Outshined_One

Maybe I'm just reading too much into what I saw, but during that Bulls/Grizz game last Saturday Gasol looked like he had seriously just gotten out of bed, and couldn't care less what was happening (as his team proceeded to look worse than a group of high schoolers). This doesn't suprise me. At all. I think it raises the question: Is Gasol the kind of guy you want to go to war with? Or is he going to fold when things get tougher? If this Bulls team does anything, it's tenacious and keeps fighting. From what I saw, Gasol does NOT look like that kind of player. A change of scenery is always a possibility and can work wonders with guys. I wouldn't give up as much for him as people are speculating, but acquiring him would definitely benefit this team/ However, I was at that Grizzlies game. He played soft and it bugged the heck out of me.

Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Bearsssssssssssssss

It's a bit of an attempt at a reverse jinx, but I enjoyed reading it.

Just for the record, I had this sig first.

Ceiling is one of many factors in evaluating prospects and players. There is something to be said for a player's floor, as well. Felix Pie, for example, has a terrific ceiling because of his physical tools, but because of how good he is now, he also has a fairly reasonable floor. He's a good defender, has some power, and can hit for decent average. He has a very good chance of becoming a league-average CF because of his current tools. The MLB draft is another beast altogether. A lot of it is potential, but take the following things into consideration: -Signability. Plenty of players drop like rocks because they're committed to college or want lots of money or something like that. In essence, there are questions about whether or not a guy can be signed. -Character issues. PLENTY of guys drop because of character issues, with problems like off the field trouble, criminal records, and drug suspicions hurting how high people are drafted. -The vast majority of All Stars are first rounders. The guys with the best potential are scouted the most intensely and oftentimes find themselves drafted in the first round. Some guys have had baseball scouts following them the majority of their lives. These are the guys teams know the most about and have scrutinized the most intensely. -When it comes to later rounds, matters come down to scouting. Samardzija was a fifth rounder, but because the Cubs dedicated the extra mile in scouting him, they discovered that he could be persuaded from playing football. Other guys like Eric Patterson, Chris Huseby, Andrew Rundle, and so on, who were drafted later were similarly persuaded. So, ceiling's one factor of many to take into account with the MLB draft.

As awesome as that image is, you might want to take that down.

Done. :D

If he has a great year in 2007, something tells me he won't be eligible for this list next offseason. :D

Here's a list of all of the Cubs pitchers who've been on BA's Top 100 Prospects list since 2000: Mark Pawelek (#85, 2006) Angel Guzman (#88, 2005) Angel Guzman (#24, 2004) Justin Jones (#56, 2004) Andy Sisco (#77, 2004) Bobby Brownlie (#92, 2004) Angel Guzman (#47, 2003) Andy Sisco (#53, 2003) Mark Prior (#2, 2002) Juan Cruz (#6, 2002) Carlos Zambrano (#80, 2002) Juan Cruz (#18, 2001) Ben Christensen (#37, 2001) Carlos Zambrano (#68, 2001) Note that Hill was never on any of these lists. Believe me, the Cubs have had plenty of really good pitching prospects who never lived up to the hype.

Kyle Farnsworth can always be thrown onto this list if we want to play this game.

Kudos to Raisin for the list: Made it to the majors but never lived up to the hype: Juan Cruz, Andy Sisco, Jae-Kuk Ryu Never made it to the majors: Bobby Brownlie, Luke Hagerty, Chadd Blasko, Matt Clanton, Justin Jones, Ben Christiensen Wild Card: Angel Guzman, Billy Petrick

Do you want the list of guys who made it to the majors and didn't live up to the hype or guys who were hyped but never made it to the majors? Believe me, there's plenty of both over the past few years.

He's up there in terms of having the highest pure ceiling along with guys like Pawelek, Ceda, Huseby, and Veal. I'm hesitant to put him above Veal ceiling-wise, but that's about it. As for being the best prospect, nah. I want to see what he can do over a full season before going as far as that.

Samardzija is more refined. Ceda's likely to start next season at Boise while Samardzija is reportedly going to start off at Daytona.

Remember your Andrew Brackman comp? :o

Quickly: -Reports on his fastball velocity vary, but he was working in the low to mid 90s and apparently was able to dial it up to 98/99. -His breaking ball and changeup are both works in progress. Both have the potential to be good pitches, but he needs to work on them a bit more extensively. -Being a guy who played WR most of his life and had the potential to be a first round draft pick, he has a solid frame that's pretty well filled up. The guy keeps himself in good shape. -He's really raw. While he's been a two sport guy for most of his life, he's focused primarily on football. On the upside of this, it means that he has less wear and tear on his arm than some other guys his age, which is a nice bonus. -He's likable and coachable. Boise's coaches were impressed with him during his limited stint down there. -The one downside that I've heard about him that merits keeping an eye on is the fact that his fastball apparently doesn't have much movement to it. This could change now that he's focusing on baseball, but it's something worth noting. It's a good pickup for the Cubs, imo. The biggest step for him will be pitching a full season, given his limited time as a pitcher. If he is able to pitch 150 innings next season without any health or conditioning concerns, he'll have a really nice future.

I believe he's pretty much as filled out as he can get. You need a fair amount of muscle mass to play football, especially the way he plays WR in going over the middle and whatnot.

Aaaaaaaaaaaand now BA is backtracking on that story. Link So, that clears a good deal of confusion up. It also explains why a ton of other sources were reporting the $7.25m deal.

There is a positive point of view you can take towards this. Let's say that Prior is mostly healthy (misses maybe the first month of the season), but his stuff is not at the same level as it was back in 2003, posting something like a 110 ERA+ (above average, but not particularly stellar). Considering he's actually throwing and the Cubs are under the impression that he'll be ready to go, and also considering this insane pitching market, raising his salary a few hundred thousand dollars would be an outright bargain. Perhaps it won't happen, but these reports and the Cubs' recent activities give me some hope.

That's just sad.

Be careful with using hits as a measure of a hitter's value. Juan Pierre led the majors in hits last season and that didn't do the Cubs a whole lot of good. That's not to say Colvin will end up like Pierre, but it's a problematic way of viewing hitters.

He's basically begging the Bears to draft him, imo.

Bo Ryan never plays Northwestern well. I can't explain it for the life of me. Oh well, a win is a win. :D

Until proven otherwise, St. Louis is the favorite to win the Central.

Did you watch his game today? I would too. :shock: The sad thing is it looks like the Bulls will no longer be in the Greg Oden sweepstakes...the Knicks aren't bad enough. :x I have my doubts about Oden's offensive game after watching the Badgers contain him. His right hand isn't fully healthy yet and he has a long way to go when it comes to scoring and ball handling. He could come around over the next few months, but he might be best served by staying another year at Ohio State, imo. Then again, if Gasol is the best they have underneath, maybe they'll take Oden #1 overall after all. Yikes. Kevin Durant and Brandan Wright have both been pretty darn good so far, though. :shock: