Kaplan and Rozner are the worst; Rogers is just an idiot, Sullivan is a lazy, cynical writer. Miles is by far the most objective of the bunch. I have no right to do this since it's an opinion-based conversation, but I'm going to eliminate Bob as a racist in the context that we are talking about today.

So, you're not in the camp that thinks Brenly is racist, no matter which way the racism is implied? Enough with this whole "this person is or is not a racist" duality. It's more complicated than that. Many people in the local media allow racially tinged stereotypes to color their views. It's more intellectual laziness than it is outright hostility toward people of non-white races. That's fair. Let me ask the question in another way. Do you see Bob as part of the crowd that allow racially tinged stereotypes color his view? I think, like all people of all races and ethnicity, it's intellectually easier to fall back on racial stereotypes when criticizing someone different than you. Brenly may not do it malevolently, but to say racial stereotypes don't, in some way, shape or form, influence anyone's opinions on any level is naive. Damn, then we are all racist. Blacks. Whites. Hispanics. Everybody.

So, you're not in the camp that thinks Brenly is racist, no matter which way the racism is implied? Enough with this whole "this person is or is not a racist" duality. It's more complicated than that. Many people in the local media allow racially tinged stereotypes to color their views. It's more intellectual laziness than it is outright hostility toward people of non-white races. That's fair. Let me ask the question in another way. Do you see Bob as part of the crowd that allow racially tinged stereotypes color his view?

So, you're not in the camp that thinks Brenly is racist, no matter which way the racism is implied?

Yeah, I'm sure Brenly calling out players during the telecast doesn't have anything to do with the fact that they were doing something that they shouldn't have been called out for. One instance that was mentioned earlier was the Rizzo getting doubled off last week while not paying attention. Did anybody actually watch the game? Len and Bob sounded disgusted when it happened and were speechless. Is it possible they didn't dwell on it because he had only been with the Cubs for 30+ games and hadn't made similar mistakes? I'm surprised so many people also missed Bob railing on Theriot time after time for trying to hit too many balls in the air for HR's instead of sticking to his game. Or Tony Campana for sliding head first into first base. This week he railed on Shark relentlessly when he broke a bat over his knee after striking out, calling it "stupid" and going on about how selfish and immature it was. He was all over bad Randy Wells for not pitching in the zone and questioning whether he listened or not. He has not been kind to Volstad, the list goes on... But, hey, have at, continue to selectively listen to games and pick and choose portions you want to hear. Thank you.

Yeah no. I don't mind Brenly in his current role. He's not the greatest but he fits well with Len. The only thing that bothers me about Brenly is his racism. And he's a great example of a guy who doesn't seem overtly racist but boy he can't help ragging on minorities, deserved or not. His handful of positive comments about Soriano don't undo all he's said in the past and continues to say. Interesting, because there is an argument to be made that his favorite player on the team this season is David DeJesus. Just ask him how much he loves his approach to the game and his at-bats. But, again, don't let his positive comments about minority players get in the way of his negative ones. I continue to realize that no matter what examples I give, people are just going to see it the way they want. I'm certain they could say the same about me in this instance. You can't see that maybe Bob might not like a lot of things about Alfonso and says them not because he's racist but because that's how he feels from a baseball standpoint. But when he sees something he likes from the same player from a baseball standpoint, well, that can't undo all the things he said he didn't like about him.

Potentially racist media people listed Bob Brenly (Has been deemed not a bad racist or perhaps not one at all in the context that has been discussed) David Kaplan Paul Sullivan Barry Rozner The Brenly one I don't need to research too much since we all listen to him every game. Here might be a great example of people hearing different things. Bob is a man who obviously is paid to give his opinions, much like a newspaper columnist. If you don't like Bob, you are probably going to hear it one way. If you like him, another. He tells it like he sees it, whether I agree with all his opinions or not. But I don't believe he is a racist in any term you may want to use it in. Example: He has ripped on Soriano in the past for things he saw out of our highly paid superstar that he did not like. Yet, I can't turn on two games in a row this season without Bob saying, "I'll say it again, Soriano has been great on defense all season. He has gotten to every ball. He put in a lot of work during the offseason to make himself a good fielder." He may blast Alfonso when he doesn't like something he sees, but I don't have a problem with that. For example, Alfonso threw to third base a few times this past road trip when he didn't have a chance to get the runner, letting the man from first get to second. He called him out for it. Final take on Bob Brenly: He calls it the way he sees it as a long-time baseball man. We may not always agree with him, but his intentions are pure.

No it isn't. The media chews stories up and spits them out on a regular basis. Somebody like Bruce Miles covers most things with a levelheaded "just the facts ma'am" approach that is underappreciated. The more obnoxious members of the media know there will always be another "fun thing to cover" so they don't have any problem ruining one storyline in the pursuit of exploiting it. Their purpose isn't necessarily to run the player out of town, although in some instances it's pretty clear that is part of the motive. Their purpose is to exploit a story and rile up the masses with hate, anger, accusations of laziness and other forms of tearing down the player. Somebody like Kaplan is a jock sniffer that will prop up his buddies while tearing down the guys he doesn't want to try and go on a double date with. I'd ask a favor of you and others. If you have time the next few days, list names of others besides Kaplan who you feel are racist, intentionally or not. I would like to observe them for an extended period of time to see if I sense what some of you do,

I didn't mean to quote myself. But it is a damn good point.

And why that is crazy to say is that media guys eat players like Zambrano up. They are fun to cover. No reason to want to run him out of town.