Tim

wrong right :)

I like the idea of signing Harper to help us keep Bryant when he is a FA

I don’t like how this played out, it sucks, but let’s not pretend like Simeon was sending us the Rose and Parker’s of the world. And I would think we’d get credit for not only taking, but allowing Jaylon Tate four years at a big ten school. The Simeon thing was pretty much secondary. Taking away a kid's scholarship 4 hours before he's ready to announce is really scummy. It's also pretty pathetic that Mac Irvin basically controls who is and isn't going to UofI now He only had that control in years where he is delivering the#1 player in the state.

The Harper to Cubs thing is coming from hints that Harper himself keeps dropping. He named his dog Wrigley, he's been hinting how much he'd love to play with his boyhood friend Bryant, etc.

This is good just on a straight up basis. With the Perd tie-in, it is amazing.

yeah, that whole THT situation is a mess. Nice get for ISU since he's apparently not allowed to come to Illinois. Wait - what happened there?

Maples and Zagunis as MLB players is a bit of stretch.

Ditto. Same

On one hand, he never should have joined. On the other hand, he was looking for his first real break into the biz as it was disintegrating. Being twitter famous and writing the occasional piece at SBNation? wasn't going to pay the bills. But big cat is just a jock sniffing douchebro. And even if you are doing a bit, at some point in the process, if all you do is act the douchebro to make fun of douchebros, you're being a douchebro. The comedian that plays the racist homophobe all day every day is eventually just hiding behind the label of comedian. At some point you have to come on the other side of the camera and make clear where you stand. Their audience is littered with the people they are making fun of, and those people don't view it as them being made fun of, because in their eyes they are being celebrated. Out of completely random curiosity, how did Colbert strike the balance?

huh...that'll teach me to try to provide nice things!

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huh Anyone else?

Which links?

Way to express confidence in your guys, coach.

He's a potential role player for us, but probably not a whole lot more. Bote is way more interesting (as interesting as a backup infielder will get). He's higher up on the defensive food chain, better bat-to-ball skills. Both will walk. Vosler has more HR power but Bote hit 30 doubles and 14 HRs last year so he's no slouch. Yep, totally agree

Oh crap

Cam should ask that reporter about routes.

Cohen has had one touch today.

Like, actual monsters? What's your definition? Nah. They're sort of monstrous but not enough to be monsters. Both of you shush or I'll start talking about the running game today.

What's the fewest offensive plays a winning team has ever run?

Hicks and Goldman are monsters in the middle.

The sack was play action

He's a potential role player for us, but probably not a whole lot more.

-- edited to add this note: I should have read the entire post before responding. -- I've got to be honest - since this isn't something I'm concerned about, I'm not willing to do the research here. But if I were going to see if I could pick something up in the data, I'd do something along the following lines... Any persistent pattern for the entire team that was due to a philosophy for the team or instruction for the coach should be measurable, if it is significant enough to matter. I believe this would show up when they either swing at pitches outside the zone or if they are laying off pitches in the zone (they are guessing on a particular pitch and get fooled) I'd first look to see where the team ranks in those measurements overall Then I would look to see where they rank in those metrics when ahead in the count and also when behind in the count to see if they are guessing in particular situations To try to find some trend, I'd look for extreme differences in behavior in the overall, early in the count and late in the count results There are a ton of problems with the analysis. First, it is really heavily influenced by the types of hitters we have in the first place. Second, when you start dividing the results by count, it becomes really hard to tell if what you're seeing is just noise or if there is evidence of a real change in approach. Third, it is really difficult to tell if there is a "problem" with the approach or if the problem lies in the execution. But if I were really interested, I'd take a look at those stats just to see if anything jumped out at me.

I think an Almora/Happ platoon at the top of the order would give plenty of production in that spot. Or Zobrist if he goes back to more normal levels of production after an offseason of rest for his wrist. I'm not concerned about stolen bases at all given the new runs environment. Just need people to get on base in front of Bryant, Rizzo and Contreras. If we're adding an OF, I'd much rather sign Lorenzo Cain than trade for Ellsbury.