sweetpeteman

If they don't select, they get Ben Revere

Honest thought: Send Szczur to AAA and let him start. See if the adjustment he made makes a long-term difference. If he shows that he can put up good numbers, then start thinking about letting him try to have center next year instead of signing Fowler or somebody else. If he had done this last year, I'd say screw it, let him be in center and see what happens. But not this year.

They aren't going to cancel a game like that, just fill it with minor leaguers and its fine. I could see Wood or Hendricks starting that game since their first game wouldn't be for a week or so.

Szczur should be starting in left! Also, we need a new firstbaseman as ours is only hitting .184/.245/.306 with 1 hr so far this spring.

He's worth 1.4 wins (assuming Olt is only replacement level) in 2 weeks of playing time? I wonder if they're only calculating for 2 weeks to 1 month or for the whole year then? Does the machine account for that or is it just: Is Player on team, yes or no? NM, sneaky answered that. Still, 22 games is too long.

all star break? wtf are they worried about this court decision or what? shouldn't take nearly that long to put up. Right...look how quickly the LF board is going up. Something fishy here Priorities maybe. They can't work as much, especially on days with games, and finishing the bleachers have to be priority one. I read somewhere that the bleachers are about 6000 seats, when you consider that they are $36 a ticket, that's up to $216,000 dollars a game (I say up to because they may not sell out and that doesn't count group/discount rates). The second scoreboard is a luxury item, plus with the lawsuit they may be taking their time.

Yup they still have a game in hand on Winnipeg and 2 points behind. I just cannot fathom LA not making the playoffs. They should be in playoff mode right now but they looked terrible tonight. The Flames and Kings both get a couple easy games in their last games, Flames play the Oilers and Coyotes while the Kings get the Oilers twice. The thing is that the Flames have to play the Blues and Jets while the Kings get Colorado, Vancouver, and end with the Sharks. They play each other on the second to last game of the season. It really will come down to the Kings, Flames, and Jets for the last spot in the Pacific and the last WC. Technically Dallas and SJ are still in it, but...no they aren't.

Big win, 1 point back from StL with 6 games left, 2 against StL. Last 6 games Hawks/Blues/Preds/Wild/Jets VAN CAL VAN NYR NYR @BUF @DAL DAL DET VAN STL @CHI @COL WIN @Min MIN WIN MIN @CHI @STL @STL CHI @DAL @NAS @COL @COL MIN @STL CAL Hawks should be able to win against BUF, COL, and VAN. It's the Minnesota and St Louis games that are critical. St Louis gets Calgary and Dallas, but then have to play the 3 of the other central teams 4 times to end the season (but end with 3 at home). Nashville only has 5 games left, and should end up taking the number 1 spot since of there last 5, only 2 are against playoff teams Minnesota probably has the hardest last 6, facing 6 playoff teams, including ending with 3 on the road against central foes. The Jets also have a tough stretch, but get to end against Colorado and Calgary, but Calgary could be fighting for the last spot in the Pacific then. I predict it ending: NASH CHI STL ANA VAN LAK MIN WIN

I'm betting he's up by the ASB or shortly after, with the most likely scenarios being: LaStella/Alcantara struggle at 2nd or Coghlan/Denorfia/Sweeney struggle in left, with Bryant moving to left and Russell playing third. I think the former is more likely but would prefer the latter with LaStella and Alcantara playing well. Line wise: ~300 PA with a .250/.320/.420 line, 5 homers and ends strong. Screw that, he comes up and bats: .290/.380/.500 with 12 homers.

Also, from what I can tell, these are the guys still in camp who aren't listed above: On 40 man: Drake Britton Dallas Beeler Matt Szczur Brian Schlitter Zac Rosscup Junior Lake Jacob Turner* Tsuyoshi Wada* NRIs: Jonathan Herrera Taylor Teagarden Chris Valaika Adron Chambers Max Baxter Gonzalez Germen Anthony Carter Francisley Bueno Daniel Bard Jorge De Leon Of the ones on the 40-man, only Britton is out of options and will have to be waived. Schlitter is also probably a DFA candidate at this point. Wada and Turner are DL-bound, Turner to the 60-day. The only guys here that I think have a chance are Szczur, Lake, and Herrera.

Lake's probably not going to be starting any games in the infield, but can still play there if necessary.

Roster is almost set at this point, the issue is the last bench spots and what to do with Castillo: Starters: Jake Arrieta Jon Lester Jason Hammel Kyle Hendricks Travis Wood Relievers: RH: Edwin Jackson Neil Ramirez Hector Rondon Pedro Strop Jason Motte Justin Grimm LH: Phil Coke Starting 8: C Miguel Montero 1B Anthony Rizzo 2B Arismendy Alcantara 3B Mike Olt SS Starlin Castro LF Chris Coghlan CF Dexter Fowler RF Jorge Soler Bench: Welington Castillo David Ross Chris Denorfia Tommy La Stella Ryan Sweeney As of right now. Denorfia looks like he will start on the DL, which would open up one spot. If not, I've gotta think that Sweeney is on the cutting block for an infielder. There will be 40-man space, as Britton will have to be waived, also Turner is destined for the 60-day.

