Regular Show

For you, David: Tom annoys me and I won't be posting in here going forward. (End of story) Hurray!

Alright lol. Calm down, David

I'll have to do some research, but I'm pretty sure there are public message boards that allow that option. I understand if Tim and the Mods don't want to add that option here, but I'm pretty sure it exists (and would be kinda nice). You guys aren't always the fastest at responding to trolls (like the horsefeathers poster above a few posts up with the stupid gif). This would give you a very effective option to deal with them. Mods aren't doing a great job here, and the spoilered-gif crap Tom pulled in that other thread isn't cool.

Again, you’re welcome to post or not post whatever you like. You are not welcome to dictate who can interact with the things you post. If that means you don’t end up posting about something, that’s okay. I’m also not sure that blackmailing your posts on the least trafficked forum is the leverage you think it is, but that’s really secondary to the absurdity of thinking you can bar someone from interacting with a post you make. It's not blackmailing lol. It's getting agency back into my hands because your system here for blocking posters sucks. You need a better system for blocking posters from interacting with you here. I wish I could block my posts from being viewed by certain posters so this wouldn't even be a problem, but here we are...

Again, it doesn't matter if it's "original content" or something else in my post. I want zero interaction between us here and I want you to completely ignore my posts. Trust me, my PMs to Raisin contain plenty of original content and my opinions on draft prospects and mock drafts and breakdowns... Well, I guess I'm just going to keep discussing it privately then. Sorry guys

This isn’t how message boards work man. If you can’t stand someone, there’s a feature so you don’t see their posts available to you. You don’t get to limit who can reply to your posts, if that causes you to not post then that’s 100% up to you. If you want me to participate in this thread then that is exactly how it will work. Otherwise, I will continue discussing it privately (which sucks for posters interested in what I think and have to say on the draft. It's not a small group).

I just want to clarify something. I'm barely posting here in this thread... Some posters are curious why I'm not posting more in here, and they know the answer. I've been discussing the draft with Raisin for the past few months via PMs. It's quite lengthy and contains a large # of posts (I had to create a separate folder for everything). I have one poster I especially despise here (they know who they are. Actually, everyone knows who you are lol). If that poster responds to what I wrote I really don't care to continue posting in here, and I'll just continue talking to Raisin privately. This is another warning. Stop horsefeathering responding to my posts or I'll just go dark (to the detriment of the whole board). Just ignore what I wrote or post like I do for your posts in this thread. Again, it's not hard. I have zero interest in discussing the draft or draft prospects with you here.

[tweet] [/tweet]Nice. He should write a book about his experiences as a baseball fan from a country where baseball is not popular lol. He definitely has a cool perspective on the sport. Good luck with all the travelling!

Yeah, this Cubs Convention is going to blow. This offseason has been a disaster and trade talks have gone nowhere. Maybe the Cubs shouldn't have broadcast their intentions about wanting to trade away key pieces and "shake things up" so clearly. We aren't trading for Nolan Arenado and then subsequently moving KB/Willson. The Colorado FO is notoriously difficult to make trades with, and they're annoying AF in their demands/negotiations. That isn't happening... We can at least take some solace in the fact this douchebag is no longer on the team and won't be attending CC:

[tweet] [/tweet][tweet] [/tweet]

[tweet] [/tweet][tweet]https://twitter.com/keithlaw/status/1214326059509985280[/tweet] I've known about this for awhile and there were problems between Keith Law and his bosses at ESPN. They didn't like how outspoken he was on his twitter account and he did all his chats on a separate website (ESPN doesn't even do chats anymore). From his first article: This is a great move overall and another good reason to get a subscription.

I'm not too concerned about the bullpen except for at Closer. Kimbrel looked terrible at times and I told my brother exactly how he was going to blow some saves last year and on what pitch lol. His fastball command is bad and its tailing/running action sometimes goes into the path of RHH's swing. I'm worried he might be ineffective again and that it wasn't just rust... I don't fault Theo for going out and signing him because our bullpen needed a good shutdown reliever and we didn't lose a draft pick in the process. I'm totally okay with trading Kimbrel for some prospects at the trading deadline if this Cubs team looks like a middling fringe contender again and Kimbrel is pitching well and we get a good return. The Cubs need to win some trades to improve the farm system like TB. Not to that degree, but we can't keep giving away Montgomery and players like that when their value is practically gone.

[tweet] [/tweet]That's pretty good lol.

This whole thread is excellent and I love watching all the weird highlights (and amazing batflips) from KBO: [tweet] [/tweet]

He could be a decent player-manager if he tried that, but I'm not sure if that's allowed in minor league baseball? I believe it's allowed, but I've never bothered to ask lol. Also, it's weird that his first coaching job is at AAA. Usually you start lower on the totem pole of minor league affiliates and work your way up.

