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Outshined_One

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Everything posted by Outshined_One

  1. Outshined_One
  2. Outshined_One
    Speaking of which, anyone still have my prom photo laying around? I lost my FB password.
  3. Outshined_One
    At least PCA seemed like he was having fun and wasn't a dour grump. He was the only one, though.
  4. Outshined_One
    The scuttlebutt is that Shaw will take over in RF if Seiya is out for any meaningful amount of time. Good luck, kid.
  5. Outshined_One
    Presented without comment.
  6. Outshined_One
    This offseason? Probably more likely than not. Baltimore backing out really screwed with his market, and even teams that may have once been interested are likely now gunshy about trading anything more than conditional picks for him. However, I could see Crosby and the Raiders come to an understanding that he'll be with the team up until the deadline next season (or the next offseason) so that he can prove he's healthy.
  7. Outshined_One
    That's impressive; a Dominican Republic native who was signed out of Venezuela.
  8. Outshined_One
    This sums up Hartshorn to me. He's the quintessential Shiny New Toy since he we don't have much data on him, but every reason to drool over his potential. Given that the Cubs have been aggressive in giving him PT in Spring Training games, I'm curious to see if they'll challenge him with Myrtle Beach right out of the gate. If so, then it's time for Helium Watch!
  9. Outshined_One
    That's actually how I read this move. Assuming this trade clears DJ's salary, it opens the door for them to spend on a Center.
  10. Outshined_One
    I have a vague recollection of the Cubs mucking around with young switch hitting prospects. Ian Happ was a polished college hitter at the time they drafted him back in the day, but I remembered reading about how the Cubs had a tendency to have HS/international switch hitters commit to one side of the plate for developmental reasons, since the perception was that switch-hitting would require further developmental time and could result in setbacks, especially if the hitter required more work on one side than the other. Hartshorn's power and bat sound legit from both sides of the plate, so I'm intrigued to see how the Cubs work with him, especially if he makes it through a full season without any major health issues. Hartshorn's power potential puts him on similar footing to Alfonsin Rosario as the best power prospect this system has seen since Kyle Schwarber, but if his bat comes as advertised, he could be a monster (much like Schwarber!). I'm a bit hesitant to personally rank him above more established guys like Triantos, but he's also one of three guys in this system who I think have the potential to be Top 25 prospects by season's end (along with Conrad and Rojas). A lot would have to go his way for that to happen, but the tools are there for it to be a possibility.
  11. Outshined_One
    Lou Holtz died. I'm sure the NCAA will impose sanctions and hand down a bowl ban for UMinnesota in his memory.
  12. Outshined_One
    Triantos always struck me as being one of those "change of scenery" types of prospects who might be better off in another system at this stage of his career. It's not to say that he can't figure it out with the Cubs or that other teams' coaching staffs are better suited to his skill set, but he's a tweener MIF in a system with MIFs who not only are blocking positions ahead of him, but who are also applying pressure from lower levels. I can see him getting lost in the shuffle, especially if Shaw shows out in his new role and Rojas' exit velocities are not just spring mirages. Then again, Injuries Happen and Baseball is Weird. The tools are there for him to be more than a mediocre utilityman, and I'm hopeful he can return to form in short order this season.
  13. Outshined_One
    *heavy sigh* I won't begrudge someone doing what's best for their physical/mental health, and at least this happened prior to FA and the draft, but still, woof.
  14. Outshined_One
    He was in consideration for a Top 5 pick pre-injury and apparently made a full recovery. 🤷‍♂️ Don't get me wrong, I'd put Rojas over him right now, but I can imagine a world where Conrad is the #1 prospect in the system midseason even with Rojas having a good year at the plate.
  15. Outshined_One
    I was thinking more along the lines of an in-kind transaction, so the Bears ended up with a substantial plot of land they could use for offices/hotels/parking/whatever to offset the loss of the space they'd convey to the County/State/AH. If the Bears are opening up the AH site for new government facilities, the county won't have much use for their current site.
  16. Outshined_One
    For horsefeathers's sake people.
