jumbo

Try Baez http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=sa597757&position=SS

We all would, but it's clear that he was not signing with the Cubs. It sure would be nice, though, to have him and Samardzija at the top of the rotation.

Yep. SSS and all, but I am doing my best not to get giddy about him and to a lesser degree Rizzo. Went to check out his fangraphs page. It looks like he's swinging more freely again (probably good) but he's also swinging and missing more freely (probably bad). His biggest drop in contact % is O-contact %, which maybe means he'll avoid some of the weaker contact that we saw from him last year. Also, SSS, 11 games, etc.

Awesome. I asked before about a few games. if any of the season ticket holders have at least 3 seats together I'd be interested in buying them for a game. Not bleachers, though

Three offseasons, a mid-level payroll. If that's not enough to get Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer past an 80-win cap, then are they really all that good? I think it's an honest question, but I think it's fairly intricate to try and answer. Our payroll would basically lend itself to adding two fairly large contracts. If you picked the exact right two, are we a playoff team? My honest guess is no and I know it WOULD increase the odds, but I still think the odds were against it. Then you weigh the two supposed players that were signed versus whatever age they were when signed, versus now.(impossible obviously) versus whatever 2nd rounder(s) it may have cost us AND the difference of going from Bryant at 2 to wherever a slightly improved win total would have picked and from 4 this year to wherever. I agree with the way they've gone if they didn't have the capability to just spend themselves into contention. And if it were possible, I truly wish there was an alternate universe that we could have watched the opposite way play out and we could compare the exact state of the two different paths. Because I do believe this is the one that would have wound up better for us. I think a lot of people take issue with the "dual fronts" promise and "every season is sacred" comment. Now the team just sucks, so what the hell was all that? My belief is that when the CBA fallout made it impossible to follow the Boston model the dual fronts promise fell apart. Epstein had previously collected potential free agents that would have helped the big league team and then also added draft picks when they let them go as type A/B free agents. It was as much a volume game by Boston to get 5 picks in the first two rounds instead of 2 and thus more of an impact on the system/team.

Any season ticket holders interested in selling 3 or 4 tickets on 4/21, 5/1, 5/6? A friend is looking to go and was considering the rooftops, but I think for just a few people the better option is being in the stadium. Let me know

I thought Parker would be in the pen, but haven't been paying much attention to spring training numbers among the relief candidates

Why is someone who is listed as 6'2" 215 considered too big to catch in pro-ball? My understanding is that the bigger you are, the more difficult it is to get into a crouch 80,000,000 times without it affecting your knees

Anyone else notice that Eloy Jimenez is wearing a helmet that says Gonzalez? Is that really him?

You forgot about Justin Grimm Good call. I knew I was forgetting someone. Justin Grimm, professional setup man I'm reminded of the Daily Show highlight of GW Bush listing war allies: "You forgot about Poland!"

You forgot about Justin Grimm

so at this point I'm just basing ratings off of the other rankings that have finished. I want to vote for Torres because he's not that far off of Jimenez. I also see the multitude of ready pen arms and potential starters and have no clue how to discern who may be a better vote. I guess I would need 10 votes at this point if I were to rank equally so I'm just going to watch it unfold from here on in. I only mention this in the comments because I'm curious how many other readers feel the same.

