Thrilho

Yeah I really checked out on the draft last year. Would be cool if a few took off. This article on Hockin was interesting. Harmon Killebrew's grandson, so figure there's some athletic ability to work with. It does say a little something about an elbow thing but doesn't say anything about missing time. "...His numbers this season weren't as good as in previous years -- mainly due to experiencing slight elbow tenderness midseason -- he possesses closer-type stuff with a fastball that can run up to 97 mph and a slider that sits in the upper 80s." Lot of nice words in there about the slider. "...His fastball is a plus pitch, but his slider is his best pitch" http://m.mlb.com/news/article/183297784/cubs-draft-chad-hockin-harmon-killebrews-kin/

Good night for Silverio too. 3 IP no hits or walks 6 Ks. I'd never heard of him til 20 minutes ago but seems like a decent story. 22 6'2 from the Dominican, played DSL in 2013 and 2014, AZ in 2015, Eugene in 2016. Ended up starting and winning game 2 of the Emeralds first playoff series. They were down 0-1 in the series, he went 5 striking out 8 and allowing 2 hits with no runs. They won and went on to win the title without him starting again. He's always been pretty good with hit suppression (career .216 BAA) but last year his Ks ticket up to 46 in 44 innings. Thing was that his walks also balloon to where he had 30 of them in that 44 IP (compared to 10 in 41 in 2015). In that playoff game he won he managed to pitch around 4 walks. So it seems like the walks will be by far the thing to watch with him. Good start so far. But as with any pitcher I pick out at random first week from A ball I know nothing about his stuff. Anyone know anything about him and want to vouch for him?

Guess I just read the Hatch part and my brain pulled a "this doesn't look like anything to me" with the Miller part. But yeah good night for me the 2016 pitching.

Then fourth rounder Tyson Miller dominates at South Bend, with 4.1 IP 4 H 0 R 0 1 BB 7 K with no outs in the air. 6'5" college righty from a small school who can supposedly works 90-93 but can get it to 96. Only K'd 17 guys in 28 pro innings last year but was decent at a small school with 237 in 272 innings. I know nothing about mechanics but he looks a bit stiff in the video at this link. Seems like maybe they could get more velo if they could loosen him up. http://www.chicagonow.com/cubs-den/2016/06/cubs-draft-with-tyson-miller-with-4th-round-pick/

I like Caritini a good bit if his defense is any good. I also wouldn't be surprised if Young turned out to be a BABIP-regressed version of Lemahieu. ETA - call it the 2 WAR 2015 campaign: .301/.358/.388 89 wRC+...that ballpark, maybe a bit better if the power comes. Nothing too crazy but could be a decent bench guy or high secondary trade piece if the FO is patient.

Long live Zobrist the outfielder!

Or because the NLCS co-MVP and WS MVP are in in the same lineup.

I don't know that I'd go that far, he's still a guy with a career .075 IsoP that is getting his first AAA exposure at 24. Showing a higher IsoP in full season ball after a couple Arizona home runs is a pretty big hurdle. Especially since playing a little SS isn't the same as being a defensive asset there to offset the absence of power. Yeah I didn't mean that he's ready to take a spot in the next few months, that he'll play SS for this club ever or that I'm now super confident in his power. But they put him on a team with Happ, so they must be pretty comfortable with his ability to play on the left side of the diamond, which Lastella can't do that well. I look at him a little like Sczur after his 2015 spring campaign. He'd always been a beefy guy who should hit with some pop but coming into 2015 he'd had ISOs of .086 and .051. Then he hit 5 HRs in ST 2015 with some moon shots where it seemed tough to write off his power. Young has a good frame for it and hit for some easy power this ST. With his high .300s OBP he doesn't have to hit for much, and it's tough to fake HRs like the one below if the power isn't there at all. He gets under it a little and puts it 10 rows up into the seats. http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/69972428/v1250710883/?mlbtax=cactus_league He's a righty, so he's going to have to do some stuff to supplant Lastella but I think there could be enough power there for at least a .100 MLB ISO, and that could be valuable if he keeps getting on base and showing left side arm potential. So just something to watch for now, but he's high on the list of guys I'll be following.

Also, yes on Young getting starts at SS. Now that he's shown a little power in ST he's not too far away from snatching up a LaStella role.

Zach Hedges with 5 IP on 55 pitches and no walks is looking good. Ian Rice picks up right where he left off with a walk and a K in his 4 PAs. I was too bullish putting him in my top 10 last year but I'm not ready to give up that patience and periodic stretches of big power. Despite him not showing up in any offseason anything I could see him still slotting into the back end of my top 20 if we start getting good reports on his catching.

