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Whoa...SS Delvin Perez failed a drug test?! I read that he was falling down draft boards leading up to the big day, but I thought that was due to questionable makeup (I guess a failed drug test confirms that) and an okay hit tool. I mean I've read his physical tools and athleticism are incredible -- Why would he feel the need to take PEDs? I guess the PEDs could improve his overall strength and speed, but that still seems strange to me. Is the possible failed drug test over recreational drug use like marijuana or something? Cause if that's the case I could care less over a failed drug test and would take him. I'm sure other teams would feel the same way. Hmm, I hope we get clarity on his unique status on Thursday.

I DO want the Cubs to trade for Bautista if the Blue Jays fall out of contention. I know he rubs some old-school types the wrong way, but I love his intensity (and the bat flips). I know what Soler did last year in the playoffs and maybe he'll be incredible again, but I trust the experience Bautista would bring to this team. Seriously, watch his ABs and how locked in he is. His BB/K ratio is always good and I think he would be a monster for us in the playoffs hitting in the 4/5 spots. I'm not sure how much his defense has declined, but I'm sure he would be okay in LF. On par with Soler, probably. I have no clue what we'd have to give up for a 2-month rental, but this was his slash line in the playoffs last yr: .293/.408/.659 (1.067 OPS, 4 HRs, 8/7 BB:K) :good: Small sample size caveat, of course (41 ABs)

Ah, I think you forgot they don't have a 1st or 2nd round pick this yr buddy lol. Only 8 picks in the first 10 rounds this time...

The good thing about this draft is it's deep in HS pitching prospects and I believe (and hope) the Cubs have scouted the lower tier prospects pretty well. No point in scouting the top 50-75 prospects beyond a cursory glance. Sure there is a chance someone falls but we probably can't sign them anyway. I expect some HS pitchers and college senior signings. This draft class could be very good or very very bad depending on how these pitching prospects they select develop in the future. No highly-rated advanced hitting prospect to redeem the draft class this time...

Yeah I agree. Still this upcoming trade deadline will feature few elite pitchers and some GMs may get desperate to upgrade their rotation. I don't think J. Shields is viewed as an elite pitcher anymore, but he is durable and maybe a few tweaks can improve his performance. I wonder if Preller made this move or it came from above. Padres are a strange team -- they make trades like this really early in June while refusing to do anything last year at the trade deadline when they had good pieces to trade.

I don't get this trade. Like I get it from the White Sox's perspective. Good trade for them, but not so much for the Padres. Like why not just wait till closer to the trade deadline and see if you can get a better package of prospects? Honestly this return is pretty bad. E. Johnson is not a good pitcher and I doubt he develops into anything beyond a #5 starter. I have no idea what happens to F. Tatis Jr. but he is so far away and so young. I guess he could develop into an interesting player... I guess they figured J. Shields has low trade value and his value may drop off even more after a few more bad starts. Still a weird trade to me considering how much the Padres are paying of his remaining contract. Last thing, the Cubs dodged a bullet by not signing him. He would've been a bad fit on this team and is worse than all of our starters right now. Of course, our rotation is insane and there are few pitchers actually better than the five we have.

I dislike many Cardinals players, but for me, it's the douche bag managers they always seem to employ (TLR, and now M. Matheny). I don't know why, but they seem very disingenuous in interviews to me. I hate how M. Matheny interpreted that quote by Heyward about the core players of the Cardinals getting up there in age, which is true and a pretty accurate statement. He took offense to that somehow... Oh, really? STFU Matheny Also, I remember this very vividly when M. Matheny was just staring at the field for a long while like a dumbass after the Cubs just got finished beating the Cardinals at Wrigley in Game 4 of the NLDS. It's like he was thinking, "How the $%^& did we lose to the Cubs?" Like he couldn't believe it or process it, even though the Cubs were rolling and were clearly a more talented (and healthy) team by that point...

The thing about possibly selecting Bobby Dalbec is what he prefers doing on a baseball field :dontknow: Going into this year scouts thought he might improve his stock and be viewed as a decent hitting prospect with a suspect hit tool, but game-changing power. I mean the pool of college hitting prospects is not that impressive this year. Also, going into this year (I believe) not that many preferred him as a pitcher. I don't know what he prefers personally, but he might ask a team or all teams that he wants to be drafted as a hitter even though most teams view him as a pitcher. I don't like him as a prospect personally. I mean yeah, he's athletic and seems to possess a strong arm, but he seems like he'll end up being a reliever. I mean if I were him I would go back to school to improve my stock unless some team really believes in me and takes me in the top 3 rounds, but that looks unlikely right now. Just my 2 cents...