From TCR: http://www.thecubreporter.com/cant-wait-day-cubs-finally-operate-javy-machinery#comments So many guys I forgot about... CUBS MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS ELIGIBLE FOR SELECTION IN DECEMBER 2014 RULE 5 DRAFT (last updated 2-15-2014): Gilberto Abreu, RHP Gioskar Amaya, INF John Andreoli, OF Delbis Arcila, OF Jose Arias, RHP Jeffrey Baez, OF Frank Batista, RHP Yaniel Cabezas, C Javier Castro, RHP Zach Cates, RHP Hunter Cervenka, LHP Pin-Chieh Chen, OF Gerardo Concepcion, LHP (Article XX-D player - can elect free-agency if drafted & then later re-claimed by Cubs) Willson Contreras, C Wes Darvill, INF Taylor Davis, C Frank del Valle, LHP Zeke DeVoss, OF Alberto Diaz, LHP Jose Dore, IF-OF C. J. Edwards, RHP Kevin Encarnacion, OF P. J. Francescon, RHP Victor Garcia, LHP Dustin Geiger, INF Anthony Giansanti, OF Reggie Golden, OF Jae-Hoon Ha, OF Kyle Hendricks, RHP Marco Hernandez, INF Michael Jensen, RHP Eric Jokisch, LHP Jin-Young Kim, RHP Austin Kirk, LHP Matt Loosen, RHP Rafael Lopez, C Jeff Lorick, LHP Barret Loux, RHP Dillon Maples, RHP Eric Martinez, RHP Andrew McKirahan, LHP Trey McNutt, RHP (Article XX-D player - can elect free-agency if drafted & then later re-claimed by Cubs) Alberto Mineo, C Carlos Montero, INF Yoanner Negrin, RHP Loiger Padron, RHP Amaury Paulino, RHP Carlos Penalver, INF Felix Pena, RHP Wilfredo Petit, C Ivan Pineyro, RHP James Pugliese, RHP Austin Reed, RHP Greg Rohan, IF-OF Victor Salazar, RHP Francisco Sanchez, INF Tayler Scott, RHP Rock Shoulders, 1B Rubi Silva, OF Brian Smith, LHP Kenny Socorro, INF Elliot Soto, INF Nick Struck, RHP Antonio Valerio, C Yao-Lin Wang, RHP Ben Wells, RHP Oliver Zapata, OF Brad Zapenas, INF Tony Zych, RHP Additionally, any player eligible to be a Rule 55 Six-Year Minor League Free-Agent (6YFA) post-2014 who signs a 2015 minor league contract or agrees to a 2015 minor league successor contract prior to the December 2014 Rule 5 Draft will be eligible for selection. Also, any player eligible to be a Rule 55 Second Contract Minor League Free-Agent who signs a 2015 minor league contract prior to the December 2014 Rule 5 Draft will be eligible for selection if the player was 18 or younger on the June 5th immediately prior to signing his first contract and it is at least the 5th Rule 5 Draft since he signed his first contract, or the player was 19 years or older on the June 5th immediately prior to signing his first contract and it is at least the 4th Rule 5 Draft since he signed his first contract. CUBS RULE 55 MINOR LEAGUE FREE-AGENTS POST-2014: SIX-YEAR FREE-AGENT: Lars Anderson, 1B (Article XX-D player - can elect free-agency if drafted & then later re-claimed by Cubs) Jeffry Antigua, LHP John Baker, C (Article XX-D player - can elect free-agency if drafted & then later re-claimed by Cubs) Emilio Bonifacio, IF-OF (Article XX-D player - can elect free-agency if drafted & then later re-claimed by Cubs) Marcelo Carreno, RHP Lendy Castillo, RHP (Article XX-D player - can elect free-agency if drafted & then later re-claimed by Cubs) Hunter Cervenka, LHP (see NOTE) Chris Coghlan, OF (Article XX-D player - can elect free-agency if drafted & then later re-claimed by Cubs) Casey Coleman, RHP (Article XX-D player - can elect free-agency if drafted & then later re-claimed by Cubs) Aaron Cunningham, OF (Article XX-D player - can elect free-agency if drafted & then later re-claimed by Cubs) Charlie Cutler, C Paolo Espino, RHP Eduardo Figueroa, RHP Luis Flores, C Edgar Gonzalez, INF (Article XX-D player - can elect free-agency if drafted & then later re-claimed by Cubs) Carlos Gutierrez, RHP (Article XX-D player - can elect free-agency if drafted & then later re-claimed by Cubs) Marcus Hatley, RHP Tommy Hottovy, LHP (Article XX-D player - can elect free-agency if drafted & then later re-claimed by Cubs) Walter Ibarra, INF Ryan Kalish, OF Mitch Maier, OF (Article XX-D player - can elect free-agency if drafted & then later re-claimed by Cubs) Darnell McDonald, OF (Article XX-D player - can elect free-agency if drafted & then later re-claimed by Cubs) Jonathon Mota, INF Starling Peralta, RHP (Article XX-D player - can elect free-agency if drafted & then later re-claimed by Cubs) Carlos Pimentel, RHP Dae-Eun Rhee, RHP Ryan Roberts, INF (Article XX-D player - can elect free-agency if drafted & then later re-claimed by Cubs) Jose Rosario, RHP Jonathan Sanchez, LHP (Article XX-D player - can elect free-agency if drafted & then later re-claimed by Cubs) Brian Schlitter, RHP (Article XX-D player - can elect free-agency if drafted & then later re-claimed by Cubs) Ryan Searle, RHP Jeudy Valdez, INF (Article XX-D player - can elect free-agency if drafted & then later re-claimed by Cubs) Chris Valaika, INF (Article XX-D player - can elect free-agency if drafted & then later re-claimed by Cubs) Casper Wells, OF (Article XX-D player - can elect free-agency if drafted & then later re-claimed by Cubs) Eli Whiteside, C (Article XX-D player - can elect free-agency if drafted & then later re-claimed by Cubs) NOTE: Hunter Cervenka will be eligible to be a Rule 55 minor league 6YFA post-2014 if he signed a 2008 contract when he signed his "first contract" with the Boston Red Sox on 8-15-2008. However, if he was “Signed for Future Service“ (first contract was a 2009 contract), he will not be eligible to be a Rule 55 minor league 6YFA until post-2015. SECOND CONTRACT FREE-AGENT: Carlos Figueroa, INF (previously released by CHC) Humberto Garcia, INF (previously released by CHW) Chang-Yong Lim, RHP (previously non-tendered by CHC) Alan Oaks, RHP (previously released by MIA) Yomar Pacheco, RHP (previously released by PIT) Brohiglyn Rivero, RHP (previously released by TB) Orbandy Rodriguez, RHP (previously released by AZ) Roberto Vahlis, C (previously released by TOR) Tsuyoshi Wada, LHP (contract expired with BAL) NOTE: Even if they sign 2015 minor league contracts, B. Rivero, Vahlis, and Wada will not be eligible for selection in the December 2014 Rule 5 Draft.

