Splendid Splinter

Don't forget the pressure to perform after signing a contract or just the media asking questions day after day about rumors/update/etc about the whole process...

It would, so take solace that Vitters recognizes and makes contacts with breaking pitches like Francouer never could. I've never seen a worse hitter against a good breaking ball than that guy. Sheets' curve used to eat him for lunch and he'd just keep swinging and swinging. He made Soriano swinging at a low and away slider look good. It's just brutal.

http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/1106098/paulf_medium.gif God there were quite a few of those type of flops from the Clippers in that last game. It was extremely annoying.

Seriously... What else has Harper done beside that blowing that kiss to a pitcher in the minors? Talking crap to an opponent???? REALLY??? Everyone does that. It's not like Harper was a problem child/troublemaker/immature/etc.. in the minors like Delmon Young or Elijah Dukes for example. Pretty sure these guys didn't get beaned in the back soon after they got called up.

We're not talking about chin music here. Yeah... Bob Gibson and the old school guys threw a lot of chin music. Most of the time it's because the batter was crowding the plate and intimidation factor. They weren't about, "oh look at this 19 yr kid who's all bada$$ so I'm gonna hit him right in the back/leg/wherever because he deserve it and that's what old school pitchers do." That's what Hamels did. I'm glad it bit him in the A$$ because not only Harper ended up scoring, he stole home. Also... I know people say Harper's an asshat and he was sometime in the minors, but I haven't seen anything since he has been called up. Everything I've read/seen/heard that he's a good kid and listen and does what he supposed to. Plus he runs like Pete Rose when he's going for a double.

As of now, Stewarts stock is slowly but surely on the rise whilest Darwin Barneys free falls. However, LaHair-Castro-Cardenas-Stewart could be historically bad. Dude, there are two above-average defenders out of those four. That's pretty generous. I see two average defenders there. Weird... I see two above-average defenders there.

Agreed. It's also why for some reason... I have a gut feeling that Theo/Hoyer will shock everyone and trade for an impact player (could be like Justin Upton or King Felix for example) since there's only 2 that could be a FA this offseason. Although I'm not sure how they will get a guy like through a trade, but it's just a funny feeling I got.

I think you guys are underestimating what Hamels will get in FA... If he gets only 6 years (if not more), it won't be less than 22 mil/yr and as high as 25 mil/yr IMO. You're talking from 132-150 mil for 6 years. Anibal would be extremely LUCKY to get 20 mil/yr. I'm guessing more like 13-17 mil/yr and 5 yrs max if he's LUCKY. That would be anywhere from 65-85 mil for 5 years. That's a huge difference. But then again, Cubs should have a BUTTLOAD of money to spend after this season. I imagine Dempster (14 mil), Maholm (6.5 mil team option), and Wood (3 mil team option) will be gone and Dempster could come back on a 2 year deal at a lower price. Maholm could be back as well, but I was just thinking replacing him with Travis Wood and save themselves some money for FAs (if they decided they're going to spend). Cubs are at around 70 mil next year when you take the 3 guys under contracts and 10 players in arbs (estimated at 38.8 mil) so they'll have to fill 12 spots this offseason. With guys like Rizzo, B Jax, possibly Vitters or Castillo, and the bullpen with arms all from the minors to fill some of those 12 spots, they "should" be able to sign 3 guys that'll command 10+ mil/yr contract easily IMO. That'll still only put them around where they're at this year at around 110 mil.

What did Harper do to Latos??? Pretty stupid if that's true.

Ugh.. all this talk made me think about the arguments I got with my sister-in-law's uncle who STILL think Jack Morris is a better pitcher than Bert Blyleven. No joke.

I like what they're doing with Bundy and it's how I would do it if I drafted a HS arm (and who I spent MILLIONS to get him). With going 3-3 IP, 4-4 IP, and 3-5 IP, that's 40 innings. It's a good way to start off and let him get use to pro ball. Plus, you're not restricted by pitch count for that pitcher. By the time he finished that last 5 inning start, it'll be late May and he'll have what? somewhere around 10-15 more starts til the end of minor league season? He'll still probably have around 100 IP for the season which is what I would consider a good workload for a HS arm in their first year of pro ball. I'll give you some examples here of SPs who was drafted in the top 10 and their IP total in their first full season (went back to 2007 and got most of them): Ross Detwiler: 124 (26 starts) Daniel Moskos: 110.1 (29 games/20 starts) David Price: 109.2 (19) Brian Matusz: 113 (19) Mike Minor: 120.1 (21) Drew Pomeranz: 101 (20) Jameson Taillon: 92.2 (23) Out of that group, Taillon is the only one who came out of HS and what a surprise.... He was the only one under 100 (Strasburg did as well with 55.1 IP, but he is an exception here) and he stayed in A ball the entire year. Bundy is going in line with this group in terms of innings in their first full season.

