Gilby

I don't think Lester is the worst hitting pitcher on the roster. This year, at least, he's looked more comfortable than Arrieta at the plate.

I think Rizzo forgot the number of outs again.

We shouldn't lose a dong battle with the Royals.

Oh cool.

Does he have Benintendi being taken before the Cubs' pick?

The fake bunt attempt isn't meant to fool you as well, Mr. Umpire.

I hate Wrigley.

Damn, I missed the Nats announcers report on the wind direction. Thought that was gone.

Bryant is the anti-Soler as far as umpires go.

No kidding. I was mentally preparing myself for a diving catch as it was in the air.

That would've hit the old scoreboard if it was a fly ball.

He took some nasty pitches down in the count before getting that hanger.

Ryan Zimmerman's throwing mechanics are just a hilarious mess. I figured he'd throw that DP ball into left field.

I don't understand Callis' (or the Rockies' if that's what he heard) rationale of choosing Jay, who is a reliever right now, over Tate because they're worried about Tate being able to handle a starter's workload.

It's interesting (not surprising) how last night's shitty defense turned into entirely Castro's fault. Jesse Rogers wrote a piece basically excusing Russell's error because he's young and at a new positions (as if pop ups at second base look so much different) and using Castro's error as an indictment of his ability to play shortstop. Though he'd been struggling, it had been a while since he made a big mistake, so I guess we were due for a Starlin hot take from the media.

Russell's had TWO chances at shortstop at the major league level. And Deeg - you have no idea if Baez AND Russell are better shortstops. Baez may be more "athletic" but he's much less sure-handed than Castro. Russell, I don't know enough about. If you don't trust the virtually unanimous opinion of scouts, trust your eyes. We've seen plenty enough of both Russell and Baez at SS to see that they're substantially better than Castro. Russell has much better range and hands, Baez slightly better range and a much stronger arm. If Castro were a star, I could see the case for not wanting to rock the boat - but this is a guy with a lifetime .730 OPS. He's not a star and never will be, and two of the last three years he's been abysmal offensively. He may recover and get his season numbers back to his career norms - or he may not - but there's no development curve. There's no sign of sustained improvement. Absent any overwhelming reason to the contrary, a pretty simple approach should be applied - play the best defender at the more important position. SS is pretty darn important. Bryant may have an overwhelming reason to stay at 3B although he's clearly not the best defensive option - he's the best of the prospects and a near-lock to be a plus-plus player, and his value is higher at 3B than LF. Castro has no such mitigating circumstances. It may not happen mid-season, but the Cubs would be crazy to play Russell and Baez out of position to keep a mediocre defender with Castro's offense at SS. We've seen very little of Baez and Russell at shortstop. I don't particularly care if they move Russell to SS in 2016, but feeling comfortable to move Castro off SS for Baez, owner of a career 41% K rate and .551 OPS, because he has a better arm (Castro's arm is perfectly fine) seems really silly to me. More or less silly than looking at 52 games and calling it a career? Despite the fact that the Rizzo/Baez comparison is very flawed, how silly of us was it to trade a guy like Andrew Cashner for a dude with a .523 career OPS? I'm not saying Baez definitely won't be good; I have some hope that he can be. However, with the huge red flags he showed, I think it's madness to move someone of similar defensive abilities for him, until he actually hits at the major league level. You said yourself the Rizzo/Baez comparison is flawed, and Cashner was coming off shoulder issues, so it wasn't silly at all.

Russell's had TWO chances at shortstop at the major league level. And Deeg - you have no idea if Baez AND Russell are better shortstops. Baez may be more "athletic" but he's much less sure-handed than Castro. Russell, I don't know enough about. If you don't trust the virtually unanimous opinion of scouts, trust your eyes. We've seen plenty enough of both Russell and Baez at SS to see that they're substantially better than Castro. Russell has much better range and hands, Baez slightly better range and a much stronger arm. If Castro were a star, I could see the case for not wanting to rock the boat - but this is a guy with a lifetime .730 OPS. He's not a star and never will be, and two of the last three years he's been abysmal offensively. He may recover and get his season numbers back to his career norms - or he may not - but there's no development curve. There's no sign of sustained improvement. Absent any overwhelming reason to the contrary, a pretty simple approach should be applied - play the best defender at the more important position. SS is pretty darn important. Bryant may have an overwhelming reason to stay at 3B although he's clearly not the best defensive option - he's the best of the prospects and a near-lock to be a plus-plus player, and his value is higher at 3B than LF. Castro has no such mitigating circumstances. It may not happen mid-season, but the Cubs would be crazy to play Russell and Baez out of position to keep a mediocre defender with Castro's offense at SS. We've seen very little of Baez and Russell at shortstop. I don't particularly care if they move Russell to SS in 2016, but feeling comfortable to move Castro off SS for Baez, owner of a career 41% K rate and .551 OPS, because he has a better arm (Castro's arm is perfectly fine) seems really silly to me.

Russell's had TWO chances at shortstop at the major league level. And Deeg - you have no idea if Baez AND Russell are better shortstops. Baez may be more "athletic" but he's much less sure-handed than Castro. Russell, I don't know enough about.

If you hate errors and strikeouts and enjoy obp, Baez isn't exactly your guy either.

If Javy were that close to being called up, he'd be playing other positions. I doubt they move Russell to 3B since he's already in the majors and hasn't played there before either. I don't think we see Javy for awhile. Villanueva would be the favorite to get the call, I would think. Or it could be Andreoli I guess, taking Coke's 40 man spot.

lol, wow. Nick Gordon has a sub .600 OPS as well. Yeah, let's just take Andrew Benintendi and call it a day.

Mark Appel in 2015 - 4.70 ERA, 4.29 FIP in AAA Jon Gray in 2015 - 7.75 ERA, 5.13 FIP in AAA Kris Bryant - .902 OPS in the majors

Despaigne just pitched two days ago. Would have to think it's Shields or Ross.

Ugh, that strike forced Russell to swing at the next pitch in a similar spot.

Hmmm...I would've preferred he had an extended period of success utilizing his (presumed) new approach, but why the hell not. Bring him up. [expletive] it. He's played zero games at third base and left field. At the very least we wouldn't see him for another week+ if they start playing him at those positions tomorrow.