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Zips puts Pederson at 116 OPS+ next year, and a decent favorable for Jimmy Nelson https://blogs.fangraphs.com/2021-zips-projections-los-angeles-dodgers/

Nancys buffalo chicken pizza was a huge part of my teenage years that I think I would vom if I was within 5 feet of it now.

The athletic article with Jocketty today mentioned that Cairo is a really great infield defense teacher which is nice to have.

This will sound dumb now because the cheating, but what they needed to do is what the post 16 astros did, which was diversify their offense with less huge power, big K hitters (even with the walks) and get hitters that could put the bat on the ball. Who knows what happens if the cubs sign a Lemahieu instead of the yanks (well, for one Lemahieu would have way less homers). That's not enough in and of itself, but it needed less all or nothing.

yep. Same. The thing I take away from the dodgers is to only make a trade if it's for a big upgrade, but the REAL takeaway for me between Cubs and Dodgers is that you cannot stop drafting well even if your team is largely made up of young players. But what cannot be recreated by the sox is having a fairly "conservative" 200 million payroll made up of 35 MLB caliber players and being creative with DL and other tricks to use all of them. They hacked the regular season to make sure they are always in the playoffs. Cubs post-mortem, for me I think they got a little bit unlucky. Had they gotten Darvish and Heywards 2019/20 production in 2017 and 2018, they likely make the WS again. But they became productive when their young core started to have some unfortunate injuries and they had maxed out improvements. They made some big mistakes but not sure they should have been as crippling as they were had it not been for some unfortunate declines during prime years.

I hope sox go after best starting pitcher they can get. In trades though, I really don't want them to value control and cost more than performance. All hypothetical, but if they paid the ransom for a player like Marquez, I hope it's because they think he competes for cy youngs on the southside, and not that he gives us more financial flexibility than a Darvish.

40-man catchers are needed every year. I am rooting for Jake, but also realize that there are a lot of interesting players every year available in rule 5 and only a handful are taken. He won't be protected, and come december he will still be a white sox.

Honestly his twitter personality is less annoying than his board run. He was game thread cringe. His twitter stuff is just trying to be a worldwidewob for the white sox, it's aggregation. That stuff gets followers, not shocked he's built it up. Good for him, etc.

I think part of the issue this this year was there really were more teams going for it, and the teams that can trade in for the "not quite MLB ready but need to be on 40 man" are usually rebuilding clubs with talent still in lower levels. But, yeah, it's also the competition. The rays/pads/yanks just had a lot more to unload that was more talented than the sox. And what these guys net is usually a middle reliever, and sox at the time were probably in a position where their bullpen pieces were better than they could acquire.

We need some board therapy. This wasn't a former #1 overall pick that looked incredible. He was a pretty normie pick in a weak-ass draft that hasn't played real baseball in 3 years, and also wasn't great in his first year. And we are worried about a team champing at the bit to put that profile into the majors because of a positive quote from our player dev and a picture? Not like a swing change, or rumors of incredible power. Just that he looks slim. Let's keep in mind, other teams aren't so focused on just sox prospects. And the rebuilding teams taking wild shots on players that are talented and not quite ready has been on the decline since it hasn't really led to much value. It isn't happening. It isn't even in the same stratosphere as Tatis, who was under 18 and physical growth and skills are still massively developing.

I can't believe there is so much handwringing over Jake Burger getting unprotected just because he took a sexy pic.

More Marco Paddy interviews please.

Cubs have Hoyer.

I'm sure it can depend, but on a lot of teams the bench coach actually runs a lot of what the manager wants to do in practices. So his background is nice, hopefully will help our infield defense which had started to become an asset last year.

I'm here too.

To not even get a second contract is astounding. Even guys like Len got a 6 year career out of it. Shabazz Muhammed the only other lottery pick that truly bombed and he had some major warning signs.

Yeah, not blind adulation for AK, just feel like reading these comments people aren't acknowledging how crappy this draft was. It was compared to 2013 a lot. Just a reminder of the top of that draft class: Here was the last minute ESPN mock draft from 2013: 1. Nerlens Noel 2. Trey Burke 3. Otto Porter 4. Ben Mclemore 5. Victor Oladipo 6. Alex Len 7. Michael Carter-Williams 8. Anthony Bennett 9. CJ McCollum 10. KCP Here was the Next 10 (mocked) 11. Zeller 12. Adams 13. Saric 14. Shabazz Muhammed 15. Allen Crabbe 16. D Schroeder 17. Mason Plumlee 18. Jamal Franklin 19. Gobert 20. Gorgui Deng (Not in here: Giannis) So, yeah, really long post, but you get the idea. The game changers in this draft were not obvious. The top of the draft was a disaster - yet still featured Porter and Oladipo who are good pros, yet took years to develop. Our new coaching staff took in Oladipo and he became more efficient and a better shooter in his fourth year. He took Steven Adams and made him a great big until he wore down. Patrick Williams may not help the team next year...in fact I wouldn't hate it if he didn't. Next years draft is transcendent, and the east is no longer a conference you'd want the bulls to sneak in and see if they could parlay that into convincing a star to join. But he has the body, the signs of being able to shoot (excellent FT percentage), is team first, has a good work ethic, can still grow, and is going to a hopefully great PD team. When you believe in your player development, you can make this pick. When you need them to hopefully figure it out on their own - you can't. I'm hopeful.

Seems good. Like the yanks coaching structure.

Yeah that is a huge bummer. That program keeps putting teams out though.

Yep. Vassal played only 28 mpg, and Williams had 4th most minutes on team despite being 6th man.

Amen.

Presti gets even more picks but takes on an awful al horford contract

It is nice having guys that can throw strikes.

Do you believe this? I'm not sure I believe this anymore.

taking it, giving all my kids it as soon as it's available.