Thrilho

that doesn't matter if the same guys are playing... Yeah I misspoke really, what I meant is I'd rather have Baez's defense at 2b, Bryant is more than capable at 3b, and Zobrist is fine in the outfield. I think the Baez > Zobrist at 2b is more valuable than Baez > Bryant at 3b, but we're still trying to gauge Bryant as a major league third basemen really. The missing part there is Bryant vs Zobrist in the outfield. With Bryant's speed I think he be a big plus in the outfield. I'd guess Zobrist has lost some steps. I'd think that the Javy would provide a bigger lift at third because of all the crazy plays his arm allow him to make. At second a big benefit is his ability to turn quick double plays, but that's the sort of skill you'd think would age well with Zobrist. He won't turn quite as many as Baez would, but the plays Baez is able to make at third just wouldn't get made by anyone else. Also, Baez creates more double play opportunities at third, which I'd think would come close to wash with the extra turns you'd get with Baez over Zobrist at second. But really it boils down to Baez having the armto make long throws from up the line or the throws on the run coming in. How many of those would have been hits with Bryant playing? Also if you move Zobrist full time now he's going lose his second base skills quicker over the course of the contract. 38 year old pure outfielder Zobrist doesn't sound great. Primary concern is this year of course, but it is something. Biggest thing in all of it might be your MVP candidate KB might not want to play OF all the time and putting him in LF permanently might hurt the chances of resigning him down the road. Lol just kidding I don't think that's a concern. This team is amazing and I'm guessing he enjoys watching Javy make these plays too. If it was every day that would be one thing, but if Javy's main position is third I'd guess he'll still play SS and 2nd like 30-40% of the time.

100%

To me, these guys are the OF equivalents of a Barney or LeMahieu prospect in the IF - contact, defense, and competent or better baserunning. A bad team doesn't mind starting one, first division teams usually have these guys on the bench. In Almora's case, the bench seems like a bad way to use a #6 overall pick so his best use to the org is as a pretty solid looking trade chip. Do these first division teams usually have to pay an infield filled with All Stars as well as a $180 million RF? It would be awesome to sign Dex to a 4 year deal, but the early contract extensions are going to start coming soon and it would be real nice to have a 3 WAR center fielder playing for free.

Or Vonn Bell if they're cool with the Sutton/Ferguson.

Funny couple quotes, but I think this gives a little more on what he means: “(Georgia) moved him all over. He is such a versatile athlete, so he’s playing inside linebacker one snap and then the next snap it is like he is playing nickel and running up the field with a slot receiver. I think with him playing more of a pass rush position, he’ll have more production.” So move him around, inside/outside but keep him rushing the passer more and less in coverage. Of course he'll probably have to play some coverage eventually, but not necessarily cover a receiver. This article also says they plan to play him at around 240, whereas he played much of the season at 220(!). So at least they aren't counting on him putting on a ton of weight and trying to make him a different player. But yes, now I want more DL to keep him and rest of the LBs running free. Looks like some decent guys left on the board. https://www.google.com/amp/wgnradio.com/2016/04/29/hoge-for-bears-gm-ryan-pace-the-honeymoon-is-over/amp/#

https://mobile.twitter.com/AdamHoge/status/725865980052836352/video/1 Not sure if anyone would bite on this juke in the NFL, but that's some good athleticism. It'll be interesting to see how much bulk they ask him to put on, how much he's able to, and how much it slows him down. That Aldon Smith comparison was probably a little optimistic on the size/strength end. But even at this size, out of the gate I'll bet they could find some good matchups. They kept showing this graphic about how the Bears only had 8 interceptions. I want more s So maybe Tunsil would've been the smartest choice (if they thought he was good) but as a fan looking for entertainment I'm happy they focused on pass rush. I've wanted an awesome 3-4 defense for a long time and this one is coming together.

