Tim

Make your choice for the Cubs 2016 #5 prospect. Cast votes for the players you think would be deserving at #5. You can vote for one player at this point, but you can change your vote up to the closing date. If you want to have a player added to the list, please say so. #1: Gleyber Torres #2: Willson Contreras #3 / #4: Runoff between Almora and Happ

Our first runoff of the year comes in at the #3 prospect. Choose one of Almora and Happ to be your #3 prospect. We'll assume the loser of this poll gets #4 and I'll get the next poll up and running, as well.

btw - if there are objections, know that I just added them to this forum!

MAJOR LEAGUE ROSTERS A. Active Active rosters will be defined as the players selected to score points for the team during a particular game period. The active roster must be set by noon Monday each week and cannot be changed unless there is a benching, demotion to the minors, fantasy trade or injury. Starting pitchers may be moved into or out of the active roster at any time. The active roster will be limited to but is not required to include: 1. One catcher 2. One 1b, 2b, SS, 3b 3. 3 OF 4. One utility player who may play any position including DH 5. 5 SP - no more than seven total starts per week will be allowed. Teams may have an extra reserve if, and only if, used to avoid an eighth start. At the time of the extra reserve, there must be a corresponding reduction in number of active starting pitchers. 6. 2 RP 7. Positional eligibility is determined by a players current starting position or his past use. These rules are set forth on the league site as 10 appearances at a position in the current year or 20 the previous year. However, if a player is "named" the starter at a position, immediate eligibility will be granted by the commissioner upon request and general concurrence. Pitchers may be moved into either SP or RP positions freely but may only be used in the role they are used by their major league team. Pitchers in a position other than where they are used will not accrue points during that appearance. B. Reserves Reserves are players on the major league roster not on the current active roster. Each team will be limited to three reserve players who may play any position. [glow=red]DO NOT RELY UPON CBS FOR BENCH LIMITS OR TO TELL YOU THAT YOUR ROSTER IS ILLEGAL.[/glow] C. Injured List Any player on the major league disabled list may be included on a team’s injured list. The injured list may have as many as three players at any time. Once a player comes off the DL, you have 7 days to move them off your DL in Roadkill. On the 8th day, the player will be dropped from your team. D. Keeper Roster Each team will be allowed to keep up to 10 players at the end of each season. The players kept will be limited by a performance-based cap. Each player will have an assigned value based on his performance during the season. The total value of your keeper roster must remain below the cap. The cap will be 2000 points. Players will be cap-exempt for their first three years. A year is a season in which a player has 50 or more plate appearances, 5 pitching starts, or 10 total appearances. II. MINOR LEAGUE ROSTERS A. Roster Each team will have a minor league roster consisting of up to 10 individuals. B. Eligibility Player eligibility will be determined by the following qualifications: 1. Players with more than 200 or more major league at-bats in a season are not eligible. 2. Players with 10 or more major league pitching starts in a season are not eligible. 3. Players with 25 or more total major league pitching appearances in one season are not eligible. 4. Players are eligible until they exceed the limits set forth in 1, 2, and 3 regardless of participation in minor leagues. C. Once selected, prospects remain with your team until they are moved to the major league roster, traded, or released. Prospects from the most recent draft can only be selected in the minor league draft. D. Prospects may be traded as part of major league deals III. DRAFT A. The major league draft will be a live draft held in March each year. The draft will be held on the appropriate internet site where the competition will take place (sportsline this year). Additional players can be chosen through waivers following the draft. The draft order will snake (ie you pick first in the first round and last in the second round. 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We have interest from: mhuber Cubbie Swagger philosophizer Diceman Any objections to those guys? If we're letting in four guys, we need a fifth. sneaky, was your friend interested?

There are still openings. We had quite a few defections this year, so there are multiple teams to pick from.

Navin did. I haven't heard from Bob yet.

We don't get that pick, but we do get our second rounder back.

I'm just glad there's no Votto to StL rumor.

Ugh. Maybe a lack of control (real or perceived) will negate the injury excuse and cost Groce his job at the end of the season. This season had some promise, but what a [expletive] train wreck. I feel bad for Groce. A lot of this crap isn't his fault. That said he hasn't recruited to the level we need nor shown enough with X and O's to stick around. Time for a change. Nice guy though, will cheer for him wherever he lands, unlike Weber. Which Big XII team do you figure he will lead to prominence?

Unless something disastrous happens in the pen, I'm guessing he spends his entire season at Iowa.

Ahh...hell. Let's say that Montero goes down and Ross gets hurt and the Cubs decide that Schwarber is too rough behind the plate and Contreras misfires adjusting to AAA, let alone mlb. What happens then?!? - Well, we have a 26 year old catcher who has basically torn up the minor leagues since reaching AA in 2014 (Taylor Davis). Seriously, check out his stats. - We signed Federowicz who would be a potentially non-embarrassing option as he has major league experience. If they get hurt, too, we would just trade from our deep system for a cheap rent-a-catcher until someone inevitably returns. Meanwhile, we'd still have seven other people in the lineup that mash.

And he went to an SEC school and he's best buds with Carpenter. TCU joined the SEC? oops. Southern/Texan school

I think hes an intermediary. Not quite in the same age range as the younger guys, but not really old enough to be an old guy. Going to make a blanket statement and say because hes from Texas he has some redneck in him, but he's too cool to be lumped in with those guys. he was born in Missouri grew up in Texas and turns 30 in spring training. He is an old redneck. He's much much closer to being Jon Lester than Addison Russell, Kris Bryant or Jason Heyward. And he went to an SEC school and he's best buds with Carpenter.

