David

Cubs hitting coach saying "it's about time we had a rookie of the year." People calling him Kevin Orbit. My first favorite prospect. that wasn't actually his rookie year tho. he had an ok year in 1997. and how was that your first favorite prospect? did you have no idea kerry wood existed?

does anyone have a recollection of kevin orie hitting like 8 million spring HR in 1998, then in april having a similar amount kept in by the wind at wrigley (i'm not making a comparison to albert...it just popped into my head)?

schwarbomb and almora grand slam in the first inning lol

(i hate doing this) until he plays everyday vs righties and is striking out in 30% of his ABs and literally never walking (/i really hate doing this) I mean, you aren't going to get an argument from me on skepticism that Baez makes the leap v. RHP. The point I'm making is that Happ had a 22% K rate and mediocre OPS at AA last year, he has even more to prove before he's playing every day in MLB, even with the platoon advantage. And if he isn't playing every day, then it makes more sense to have someone like Zagunis on the roster instead, especially if the injury isn't one opening a roster spot for months. i don't disagree with the skepticism about his readiness. it's part of why i'm surprised at hoyer's comments and why i suddenly think he's much closer to mlb callup than i ever thought coming in to spring. i thought he'd be going back to AA. didn't really expect him to look as good as he has in spring, either. they kind of have a history of saying stuff like that and then he's called up like tomorrow. obviously, not saying that's happening here by any means. but it sure sounds like they really like what they've been seeing from him. i can't really speak to how right/wrong they are if you take the praise at face value, and i'd obviously defer to them if they really do feel as good as they're saying.

(i hate doing this) until he plays everyday vs righties and is striking out in 30% of his ABs and literally never walking (/i really hate doing this)

What do you mean already? When else would you talk about being prepared for potential injuries necessitating an earlier than expected call-up? I mean when they hint at a potential actual prospect call up actually being close, there's kind of been a pattern of it happening way sooner than any of us have expected. obviously, though, there's not a ton of room in the lineup for him to come up without an injury. but going into spring training i didn't think there was much of a chance happ sniffing the MLB roster before maybe september. now i think he's up in april if someone gets hurt.

so i know it's barstool, and i haven't listened for myself yet, but i heard this is good http://www.barstoolsports.com/chicago/pardon-my-take-3-29-with-chicago-cubs-kyle-schwarber/ the schwarber thing starts at 26:07 if you're not familiar with barstool, there's NSFW language

http://www.csnchicago.com/chicago-cubs/cubs-will-have-ian-happ-one-phone-call-away-triple-iowa They're already saying stuff like this.

Man, there are some trifling, whining Dodgers fans all over those comments. Gotta say it's the first time I've seen the moral high ground through outspending everyone else argument.

I was looking at some old satellite images of Wrigley on Google Earth. Pretty wild looking back at how small and crappy the old (pre 2006) bleachers were.

i could be wrong but i feel like the ideas for it started being kicked around as early as like 2001

https://www.instagram.com/p/BSOzwcVDnbV/

[tweet] [/tweet] There's going to be a trophy room where you can check out the trophy at the plaza building... lots more of what will be there at this link https://www.parkatwrigley.com/

Plus Koji is murder on lefties

mine came yesterday...got through the first chapter and a couple pages of chapter 2 before bed last night. love it so far.

dave stewart and jose canseco are going to be doing pre/post game for the A's this year i am so excited for deadspin to cover this

he'll get fired after they win 78 games this year.

What? Nothing. The whole point is that even if he's only 08 Fukudome at the plate, he is a 3-4 win player. That's how high the floor is with his defense and baserunning. Right, and 3-4 win Jason Heyward is a disappointment because, as you yourself pointed out, that likely means he's not opting out. I don't see what's so crazy about saying I'd be let down by a Heyward who is simply less bad at the plate. But it is still surplus value. That's a win at this point, even without an opt out. But again, nobody said anything about settling for or being happy with 08 Fukudome. I specifically was talking about 09 and 10 Fukudome being comparable at the plate to Heyward's better years. But Heyward going on to be a 3-4 win player at this point is far from the bad end of outcomes.

who said anything about settling for 08 fukudome?

Yeah, I know; again, given his history prior to 2016, that would still seem like a pretty big disappointment. Given the history after 2016, it would seem like http://i.imgur.com/6MWvwWI.gif

What? Nothing. The whole point is that even if he's only 08 Fukudome at the plate, he is a 3-4 win player. That's how high the floor is with his defense and baserunning.

yup (and that's surplus value too) this conversation also brings up another point...it's also why i am relatively optimistic about him bouncing back. it's not like it's a high bar he has to reach on offense in order to be a very valuable player.

he was a bit below average in 2008 (91 wRC+) and a bit above average in 09 (110) and 10 (118). I would gladly take an 09 or 10 fukudome offensive year + his defense if you could guarantee them to me at this point. in heyward's good years, he's basically been at 120 3 times, 110 once, and 134 once. That seems like really settling when it comes to a player of Heyward's age with his history and his price tag. with his history? as in coming off a year where he looked blind at the plate? i'll be very happy if he can just be good enough to where he considers opting out. if a 5-6 win player (what heyward has essentially been when he's been in that 09-10 fukudome range offensively) is settling, then i guess i'm daniel boone. and that'd be serious surplus value with his price tag.

Either you're tempering your expectations REALLY low for a really good player, or we have wildly different memories of Fukudome's offensive production. he was a bit below average in 2008 (91 wRC+) and a bit above average in 09 (110) and 10 (118). I would gladly take an 09 or 10 fukudome offensive year + his defense if you could guarantee them to me at this point. in heyward's good years, he's basically been at 120 3 times, 110 once, and 134 once.

I'm not saying it is, purely on a $/win standpoint. I just don't think it's some automatic laughable disaster. $18M is not a ton of money in today's game, and it's for 3 years. They're likely to get some negative value out of it but it's not something that will hamstring them in any significant way unless they choose for that to be the case. And there's at least some value (I have no idea how to quantify it) in avoiding pissing off the vast majority of your fanbase by letting him walk. If they had some readily available replacement coming up in the minors, I might feel differently...but vs replacing him with Montero or Hundley or whatever after 17...meh. If they actually were to replace him with Lucroy, then, well, yeah. I don't think a player like Molina needs to be worth it to an extreme mathematical degree, but if you have to squint to see an above average player, then paying someone 18 million(which by AAV is still a top 40 salary in MLB) that's a hard bridge for me to cross. The also have a future catcher in Carson Kelly, a consensus Top 100 prospect, starting this season at AAA. And really, those facts underscore why it's silly to make that decision now instead of after the season. Molina isn't going to be such a hot commodity that you wouldn't have the inside track to sign him, and the odds of his value going up instead of down are very low. Take the year to see how gracefully he's aging, and how loudly Kelly is knocking on the doorstep. The consequences from waiting are much less than the consequences of acting now. I don't disagree with that at all. I just found the desire to do backflips (in the post I responded to) over the possibility of them extending him for $18.5M a year a bit silly.