WrigleyField 22

You'll need to cite the first claim there. Signing the minimum guy was the move. Asik was the accompanying move to make it happen. What do you mean, the type of trade they did? The one where they added three pieces. That's three of their swings! Or would it have been preferable to turn Jimmy into one swing? Trading has hardly been a weakness of theirs. They're fine at it. Over their entire reign they're pretty good at turning guys into first rounders which I think is the type you would want, so if it's not happening now it's very unlikely it's due to lack of attention and effort (which is to say they "only" did it twice in 16 months - plus Dunn+Lavine) Total random speculation. I mean we actually have 15 years of data to indicate Pax values first rounders and frequently targets them in trades, but yea they must have just fallen asleep at the wheel and thrown it in for shits and grins? Bulls have been one of the best teams out their in creating cap space, that really has never been a concern.. In fact it's actually a weakness, but if you're worried about cap flexibility you shouldn't be. No you seem to have a very unrealistic expectation about how much can be done. Hate on the moves if you want. Be annoyed if Lopez is still here in March. But they've had plenty of activity two off-seasons into the full rebuild.

Most trade exceptions go unused because they're created all the time. They just literally used a portion of their available space! And still have plenty of time to use more. Also it's not about how I feel about the roster (I could make many complaints going back over the years). But rather this bizarre thing where you like a lot of the pieces they've added but are unhappy with how they've done it and incorrectly claimed it was dumb luck.

I don't think you're paying close enough attention because they've been pretty active off the scrap heap.

The Bulls problem isn't some weird lack of activity. There are like 5 guys left from the end of the 2017 season, two of which are still on rookie contracts. They've turned over the roster a ton, and you seemingly like a lot of the prices they added. Be mad at specific moves like selling the second rounder, but this weird "they haven't taken enough swings" is a bad take. Their current roster has 11 guys they've added with less than 4 years experience. They cycled through another 5 of said players last year.

That's still such an incredibly lazy and not true take lol

I'm also all for pining on the Bulls to be better, but can it at least be a successful GM like Ainge and not possibly the process that is just as likely to produce the next mid Aughts Blazers as it is produce a champion?

They can't count on what? Flipping Mirotoc for a possible lotto pick was a shot (as well as freeing up time for Porfis). Signing Jabari was a shot. The nearly endless bottom of roster guards they've signed the past couple years are shots. Signing some unheard of guy from a South American pro league is a shot. They've obviously failed in other ways like selling 2nd round picks... And also not buying 2nd round picks... Actually they've never valued second round picks going back all the way to the start of Pax's tenure, but also... Those are really low level shots that rarely pan out (Philly can attest). Theyve always valued first round picks fwiw though. Pax has a long history of moving on from pieces and turning them into first rounders. "The Process" is bunk. Building winning teams is about maximizing assets. Philly has been pretty average about maximizing assets truthfully.

Also I don't think the Bulls remotely have the pieces to be on a championship trajectory, but stating that you're actually intrigued by many of their pieces and then writing off it as dumb luck is an incredibly lazy hot take.

Why is it dumb luck just cuz they didn't do it like the Sixers did? Hell the Sixers had their share of luck too. The Sixers took way more shots. They took EVERY opportunity. Take more shots, you're gonna hit more. It's even MORE frustrating, because we CAN draft fairly well. The Sixers also didn't have an asset like Jimmy Butler to jump start a rebuild. A lot of people wrote it off, but the plan there was to take 3 shots at once. That all 3 may pay off isn't that different than sucking for 3 years for your first three shots.

Why is it dumb luck just cuz they didn't do it like the Sixers did? Hell the Sixers had their share of luck too. This is a particularly impressive complaint just a day after complaining that they made a move that allowed them to shuttle a guy onto the roster. Also Phillys roster shuttling did basically diddly. TJ McConnell is the one success from that strategy I guess?

And they may have lost Portis for a while. So all in all a tank draw.

I don't totally mind the Bulls just throwing horsefeathers up and seeing what sticks. Tanking for the lotto is a lot less attractive now. The key would be is flipping whatever risks or reclamation projects actually pan out for future draft capital (of the unprotected variety ideally).

@jarrieta34 It's really something when people on a message board that calls my friend a seal every day positions themselves as victims. I'm speechless. Or just about any Cubs player, even many of the really good ones.

The Asik thing is probably overblown. The Bulls still have plenty of ways to be a salary dumping ground at the deadline or in the summer if that's what they need to do. Although I don't think the Bulls really want to be a salary dumping ground either, at least based on the current market for that sort of thing.

So David Fales is QB2 today? Let's see some mother effin David Fales today.