  17. Outshined_One
    Across the street from the AH site on Euclid is the Rolling Meadows courthouse complex, which was built in the early 70s. If you include the courthouse parking lot, the complex is roughly a tenth the size of the AH site. Multiple county and state offices are located on-site. It's not the worst municipal courthouse in Cook County (Maywood), but its facilities are dated, and if the Bears stadium goes forward, there's going to be a substantial uptick in cases that will go through their doors. I've always wondered why the Bears haven't proposed some sort of a deal with Cook County, where the Bears would take over the Rolling Meadows complex in exchange for setting aside a part of the AH site for a new courthouse, perhaps along with something along the lines of new facilities for Illinois State Police and AH police/fire to handle the inevitable stresses that will be associated with the new stadium. I imagine that would cause AH to change its tune really quickly regarding property taxes, plus that kind of a deal would provide plenty of incentives from Cook County and Illinois to provide the sorts of financing the Bears need to get the AH stadium built. I'm fully aware of the headaches involved with papering over a deal of that magnitude, but everyone involved would walk away claiming victory, and a shitload of beaks would get wet as a result.
  18. Outshined_One
    There were a lot of doomsday articles a few years back about how the McCaskeys would be forced to sell after Virginia's death due to the ludicrous number of possible heirs who could attempt to take over management of the team, which would have resulted in a probate mess similar to the one the Broncos had with the Bowlen family. I always took the AH purchase as an incentive for buyers when the team was to have been put up for sale. I'm impressed there has been complete radio silence on that front since she died. Either the heirs got their horsefeathers together and lined up behind George, or they've been exceedingly good keeping any intra-family squabbles out of the public eye.
  19. Outshined_One
    And that's truly what it comes down to with this situation. The McCaskeys don't have the sort of independent wealth needed to pull off new stadium construction on their own. The NFL has a financing arm which can help cover various costs, but it's not enough to build a new stadium on its own, and the McCaskeys' ability to find outside financing is hampered by the NFL's rules regarding leveraging ownership interests against loans. With good reason, too, because imagine what would happen if an ownership group lost a majority stake in their team through going belly-up with JPMorgan Chase. They can't build a new stadium on their own. They need someone else to pick up the bill. In a league of billionaires, they're merely millionaires.
  20. Outshined_One
    Imagine if, back in 2023 (or earlier), the Bears announced an exploratory committee regarding the stadium, be it extending the Soldier Field lease or finding a location suitable for the new stadium, where this committee would have met with various officials around the Chicagoland area (including Indiana) to scope out stadium sites and see what sorts of deals could be made in advance of a new lease or site purchase or whatever. After multiple meetings, site visits, etc., they announce a deal with Hammond and Indiana to move to the Wolf Lake site. I feel like that would have been a much easier pill to swallow than the horsefeathers clown show we've seen since the AH purchase. What bothers me isn't that they're moving to Indiana, but instead the entitlement they've shown and tantrums they've thrown because they bought a site and didn't get the Hochul Special within a week of the purchase, What also bothers me is they tried to feed Chicagoans a massive load of horsefeathers about a new lakefront stadium that we all knew was make believe, and our horsefeathers mayor swallowed it whole like some dipshit fanboy. And what bothers me even more is you just know they're going to continue playing these games until they finally get everything they want.
  21. Outshined_One
    The upcoming lockout has to be on the minds of every draft-eligible amateur out there. I'm really curious to see if we see more reclassifications and also to see how signings shake out post-draft, because the new CBA will undoubtedly screw with the draft to the detriment of draftees.
  22. Outshined_One
    Quite the contrary, the state is facing major budget issues due to pension payment obligations and federal funding turning into a game of whac-a-mole. Pritzker was vocal about not using taxpayer funds for anything beyond utilities/transportation upgrades for a new Bears stadium, and offering this sort of deal would have seen him strung up by the short and curlies. It's also why Brandon Johnson was roundly mocked for pushing a new lakefront stadium. The Bears can horsefeathers off to London for all I care at this point. This whole saga has been mind-numbingly stupid.
  23. Outshined_One
    Plus his arm at 3B wasn't particularly bad, either. I wouldn't expect him to showcase a cannon, but he has enough baseball smarts to hit the cutoff man and make runners think twice on shallow fly balls.
  24. Outshined_One
    A-/B+ for me, too. While this offense seems like it doesn't have an elite bat, I don't see any weak spots in the lineup with Bregman taking over 3B. Even with some potential regression from guys like Shaw, Busch, and PCA, I don't see the offense going through protracted slumps, either. The rotation is also stacked and deep, which should be extremely helpful come the deadline (especially if guys like Brown or Wicks show out) and down the stretch when I expect to see guys like Cabrera and Horton start tiring. I'm still a little iffy on the pen, but it feels more stable now than this time a year ago, so that's progress.
  25. Outshined_One
    With where the Bears are picking, you'd need a heck of a lot of luck to get a stud DL, particularly as a rookie.
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