Agony and Ivy

Fowler was graded at and widely considered a below average CF defender before we acquired him and we turned him into an average to a little above average defender out there. I'm fairly confident we could take a slightly above average LF defender (who has CF experience) and get league average defense out of him in CF. The Cubs can't make him younger so I'm not so sure. The Cubs took a career CF and helped turn him into a league average defender. Moving up the defensive spectrum, especially when you're not an elite defender in a corner spot, is not something that's done often and I would highly doubt that it would work with Gardner.

In regards to Gardner, are we talking about him as an option to platoon in CF? I ask because he has only been slightly above average in LF and I'm not sure running him out in CF as the big part of a platoon is something I'd be excited about.

Read on MLBTR that Marcell Ozuna is a "name to keep an eye on" and that the Cardinals would be in on him. I want.

Derek Holland? JP is a close friend of mine but I don't want him on to be the bullpen lefty signing, I'd rather keep Wood.

I don't know much about those last 2 guys the Reds get or Reid-Foley, but based on their numbers, these seem like pretty fair deals. I think that's about as good as we can expect for Soler. I don't think the Cubs are getting a ML ready starter. I think it's projectable pitching or a reliever if Soler is the main/only piece. Just a quick note on Pompey that I am pretty sure I've mentioned here before...Serious serious makeup issues and not the kind that I like to shrug off because he's young. His dad is a drain on him and already may have cost his son big league playing time.

Kaplan spent 30 minutes on his show today talking about his book. Basically he's just plagiarizing Passan's book The Arm when it comes to Lester.

Martin Perez is garbage. I'd rather keep Jake and take the pick next year Perez is worth far more than a comp pick. Jurado and Payano are good gets with a comp pick on their own. I'm not a Perez fan actually. I'm just trying to be realistic on Jakes value. He's certainly not getting multiple years of a front line starter, like Stroman. Perez is young, has a few seasons of control, throws pretty hard for a lefty, and gets tons of grounders. I get that his K rate sucks, but he's pitching to contact on some level. We may value Jakes 2017 potential contributions more than a guy like Perez and an upside type arm like Jurado or Payana. And that's perfectly fine. I'm looking around at the top end guys on the market, what its going to take for them.....Figure Theo has enough good will built up to take his shot.....May not mean Perez, but while I agree there's probably a sub 25% shot, the market is set up for Theo to strike early and give one of these teams an early start on everyone else..... I don't want to get stuck on one guy because that wasn't the point of your original post but Perez shouldn't even be an MLB starter. Jake's value to this team in 2017 plus the comp pick is far more valuable than what they'd get back in trade if we're talking about players on the level of Martin Perez. I'm not saying you're wrong that Perez is the kind of player he'd bring back, I'm saying he's horsefeathering terrible, and I'd rather have one year of a 4 WAR pitcher, in a championship window, than 4 years of a 1.5-2 WAR pitcher that couldn't strike you or me out.

Martin Perez is garbage. I'd rather keep Jake and take the pick next year

Kaprelian has TOR potential so I don't think Candelario is fetching him back in trade.

Cubs may not go after any big name RP This FO has been pretty open and honest when discussing their FA plans and Jed is saying we may not go after any of the big name relievers out there.

Once Fowler signs with another team, the Cubs will get the pick right back, so it's not that big of a deal. I do wish they'd find a way to keep Dex.

That slash line with the K/BB rates are horsefeathering terrible regardless of defense and base running I dont know what the slash lines of 2B and SS were this year but with Javys defense I still think he would be an average starter by putting up those stats in the MIF with that D. Its not like hes an elite LF.. he does it in 3 very demanding positions. Im willing to be proven wrong but my off the hip guess is there is a lot of weak hitting MIFs right now, coupled with my opinion that Javy is by far and away the best glove at 2b right now, and elite at 3b. League Avg 2B: .270/.329/.425 wRC+ 101 League Avg SS: .262/.319/.407 wRC+ 92 Javy Baez 2016: .273/.314/.423 wRC+ 94

It's not really backloaded. The first 3-4 years are arbitration years, so they're paying him slightly more each season than he'd probably get going through the arbitration process and then paying him below market value when the FA portion of the contract kicks in. I realized the arbitration thing after I posted. Probably should have looked at that. I posted because somebody mentioned trading for him and couldn't remember what he was making. They still have a few more years of old man Pujols to go along with him. And he's still getting about 2/5th market rate for his numbers which is even crazier.

It's not really backloaded. The first 3-4 years are arbitration years, so they're paying him slightly more each season than he'd probably get going through the arbitration process and then paying him below market value when the FA portion of the contract kicks in.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/CarrieMuskat/status/795749546177548288[/tweet] Hey guys, Carrie is all over the Cubs moves this offseason.

I get what you're saying but that's a UPS/FedEx issue.

No thanks on Minnesota arms. This seems random. What's up with Minnesota arms? This will cover more than just the Minnesota arms sentiment but here goes... 1. They're never good at baseball like ever because they are taught to pitch to contact and it's been that way for a while now. You can go look at all of their hyped pitching prospects and they've never produced a single good MLB starting pitcher. 2. Berrios has proven less than nothing at the Major League level while Baez has proven that he has an extremely high floor due to his ability to play elite defense. 3. Berrios has no command. He was able to get by in the minors with just pure velocity and stuff but his complete inability to command pitches in the zone has gotten him lit up by MLB hitters. His glove side command is actually funny bad and the ball leaks over the middle of the plate and MLBers dong his trash to death.

No thanks on Minnesota arms.

I'd like this pickup for depth purposes. Gross. He's pretty horsefeathering terrible, like 7th worst qualified starter in the league terrible. Hard pass.

I just now got through all the texts that I had received when the game ended. Now I'm back at work and people are coming by my office to say congrats and rehash the game. I think I'll watch it in it's entirety for a 6th time tonight.

They had great health last year too. Outside of Hammel, of course.

It'll be quiet because the market sucks but I'm fascinated with the trade market this year.

Funny enough Steve Goodman wrote one of the most famous country songs of all time.

Javy has zero idea who he is

"Hey, the biggest sporting event in history just happened, lets cover it with a bunch of people that know squat about sports." Oh my God, they won't stop yammering over each other. It's like a competition to see who can say the most awkward unfunny thing. Yep I immediately switched to CSN. Solid decision.