I think there is strong momentum now for allowing draft picks (all draft picks) to be traded in the next CBA. They've experimented with it, and there are some drawbacks (big market teams like the Dodgers can essentially buy a draft pick by taking on a bad contract/player). Still, teams should be allowed to trade draft picks if they choose to do so. Also, the intrigue of trading up/down in the draft will be exciting and we will be able to see which scouting departments can take advantage of that. There are definitely years where I could see a team with the #1 overall pick wanting to trade down when there is no consensus top talent available...

Dang, forgot about him. You are correct!

Why did R. Zastryzny get promoted to Iowa lol? Like seriously? I guess he could develop into a mop up guy or crappy relief pitcher, but the scouting reports I've read always seemed unimpressive. Whoever the scout was that recommended we take him at the top of the 2nd round in 2013 should be questioned if not fired. I thought it was a bad pick at the time and the results have backed that up.

Like TomtheBombadil wrote U of I RHP - C. Sedlock is the highest rated prospect in the draft and is very impressive. I doubt the Cubs will get a chance to draft him since he'll probably go in the 1st round. I believe RHP - Z. Burdi is actually from the Chicago suburbs (I could be wrong?) so he would be the highest rated draft prospect from the Chicago-land area? The HS C - Cooper Johnson is a defensive wizard behind the plate and will most likely be taken in the 2nd round. There is also a RHP - M. Dietz who pitches downstate at a small CC (John A. Logan) who will probably go in rounds 3-4.

Thanks. Yeah, I don't wish to argue or start anything here. I definitely try to avoid making anything personal and/or insult anyone. It's just a discussion to me and I don't mind people disagreeing with me or whatnot. I just find it strange how people are opposed to some change or vehemently stick to a stance (any stance). Very few things in this world are absolute. I keep an open mind and try not to brush off someone's suggestion or input whether it come via message board, literature, random text, bumper sticker, or wherever...

That's fine. I mean I'm fine with agreeing to disagree on this matter. I just believe you anti-draft dreamers don't realize the unintended consequences of abolishing a system that works pretty well for the most part. Yes, it sucks that amateur players kind of get ripped off and should make more I guess, especially when Cubans and other Hispanic players can get so much more than players subjected to the MLB amateur draft. That is unfair. Absolutely... Still, I think there is a way to make the draft work and be fair to amateur players and compensate them fairly. Again, I don't believe in pure capitalism and MLB again does NOT follow free-market economic principles. Lets be real here, they have an Anti-Trust exemption...

Listen I'm Pro labor and Pro unions. I don't support pure capitalism and actually like "Obamacare" even though its screwed up and has some bad features...I don't want owners to pocket profits. No one wants that, but the thing is amateur players aren't part of the players union. The player's union agreed to the draft slotting system that limits how much amateur players can get! Amateur players haven't really "proven" anything yet and a good number of them end up being busts. I don't mind paying them what the free-market says they are worth I guess in theory, but MLB isn't a free-market economy. There are big market teams that can spend way more than small market teams creating inequality and an unequal playing field. I mean we were lucky in the past that teams like the Dodgers and Yankees didn't bother spending ridiculous amounts of cash on the amateur draft buying loads of talented prospects in later rounds without fear of penalty. Teams are smarter now and investing in young prospects is generally way more cost effective than buying FAs. Listen, I like the draft and WANT to see young players get paid a fair amount of cash. I just don't want big market teams dominating the process like you see in European Football leagues where Real Madrid and Barcelona dominate every yr. Yes, Leicester City won the Premier League this yr, but it's usually dominated by the big boys (Chelsea, Man U). I don't want any major American sport to morph into that...

That is a strange response :-s ...I agree the system needs to change, but FA compensation should definitely exist. The draft absolutely needs to exist. I don't get you "Anti-draft" nuts who want to abolish the system. The draft serves a purpose and prevents big market teams from buying all the best amateur talent. I know K. Law and other writers have proposed other systems for allowing amateur talent to enter MLB, such as allowing teams to bid as much as they deem a prospect to be worth, but I'm more worried by that system. Allowing players to choose where they sign will most likely lead to more signings with big market teams. Yes, the Cubs would do well in that system, but that doesn't make it fair. Yes, there should be a lottery system for the worst teams who are trying to get as high a pick as possible in the draft. Yes, FA compensation should be changed. There should be other changes to the draft as well like allowing teams to trade drafts picks -- any draft pick (not just a small # of picks after the 1st round). Still, I believe most people inside baseball want the draft to continue including our front office. They just want the system to change for the better...

I don't know how many people here go to Fangraphs, but I figure it has to be a good amount since we care WAY too much about baseball, prospects, prospect rankings, sabermetric analysis, and articles gushing over how dominant the Cubs are now. So they just hired E. Longenhagen to be their Lead Prospect Analyst and I'm pretty excited by that news. I liked what he wrote for ESPN during his brief time there and he seems better than the previous guy, D. Farnsworth. I really didn't like D. Farnsworth and disagreed with his assessments. Obviously, no one will be able to replace Kiley McDaniel sadly....MAN do we all miss Kiley McDaniel and his amazing analysis. I think or hope that Longenhagen will be better and provide good amateur draft and AFL coverage going forward. Fangraphs has done a piss poor job covering this year's amateur draft with under 3 weeks to go!

