squally1313

I know there are much bigger issues at play here, but I just noticed Almora is at about 100 AA games with a BAPIP in the 260s. I know he's not a speedster or anything, but that seems pretty low for someone as athletic as he is supposed to be. Has this been explained by poor contact, or is there a chance for statistical improvement (back to just mediocre even) based purely on luck evening out?

In my opinion, this trade had very little to do with Sharp, or Bickell, or the salary cap issues. According to a lot of rumors, someone told Saad and his agent, and the Blackhawks too, that they were going to offer Saad $6.5m over 5 years. While we could have found a way to afford that, it would not have been a good deal. Your stars are almost always overpaid. We're already doing that with Toews and Kane, and we can't do it with Saad too. Someone like Columbus can build a team around a 22 year old potential (more on that later) stud American. We already have 19 and 88. So at that point, it's taking the picks, or taking the deal. You can argue the picks could be a better value long term, but they aren't going to help the team next year, especially if we still have replace Sharp and/or Bickell (and Vermette, Richards, Versteeg, Desi, etc.). Anisimov is basically Vermette, and Dano is 20 years old with almost the same point pace as Saad. Yes, definite sample size in play. But Dano wasn't playing with two Hall of Famers. The other guys are depth, but they're cheap depth. I hope Saad flourishes in Columbus and earns that contract. But we shouldn't be the ones paying it. Does it weaken the team? Absolutely. But we knew it was going to be weakened. And it's not even July yet. We'll be fine.

50-24* Why are you here?

He's hitting better than he has at any level since Rookie Ball. If he qualified, he'd be 10th in the majors in BAPIP. The same BAPIP as Bryce Harper. Spoiler alert, he does not hit the ball as hard as Bryce Harper. I actually don't care. With all the injuries, this team is basically a mirage right now. Rather have the good luck hit in June than October.

he actually claims to have never had alcohol, iirc, according to one of the beat writers (can't remember which) the lack of tolerance built up over time explains the constant hangovers lol who went 2 college for 3 years and never had a single drink? Bryant is basically JD McCoy before Riggins (Rizzo) went and corrupted him. I'm ok with this.

Yeah I'm too lazy to find the tweet (and there were many that was ripping this report apart), but if that's true, we're essentially asking for a younger Patrick Sharp, and then two more future Patrick Sharps.

I read something earlier that implied that Saad could be open to giving a slight discount too. Richards definitely seems to be that way, and I think he showed that by only signing for $2m for this past year. As long as Richards' still has enough for another year, I think he's a pretty important piece because it allows Teuvo to lead that third scoring line after the Toews line and whatever line Kane is on (in this case Richards' line). We've shown that Kruger and Shaw are enough to make up a good shut down line, but I think it's been that scoring depth that has really separated us from other teams that have a top 6, checking line, and then 3 grinders/org guys. Let Kane, Hossa, Saad, and Panarin be the top 6 forwards around Toews and Richards, and let Teuvo, Versteeg, and someone continue wrecking the third pairing of the other team. Nordstrom can slot there if he ever learns offense, or else he'd be fine with Kruger and Shaw. Find a veteran to pair with Hammer behind Duncs and Seabs, and then you should be able to find a reliable third pairing out of TVR, Svedberg, Johns, Clendening, and Cumiskey. If we have to lose Seabrook, it gets a little murkier. But we've done this before...we'll be fine. Saad-Toews-Hoss Panarin-Richards-Kane Versteeg-Teuvo-Hartmann Nordstrom-Kruger-Shaw Duncs-Seabs Hammer-Veteran TVR-Svedberg

Hmmm... mine is full of millions of wannabe sports journalists, a few legit sports sites, and promos for local restaurants. after a couple songs a while back came out alot of wanna be rappers started following mine and the spam can be pretty annoying. Wait what do you mean by 'after a couple songs a while back came out'? What songs?

Law just dropped him in at 15, interestingly enough. Hasn't quite bought into him catching, but said he's probably pretty close to being our best left field option already.

I'm kinda happy it's not just me. He just comes off as a dick.

this couldn't be further from the truth with this many good hitters and a competent manager, i think it's pretty much a waste of time and energy to worry about how it shakes out. you know he's not going to do anything criminally dumb, either way. truth be told, with the hitters we have even the least optimal lineup can't be that bad compared to the optimal one. who's wasting energy worrying? he's simply asking "what lineup would you like to see?" we're all basically sitting here with 10,000s of posts on a forum about a sport we like to watch and the question arises about strategy you'd like to see employed- it seems silly and needlessly dismissive to just reflexively shoot it down & say, "doesn't matter, who cares" because you happen to think it's largely intangible Or because of the poster who posed the question in the first place. You can believe that lineup order has zero impact on the game, but as sneaky said, if there's anywhere in the world to discuss it, it's here.

There is a mobile version for $5 (I'm 99% sure it's the same engine) that is pretty damn addicting. I'm sure you could find a way to get a free preview, but I've found it to be a pretty solid investment.

Ummm....I'll vote for #2

Bryant is making me sad. I know he's still good, I just want him to be good in the ways I thought he was going to be good.

TELL ME MORE ABOUT THE SHRIMP

Fowler always catches the ball about 9 inches lower than my comfort zone.

James. [expletive]. Russell. Ugh. Jesus I thought that was about Addison for a second. Deep breaths...

This guy will be in Rockford, and he is 36 So it isn't this guy? That's the guy, why did I read that he was 36? Anyway he will be sent to Rockford for awhile. I know he won't be able to fill Sharp's shoes at least not anytime next year. I saw somewhere on Twitter that he has a clause in his contract that lets him return to Russia if he doesn't make the Hawks next year. So maybe it's just a lottery ticket to check on in camp, but this one looks a little more legit than their other recent signings. Edit: Here's a better article: http://www.thehockeynews.com/blog/khl-standout-artemi-panarin-to-sign-with-blackhawks-but-its-nhl-or-bust/ At first it's unclear on if he just has to play a game for the Hawks next year, but later in the article it seems pretty clear he has to break camp with us or he's going back to Russia.

Can this guy make this many pitches?

Wood looks exactly like Jim James. #thingsithinkaboutbesidesschlitter

Maddon has gotten it wrong a couple times early already. Might be a little gun shy.

Singing the Thong Song, but with dongs

I am trying not to think about the offseason until its the offseason, but Hammer has his moments and I like what I saw from Van Riemsdyk when he played earlier this year. Hammer has been better than Seabrook for at least the last 2 years now. And really, I don't think people appreciate how good those three are. Keith is consistently one of the best three or four defensemen in the league, and the reason he puts up so many points and drives play so much is because Hammer/Oduya (usually with Toews' help) usually shuts down the other teams best players, which let Keith run all over weaker opponents. With Oduya almost definitely leaving after last season, there's a definite drop off after the top 3. But if TVR plays anything like he did at the beginning of this year, there's few teams that can put up a top 4 that match up with ours. Sign a cheap veteran that's not dead (ie not Rozsival), and plug in Johns/Paliotta/Cumiskey/Rundblad, and we should be fine. Of course, that all changes if Bowman decides Seabrook is the best way to shed salary. Whatever it takes to keep Saad around.

Trust in Maddon and all that, but....why Travis Wood?

ALL THE DONGS