Outshined_One

Anyone want to guess who #1 will be? I'm guessing Hundley or Hawkins.

He addressed it today (2/9) in AskBA He confirmed that the Cubs will pick #48 instead of #31 in the Supplemental First Round. All teams losing Type A FA's will select before teams that lost Type B FA's. ...okay then. That pretty much came out of nowhere.

I can't wait to hear the first idiot talk about potential draft pick trades. I have no confidence whatsoever in ESPN to pull this off in any meaningful or vaguely intelligent way.

This is the first I've heard of it, especially given the recently revised CBA laid out this new compensation clearly. I don't think it had anything on there about flipping draft slots like this. What XM show did you hear this on?

Whoever is at SS and 2B would have a bad day fielding those throws. Yikes.

Oy. I really worry that Tyrus is one of those guys who needs more of a hands-off approach rather than a kick in the pants approach. This isn't going to help his cause over the rest of the season, either.

Considering their youth and relative inexperience, I think we'll find out a lot more about these guys next season. As we all know, the Cubs love having guys scrap certain pitches so that they can focus on developing other pitches (Gallagher's slider, Pawelek's slider & splitter, etc) and also to keep them healthy. Both Atkins and Taylor managed to pitch roughly 140 innings apiece, which shows that they can at least withstand the grind of the season. Next season will be much better indicators of how their secondary pitches look.

Little bit from Column A, little bit from Column B.

More fun stuff:

You think the Cubs are going to help your sorrows? That made me smile. Hey Packers fans, I now understand your hatred of John Elway. It makes perfect sense after tonight's debacle.

Harvey's production this past season placed him right about where he should be in terms of hype, imo. He did not put up good numbers beyond his power output, imo. For the Cubs, it has to be Pie (with good reason). Granted, he could probably play CF right now and be a decent 7/8 hitter and a good fielder, he's still getting those Vlad Guerrero and Carlos Beltran comps that simply do not fit. The guy still hasn't reached his potential yet, but people are making these comparisons anyways, which I think might hurt expectations for him (remember Corey?). As for in the minors overall, I'll go with Jose Tabata. Yankees fans are about ready to crown the guy the second coming at the rate things are going.

Nifty, thanks.

Pure distilled evil, imo.

Not a bad deal. I hope they platoon him with the right guy.

Um...why are people convinced that Walker and Fuld would be serviceable in CF next season while doubting Pie's ability to produce comparable, if not markedly better numbers? Fuld's never played above A ball and Walker put up Pierre-like numbers at CF for AA West Tenn, only with 100+ strikeouts, and has never played in AAA. If you want to go young, just throw Pie out there. He's more talented than anyone else in the system and already has shown the ability to hit AAA pitching. Don't yo-yo him and give him consistency in the lineup and he'll have a shot at being productive. If you want a stopgap, they shouldsee what Soriano, Jock, or Theriot can do out there and make Pie force their hands by pounding AAA pitching.

Is the point that Price has a bad delivery? Or at least an "unclean" delivery? His mechanics can be cleaned up, but a few parts of his delivery might cause him trouble down the line if they go unfixed. My understanding is that his arm lags behind his body in his delivery and that his arm slot has a tendency to drop. Both help with his deception, but they might cause issues for him in the future.

Matt Harvey, COME ONNNNNNNNNNNNN DOWN!

If the Bears come out wearing Florida Gators jerseys, will they be guaranteed a win considering Peyton Manning's history against them? :D

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