Outshined_One
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Everything posted by Outshined_One
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Major brain trauma?
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I love Happ, and there's a world out there where the Cubs re-sign him to a 1-2 year deal with a team option that lets them splurge on the rotation, but my worry is his strikeouts and struggles against LHP this season were not one-offs. If it turns out he had a nagging injury that caused him issues while batting on the left side, then I'm okay with re-signing him, but I really don't want to sign a guy who might be relegated to a platoon role by midseason next year.
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I wouldn't call it a problem. The dude is good enough to be a bench OF who has the potential to be a starting caliber OF if he irons out his pitch recognition. Based on the Cubs' usage of him, I don't think they'll pencil him in for a starting spot next season, but that isn't a failure on his part or the Cubs' part. Plus, comparing him to PCA is patently unfair because PCA is a developmental unicorn. He's useful enough as is, be it as trade bait or on the team in 2027.
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Just accept it. It's not the Cardinals or the Dodgers or the Yankees, and it goes a long way in showing MLB's ass during the lockout.
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I'm iffy on Kwan. I like his game, I like his potential to repeat his production in 2027, and I think he'd make a good stopgap, but I also get the sense that he won't come cheap, and I also have to wonder if the Cubs might be better off pursuing someone with a different offensive profile since this team will need a power bat to replace Suzuki's production if he leaves. I can see the arguments for and against making a deal for him, but I don't think the price or the outcome will be right for this team as it's currently constructed.
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Criminal charges were never filed, but almost everything is buried under settlements and the allegations don't paint him in the best light.
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Matt Araiza is also their punter. It's like their special teams unit is the Justice League of Awful.
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This game is going to end in the dumbest way possible, isn't it?
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horsefeathers it. Draft only hitters from now on, I don't care if they're pulling random people from the stands in South Bend to pitch in relief, just do it.
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Tip-off tonight in Toronto. Hey, maybe they won't suck this year!
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Bears Week 6: @ Falcons Sunday at noon on Fox
Outshined_One replied to jersey cubs fan's topic in Other Sports
I really don't like where this seems to be headed. -
The following things can all be true: 1 - Shaw is a trash person. 2 - Duran is a trash person. 3 - The return Shaw can get in a trade is significantly better than the return Duran can get in a trade.
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Duran is the sort of guy you offer up a lottery ticket for in a trade. Dude looks cooked and is on the wrong side of 30. Shaw and Ramirez have a good amount of value. Don't try to offload them just because you want to offload them.
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I disagree with this assessment. Young players are going to want long term contracts at high dollar amounts (like they do now), and salary floors are not going to compel cheap teams into committing to those sorts of deals because those teams will claim they are unable to absorb the dead money if those players don't pan out. I think the more likely outcome of a hard floor is you'll see veteran salaries increase substantially on short term deals to help cheap teams meet the floor requirements.
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There was a decent amount of smoke around Kirby (and Gilbert, to a lesser extent) at the deadline this year, and I could see the Mariners trying to swing a deal that opens a spot for Kade Anderson in the rotation while making up for the (inevitable) loss of Arozarena's bat. The Mariners also have a decent amount of pressure to reverse their offensive woes from this past season (which resulted in the majority of their coaching staff getting the axe), so Ramirez seems to make more sense than Shaw from that perspective. For the Guardians...who the heck knows? They're pretty set at 2B/3B with Bazzana and Jose Ramirez, but they could upgrade from Genao as a primary UTIL, and they're usually active in the trade market.
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There also have been substantial advances on the hitting side of baseball science that have significantly cut down on the movement/velocity tradeoff. If you remember your Steve Stone days with guys like Zambrano, he would harp on Z needing to work low-90s to get the most out of his two seam fastball, but the problems are (a) velocity is much easier to repeat than extreme movement; and (b) data and technological advances have made it much easier for hitters to recognize those pitches and pound them in the zone. It's possible we see MLB rule changes to help tilt the advantage back to pitchers, but the best way to counter good hitting is velocity for the time being.
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I'll put it this way with respect to the Cubs' pitching on the farm, this time last year you'd be justified giving it a D-, and holding back on giving it an F only because Jaxon Wiggins existed. This year, it's more like a C-. It's still bad, but it's improving, and it's likely to continue improving next season when we actually see guys like Townsend in-game.
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Comparing the Cardinals to the Brewers as 2000s-era WWE villains, though, you were more likely to watch when The Rock was top heel compared to when Randy Orton was top heel. It's like, sure, Orton was and is a perfectly capable villain, but it's just not the same.
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A thousand times this. Kyle Schwarber deserves sainthood for jamming a stake through their hearts in 2015.
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I was at Game 3 of the 2017 NLDS and it was the most intense game of baseball I've ever experienced in person. Lots of fun in retrospect, but I also aged 10 years by the time Wade Davis finished the 9th.
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If you dig into their batted ball data the last three seasons, there are some weird horsefeathers things happening. A team shouldn't be able to sustain these sorts of BABIP numbers year after year while not hitting HRs and having one of the top offenses in the NL. We're in Cardinals Pixie Dust Territory, and whether that means they cracked the code or are stealing signs or started sacrificing small children to a demon god, who the hell knows?
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@Jason Ross threw cold water on this idea a few pages ago. The under the hood stuff doesn't match up with what the Cubs like. He comes across like a more aggressive Murakami, and that guy likely would have set the K record if he'd played a full season. /I still like him, though...
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Bears Week 5: @GB Sunday at noon on Fox
Outshined_One replied to jersey cubs fan's topic in Other Sports
His dad was an arm wrestler. AN ARM WRESTLER!! -
I expect the Sox will be back in the next postseason. There's enough young pitching to keep them competitive into August/September, and I genuinely think Roch Cholowsky is the real deal.
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That's where I come down with Happ. Extend the QO, try to negotiate a home town discount on a 2-3 year deal, and if he decides to walk, so be it.
