We Got The Whole 9

He traded for Moore and can easily take a guy at 9 or whatever spot he trades back to. He also traded for Claypool. He hasn't completely punted the position, at least the way he has with the C position.

The afterthoughts are raking

Pretty sure they're never gonna hit 500 this year. Every time they get close they have to face good teams/superstars and get smacked back to earth .

Shaw is gonna be our McClain. 125 bat right off the rip.

Freaking incredible play. Can't imagine how that felt as a Pacers fan there at the stadium lol

https://twitter.com/crawlyscubs/status/1765909877224845464/mediaViewer?currentTweet=1765909877224845464&currentTweetUser=crawlyscubs That was a freaking meatball. Man Greene really labors through his delivery.

I know how to read a box score but did he get any swings and misses?

So we have struck out 1 batter through 5. Wicks had 0, facing 15 batters. Did he get any whiffs?

I was discussing this with my boss yesterday. I don't care about you looking amazing at a pro-day in optimal conditions; I want to see you function at a high caliber within uncomfortable environs. I wish he would participate.

This is that horsefeathers that Tiger was talking about. This is a seriously unitelligible sentence. It would be a lot better if you just said what you need to say without being so esoteric in everything. Just tell us that most posters here don't actually know horsefeathers about prospects and just get mezmerized by shiny toys. Be direct with your freaking words and leave the cryptic crap on the cutting room floor. Or just save it sometimes. That would be nice too. As for the article, there actually was quite a bit of clarity provided by the FO in their nonchalant approach to the 3B position. They believe they can get respectable production out of the position this season and they did not want to block the path of Matt Shaw. That's pretty obvious to me. It wasn't a pressing need for them in 2024.

What happened on the Morel play in question?

Yeah players that excel at both are so rare and burn out fast. I wish we had gone after Murphy though. But the Cubs highly value a guy that can communicate and lead a staff. They probably just hope they can get league average offense out of that situation.

https://www.mlb.com/news/drew-burress-four-homers-georgia-tech-home-run-record Impressive as horsefeathers. Freshman hits 4 bombs and on wildly different pitch types and locations. The dude now has 9 HR in 8 career games. 5'9, gotta love it.

The last 2 guys to get that label are probably Lawrence and Luck. Both top 10 QBs but never quite looked like they would/will lead a championship team. The evaluators are constantly off. I will say I pretty much carry this belief at every position. Everybody wanted to go out there and land the next Jefferson or Chase and here come the Rams waltzing in and grabbing a 100/1500 guy in the fifth round (a few yrs after they did it the first time with Kupp) after like 15 receivers were off the board.

Here's the thing: Of the last 20 QBs drafted first in their class, how many are now or were the actual top QB of their class in the NFL? Not that many compared to how many you would expect. The top 10 QBs this year was littered with guys taken after the 1st round even. So if they have conviction that more than 1 of these guys could reach an All-Pro ceiling then trading back and adding a bevy of picks to build up the roster is pretty enticing. So much is gonna change over the next couple months. Rumors are gonna be flying everywhere. i'm really not gonna pay attention or concern myself with it until a move is actually made.

Cubs must think Thompson's walk rate last year was a blip. I wonder how his stuff measures.

Okay Jed's off-season looks quite good now. Each signing has high potential with minimal downside. Let's go win the horsefeathers division!

Hits 30 ft/sec on his defensive sprints. Really nice addition to an already fast team.

I imagine this will almost kill FA altogether. Teams are gonna have to really over-pay for mediocre players.

Well that will probably take several good names off the market before FA starts

Pretty fun lineup for opening day

No, he was traded mid-season, so he wasn't elibible for the QO.

Not really.

Big Mo got a shout-out from Ben Clemens in his less-heralded hitters he likes. His list has a common thread of short guys. Relevant Stats: Ballesteros turned 20 in December after spending 2023 tearing through the minors. He simply looked too good for Low- and High-A as a 19-year-old before ending the season with a brief Double-A cameo. He walked nearly as often as he struck out, laced doubles to all fields, and ended up with double-digit home runs. He did all of that while catching at least passably well. What I Like: He’s a 20-year-old catcher who can hit against older competition. It’s not exactly complicated. He’s another little guy, though with the thick frame you’d expect for a catcher, but he cranks out ludicrous power. I’m cheating a little bit by including him here, even; he made the tail end of a few Top 100 lists this year, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s on ours in a mid-season update. Hit the ball as hard as Ballesteros does, at such a young age, and you almost certainly have the raw power to make it work in the majors. Do it as a catcher with plus batting lines against older competition, and you might be a star in the making. Warning Signs: (Lack of) proximity is the biggest one. There’s plenty of time for Ballesteros to wash out at catcher, or for his approach to run out of steam against tougher competition. He hits the snot out of the ball, with impressive batted ball data even if you ignore how young he is, but that kind of power from someone his size always feels a little tenuous, and if he isn’t a catcher, he’s a positionless defender, which means his bat will have to carry a huge burden. I think that’s a manageable risk, but it’s undoubtedly a risk.