fathom

QUOTE (bmags @ Apr 17, 2015 -> 05:25 PM) Really disheartening to me that 8 games into the most anticipated year in 10 years, and almost every game so far I have felt we are outmatched, worse yet it's against all division foes. To be fair, the Tigers with Price on the mound might be the best team in all of baseball. On the other hand, teams always seem outmatched when they're slumping. Hard to win a lot of games where your 1-2 hitters are combining to hit around .300 with no power at all.

QUOTE (Armchair Hahn @ Apr 17, 2015 -> 04:01 PM) this. he still struck out 27% of the time in AAA. add on +5% for MLB difficulty. while he would still certainly be capable of 20-25 hrs, i'd put his average at .220-.240. Unless he is the next coming of Mike Trout who strikes out 27% of the time, yet still hits .280 I'm thinking 30 easily. Based off of the stats on mlbfarm, 2/3 of the balls he put in play were in the air. When the wind's blowing out at Wrigley, he's going to be a beast.

LaRoche's numbers since 2013 against LHP are way below his career averages (.590 OPS range). He's 0-7 in his career vs Price, Flowers 0-6. As for the eye test so far this year, LaRoche doesn't seem to be picking up anything offspeed from LHP.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 17, 2015 -> 03:44 PM) People are posting about having both catchers in the line up. Apparently they have forgotten what they have posted about these catchers in the gamethreads. Offensively they have a better chance IMO vs Price than LaRoche does

That 2-3-4 is insane in terms of age and talent. No reason for the Cubs to not have a top-notch offense for the next 5 years.

QUOTE (PlaySumFnJurny @ Apr 17, 2015 -> 03:32 PM) Happy "Kris Bryant Day" everyone!!! I'd be excited too if I was a Cubs fan, but sports radio this morning was ridiculous and unlistenable. Agreed, and it's going to be that way for a while it seems.

Doesn't seem like LaRoche will have much of a chance against Price. Against nasty lefties like Price, I wouldn't mind Flowers/Soto both being in the lineup at C/DH.

Watched Fulmer again tonight. He put up great numbers again, but his velocity was around 90-92 all night after being 94-95 last week. That raises some warning signs regarding his ability to pitch every 5 days.

I think he has an article coming out in the next few days, but Kiley McDaniel has said a few times he's heard teams in the 6-10 range of this draft are planning on cost-saving deals with their first pick (ie: Cubs last year with Schwarber).

QUOTE (LDF @ Apr 16, 2015 -> 08:35 PM) new mock draft 4-15 interesting take. they used to be good with these mocks.... i am wondering what is happening. http://www.mymlbdraft.com/MLB-Mock-Draft They're about 21-23 spots too low on Tate

QUOTE (Tony82087 @ Apr 16, 2015 -> 08:12 PM) No way, I couldn't fathom that..... I was going to make that joke!

QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ Apr 16, 2015 -> 07:36 PM) Media buzz is that his defense is abysmal and he has no position at this tiem. I think Rizzo gets traded for pitching. They would put Bryant in LF, as there's no way they're trading Rizzo. Russell's playing 2nd tonight, so I wonder if they want to fast track him to the majors and keeping Bryant at 3B?

After 3 batters, the Royals have scored 2 runs against Cy Milone

Just to clarify, I wasn't bashing the decision to draft Hawkins. I was referring to the decision to promote him so aggressively after his debut season.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 16, 2015 -> 02:07 AM) Who was drafted shortly after Hawkins that looks much better than him? The rumor was they were going to take Stroman, as they expected Hawkins to be drafted a few picks before them.

QUOTE (Joshua Strong @ Apr 16, 2015 -> 02:01 AM) They did promote Jeremy Harber to assistant GM, an title he shares with Buddy Bell, but he comes from an analytics and financial background. I do want to want to see Bell replaced, he has done nothing for the system. The Hawkins decision alone should have gotten people fired. The organization had a string of toolsy outfielders and didn't come close to developing one. Every prospect that comes up looks unprepared to hit fastballs

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Apr 16, 2015 -> 02:58 AM) The 5th best team in the league makes the playoffs too Playing two superb teams 18 times this year is gonna make it hard for three teams to come out of the AL Central

Tigers with another shutout. 4.5 games behind them after 8 games. Can there be a mulligan on the start of this season?

Am I the only one who has given up on Davidson? It was a good trade idea, just poorly scouted.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 16, 2015 -> 01:12 AM) Yet not many changes have been made. Still not sure how Buddy Bell hasn't been replaced yet. It's really amazing. I will give them credit for Crede and Carlos Lee.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Apr 16, 2015 -> 02:08 AM) That's been said for many years now. Yet not many changes have been made. Still not sure how Buddy Bell hasn't been replaced yet.

Scary thought....if Tigers sweep the Sox this wknd, they would be 7.5 games in front of the Sox

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Apr 16, 2015 -> 12:47 AM) Speaking of old, s***ty ex-Cubs pitching for the Reds, Jason Marquis? Really? Cubs have faced some crappy pitchers so far

QUOTE (Bruce_Blixton @ Apr 16, 2015 -> 12:50 AM) The Kanny lineup is pretty difficult to follow, there's a distinct dearth of position prospects on the current roster outside of Eddy Alvarez, Brett Austin and Mason Robbins and even those guys are fringy at best. Hopefully Hahn & co. take this year's draft to focus on drafting more position players with upside. There's just a shocking lack of offensive potential in the farm. The gap from Anderson to next best offensive prospect is huge. Thankfully the pitching depth is very good.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Apr 15, 2015 -> 09:54 PM) If this season is about contending and Danks is going 5 innings/4 runs every time(with Noesi outperforming him), then I think he would go long man or have a magical ailment that put him on the DL. They can't burn up the bullpen every fifth day Couldn't agree more. It would be great if Noesi pitches well in his next few starts in order to put the organization in position to remove Danks from the rotation.