Jason Ross

The Cubs literally traded a top-30 prospect and a controlled, three win 3b for one year of Kyle Tucker last offseason. A trade that people on this forum called a "Lou Brock" trade multiple times, threw a fit over it because they knew it was just Jed "trying to save his job" or whatever... We can't have it both ways. We can't be upset that Jed Hoyer did the Tucker thing then say he never makes big boy trades. Skubal would have been cool, but they were always really unlikely to get this one done. There are other big pitching fish they can still fry, however. None may have the single-season impact of Skubal, but Skubal is still going to hit FA and the Cubs can still make that happen if they so choose. And there's a good chance whomever they do get, if they're on multiple years, could still be a very impactful player.

A trade has nothing to do with the extension. Teams do not operate like that. Tarik Skubal is hitting FA still. His agent is Scott Boras. Remember when the Dodgers traded for Trea Turner and then didn't resign him? Everyone wants to make everything the Dodgers do to be some indictnent of baseball, but that's unfair. Today the Dodgers traded prospects for 2 months of a good baseball player. Why? They develop well. They identify talent well. In fact, the Brewers get a competitive advantage in prospects because they get more picks; they develop well too. They could have beat this (Quero or Lara, for example are premium positions) and still had tons of prospects. They probably should have if we are being honest. This is not going to change the next CBA, however. This isn't the first time a very good team traded prospects at the deadline to get the best available player. I get that people are tired of the Dodgers doing things and would like another team to sign Skubal but the Dodgers ability to sign him hasn't changed today. I get that people are tired of the Dodgers winnings things too. I don't really find this a uniquely "Dodgers only" way of doing baseball, however. They may have the financial ability to out kick their coverage of prospects down the road, but this is more about their ability to be a good baseball organization than anything. The Brewers have the ability to out kick their coverage in prospect acquisition getting comp picks. They probably should have leveraged that here themselves. EDIT: Ken Rosenthal wrote an article about it today that is quite measured. And I think it explains this in a way I can't. Basically, the Dodgers are good at this. At all of this. Yes they have revenue sharing issues and yes, they have a benefit in finances that others don't. But this trade isn't really about that, either. Source.

Hope/Ryan/Smith to Dodgers for Skubal. That return feels...light. At least based on what we expected.

Per The Athletic 7 minutes ago:

In theory, you could. But look: the White Sox just probably really overpaid here. They took all of that bad contract and gave them a somewhat interesting lottery ticket to do so. For a player the Mariners had wanted to cut loose and who had complained about the 6-man thing. It's found money. As it pertains to Anderson, he hasn't even made his debut at Triple-A. Maybe it's "he's ready, save the bullets" stuff, but it's not always that easy. It took Chase Burns half a year to get into it last year. Do the Mariners want to take that chance in the playoff race with no one to replace him? I think they'd rather keep him as a fantastic "break ice" type than just hand him the keys to the castle right now. Tough assignment.

Seattle saves about half of the money owed to Castillo when you factor in Dominguez' contract. Dominguez is kind of interesting if you squint. And Boston Smith has been crushing baseballs this year. He still has swing and miss concerns but he has like a wRC+ over 190 and can do some catching. Interesting prospect at least.

They had, but they're likely not going to trade two starters from their depth mid-year and try for a playoff spot. That's not robbing Peter to pay Paul, that's gutting Peter to do it. Pitching injuries come fast and hard; depth will matter. They can still trade either in the offseason and acquire offense without moving them.

Just to show the spread BA has him a top-30 at #29. Where as FanGraphs has him 48. And I've seen him lower than 50. Much depends on whether or not you see him in RF long term or not. Most everyone is convinced on the bat.

Bet that means they keep Hancock and Kirby. Damn.

To be fair, I am too. But he's making me like him as a player. You know how they say you shouldn't name the cow you plan to eat? Feels like that applies here.

I don't mean to prospect hug, but I might be coming around in the whole "you can pry Pedro Ramirez out of my cold-dead hands" side of things...

That's my MVP.

Nico Hoerner is exactly who I thought would be able to muscle one out in this wind. Exactly.

Ugh. Thornton. Rough inning. Glad he got out a mess he made himself.

What a terrible challenge. Yeesh.

A pretty fantastic performance all in all. Lots of balls on the ground. 8 Ks. 12 whiffs. That will work.

This version of Peterson rocks.

Shota had 19 whiffs on the day, including six against the fastball. If he was tipping, the Yankees didn't do a good job if all they did was hit two solo home runs and swing and miss a ton.

He stands out like a sore thumb, though. Most of the other prospects the Cubs have, they move them when they get to around 200 PA's of quality at bats at that level. Especially college guys. Cam Smith and Matt Shaw for example. They move these kids quickly. Owen Caissie moved quick. Josiah Hartshorn has moved quick. Rojas moved quick. Kepley hits and yet... Something is a little weird.

Shelby Miller threw today. 1 IP, 4 K (not a typo) He was so quick in striking out the three that they agreed to give him another hitter. He struck him out, too.

Yankees just dealt Doval to Pittsburgh.

Doval is an interesting low buy option here. We won't see him now this weekend and we're starting to see a small trickle of trades. #15 in Pirates system and an unranked on FG.

My guess is the 2nd SP isn't going to be ground breaking. Like a Tyler Mahle. Cheap but offers another depth option in the event someone gets hurt. It would also likely upgrade over Rea. I don't think it affects the pursuit of an impact SP or RP to get Mahle or someone of his ilk.

He's in the zone the same amount and getting the same amount of 1st pitch strikes. His whiff% is down but getting normal chase%. His fastball is in the zone more, but even with ABS, the zone he's throwing that pitch is further down than it was last year. So while ABS might change it a wee bit, the zone has gotten taller for hitters and he's more in the zone, so I don't think it's an ABS thing, and just a small mechanical thing.