[tweet] [/tweet]

Of course that politician in the tweet above is a Cardinals fan and a Trump supporter...

If Giannis is hitting 3's confidently (and keeps taking them) the defense will have to respect him. I don't know how you guard him. He looks like a monster right now that can impose his will on the other team. I'm all-in on the Bucks winning the title this year. Clippers vs Bucks is my prediction with Bucks winning in 7.

Correct. You can delay when the team and player sign the extension during the season so it counts towards future seasons. The number for luxury tax purposes would just be the arbitration amount they agree to ($8-9M). If the contract extension supercedes the arbitration figure and they agree to replace it then the new figure is what matters, but teams have agreed to an extension and signed it during the season for luxury tax purposes before to help the team.

JudasIscariotTheBird is right. There is no harm in doing fewer posts, and trying to be more concise and coherent. It makes the board better and ...ah, happier I guess?

[tweet] [/tweet] Great article from Eric & Kiley and they'll probably go in more detail about this in their book. I didn't know the Cubs were among the first MLB teams doing this exclusive partnership with JCs on TrackMan units at their parks. San Jacinto is a big one and has a few good draft prospects every year. Andy Pettitte pitched at San Jacinto before signing with the Yankees. Chipola is another highly rated JC and that's a great partnership to have for the Yankees. State College of Florida is another good program with some decent draft prospects this year. It looks like the exclusive partnerships are over now (which kinda sucks), but maintaining good relationships with the coaches and staff at these JCs is still important and helps come draft time. We drafted Brendon Little from a JC back in 2017 and he had impressive spin rates on his CB back then... ---- [tweet] [/tweet][tweet] [/tweet][tweet] [/tweet]I talked to Raisin about those tweets from Jim Callis a while back. Scouts will definitely be flocking to San Jacinto to watch all those impressive pitching prospects.

I think that’s a fair criticism Yeah, that's pretty fair. I wasn't a big fan of signing Kimbrel, but it's only cash and only 2 more years. I wouldn't have signed him knowing this budget crunch was coming... Also, I know signing Mookie Betts probably won't happen next offseason. I was just saying it could justify some of the moves (or lack of moves) being made this offseason. Literally, switching from Maddon to Ross is the biggest move we've made thus far as a team. Maybe the addition by subtraction if you think Addison Russell was that detrimental to the team overall.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1He7WB2TXeoGRjWmS3-pkTXz_kHh773JvhCXLVXxkTWg/edit#gid=1520401900 The Cubs can afford Betts if they don't mind being over the luxury tax line for the next few seasons and spending 300+ million to sign Betts next offseason. If you go to Cots Contracts you'll see they only have $58.5M marked for 2022 (declining the option on Kimbrel). Obviously, keeping some of the core will be expensive and arbitation raises and whatnot. I don't think you can afford Bryant and Baez and Betts. I think Schwarber leaves as a FA. I think the Cubs will extend Rizzo even though it might backfire... I think the Cubs trade Contreras at some point or maybe work out an extension if he comes down on years/length. This is just speculation while talking with a friend, but we think Baez is looking for an 8-10 year deal and Contreras wants a 6-7 year deal and Bryant is looking for a 10 year deal. KB thinks he's going to be playing till he's 40 (and thinks he'll still be good) and said he doesn't know anything else besides playing baseball. That doesn't bode well for the Cubs... The Cubs probably want to go 6 (with options) on Baez, 6 (with options) on Contreras and just 7-8 years on Bryant with opt-outs because Boras. They're having a lot of trouble getting any traction on these extensions. They've tried every offseason going back all the way to 2015 (for KB). Addison Russell turned down the one offered by the Cubs so it's a good thing in that instance. The Cubs will have money to spend in the coming years if we don't lock these players up, but FA isn't a good path to contention IMO.

[tweet] [/tweet]If Betts does indeed get traded it greatly increases the chances of him reaching FA (especially if he gets traded to small-mid market team). I'd be okay with cost-cutting moves and austerity measures this offseason if the Cubs truly are committed to going all-out for Betts next offseason. Also, they better announce a Baez extension before Cubs Convention or everyone is just going to be in a foul mood there.

No, that definitely was a huge part of what they did. In the last 4 years the Cubs payroll was 12% over the Cards, 88% over the Brewers, 74% over the Reds, and 102% over the Pirates. We were the Yankees of the NL Central. I'm okay with being the Yankees of the NL Central (we should be the Yankees of the NL Central). I'm not okay with being the older version, high-spending Yankees of MLB.