Bigger question… who gets dropped from the 40 man to bring up Bryant? Well, Turner is going to the 60-day DL probably, Doubront is out of options and will have to be DFA'd, same with Britton. Also Ryan Sweeney can be released at any time, between Coghlan, Denorfia, Alcantara, and Szczur, he's redundant.

Of [expletive] course. Ha.

Yeah, he's actually 23rd: http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=y&type=0&season=2014&month=0&season1=1871&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=14,24&filter=&players=0&sort=6,d (Because 23rd clearly sucks)

Somewhere between the NHL and MLB solution I think would best serve the NBA and NCAA. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk What does the NHL do? AHL and EHCL, foreign leagues. Also allows teams to draft the rights to players but the players retain the ability to play in the NCAA. Yea basically- team drafts and retains rights instead of the rights expiring like in MLB. The rights do expire at some point and I think the player just becomes a FA. Not sure the exact terms though in NHL. NBA could have 5-6 rounds worth of prospects and a free minor league system. NCAA will keep some of those second tier players longer at the expense of the one year of the biggest superstars. Oh it wouldn't be any better for the prospects, but that's kind of inherent if the NCAA is involved. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk The rights do expire, but its multiple years or something. Kevin Hayes was drafted in the 1st round in 2010, his rights expired last year, and he became a FA.

I was at his first start and while he gave up 0 ER, he did get lit up, it was just a couple errors (one by him) made the 4 runs unearned. He was hit hard that game.

Somewhere between the NHL and MLB solution I think would best serve the NBA and NCAA. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk What does the NHL do? AHL and EHCL, foreign leagues. Also allows teams to draft the rights to players but the players retain the ability to play in the NCAA.

That was a nice goal by Richards.

He needs to be benched for a couple games for that. What a stupid move.

That's nice. Too bad that's not what's happening.

It's not about hating on Russell and Bryant, it's about not counting your chickens before they hatch. How many "can't miss" prospects miss? Nobody is here saying, "Keep Castro because Bryant and Russell suck." No, they're saying we shouldn't count on Russell and Bryant until they show they can be successful in the majors. And we shouldn't trade Castro for pitching when pitching staffs can succeed without a lot of aces (hell, didn't do Detroit, Washington, or Oakland any good to have loaded staffs last year). Here's the last six years of which teams ranked highest in fWAR by starters, relievers, and batting, followed by where the WS winners ranked. Starting Pitching: 2009: Red Sox. Yankees 8th 2010: Rockies. Giants 15th 2011: Phillies. Cards 17th 2012: Tigers. Giants 17th 2013: Tigers. Red Sox 2nd 2014: Tigers. Giants 28th! Relief Pitching: 2009: A's, Giants 9th 2010: Padres, Red Sox 21st 2011: Red Sox, Cards 25th, 2012: Royals, Giants 27th 2013: Rangers, Red Sox 5th 2014: Royals, Giants 28th Batting: 2009: Yankees. 2010: Reds, Giants 5th 2011: Red Sox. Cards 4th 2012: Angels, Giants 4th 2013: Red Sox 2014: Dodgers. Giants 6th Now this probaby isn't the best way to rank staffs, but that's not the point. The point is that right now offense is a lot more important then pitching. I'm not saying that pitching is overrated or shouldn't be targeted, what I am saying is that the Cubs probably don't need to try to trade for Hamels right now, but should focus on building a frick'n offense first, especially in this era of subdued offense. The way the Cubs FO is building the staff makes sense. Not overspending on FA relievers, targeting an ace (and seeing if they could get a second one on a great deal in Shields) and finding value through guys like Hammel, Feldman, Maholm, while looking to reclamation projects and prospects like Arrieta, Turner, and Hendricks. Also, next offseason you have Price, Cueto, Zimmermann, Fister possibly available. Oh, and in case anybody is curious, here's the last six WS winners(+Royals) starting pitching staffs (pitchers who started 10 games or more) with games started, ERA, FIP, xFIP, and fWAR compared to the Cubs potential 2015 staff:

Group A: Giancarlo Stanton Group B: Anthony Rizzo, Chris Davis Group C: Corey Dickerson, Yoenis Cespedes, Paul Goldschmidt Group D: Bryce Harper, Jon Singleton, CJ Cron, Manny Machado, Mark Trumbo WC sent

I forgot about Coke.

As of right now I'm guessing the pitching staff ends up: ST: Lester, Arrieta, Hendricks, Hammel, Wood Long: Jackson LHR: Britton RHR: Strop, Ramirez, Grimm, Motte CL: Rondon Optioned: Jokisch, Ortiz, Beeler, Edwards, Parker, Rosscup DL: Turner, Wada DFA: Doubront, Schlitter Schlitter might have an option left, but I think he probably will be dropped to open up a 40-man roster spot.