mac9001

Sosa isn't very good, or even average. But his ABs will be replaced by someone less average, probably bad, really bad. Can we at least have a goal that MLB ABs should go to people that actually have a legitimate reason to wear a MLB uniform?

But each time you send a dude down he can't come back up for something like 15 days and there's now a limit how many times you can option a guy. Just seems unnecessary to call up a dude for one night.

Not sure I understand the logic of bringing Schweitzer up for a day only to option him for Eisert. Why not just bring up Eisert yesterday?

That would make more sense. I guess we're going to see A Davitt debut.

Not sure you're getting more then 3IP out of Schweitzer his first time out so if the goal was to save the bullpen in the next few starts pretty sure you just did the opposite. I'm hoping the MLB pitching staff is like a revolving door with Charlotte. Keep shuffling everyone with options until they make an undisputable case for a MLB job. Fedde should be cut within a month and if Kay isn't giving you quality innings then it's time to try him out of the pen.

Hagen's command is a tad spotty but man does he get a lot of whiffs and it's a lot of swings where the battery just doesn't seem to see the ball. Noah looked fantastic. The ceiling on him is ridiculous if he can build that pitch count up and actually get a little deeper in games.

Technically they just made it bigger this year.

Haha, had two windows open and must have replied in the wrong one.

Burke's command absolutely is the problem. The issue with most pitch metrics when used without proper content is they leads you down the wrong lesson path. Burke raw stuff is solid, but he commands it so poorly, mainly by wasting a lot of non competitive pitches far out of the zone that he overcompensates by throwing strikes. His zone % is actually quite high (he throws a lot of strikes). Pair his inconsistent fastball velocity with poor command and you get into a situation where you throw a lot of avg fastballs down the middle of the plate to prevent a walk. He's throwing a lot of strikes but usually with fastballs behind in the count, which had a tendency to get hit hard. He's had individual games where his fastball sits at 97 and his swing strike rates on the curveball is absolutely elite. There's a lot to work with there, but poor command like this usually ends with a guy finding his way into the pen.

If you've been to Gary or Hammand recently you know there's no credible plan on spending billions, he'll much less millions in an area as economically challenged as those communities. Developing in AH provides a dense concentration of households with incomes exceeded $100,000. The collective wealth of the North West Suburbs is probably 50x of NWI. You can sell developers on hotels, restaurants, retail, smaller event venues, a wide range of entertainment options. There's no economically viable plan to do that in NWI. The Bears know they have a weak hand, they made the opening move and committed $200M because they knew if they didn't they'd have to spend $400M. When they develop the land and start to sell off pieces to private equity they'll sell it for billions. Sorry, but no, NWI is a bluff, a really bad bluff from an organization that doesn't need a single penny from the pubic to still come out billions ahead. But at this point they have nothing to lose, either their bluff works and the state kicks some money in or they're right where they started.

They don't have to agree to anything. The Bears will whine, make empty threats, then they'll build their stadium and pay their tax bill. They're not leaving Chicago for Hammand or Gary. If they leave it's just a matter of time some billionaire with enough ambition and ego builds a competing suburban stadium development (see Ishiba) and completely guts the a NWI stadium monopoly on holding premium events in Chicago. It also opens up the Bears to potentially encouraging Chicago (or even a different suburban development) from making a play for a different NFL franchise. If you build on the Chicago River developers will line up, if you build in AH developers will line up. Building in NWI is like building in Waukegan, you can, but you shouldn't and you won't. If your gonna make a threat like this you threaten to move a across the country, there's no way Kevin Warren could with a straight face on camera make a legitimate claim they're considering Gary Indiana.

They didn't spend $200M on the land in Arlington Heights without essentially committing to the development with or without state funding. Everything that's occurred after that was about leverage. They're not moving to NW Indiana even if they were to get billions in funding. It was always going to be AH or if they managed to get enough leverage against Chicago a new lake front stadium. They'll just partner with developers on a piece meal basis and work with AH on a tiff for infrastructure. The state will eventually kick im some money because at the end of the day roads and sewers are going to get built anyway and the unions will make sure the state kicks the money in so they control the contracts.

I do feel to some degree they're doing him a disservice by not letting him focus on a single position. If you let him play 100 games in center he might actually prove he can be defensively valuable. He's probably the fastest guy on the team and his athleticism is vastly underrated.

I don't think there's ever been an MLB team that said we have to much depth up the middle. I'm still not convinced we have any regulars on the current MLB roster that won't just fall off a cliff. As impressive as Colson was last year I'd be equally unsurprised to see a 40% K-rate next year as I would a 30+ HR season. The other guys could all put in 70 wRC+ seasons and make these decisions relatively easy. If they just keep drafting short stops with the first 3 picks for the next 3 drafts I'd be fairly content with the strategy.

I don't doubt the stuff. I've seen video, looked at numbers. I believe in the stuff. But dudes who manage to throw strikes for a few months for the first time in their career while at high A ball don't leave him with feeling like this works out. I would have taken every dude with a big time fastball in the R5 draft. Take 5 of them, if even one works out it's a huge win.