Aaron_Kennelly

That chest pound! I horsefeathering love him!

Willson!!!

That's my creepy weirdo!

Just kill both of them, why don't you?

Normally I would predict a dong here, but I'm not even going to feign the effort to show hope.

Terrific.

Who hits into the double play here? Ten bonus points if it's not Heyward.

That was the least shocking thing ever.

The results have been solid, but he doesn't miss enough bats, and he gives up too much hard contact in the form of fly balls/homers. He's just a guy and we can do better.

I'm not sure if there is a word for it, but this gif suffices. http://i.imgur.com/nw9cJ.gif

I don't like Travis Wood, either.

Welp, time to get on the phone.

Yep, that makes perfect sense.

If they are misfit toys, then we are like the toys that Andy's neighbor Sid terrorizes in Toy Story. We were once immaculate, untarnished toys. And now we are hideously deformed and irreparably damaged. There's Schwarber on the left, and I think you can see Arrieta in there, too. http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hXCxVIUUBPw/T1kfFrhLVHI/AAAAAAAAAGg/yz23gi4qSbU/s1600/sidstoys.jpg

Markakis had 5 home runs in over 1,000 PA the last two seasons.

Markakis was slugging .343 before that.

The rain delay was pretty fortuitous for that fan. He should be able to catch most of the game in his hospital room after he comes to.

From what I understand, the surgery is inevitable, right? It's either get the surgery now, or take the short-term fix and then get surgery in the off-season. I don't understand at all and am just rooting to avoid surgery out of principle. Sucks if surgery is really is inevitable Neither do I. I just read that somewhere earlier, I thought. I might be off, considering I don't even remember the source.

Speaking of Gleyber, he just homered.

From what I understand, the surgery is inevitable, right? It's either get the surgery now, or take the short-term fix and then get surgery in the off-season.

South Bend is facing Chris Paddack, the guy traded for Fernando Rodney, who refuses to give up base runners. He's struck out 4 in 2 innings, but he did give up a double to Andruw Monasterio, who has apparently been called up to South Bend.

Yeah, I bumped him up to my #2 prospect behind Willson. I'm conflicted. I still have Gleyber above him. But it's closer than I ever thought it would be. I like Eloy a lot, too. But I am more cautious with him. Maybe I am too inhospitable with him because visions of Jorge Soler are fresh in my mind. But there's just too much there that makes me a little more reserved: the BB/K rates, playing lower on the defensive spectrum, being at a lower level. I still really like Eloy and understand the potential is incredible -- the best in the system. But, I'll wait until next year to fully commit.

And Happ just drove in two with a double.

Ian Happ has only struck out 5 times in 51 PA at AA.

I will say this about that article. It makes a lot of presumptions that Heyward's swing is this fatal flaw that can't be redeemed. Pitchers can attack him like they do a pitcher because of his swing. He can't hit inside pitches because of his swing. He can't hit fastballs because of his swing. Well, he has done those things in the past with the same junk swing. His ugly swing has been a known issue for a long time. Pitchers aren't pitching to him like a pitcher because of the swing. They are pitching to him like a pitcher because he is hitting like a pitcher. If he were hitting like he did last year, with the same ugly swing, then they wouldn't be able to pitch him like he's a pitcher. The only thing that is different is the toe tap. So why are these issues brought up in the article suddenly fatal flaws, because of his swing? It might be a byproduct of the junk swing. He was good enough to survive with it in the past. But now the swing is giving him issues that make these things more evident. However, I don't think that makes it certain that he won't snap out of it. I don't have hope that he will... mainly because he's been so bad for so long this year. That's my main concern. If he keeps hitting like this, eventually that's what he is. But, the article makes it sound like his swing is just now becoming an issue. Well, no, it's the same swing. And it wasn't such an issue in the past. He was still good. Now he isn't. So now we look to it to blame. But, showing things like his inability to go the other way and his average exit velocity doesn't really prove anything. We already know: He's sucked. He's not the same hitter. But, that doesn't mean that he absolutely won't be able to produce with that swing. He's done so in the past. So maybe he figures something out and is able to produce more in the second-half. Still, the swing is ugly and he sucks with it right now. And even when he didn't suck with it, it was still ugly. We need to change it. I was happy when it looked like they were working on a leg kick in the Spring. That's something that's helped a lot of Cubs hitters. I really hope we make significant changes to his swing in the off-season. I know there's a beast in there waiting to come out. I doubt it does this season, and without a swing change, though.