Honestly, I don't mind discussions that look for areas of risk. However, this team has so many redundancies that every position can be covered by multiple guys. Frankly, I think the biggest areas of risk are in Arrieta's right arm and the pen having some sort of collective meltdown. But the risk with Arrieta isn't much worth talking about. We all know that's a huge area of risk for us. The pen seems like the fertile ground for discussion on what could go wrong and what could be done about it.

hey sweet post that isn't an answer to my question and the notion that steroids are the only way to add significant strength and muscle for a 21 year old is [expletive] hilariously laughable What was your question then? What's the history of non-steroidal significant power being added after 21. Sure he'll eventually get old man strength which will help him when wrestling younger nieces and nephews who think he's old. But that's not the same as adding power to your profile as a hitter at 22 and beyond. Most players who end up with power add a significant amount after age 21. It is very fair to add some projection to his power at this point. His median projection is probably in the 10-15 HR range he has some probability to reach the 15-20 range. Either of those adds up to a very nice player if he can maintain his 11% strikeout rate and plus defense in CF.

Are upside and ceiling interchangeable words and that's why one got swapped for the other here? I'm legitimately confused, feel like if I went in knowing they were the same thing I would have chosen more carefully and gone with neither word. A .137 IsoSLG from your best offensive season, in the lower minors, isn't something to hang your hat on. The most promising thing about that performance is probably the contact skills, which no one will be denying anytime soon. I'd like to work with more of what he's been most often rather than what he might be if he gets way better. They're pretty interchangeable within this context. It's pretty silly to suggest that a 21 year old with his pedigree has very little chance to improve his power or discipline, which is what you are suggesting when you say that even his upside/ceiling is that limited.

No it isn't. There's a lot of guys with extremely high end physical capabilities and very limited baseball abilities and their ceilings are tied to the baseball abilities. Generally speaking, guys don't do what they've never done before. Fine...ceiling is based off of maxing out your physical capabilities within a reasonable projection of your baseball skills.

A more accurate statement is that it's almost all anecdotal. He went on a quest and found himself with Team USA, gave himself a pep talk, remembered his lessons, tweaked his swing, adjusted other stuff, and then kicked ass in August. Now he's added muscle, is in the Best Shape of His Life, and so on. Beyond 140 PAs, with a .387 BABIP, where he hit for high average, some power, and took some more walks, everything else seems to be anecdotal and/or Cubs sourced. Is it the OF Barney tier starter thing? Barney put 7 rWAR n his first 2.5 years at the ML level, including a 4.6 rWAR season driven by his glove, and 8 from ages 24-28. Certainly it's not radically more or less nuts than a Mookie Betts one, just not as fun. Do I think Almora can contact and defend his way to a quality season or two or three? Sure, he wouldn't be the first. Do I think he will handle AAA well for a 21 year old? Sure, the PCL has always been a nice stop for a young hitter and as a guy who doesn't struggle making contact he should translate his game well. Do I think he's a dramatically different and better hitter than he's always been based on his August and tales of adjustments and muscles? Prooooobably not. Do I think he'll take more walks now? Sure. The power? Not so much, and power is enough of a difference maker where I'm not really moved yet. I honestly don't understand what is so out there about this POV or why not projecting or something lots of optimism means I think I already know and don't want to talk baseball and this or that. Seems like we're making mountains out of molehills here. If progress isn't linear, no claims on either side, then we shouldn't be assuming he found a whole new level of performance anyway. Are you talking Darwin as a median projection? Because that would be fine. Stating it as a ceiling is the silly part we're all arguing with.

Does upside mean imagined ceiling based on gut feelings and perceptions? :shrugs: Wouldn't it be more practical to look at his "upside" in terms of his performance through age 21 overall and the scouting reports that have come with it? What's so wise about reacting to the latest mechanical tweak and a few week's worth of new data that's way better than anything else he's done before? Ceiling is based off of maxing out your physical capabilities. Other than the 144 PA where he was pushed to AA for some reason, he's never had a strikeout rate worse than 11.9%, so he is obviously one heck of a contact hitter. From there, it's pretty easy to say that it is within his ceiling to add some plate discipline to what he's shown and to add a bit more power as he matures. Again, we're talking the 90th percentile projection here for a guy that was able to put up a line of .329/.376/.466 in the MWL as a 19 year old.

A more reasonable upside projection would be 2015 Adam Eaton with better defense and getting to the BA through more contact instead of BABIP.

I don't get how it's any more or less reasonable than thinking a switch got flipped because he went on a vision quest somewhere, lessons sunk in, all necessary adjustments were permanently made, and he had a great August. I think he's a lock to make it to the majors barring a catastrophic injury. Right now he seems like a glove first OF with a mostly flawed bat but the contact skills to maybe BABIP his way to a quality season or two. What's the upside here - something close to an OF DJ LeMahieu or Darwin Barney tier player/starter? The upside is that he's fixed his approach enough to walk as much as he whiffs, selects better pitches to drive and adds some power as he fills out a bit. All while providing plus defense in CF. That's basically Mookie Betts with better defense. I wouldn't bet much on that outcome, but you asked about the upside.

That Sac deal must not have been on the table or there must have been more to it. I can't believe they wouldn't take that.

Rodelo is paid up, so I'm sure he's in.

mhuber is going to join up. I'll get him added here and on CBS today. Does anyone have time this morning to figure out which teams have vacancies at this point?