Now that he's getting on base, he's stealing **a lot**. Nine steals in the past 10 games. I'm not impressed... LOL jk If you wanna be impressed with steals, check out Billy Hamilton. He's going nuts the past 10 games. http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?pos=SS&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=571740

FAIL

Right now I'm at B-, B, and C-... So I would give it a C+ right now overall with a potential to be B+ (if it's 2010 Jeffery and Hardin is an at least average starting SS) Walterfootball has Bears with B, B, and D grades so far if anyone is wondering...

lol I hope it wasn't for Hill It's gotta be a WR since Hill was picked IMO.... Same way Pats moved up for Jones after McClellin was picked... They're saying the 150th pick to move up 5 spots...

Some of the guys here have spent a lot of time reading the Walterfootball.com scouting reports. And several others saw a very extensive highlight package on McLellin that told them what they need to know. Or have family live around Boise or family member who are at Boise State telling them what they've seen. (got family in Eastern Oregon who goes to Boise State games and a cousin who's a soph there)

If you're imaging this with Prior staying healthy, why not Wood as well? He would've been only 31 in 2008. He would be in the same boat as Z where he walks too many guys to be a true ace/elite pitcher, but might as well include him. Those 5 would've racked up like 1,000 Ks...

Eh? They're already blowing it up as fast as they can. What would even more suckage produce? A twisted (no way that's the right word but whatever) form of entertainment for myself. I have an interest in historically bad sports teams so a 40 win season would be more interesting than a 65-70 win season. That's all in a vacuum though. A season like could possibly hurt attendance and payroll and could keep good players from wanting to play here and what not. And, you know, you'd watch your team lose 30 more games. But hey... Look on the bright side, Cubs would have the #1 pick and most money for IFA next year...

Crazy to say that's not Prior-at-his-best good. Crazy to say that's not Strasburg-at-his-best good. I expected this post...It's true...I'm excited to see if he'll ever match '03 Prior in full season dominance. Prior 2003 is seriously underrated... I seriously don't know how freakin' Gagne won the CY over Prior/Schmidt that year... Don't get me wrong. Gagne was unreal that year and a closer can win a CY if there wasn't any SP who put up great #s, but both Prior/Schmidt put up great #s... Plus Prior was only 22 on top of that... *sigh* "What could've been...."

Patriots select.... Nick Toon, WR.

Hmmm... not sure where to go on this one. Toon/McNutt/Joe Adams/Streeter is who I'm looking at, but I'm not sure who would be the best fit for the Pats. Then again, they would just go for best value and pick anyone.

It feels like you've been college for at least 8 years. Hahaha took a year off after graduation to travel and annoy SSR (apparently), then sadly I chose to go to law school. You're not the only one who's still in school or went to school for a long time. Went to college, lost my hearing and got cochlear implants so I took 2 years off, then back to school. Got my computer graphic design degree. Took a year working with my dad and trying to find a job (when it was REALLY bad economy). I decided to go to architecture school, then my dad had 2 heart attacks in the past year so now I'm back helping with my dad's construction business. I still got 4 years left in architecture school whenever I go back. I graduated high school in '03. Anyway... I can't wait for the draft next week. I like the Geno Hayes signing just have some LB depth and he can compete with Roach. What arch schools are you looking at? 5 yr Barch or March? 5 yr B.Arch. I was already in at University of Arkansas and was there for a year and half (although I only did first year studio and first semester was to finish off my core classes that I needed to take). I applied to some grad schools to get a M.Arch on my CG degree (it's specialized in architecture), but didn't get in any. I did this on my last year when I got my CG degree. While I was looking for jobs and working for my dad, I just decided to just apply to schools with B.Arch. I got accepted in everywhere I applied so I had some options and went with Arkansas.

It feels like you've been college for at least 8 years. Hahaha took a year off after graduation to travel and annoy SSR (apparently), then sadly I chose to go to law school. You're not the only one who's still in school or went to school for a long time. Went to college, lost my hearing and got cochlear implants so I took 2 years off, then back to school. Got my computer graphic design degree. Took a year working with my dad and trying to find a job (when it was REALLY bad economy). I decided to go to architecture school, then my dad had 2 heart attacks in the past year so now I'm back helping with my dad's construction business. I still got 4 years left in architecture school whenever I go back. I graduated high school in '03. Anyway... I can't wait for the draft next week. I like the Geno Hayes signing just have some LB depth and he can compete with Roach.

You think we won't win a series for another month. Have you ever watched baseball before? Have you watched the 2012 Cubs? Didn't they go a very long time last year without winning a series? Like they finally won one in July or August... It seems like last year that it was so far into the season that I was hoping they wouldn't win a series for the season so they can go into the history books. it was a three-game winning streak that took them that long. Ahh... that's what it was. I still wish last year they went a whole season without a "winning streak".