Something like this? (Slash indicates a piggyback start) S1_______S1______S6/S1____S6______S5/6 S2/S7___S7_______S7_______S1______S1 S3______S2/S3___S2________S2/S7__S2 S4______S4_______S3/S4____S3______S3/7 S5/S6___S5______S5________S4______S4 Probably a more organized way to lay it out, but basically introduce a way to get guys at least 1 extended rest every 5 starts, as well as some "scheduled off" days for your bullpen (presumably a 5 man pen) with the piggyback-ed starts. If your eighth starter was an optionable arm, you could fluctuate between a 5 and 6 man pen and an extra optionable position player (like Bote), depending on need. Plus use some 10 day DL shenanigans to get some extra bullpen rest when needed (especially since Morrow will be very limited). So I am sitting here in the hospital waiting for drugs/contractions for my wife to kick in and ran with my idea here a little. 7 man starter staff (Lester, Hendricks, Quintana, Hamels, Darvish, Montgomery, Smyly) 5 man bullpen (Morrow, Strop, Cisheck, Edwards, *Free Agent*) 8th starter/BP AAA swing guys - Mills AAA swing bullpens guys (various, + random DFA castoffs throughout season) I set up a 30 game cycle that ends up looking like this (varied a little from my example above) Solo Starts Piggyback Starts Piggyback Reliefs Lester 5 Lester 1 Lester 0 Hendricks 4 Hendricks 2 Hendricks 0 Quintana 3 Quintana 2 Quintana 1 Hamels 3 Hamels 1 Hamels 2 Darvish 3 Darvish 2 Darvish 0 Smyly 1 Smyly 0 Smyly 4 Montgomery 1 Montgomery 2 Montgomery 2 Mills 0 Mills 0 Mills 1 20 10 10 Lester, Darvish, Hendricks get treated something like normal starters except Darvish pitches once less in a 30 game cycle (5) while the other two pitch a full 6 game slate, but with a few designated pickyback starts. Hamels/Quintana have to pick up some piggyback relief appearances (consider it playoff prep), but still are scheduled 6 times in a 30 game slate, while Montgomery and Smyly pick up spot starts and schedule relief appearances, appearing 5 scheduled times in a 30 game slate. Every guy gets a least 1 extended rest on this cycle. Mills, or others, get thrown in for the occasional scheduled piggyback relief appearance (while also shuttling between AAA and MLB for Bote as Bullpen support is needed). Any other relievers and random DFA pickups throughout the season pick up real DL time or phantom 10 day DL time. Your "regular use" bullpen guys would almost never go three straight games without a scheduled piggyback day, which in theory limits their usage a ton (and you could try to schedule those 3 game stretches around off days). They'll still occasionally end up with appearances in piggyback days, but their rest schedule should be much easier to plan still, even though you'll only have 5 "regulars" in the bp... so not as many 1 out appearances allowed (sorry Joe). If a "regular" start was 6 innings, a piggyback start 5 innings, and a piggyback relief 4 innings, those 8 guys innings might look like this over a full year; Pitcher Est. Innings Season Lester 189.0 Hendricks 183.6 Quintana 172.8 Hamels 167.4 Darvish 151.2 Smyly 118.8 Montgomery 129.6 Mills 21.6 Do I think they'd consider something like this? No. But it is an interesting exercise to go through to think about how they could approach the starter/bullpen use.

Acho officially to the IR and OG Bryan Wintzmann signed to the active roster (played in KC under Nagy)

Something like this? (Slash indicates a piggyback start) S1_______S1______S6/S1____S6______S5/6 S2/S7___S7_______S7_______S1______S1 S3______S2/S3___S2________S2/S7__S2 S4______S4_______S3/S4____S3______S3/7 S5/S6___S5______S5________S4______S4 Probably a more organized way to lay it out, but basically introduce a way to get guys at least 1 extended rest every 5 starts, as well as some "scheduled off" days for your bullpen (presumably a 5 man pen) with the piggyback-ed starts. If your eighth starter was an optionable arm, you could fluctuate between a 5 and 6 man pen and an extra optionable position player (like Bote), depending on need. Plus use some 10 day DL shenanigans to get some extra bullpen rest when needed (especially since Morrow will be very limited).

Did they try the onside kick? I didnt think 7 seconds was enough time to do all that.

The madden create a player has come a long way, but it's a little in the uncanny valley now.

Packers getting crushed right now by Lions. So the Bears either will keep their one game lead in the W column or Rodgers will do more sorcery stuff.

But guys, those draft picks could have won rookie of the month in 2019 and 2020.

Is the overall counting ST as well? Must be pretty high there.

End this on the base paths Javy.

End this Javy.