Someone get me some Javi and Addy in the Morning promo spots.

Also I don't understand the point of getting pissed off at a move without a better option. Seems like the "we need to build a good team immediately" argument with the Cubs a few years ago. So which guy do you want, Fielder or Pujols? Well neither, but they should be doing everything they can to get better! Different sports whatever...but if we're debating the best possible option for now it doesn't make sense to me to just get angry about the past. I say draft a QB and use a stopgap because that seems like the best plausible option.

I'm still trying to figure out what all these letters and spaces mean. Did you come up with an alternate solution in here and I missed it? Does he really need to? He's not the GM. He can dislike a move without having to come up with a better one himself. Nah I'm just trying to figure out the part where my literacy wasn't good enough to find the non-Cutler option in that post.

So then you are illiterate. Right on. I can read well enough to see that the only two QB names you typed out were Cutler and Glennon. What was your solution again? I'm still trying to figure out what all these letters and spaces mean. Did you come up with an alternate solution in here and I missed it?

So then you are illiterate. Right on. I can read well enough to see that the only two QB names you typed out were Cutler and Glennon. What was your solution again?

Where is your solution? John Fox would be long gone. At the very least he doesn't get to work with Cutler, a "madeup term for signing a QB with no expectations of success but still going to play the season and pay the guy starting QB money but not risk losing people's jobs if you lose because you convinced the public that this made up term is a real thing that should be considered when judging results", and a prospect. Ryan Pace should have hired a better coach long ago and because there is no risk to future you keep Cutler until the day you have a better QB ready to take over his job. They sign the best free agents available (of which Glennon is not even close to that list, let alone on top of it), and you draft the best players available. You keep adding the best talent out there that you can get your hands on and you don't waste time cutting one QB and signing another just because of some made up need to "move on". Paying Mike Glennon $30m to QB your team for a year and a half is just a waste of time and money. Ok then, so I read that Cutler is the solution. To argue against that based on talent I probably need more time than I've got right now. But if we figure Glennon's 30-15 TD-Int ratio represents his true talent level then we can compare it to Cutty's 208-146 career ratio for a decent proxy. Or even just the 53-34 ratio of the last 3 years. Seems like they want more of a predictable game manager. And there really isn't much in FA right now. So unless you want to trade for someone or sign up for Taylor as your long term guy the options are slim. There's no time machine to go back and do the last few years differently. So you take the best guy you can while your rookie is being groomed. I'd personally prefer either Hoyer or Glennon to Cutty. Also, aside from the game manager stuff Glennon has, he's got a little upside because he can throw the deep ball. Here's an article I found on Glennon's deep passing from 2013, his rookie year when he put up 19-9 TD-Int with not much on his offense. https://www.profootballfocus.com/qbs-in-focus-deep-passing-2/ He threw a lot of deep passes (topped the list on pct of passes thrown 21-30 yards and 31-40) while also rating in the top half of QBs on accuracy in the 21-30 range and not to0oo bad on the 31-40 range (in 20 ish range). While Cutler was almost at the bottom in 40+ yarder accuracy, and in the bottom half for 21-30 and just better than average on 31-40. In the 21-30 Glennon was about 10 spots better than Cutler and in 31-40 he was 2 spots worse. That's some cherry picking of stats, but when you've only got 15 games 3 years ago there's not a lot to work with. But the point is that if Glennon does have some good points to him with the game manager thing and an ok deep ball. If the spot that Cutler is supposed to beat him out is the physical stuff and deep passing then at least for 2013 that didn't really shake out. Long story short, I'm not all in on Glennon or anything because I haven't really watched him play. But right now I just want a rookie QB and then need someone else to start until that guy is ready. I've seen enough of Cutler's style, and the offense seemed to work decent under game managers last year. So might as well get the best game manager you can hold it down temporarily while you get your real long term guy someplace else.

Where is your solution?

stupid comment Eh...says you. PFF agrees with my assertion on his talent level and if you think he's got the right demeanor to be the lame duck guy who the team is hoping will have his job snatched away by a young'un then we'll just have to disagree.