Btw I know nothing about college football or football talent evaluation but wanted a pass rusher and I'm geeked that there was a guy that they wanted to jump and get. The fact that they were going after the same guy the Giants got is just gravy. Hoping Fangio sees an Aldon Smith type in him. That San Fran D was fun to watch.

Got to figure Fangio and Fox had a lot of input here. So if you're cool with pass rushing LB as a position the Bears needed you figure you're trusting the the guys who had roles in putting together two of the best recent outside linebackers corps in recent NFL history (SF & the DEN) as well as the Giants who consistently knock pass rusher out of the park. So if this is a Shea pick that's a lot of good talent evaluators who missed.

Small nitpick, but Happ is 21, not 22. It's going to be interesting to see how he progresses this year. Including the K-rate. I'm hoping is settles down some, and that he doesn't have a couple of 4-K nights every month. Nothing is ever safe with high-K prospects, I don't think. Still, there is considerable intrigue with a guy who is 1.000+ OPS with power and massive OBP at age 21. Yeah, bad wording. I meant his age 22 season, as his birthday is in August. Brett Jackson's birthday is in September, so you can shift his ages back too to align. But basically he's 4 months younger than Almora playing 2 levels below. I don't want to be the anti-Happ downer guy, but he was being discussed as the top overall prospect in the system, so wanted to give some reasons for why I still rank some other guys ahead of him. Still rooting for him to keep mashing, play second at a passable level and keep a handle on the Ks. If he can handle second he's probably still the highest ceiling guy in the system.

A big consideration in where to rank Happ is the likelihood he sticks at second. He made his 6th error in 18 games today. Errors aren't the be all end all, but I've never read anything glowing about his defense. So until I start reading some glowing stuff I'm assuming he's a corner outfielder. I'm also reserving judgment a bit until I see how his K rate shakes out. Brett Jackson had a 14% BB / 21% K as a 22 year old at A+. 11% BB / 23.5% K as a 23 year old at AA. I'm definitely not doing cartwheels yet about a 22% K rate out of a 22 year old Happ at A+. And the BB% can be deceiving at that level because he could just be getting pitched around due to the power. Or if Brett Jackson is too strong an example for you, look at Soler. Innocuous 19% K rate in AA, 20.5% in AAA, while sporting very sexy 15% / 13% walk rates at each stop. But clearly he's got some serious contact issues at the majors even though his minor league rates were relatively decent. So basically, K rate is the biggest evaluation factor for me by far, and 4 K games like the one Happ had earlier this year give me the freaking willies. I was/am behind Javy because of his out of this world power and defense, as well as bat speed to help him make contact. If Happ gives me some more of that stuff I'll move him up. Now Almora, there's a guy I'm buying. 10% K so far, matching his 10% K at AA last year. 8.7% walk. Power in the eye of the beholder, but I'm seeing .140+ which is enough. One thing I keep thinking with him is that he doesn't need to develop power to keep walking at the major league level. In this lineup, he could draw the same type of walks that Sczcur has been drawing. Feast on tired pitchers who can't find the zone or foul off balls and wait for the pitcher to not be able to find the zone. That'll be enough. I'm still taking Candelario ahead of Happ too. I see now reason to back off it now. I think he can play third, so already I'm giving him some rope. His K rate was 11% last year at AA and in AZ league, and he's never had a K rate that topped 18%. Maintaining that 12% walk rate from AA again at 15% this year, while K'ing a bit more at 20%, but small sample with the rest of his recent K success. And he illustrated today that he can go off with power. So I'll keep him at 3, ahead of Almora but right now they're pretty much tied. Torres I'll keep at 2, because his slow start isn't really surprising. I don't love him, but with so many publications being so high on him I've got to figure they see some tools in there that keep him above what I think Almora and Candelario will be. But I'd rather keep both those guys and Happ over Torres, since I think the rest are better fits with the org. Still no one close to Contreras. I'll also take this space to say yes on Chesney Young. 5.7% K at A last year, 9.7% at A+, 7.6% at AA so far. 10% walk rates at both stops last year with 17.7% so far this year. OBP of .385 and .394 at his two stops last year and .481 so far this year. The power wasn't there last year obviously, as the ISO was only .065, but has already hit 2 HRs. He's also 6'1", so maybe a .120ish MLB ISO isn't out of reach. Also, last year at MB: 21 games at 2B, 21 games at 3B, 10 games at SS, 11 games in LF, 6 in RF. So again, sticking with "contact is king" I'm putting him right behind Dewees, around 12. A Seal Boy type with high likelihood of making the majors seems pretty worthy of a high spot. Not impressed yet with EJM. Jimenez also striking out more than I want. I may have been over exuberant on those dudes. Still early though.

