Look at Ray Ray Run

Thanks for all the updates SW! Been awesome as I cut my game in and out at the office.

BuT ZaCk CoLLiNs HaS a HuGe HiTcH In hIs SwInG! Bomb

What a great AB by Robert. 10 pitch walk. Fouled off a lot of good pitchers pitches. Robert's approach at the plate, and the simplicity of his swing, really have me excited for his rookie year and gives me hope that his struggles will be minimal.

Micker clearly very rusty; although he was juts called out on a pitch about 4 feet outside. He's getting his front foot down too early and he's out in front of off-speed and off-balance on the fastball. He'll find it with reps.

Think it's safe to say that Cuthbert will not be making the team in a utility capacity; 3 errors in about 10 chances this spring. Nice.

Timmy crushed another ball oppo - he looks to be zoned in. Even his outs are smacked.

Elite contact skills only matter if you can get to enough power to make them matter. I think Madrigal will gain enough power to maximize his contact skills, but people that don't will not give him the max credit for that grade. As for your second part, I've seen Madrigal play quite a bit between OSU and his AA-AAA stint last year, and his base running was not the 70 grade that some were slapping on it. It doesn't mean he can't get there - he was, arguably, the best fundamental baseball player I had seen in college - but he needs to show it.

I have no idea what Yoan is working on. For all I know, he's trying to work every count full and only attacking off-speed down in the zone because he thought he struggled with that. Honestly, you shouldn't care one bit about a single veterans spring numbers unless it's a starter who is showing serious arm issues.

I would not give one single fuck.

Kinda hoping Yoan goes all of spring without a hit just to give JP a heart attack.

Guys, Moncada got out again. Has anyone checked on Jack to make sure he's OK?

Time to buy some more Tesla!

From what I understand, the problem is the Cubs built bottom clauses into all their current agreements with things like Hulu. What that meant is if the Cubs went out and gave a better offer to Comcast - because they have more leverage and control 90% of the Chicago Market - they would, in turn, have to offer that same rate to Hulu and other providers. This means that the Cubs are in a tough spot, because Comcast has the leverage because they control the market but the Cubs don't want to reduce their guarantees they've already gotten from other providers. Crane strikes again... and there's Jerry in the background, picking up a couple extra bucks as a shrew business man.

Laws write-up on Madrigal just adds to the brigade; he views him as a long-time big leaguer but he's not a top 100 prospect. All in all, probably far too much attention on this but I find that analysis to be bizarre.

You crack me up with this stuff; everyone on the top 100 prospects list isn't a "potential star" even though you continue to state that as a basis of analysis.

I actually think the one thing I have been a bit disappointed in Madrigal with has been his base running. He needs to improve there.

The problem for the Cubs is they've sold this as an increased revenue generator that will help them spend even bigger but the first year it's in place, they are slashing payroll and talking about trading elite talent. The Cubs never told fans that the upfront investment would hamper their contention window because their hands would be tied and they wouldn't be able to spend a dime.

CLTV, you are correct.

The Cubs did this same shit with CTV and it flopped miserably and they immediately regretted it; if I remember correctly.

The Stiever thing was hilarious to me; I love Stiever and was as high on him as anyone, but putting him above Madrigal because of last season is pretty funny. Agree with him on Gladney though; Keith and I the high guys on DJ! Beard belongs no where near the top 20 right now, imo. Speed and speed alone isn't enough, and his contact skills were horrendous. I get that he is coming from a small baseball conference with inferior competition for high school, but his debut didn't exactly give me a lot of reasons to believe he's close. Doesn't mean he can't get there, but it's hard to maximize speed if you don't make contact.

Kenney always makes things worse; he basically said youtubeTV isn't happening during his interview today. So no youtubetv and no comcast lol. The Cubs are going to lose themselves fans because they're so damn greedy. I absolutely loved them telling fans to call Comcast and complain, and to switch to hulu; as if it's the fans job to follow the Cubs broadcast to the one place that has it, and it's not the Cubs job to assure all fans have access. The tone deaf shit coming out of North Side of the city is absolutely hilarious. They spent 800,000,000 on area upgrades, and millions and millions on starting the network, but they don't have enough money to keep their best player and they don't care if you can watch their games.

Collins hands have legitimately looked better behind the plate this spring; I have not seen Mercedes back there so tough to say. Collins hands have looked much softer and more receiving, and his "framing" is not nearly as jerky as it looked last year. I'm not going to say he's good at it, but he doesn't look like an emergency catcher quite as much this year so far.

He is starting the year on the DL because of the flu/pneumonia. Nothing to do with his arm. The Yankees have lost: Judge, Severino and Stanton. Trading Betts was iditoic and absurd as the Red Sox would be within 2 projected wins of the Yankees without the move.

Logan Glass is certainly a name to keep an eye on as well. You get lucky sometimes with high schoolers and that first off-season the game clicks for them and they take off young. It's not often but it's possible.

I have never read anything that refers to Mercedes as a decent receiver but maybe I'm wrong.