Also, for those who want a safety at #3, here's another option for second round or late first trade up: Obi Melifonwu. 6;4, 220 lb safety who wrecked the combine with a 4.40, 44 inch vertical, and best long jump since 2003. Comp'd to Kam Chancellor by one article I saw. 118 tackles this year, 88 last year, with 4 picks this year. Compared to Jamal Adams' 76 tackles this year and 1 pick (67 and 4 last year). I'm not a scout so can't say how good a prospect Obi is, but seems like he could be good. Or Peppers in round 2. At least with 4 safeties who look good enough to take by the Bears second rounder, it's looking like a decent depth position. http://www.foxsports.com/nfl/story/nfl-draft-combine-obi-melifonwu-performance-numbers-prospect-record-030617

Glennon makes sense to me if they see a QB they like in the draft. Other options: Taylor - If you like the draft QB as a better long term option it's pretty unlikely he signs here. Especially if you're going to select one at #3, you're pretty much only getting him here if you lie to him. Romo - Broken old man. Glennon probably won't be as good, but enough of the Bears recent seasons have been derailed by QB injury that I can definitely see not wanting to pin the hopes of a season on this guy. JG, McCarron - You've got to give up picks and if Pace isn't sold on either guy, then great. Because I'd rather have Trubisky for sure and probably Watson or Mahomes than either of these guys considering what it would take to get them Cutler - Hot garbage with a bad attitude. Talent aside, not the sort of guy you want around as a lame duck QB with a rookie coming in. Glennon as a "prove it" career backup with no pretenses about deserving to start is about the best type to have around with a rookie you hope will win the job sooner than later. Then regarding Cutler vs Glennon talent, I'll take the game manager type over the gunslinging proven loser/injury risk. The blurb in the PFF article below sums up Cutler for me. "The ultimate fool's gold" Pass 100% Hoyer - Seems decent, but as the article notes he crumbles after October any time he's given an opportunity. I'd be fine with him as a caretaker QB set up as a fall guy to the rookie, but if the staff likes Glennon more then cool. The money means very little considering how few FAs there are. https://www.profootballfocus.com/pro-top-targets-for-qb-needy-teams-this-offseason/ I'm clearly biased, but I think it's likely that signing Glennon means they're targeting a QB in the draft. Hopefully Trubisky at 3. But you don't want to throw any of these guys in day 1. Hence the need for a stopgap QB.

Trubisky all the way

Btw not for nothin (given Happ's yuge A ball and college walk numbers) but so far Javy's got a better AA walk rate than Happ (7.8% vs 7.2%).

Eh I wouldn't get too crazy about the match ups piece. But that's the debate that may or may not get settled this year when Javy may or may not get the extra PAs against righties. Either way, I'm taking Javy's WAR/600 over Happ's for their rookie contracts. i mean, yeah, everyone is. I'm talking about the theoretical Happ that turns out to be what Law is saying he will be. if you actually buy javy as that type of offensive player, then sure, take him over that version of happ, but i don't. Got it. So then my last post is captain obvious horsefeathers. If we're saying Happ will turn out to be that player Law says I'm still taking Javy unless Happ has like a 20% walk rate.

Also, for all the caveating of Javy's MLB performance, he was much more productive prospect at the same point in their careers. Happ, playing most of the season at 21, just had 274 PAs in AA with a 111 wRC+ while playing spotty 2B defense. Javy finished 2013 with 240 AA PAs at a 180 wRC+ while playing short at the age of 20. Hit 37 HRs that year to Happ's 15. Javy was BAs # 5 prospect while Happ is coming in usually 50 or lower. So Javy has got his issues, but it seems like a long way to go to assume that Happ will have power and BA equal to Javy while beating the defensive value with walks.

At "passable" defense I'd want to hear more about the OBP. Zo was a 4.0 win player with a .386 OBP and 18 HRs and -1.5 UZR/150. So if Happ is .270 at the top end of his estimated BA spectrum he'd need to match Zobrist's 15% walk rate for the 4 wins. I know that's taking the Zobrist comp and 4 wins super literally, but on the other hand Javy had the .272 BA and paced for about 19 HRs per 600 PAs with awesome defense. So I could Happ in a time share with Baez and outfield guys, but in my mind he'd have to outpace that 20 HR, come up with a lot of walks, or play better than passable D to overtake Javy. But luckily they both can play multiple positions and can function as a platoon, so I could both as a fit long term. javy's was also heavily dependent on crazy good defense and he was big time protected from tough matchups at the plate, so i wouldn't get too crazy about the 600 pa pace. Eh I wouldn't get too crazy about the match ups piece. But that's the debate that may or may not get settled this year when Javy may or may not get the extra PAs against righties. Either way, I'm taking Javy's WAR/600 over Happ's for their rookie contracts.