Again, I seriously doubt Krook reaches us at #104 also. Probably goes somewhere in the 2nd round or early 3rd round most likely. There will be good draft prospects around in the 100s, but unfortunately we can't offer enough $$$ to get some HS prospects that fall to sign unless they really want to skip school and enter the pros. They need to change the system in the future for FA compensation. I have no problem with FA compensation, but make the team signing the FA get penalized by losing the draft pick(s) without losing the pool amount associated with the pick(s). I believe our spots would've been #27 (~$2 million) and #68(~$950K) if we hadn't signed J. Lackey and J. Heyward. Not only did we lose the ability to select players at those spots, but the pool amount that we could've reallocated to draft picks later in the draft. At least that's my idea on adjusting the FA compensation. Also, yes the Qualifying Offer system needs to be adjusted as well and will be changed or replaced in the next CBA.

Actually he was traded for a couple top prospects in A. Miller and C. Maybin and a few lesser prospects. The trade looks bad in retrospect, but at the time the prospect package was considered very strong. A. Miller was considered a TOR LHP prospect and C. Maybin was also highly rated. It should also be noted LHP - D. Willis was included in the trade with M. Cabrera...

Yeah I think whoever we like as a draft prospect will most likely be selected before the Cubs pick in the 3rd round. I forget who said it, but I think they were hoping RHP - A. Hansen might fall to the 3rd round and now I'm seeing him get selected in the 1st round in some mock drafts. I guess the Cubs will have to target college pitching prospects that are willing to sign for slot since we can't really go over slot this yr. I'm pretty disappointed with the Cubs selections among college pitchers in year's past. Skulina, Stinnett, S. Frazier, R. Zastryzny, and even P. Johnson have all been disappointing. Hopefully this yr will be different...

Keith Law's first mock draft for 2016: http://espn.go.com/blog/mlb-draft/insider/post?id=2618

Ah, that wouldn't happen in baseball. That happened in the NBA because the New Orleans Hornets (now Pelicans) were owned by the NBA at the time, and that gave unique veto powers to D. Stern. Personally, I think he actually did the right thing. Whether he had the right to do that as Commissioner is another matter...That original trade was pretty bad for the Hornets and was a 3-team trade. Yeah, the Lakers would've gotten C. Paul, but I'm pretty sure they still wouldn't be title contenders so who cares? The M. Trout trade will be different and the Angels will get a good return, if not a GREAT return in prospects and young MLB talent.

Yeah, good genes in the Burdi family. I'm still very disappointed with the number of young African-American participation compared to the past. I mean I'm a Millennial (I wish I wasn't because I hate this social media driven generation) and I can tell how little significance MLB has in that community. It's crazy how much the NBA and the NFL dominate in popularity among African-Americans. I honestly know very few Black friends around my age who have a remote interest in baseball. It's sad. I mean Chris Rock explains it really well in a video he made for HBO's Real Sports: http://www.sbnation.com/lookit/2015/4/22/8471165/chris-rock-hbo-baseball-video

Don't worry...I wouldn't have posted something if I thought this site sucked lol. I don't even understand the point of that thread :-k On Connor Jones, I get the drop. I really didn't like him and think some pitchers have passed him by. University of Virginia pitchers have a bad rep and I remember reading something by K. Law about why that might be the case. I think we can all agree this draft class is pretty bad especially if you have a high-draft pick. Thank God we don't, but the depth is there in high school and college pitching. Honestly, I'm big on RHP - Z. Burdi and would try to make him a starter. The chances aren't super great that he'll stick as a starter. Still, if that doesn't work out I think he can develop into a pretty dominant relief pitcher, maybe even turn into a dominant closer if the command gets better and the slider improves. I mean he can hit triple digits somewhat regularly and he makes it look easy like Chapman! I would take him before C. Jones though the separation between the two isn't that large. Also, D. Hultzen had much better command of his repertoire in college. Not really fair to compare C. Jones to D. Hultzen IMO

Eh, thanks. I realized online forums are only as good as the people posting and contributing in them. I feel like I can add some value or contribute in discussions, especially on the draft. I'm no scout, but I've had the good fortune of talking to some over the years. I've seen or met a few ppl over the yrs who have gotten drafted. I realize with the Cubs being so good now the draft is not as exciting, but I agree with Theo completely -- you have to be prepared and productive and try to develop players through the amateur draft. I feel so bad for Mariners' fans lol...