Javy will be a 3 win player this year

Dewees is watching the vote and he is not amused

Well put. He's the AB I'm most looking forward to each time around right now. Showing a great eye and putting good swings on just about every time.

Ok, I don't want Caratini or Candelario doing any more cool stuff before I get on record that they're my guys. Figured you all have some favorites, and this gives us an easy spot to point back to for you to say "that was my guy. And that dude. Was not my guy." Easier than digging back through the voting threads to find the spot where you called 30 home runs out of Jimenez. So here's my list: Contreras Torres Candelario Almora Happ Jimenez Cease McKinney EJM Caritini Notes: - Contreras over Torres easy. That offensive season at AA, with that K rate. Defensive praise coming out the ass from everyone. My favorite quote on Torres was (I think from someone here) that at this point he's Castro's power with Baez's Ks. A lot to go wrong. Contreras will be a beast. - Candelario! Remember that 3 double 2 HR game from AZ last year? ~11% K rate at AA and AZ, and I thought he looked pretty good defensively in ST. Very professional looking at bats with close takes and a nifty homer off a broken Madbum. I could see him fitting in with the Cubs if he keeps tapping into that power. - Almora vs Happ. Taking the sure defense and contact of Almora here. If he can develop some patience he'll be golden. This could be the guy that allows Schwarbs to keep playing for the Cubs. - Jimenez is HUGE! And doesn't strike out much. Strikeouts are super important. But looking like Tweety bird on monster serum goes a long way with me. - Cease at 100 MPH lottery ticket over a guy with a ceiling roughly of Coughlan - EJM - Lots of things could go right here. Size and ability to play CF go a long way. Also, not a pitcher - Caritini - Hit .283/.367/.424 from 6/1 on. Could easily put him higher Didn't make it - Edwards - Hovering around 6 BB a game since 2014. Even before that was in the 3s. Have to see way better - Underwood - No Ks ever and injured - All other pitchers - I'd prefer to roll with position players as far down this list as I can go I won't dump the rest here, because the polling is still going on for beyond top 10. But anyone else have one? I've gotten to see lists from just about every source, but this is where my most trusted baseball sources reside. Let me see some lists.

And there was the gem in the first, where Gyorko gets an error throwing a routine ball right at him into the dirt. Cardinals announcer explains that Gyorko was settling in at short stop in spring training but "one of the things that hurt him here was that Enciarte was practically RUNNING out of the batter's box, so he had to rush his throw." As Enciarte trots into first with an injury that caused him to leave the game.

I don't wanna put the line of demarcation back that far because the subsequent offseason was a huge turd. Right about the Russell trade and Schwarber pick is when he stopped mixing good and bad and just went all good forever. It seemed like a fair size of the baseball world would have taken Jon Gray ahead of Bryant, so we'll put the line right at the draft then. Now that we have that settled, I'm going to stop giving a [expletive] and lovvvvvve your statement about Theo going good mode on the rest of these chumps. Back to counting the WAR of our paper giant!!!

If he can keep it up, he'll deserve all the praise he's gotten. We'll see. Here's two examples for why I think there's such a big demarcation to be seen. Almora with the No. 6 pick vs. Schwarber with the No. 4, and what we got for Garza vs. what we got for Samardzija. He hasn't always been this good with the Cubs, but lately he has been. Give early Theo some credit for what wound up being an absolute fleece job in hindsight in Rizzo/Cashner. Rondon was a pretty awesome Rule 5 pickup on a smaller scale too. He got the most recent Cy Young winner for a half season of Scott Feldman in July 2013. Which Theo era does that count in?

