Bull

I really should have put a watermark on that picture.i took that picture sitting 3 rows behind swastika guy in St Louis. Posted it here and on my Facebook.

Good thing our organizational philosophy is changing to "throw more strikes"

US Cities with direct flights to Tokyo

If you do that you can let him start in RF a couples time when his spot is skipped. Drunk Joe's willingness to be creative is an ace in the hole.

Grichuk > Bryant Grichuk is also definitely getting moved this offseason. I think Piscotty might get traded too. What will Cardinals fans say then lol? That they'd rather have Giancarlo than Heyward.

Missing the matador slide.

meh, the original post by Sammy said ABs and I didn’t feel that I needed to provide any more info to make my point. None of the numbers you threw out were 100+. And “don’t lie. Don’t say no” is ridiculous. The man sent questionnaires out asking how teams were going to integrate him both pitching and hitting. You really think the way you “didn’t lie” to your parents in high school works here? What? I said PAs and you tried to correct me using a wrong number. I don't understand your 2nd point at all. He asked how teams will use him so we should lie like a 16 year old trying to get drunk and laid? He wants to know how teams will integrate him to pitching and hitting...I don't know, maybe tell him how you plan to do that. If the dude wants to get 300 PAs and start 25-30 games as a SP like he did in NPB, then let him do that. There are going to be other free agents. If you promise him the chance to hit and immediately go back on that everyone will know you don't negotiate in good faith. For a team that has had guys come here for less, stuff like that matters. His agent has other clients. Other GMs need to have some level of trust in you to make trades. You can't just be a scumbag and keep operating like it didn't happen. I took your "Don't lie. Don't say no." to mean "Don't lie, just don't tell the truth." Which is why I was accusing YOU of suggesting we lie like a 16 year old. I'm glad to realize you think thats as stupid as I think it is.

maybe jake will come back for cheap if we bump up tommy la stella’s salary it’s a seal at twice the price Can heart mean "groan?"

So say we all.

Arrieta led the team with 61 ABs last year. A Lora had 299. Somewhere in between is probably about right. Let him take TLS’s 125. You are looking at ABs not PAs. Lester had 65 PAs and all the Cubs starters had injuries last year. Arrieta had 70 and 83 PAs the 2 previous years and Lester had 75 and 71 over those years. 70-80 is a fair estimate of PAs for a good starting pitcher hitting 9th (sometimes 8th). I imagine Ohtani would also be pinch hit for less than those guys. If he wants 300 PAs, give him 300 PAs for a year. Don't lie. Don't say no. Just do it for a while and see how it goes. If he gets a chance and can't hit then make him a pitcher, but if he asks for an opportunity to do both then let him. That's the trade off. You get a #1 starter for 300k but you have to give him more PAs. I'm sure every team can deal with that trade off. meh, the original post by Sammy said ABs and I didn’t feel that I needed to provide any more info to make my point. None of the numbers you threw out were 100+. And “don’t lie. Don’t say no” is ridiculous. The man sent questionnaires out asking how teams were going to integrate him both pitching and hitting. You really think the way you “didn’t lie” to your parents in high school works here?

Exactly. Like I said, a bunch of AB's in the 100+ range makes sense; lie, lie, lie. 100+ isn't enough. A NL starting pitcher gets about 70-80 PAs in a season hitting 9th on the days they start. Promise him whatever he wants and let him actually do it for the first season. If he sucks offensively then you transition him to a more traditional role in year 2. I'd suggest letting him start every 6th game as a pitcher, get about 40 starts in the OF/DH and then be available to pinch hit the other days. That would get him 27ish starts and 250-300 or so PAs. That's about the same number of PAs that he had each year in Japan. But I wouldn't lie. Let him do whatever it takes to get him here and his performance will decide how to move forward after year 1. Arrieta led the team with 61 ABs last year. A Lora had 299. Somewhere in between is probably about right. Let him take TLS’s 125.

Except that you’re depending on him in your rotation. But you’re right, him on Cubs DL is better than him on the Dodgers playoff roster. I know it’s a small chance and would be a freak accident, but, man, it looks like he’s begging someone to fracture his elbow. Invest in armor.

That's a tough moral decision: Theo lying to him and we sign him or Theo telling the truth and we have no chance of signing him. I go with Theo lying to him. As sofa subtly pointed out with the Joe-with-a-parrot picture, Theo doesn’t have to lie. If he’s simply as good as Travis Wood at the plate, he will see time in left field. ...NEVERMIND... I just saw he bats left-handed with his arms extended out over the plate before he loads. I never want him putting that beautiful right elbow in the path of a baseball. In fact, I now don’t want anything to do with him. /panicky overreaction

Yea. I do think there's an argument that the NL is at least attractive in the sense that you're guaranteed to hit every few days instead of a manager/GM deciding to never let you hit again after half a season. That's how I've always viewed it. If an AL team is willing to commit to him (scary) then he goes there. If not, its likely an NL team.

It's probably due to Reddit. Somebody posted this thread:Road to 267.2 WAR Which lead to somebody asking if he could come up with the lowest WAR player of all time, to which somebody responded by posting Neifi Perez. wow Meh. Rate stats take a pretty hard hit when you include a 43 year old catcher and Julio Franco’s decaying corpse.

That tug was in Game 6 of the NLCS against the Dodgers. The jersey tug and the Schwarber “look my legs work” in game 7 are my 2 favorite under the radar moments of the championship run Is it in this thread? If not, it didn’t happen. Actually, I was just looking for an excuse to link that thread.

Ham City

I think we have to sign Harper next yr to keep Bryant beyond 2021. IF Harper doesn't join Bryant in Chicago, Bryant very likely joins Harper elsewhere.

Stop it with the corny Cobb puns. I really feel like this was part of the plan from day one, to grow hitters and woo pitchers. Maddon and Hickey are a big part (all?) of that. Archer and Price may have been the intended targets, but I feel like getting a TB arm was part of what was in mind when he was hired. Hiring Hickey reinforces this in my “all things are connected” mind.

love the dangled modifier.

Seriously though, you're completely misreading. He didn't dismiss Bryzzo. It was a 4 sentence general assessment of the team in which he explicitly says they should be good again and maybe better than that last year. I think the rest of my post indicated clearly how seriously I'm taking this. I'm not, because it's not a serious article. He jokes that its too early to do, but does it anyway. meh.

While all you say is true, I think it’s more that with 30-40M to spend, declaring the situation bleak is premature and trying to declare it anything at all at this point is an exercise in futility. When the hell did they declare the situation bleak? Are we just forgetting the part where they were ranked top 4 in the NL and said this: Anything but number 1 and the words “juggernaut,” “legendary,” “historically dongish,” and “everyone else should phone it in,” Is underselling these Cubs. Seriously though, he dismissed Bryzzo failed to mention Contreras, and suggested trading Russell, Baez or Happ (as though they were interchangeable) as the only way to guard against complete rotation meltdown. It was silly. But my broader point is that the entire exercise is silly at this point. No one has been able to make any moves yet. Anything but Astros #1, Dodgers #2, Cubs and Yanks 3&4, & playoff teams 5-8 right now is dismissive to this season.

While all you say is true, I think it’s more that with 30-40M to spend, declaring the situation bleak is premature and trying to declare it anything at all at this point is an exercise in futility.

Shark doesn’t deserve to play for the good Cubs. /onlymostlyjoking

I have no love for the Dodgers, but I still have a little for the team that employed Roy Oswalt. Also, I have this weird NL loyalty/ "if the NL wins, it legitimizes my NL team." thing going on.