Chisoxfn

I know the Bulls have implied otherwise, but I think they quietly will test the waters with Lebron / Kwahi. I don't see how you can't at least check. The team is probably still away and the reality is we are headed for another very high pick (presuming all we do is draft someone @ 7 and 22).

See my follow-up post just below this one. The White Sox will not succeed, imo, if they don't make these their strengths. They don't have the ability to "buy" talent and thus they need to effectively identify and develop talent. That will be where the road hits the rubber on Hahn and the entire White Sox organization.

Yes - Top picks don't drive teams to the top of the league...strong player development and scouting does. Period. End of story. All the #1 picks in the world don't matter if you can't draft and develop talent. This isn't the NBA where a franchises fate can change with one right draft pick...it just isn't. If the Sox are going to have sustained success, they need to do it with a long-term winning program of identifying the right talent and developing such talent. If you do that, you are going to be solid...from there, you obviously need to leverage FA and trades effectively. While Hahn has accumulated a lot of talent via trades, we haven't had a proven track-record of drafting and developing talent. I want to see us generate a top 5-10 farm system on a regular basis based upon us drafting and developing players as well as effectively leveraging international free agency. To do that effectively, you need to spend money on the best scouts, best coaches, best programs, etc. Look at the Dodgers...yes they have more money but they also have drafted and developed extremely well and they have invested heavily in their front office, scouts and analytics programs. Ditto for Boston and the Yankees. Maybe 5-10 years ago those big spending teams had a major competitive advantage with deep pockets in international space, but that is gone too. The competitive balance / positioning for young talent is economic neutral (in the sense that big money teams don't have a major advantage over smaller payroll teams) and with that it all comes down to the teams with the best ability to identify and develop talent and if you are really good at that, you are going to consistently have good rosters. Than you need to have the right front office to be able to aggressively and effectively bolster your major league roster via trades / free agency (within your budget). The real mark on Rick Hahn is going to be 3-5 years ago do we have a farm system which is effectively producing quality major league talent (without being supplemented from trading a couple highly effective and talented players with below market contracts (i.e., Sale / Quintana / Eaton).

That to me sounds like Atlanta is possibly open to move down. Didn't see anything that that says Bulls looking to move up to 3.

I agree - Many situations where the Bulls pick next year could get pretty high. I presume Hawks would like Lavine but he's an RFA so you could go after him that way as well.

What do the Bulls have that the Hawks would want? In terms of a rebuilding franchise. You'd have to be giving up something pretty good to go all the way up to 3 (I would think).

So I just want to throw out a statistic for everyone who thinks that you have to blow things up to rebuild (by the way I think in the case of the Sox, they made the absolute correct decision) but the LA Dodgers are 10 games under .500 for the first time since 1929. Yes, they have had deeper pockets the last 15 years but still a testament of the strength quality front offices, ownership, coaches, player develoment, etc can have. I also had saw a stat that if the cardinals finish the season below .500 again this year, it would only be like the 2nd time since 1930 that they had back-to-back losing seasons.

You missed a broad category of those who don't like Hillary or democrats and just view themselves as republican period and thus vote party line (no matter what). Maybe you are bucketing them in category 1 and 3 but if you are, you are making the same mistake the democratic party did when they lost the mainstream election (essentially talking down and berating an entire sub-set of people). I'd also argue that the inverse largely applies as well. For people to not think that party line voting exists and is, than they are delusional, imo. This is coming from someone who did not vote party line by the way in the last presidential election and who is no longer a registered republican. All that said, I'm far from a registered democrat too.

Bulls trade pick and others for Kwahi....sign Cousins (taking a chance) and build around those two plus Dunn, Lauri, etc.

Technically didn't Davidson have a pretty good walk rate in the minors, so it was more that last year's walk rate was an abberation from his historical levels. Davidson clearly has made strides and part of this rebuild is being able to give guys who have some potential time to see how they adjust. Kudos to Davidson because I never saw him even having the career he's already had at the major league level. Good to see him making progress from year 1 in the bigs to year 2 and hopefully we see more of that and have found a nice LT piece in the lineup.

This rotation is worse. 1998 was peak steroid era. Smallish sample size but pen and rotation awful

I actually think they are, as constructed, that bad. The rotation and bullpen are horrid.

Excellent!!!

As always...really appreciate your insights...but super bummed to read this set of particulars. Hopefully Burger can power past it.

I'll wait for Ptact to come out with more info or the media. Really sucks for Burger though. The good thing is he is young, so time / youth are on his side. And he was missing this season no matter what so this might not change the timeline in terms of being ready for next season...albeit still a big set back.

You are all set

Okay, so it is hypothetical Tuesday and I have no idea if this is possible...but with the Kwahi situation unfolding in San Antonio, what would it take to pull him from the Spurs? Could the Bulls acquire Kwahi and than add George via FA to put around Dunn / Lauri / Lavine? I don't even know if that works cap wise and of course this is predicated on being able to get Leonard at a discount. I presume they would have to let Lavine go (maybe he is part of the trade along with our 1st round picks)? Why can't the Bulls be the team that ultimately swoops in and gets Leonard on the cheap.

This whole thread makes me sad. Hawk and Wimpy were the best. I wish I realized this yesterday...would hope they could somehow find another day together near the end of the season.

Absolutely fantastic news!

Pujols. You look back and its easy to forget just how good he was for the Cardinals. I thought my answer would be Miguel Cabrera but Pujols was so stinking good too. That 8 year run he had in St. Louis (can't remember when) where he was an 8 WAR player at first freaking base...insanity.

Nice and fun article by Ken.

I'm not going to lie, I can on board with him, albeit he doesn't scream protypical top 5 pick. I like Brohm.

It isn't like Barney was a top 5 pick or something.

Wow - Great news on both fronts!

I agree. This is a developmental season or two from the Sox and with that, I want to give TA the time, because he absolutely has the tools and seems to also have the work ethic, etc. I also like the edge he plays with. The fact that we've seen him improve his eye at the plate is another positive as well.