Love everything that happened today. Getting a guy like Warren for Castro at the same time as the Dbacks wrecked the market for buyers of starting pitching feels especially great. Sort of like getting Lackey right before Greinke signs a $500 million deal. So here are a couple good articles. I believe the fangraphs one got posted a couple pages back but can't remember. But it's about as deep an analysis of a pitcher's pitches as you'll find and bears posting as many times as we feel like it. The NY one is from after a game where he pitched 3 shutout innings to clinch the postseason, talking about how valuable he is. Could definitely see him winning a rotation spot, but if not he seems like a hell of a swing man. And BOZ. http://www.nj.com/yankees/index.ssf/2015/10/adam_warren_continues_mvp-like_season_for_yankees.html http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/who-might-adam-warren-be/

I'll just leave this here: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/noticing-kevin-gausman/ Yeah, would way prefer this to anything ATL or TB have to offer. 25 year old power righty with 5 years of control, who has accumulated 3.6 fWAR in 225 IP over the last 2 years while throwing 70% fastballs. I'd hate to lose Baez, but mostly it's because I don't think they'd get what I think he's worth. If they got this guy I'd be down. Soler works too because I'm sure they'd have a good plan to replace him.

Well, he managed to accumulate that HR/FB rate while pitching in Seattle, which is pretty impressive, really. True. I was hoping to go on his page to see some startling home/road splits where he gave up 5 HR in Texas or something but nope! 20% HR/FB at home vs 12% on the road. My post wasn't to say I'd have made the move, just looking for some potential for optimism. The FO has my trust in most things at this point but dumpster diving for relievers they've still got a pretty high swing and miss rate. At least this guy was trade rather than a DFA dice roll.

He's got some positive peripherals. His soft contact rate is at 20% (4 year high), his hard contact is steady with the last few at 24%, his LD% is 16% (lowest in a few years), the pulled ball rate is steady. Biggest changes are the drop in K rate and the HR/FB spiking from 4-6% up to 16%. He's probably not going to start striking out a bunch of guys, but that HR/FB could come down as the wind starts blowing in more.

Not sure where to put this, but it seems like Maddon just confirmed that Schwarber will be playing some outfield in this video. Also, not sure how forthcoming he's being here, but taken at face value it doesn't sound like they're looking to add a significant bat. Maddon starts answering a question about the Cubs needs at the trade deadline at 5:15. He starts by saying the bullpen looks solid, and we've got Ramirez and Soriano coming. Then says we're always looking to upgrade the 5th starter spot, then this about the offense: “The bats are going to get better because Soler is coming back relatively soon, so the offense should have an uptick right there. We have Schwarbs in the minor leagues, who is going to catch and maybe play a little outfield there, so hopefully that will augment the offense at some point too. But then beyond that just the guys who are here…” http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn:13190517

I was just about to post this. That call was brutal. Why is Pat allowing this? I'm guessing Pat requested it. I think he likes having the inning off of play by play. He used to take the whole thing off and Corey Provus or whoever would do PBP. At least it keeps Pat in the booth, but yeah that call was rough.

Also, yes on Steele. 3 out of 18 outs were in the air. 2 doubles, but other than that he's been great. Let's hope this 2014 HS class keeps it rolling.

Nice to see the Emeralds bat Eloy in the 2 hole. He's shown patience so far this year, but he's also 6'4" with huge power potential. A lot of organizations would lock him into the 3 or 4 spot and not consider him for the 2 spot. So nice that they have some organizational philosophies and hire managers that will execute them. The great 2-hole hitter is also nice with the DH, so maybe that's got something to do with it. But I like Dewees, Jimenez, and happ hitting at the top of that lineup for as long as they're all there.