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The typical drop in velo and some of Rodons mechanics scare me. I don't know what to think about Gordon. Avg offense and he's still an likely AS and always fall back to the mound if he falls to hit.

1)Aiken 2)Kolek 3)Jackson 4)Rodon

From Jan. as well...

From January:

If you can, how about Nola, Freeland, and Holmes? Nola: .

Let me know if there's a report you want on any of these elite guys...

I loved watching him yesterday, he'll be fast tracked for sure. It'll be interesting to see him on Team USA.

Fwiw, I only had Funkhouser as an Avg I (43/51 early 2nd rounder) his senior year of HS. He has definitely improved. I give UL tons of credit for what they've done with Burdi and Funkhouser.

Born: November 1, 1988 in Itami, Hyogo, Japan (Age 25.206) Born: January 23, 1985 in Merrillville, IN (Age 29.123) 1213 professional innings in Japan for Tanaka 1042 professional innings for Shark Why wouldn't that matter to you? His arm has basically the same mileage. Because regardless of mileage, age is still a factor. He will no doubt be effective later than many pitchers are, but age will still catch up to him. I still say pay him, but you can't completely ignore the age. There's no way to try and predict whether more or less mileage with be a greater predictor of injury unless there's obvious gross abuse (look at friday night totals or Baker's tenure for that). I've always leaned towards caution before aggression. The thing to look at is regression/progression of velo and stuff thru K/9, BB/9, and HBP/9, HR/9 and H/9. As he develops a larger sample size, we can start to correlate numbers. Normal pitcher: K/9 start to regress at 25. BB/9 start to improve around 27-28 HR/9 start off very good regress to its lowest around 27 and gradually improve as pitchers get older. H/9 ratios generally remain flat with slight regression in the early 30s. Samardzija: K/9 peaked at 27 and has regressed the two seasons since. BB/9 ratio improved dramatically at 27 and has improved since, so he's been on par with that. HR/9 ratio has been his greatest improvement at 29. H/9 ratio has improved greatly at 29. The hope is that with the less tear on his arm that he can maintain where he's at for the duration of a 4 to 5 year contract, I think that's definitely possible. I think a greater fear should be whether or not, his HR/9 and H/9 ratios are sustainable even before considering the regression of stuff as he gets older. IMO, he's the perfect storm of lack of severe regression with velo (possibly due to lack of wear and tear/no previous injuries) and movement compared to most 29yos, the typical improvement of "pitchability" once someone gets to their prime, and unusually great and likely unsustainability of his HR/9 and H/9 ratios right now. My bigger fear would be buying someone who is unlikely to come close to maintaining their current run rather than a complete lemon. It's a matter of how much are you willing to overpay and accept a likely loss on $/production that likely gradually gets worse.

Is Daniel Norris and another arm aiming too high? I don't know, you might get from a team an idea of who they're scouting but not perceived value.

Heard directly from someone in Torontos FO that they are more interested in Hammel at this time than Samardzija due to cost.

Yes, they likely wouldn't pay him full market value/extend his contract and they won't acquire the pieces to make this team a contender even in a bad division.

I should be more optimistic than I currently am. Positives: Samardzija, Castro, Rizzo, Hammel, Jackson lately, pythag. record. If you told me in March that they would be outscoring their opponent with substantial improvements from Castro and Rizzo, I would've be pleased. Yet, I'm not. Probably because if they go 60-59 the rest of the way (which will be tough considering the likelihood of dealing away their best pitcher(s)), they will finish 76-86. It's the wear and tear of 5 poor consecutive seasons more so than one non 80 win season as well as the likelihood of Ricketts being a complete failure of an owner.

I should be more optimistic than I currently am. Positives: Samardzija, Castro, Rizzo, Hammel, Jackson lately, bullpen this past month, pythag. record. If you told me in March that they would be outscoring their opponent with substantial improvements from Castro and Rizzo, I would've be pleased. Yet, I'm not.

I'd see if there's something there with Farnsworth, maybe he gets hot like Gregg and sell, I don't know.

It's probably above-average, but there's no way it's more than that with his lack of speed. So ... fringe-plus? Wtf is "fringe-plus"? (I hope I missed the sarcasm) His defense is the least of his concerns. His instincts and initial break on the ball allows him to cover as much ground as someone with plus speed (Hicks). Considering the situation, Theo/Hoyer needed to be almost flawless and they haven't been, they haven't put the complimentary pieces on the roster partially b/c they haven't used/been given the resources and their FA record has not been as good as it needs to be (the rentals that have been traded are their biggest success) to have this become competitive before the kids hopefully arrive.

It's hard to argue with that logic, you have to use a similar approach as they do in FB with running backs. There should be an expected short shelf life. If they can spot the ball and throw two avg. pitches and a feel for a third or just one plus-plus pitch and the feel for a second, I don't see why they shouldn't be more aggressive. As much as Tampa touts their minor league setup for preventing shoulder injuries, it's not foolproof and catches up to law of averages. (side note: Johan Santana was a velo guy back with Minny, he sat 92-95.)

He's not but he's a better IF option than Barney, even with the defensive upgrade (both at 2B and 3B).

The variance in the W/L record compared to the pythag. indicates the Cubs score more in bunches, you'll see more 2 runs or less games and more 7 runs or more. It could also mean that staffs that the opposite. I'd rather take my chances with a team that allows 12, 3, and 3 over a 3 game series than 6, 7, and 5 as far as being able to win 2 of 3.

I'd rather have Dallas McPhearson at 3rd than N. Perez. It's not that Olt is great by any stretch and he might only end up being a backup corner IF'er/PH to remove a LOOGY from the mound but that's better than having Valbuena at 3rd and Barney at 2nd. Let Lake and Olt play until better options are there. With that said, Olt has brought below avg. production at a premium position and I question whether he can be improve greatly from this.

I can't believe he's been at AA for so long, I don't understand. I'd love to see him jump AAA and go to the majors. His approach isn't going to get exploited by veteran minor leaguers.

I think Vick was just as shifty with more speed (better arm strength and accuracy too) than Manziel.

I love Mosley more than Fuller, I want one trade up from the Bears in my life. Nm.

Any thoughts on Colvin at OU? His ACL is doing well and graded higher than a 3rd.

Ellington steps into the slot WR, Wilson stays as the 4th.