If I'm following the author's argument, he's claiming that Starlin's low babip, and by extension poor performance in 2013, can be attributed to a new swing that brought about a dip in his contact rate on balls in the zone. Leaving aside whether or not Castro's swing really changed that much, two criticisms occur to me. First, what does contact rate have to do with babip? And second, Starlin's Z-Contact fell from an average of 92.6% in 2010-2012 to 89.2% in 2013. That's not entirely negligible, but it isn't much either. In his three full seasons, Castro saw an average of 2577 pitches per season. Using that number (for purposes of comparison) Castro swung and missed at about 23 more pitches in the strike zone in 2013 relative to his 2010-2012 rate. Even if you assume all those balls would have been put into play if struck, and furthermore that about a third of them would have fallen for hits, that still only gets you to about a .258 average. Am I missing the point? This article didn't agree with the one I read about Castro taking more pitches early in counts but then swinging more later in the counts/with two strikes.

For me, for simplicity I use simple whole-number roundoff numbers. A-: 20 A+: 21 AA: 22 If you don't round off, I assume in A- it would be more on the 19.7 than 20.3 side of 20. *Likewise it's younger for top-5 guys per league, guys who tend to show up on Top-100 or Top-50 overall lists. *Anybody else have more precise numbers? I look at BA's top-20 for their leagues for this purpose. The average age for the 10-20 guys is older than for the 1-5 group. Vogelbach was not young for an A- prospect. Soler was not young for an A+ prospect. Even using top-20 age averages, it still skews deceptively on the old side. For college guys like Bryant and Pierce Johnson, they were 21 in A+, not young. But having used 3 years in college, how could they be young for their level? kind of an old article, but one I bookmarked for this type of discussion/reference http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/minor-league-leaderboard-context/

What was Remlinger's ridiculous injury? Not "tripped over my dog" ridiculous, but didn't something bizarre happen to him? May be thinking of someone else

Gonna have to turn it down though. I was hoping it would come up later on in the decade. 2016/2017+ Decided to sign on to the waiting list after reading this (and others). I am 92930 (or so). What am I looking at 6-7 years? Does anyone have good experience making money on the tickets? Maybe splitting with someone is necessary? Any insight would be appreciated. I've only got a few years to figure this out

I went with Vizcaino and Olt. I love Candelario - I think I had him at 8 during last year's voting - but he's got a ways to go and both Olt and Vizcaino have pedigree on their side despite lack of recent success. I'm very encouraged that the team will have 3B filled through the system just depends on who wins the battle. Olt, Villanueva, Bryant is a pretty good base for the competition. Obviously lots of other possibilities/arrangements

He is their god, along with Marlin Bistro

But the tips are not frosted Edmonds' style

How do you guys interpret Jose Reyes light? 3 war player with a couple years touching 4? Reyes was consistently around 6 barring injuries

Not to defend the FO too much, but I definitely think the new CBA hurt the dual fronts plan the most. Essentially the only way to stock up in the draft is to have a top pick. Yes, the Cardinals and Rays will make good picks and help their farm, but for the Cubs to stock the system (instead of those team re-stocking) they had to lose. I'm not at all happy about the MLB team sucking or the renovations, etc, but if the club could have spent freely in the draft I think the dual front campaign would have been more realistic to carry out.

Well, I went with gut feeling, but this makes me feel a lot better about voting for CJ. Converted me to CJ instead of Soler

They'll both be up in 2014. I asked him and he said he only put it that way because KB has a position to come up to, while Javy doesn't. He doesn't know if Olt will be back to normal or not, so he kept him off the list. And just to head things off at the pass, Chris is extremely hard to get an 80 grade out of. I think Hamilton's speed may be the only one currently for him. I'm more curious how KB has a higher present than future grade. With the glove? Guess he figures he's as good as he'll get at 3B currently? My assumption is that he'll get bigger and lose agility/etc. Some of those ETA dates seemed aggressive to me - anyone else think that? Candelario in 2016 Eloy Jimenez in 2017 (just three years - where does he start in this scenario, Kane County?) Frazier in 2016 (wasn't he a HS pick)

You're kidding, right? I have a feeling you knew all along...even mentioned it twice to not look like a pervert. That's fine, I'll do it. https://www.google.com/search?q=Mai+Satoda&espv=210&es_sm=122&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=HCjUUomHG4Xd2QW0uICoAg&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1600&bih=775