Y2Jimmy0

http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/...0-mlb-prospects Keith Law's Top 50 is Insider protected. Here are the top 10: 1. Kris Bryant 3B Cubs 2. Byron Buxton OF Twins 3. Carlos Corea SS Astros 4. Addison Russell SS Cubs 5. Corey Seager 3B Dodgers 6. Francisco Lindor SS Indians 7. Jonathan Gray RHP Rockies 8. Javier Baez SS Cubs 9. Archie Bradley RHP Arizona 10. Carlos Rodon LHP White Sox Age: 21 | Current Level: Just drafted Preseason Ranking: N/A Rodon was the second-best prospect in this year's draft class, the best college player available, and one of the only players in the class with the ability to play in the majors this season. Rodon's slider is filthy, a grade-80 pitch in his best outings but more consistently a grade-70 pitch. It's a wipeout offering with late bite that I've seen hit 92 mph, even though his fastball is usually just 90-94. I can't imagine minor league hitters will be able to touch him. Rodon's stuff is so nasty he may not have to work much on fastball command or on developing a better changeup until he reaches the big leagues. DM me if you want the rest of the list.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jul 16, 2014 -> 07:39 AM) That's a really solid deal for both - Lance sets himself up for a nice little payday if he continues to develop. Charlotte's on the right track. I mean, they won't ever win anything and are smack dab in the middle of NBA hell, but at least they aren't going to lose 50 games. Charlotte is much better than say the Knicks. I think Charlotte finishes with the 6-8 seed.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 16, 2014 -> 09:13 AM) Stevenson screwed that up royally. He left a lot of money on the table by rejecting the Pacers last offer. It's the same $$ though. Indy offered him 5 years $44 million. He took 3 years $27 million. He's only 23. If he is good in Charlotte, he'll get another pay day before his 27th birthday.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jul 16, 2014 -> 09:34 AM) I believe if he goes the Independent League route or the JC/CC route, it's only a 1 year wait. This is true. If he feels healthy and doctors have told him he is, I'd choose this route. I'd play Indy ball and become a top 5 pick next year.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 15, 2014 -> 04:49 PM) I believe he has to wait three years to be draft eligible again, as long as the original drafting team followed all of the rules for attempting to sign a pick. If they can't reach and agreement he has two choices. Go to UCLA is one. The other choice would be to play for an Independent League Team and he will be draft eligible again next season.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Jul 15, 2014 -> 03:05 PM) I honestly think McDermott will give the team just as much, if not more, as Dunleavy. It's just a matter of whether Thibs is willing to give him starters minutes early on. Not sure about trading him for Nate, but I'd be all about trading Dunleavy for a guard and I don't think it'd create much of a hole. I agree with this. Dunleavy is pretty good but having him and McDermott is counterproductive. I am also of the mindset that Mirotic needs to be playing. I would be very interested in trading Taj and Dunleavy to upgrade the wing and SG positions. Taj is a nice player. He is a good rotation big that plays really good defense. However, Taj makes $8 million, is going to be 30 years old, and the team just signed Pau Gasol and Nikola Mirotic.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jul 15, 2014 -> 11:26 AM) Given that they were willing to pay him $6.5 million originally, I doubt they are just trying to save a few million here. It follows that they honestly believe he may be damaged goods and are just trying to make the best of the situation they find themselves in at this point. It seems like quite a risk to take just to save a few million bucks. Or they are trying to use remaining $$ on 21st rd pick Mac Marshall who was a top 75 guy with a strong commitment to LSU. If Aiken takes the $3 million, they could then offer Marshall close to $3 million to forego his LSU commitment. So yes I am skeptical.

QUOTE (TheTruth05 @ Jul 15, 2014 -> 11:15 AM) Can't he just get a second opinion from a different Doc? Will Carroll ‏@injuryexpert 1m Casey Close, Aiken's agent, has sent him to three different top docs who have all cleared his arm to pitch immediately.

QUOTE (TheTruth05 @ Jul 15, 2014 -> 10:50 AM) But if he goes the IL route, ends up having TJ during the IL season, his value drops much more. It's risky on both sides, Astros are covering their ass by offering him the mandatory 40%. Would Aiken be allowed to sit out next season and then become a free agent?

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jul 15, 2014 -> 10:39 AM) so wait, large high school pitching workloads are bad? His workload actually wasn't that high and he was supposedly taken care of and not really handled poorly.

http://www.bleachernation.com/2014/07/15/i...ck-brady-aiken/ This is obviously from a Cubs perspective. http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/casey-c...dy-aiken-071414 This one is from Ken Rosenthal. This story is fascinating. Houston is offering just enough to ensure that they will receive the #2 pick next year regardless. The problem is that it screws up their entire draft. If he doesn't sign, I believe that Aiken should go the Independent League route. He could re-enter the draft next year and get his career started.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jul 15, 2014 -> 10:30 AM) Highly unlikely he becomes a FA. If he did though... What would be the process of becoming a free agent though?

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Jul 15, 2014 -> 08:48 AM) I have no problem with Pam Oliver but the vast majority of people who watch those games are going to want to see EA over her. I hope not. One of them is a blithering idiot and the other is Pam Oliver.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2014/07/brad...unted-deal.html I don't really understand what the Astros are doing here. If they can't sign Aiken then they don't have enough $$ to sign their 2nd round pick because of losing the slot amount for the #1 pick. What happens if Aiken doesn't sign? Can he become a free agent right away? If so, I bet Aiken would receive $20+ million on the open market and I would hope that the White Sox would be involved.

QUOTE (knightni @ Jul 14, 2014 -> 03:44 PM) Salary relief maybe? Yeah it's just for the cap space. They needed Randolph's salary to sign Gasol/Mirotic. Wouldn't have enough with just the Boozer amnesty.

QUOTE (ron883 @ Jul 13, 2014 -> 09:39 PM) is it safe to assume alexei would net a player similar to what jeff samardzija got the cubs? i think the time to deal alexei is NOW. They won't get anyone of that caliber. Maybe a top 100 guy. You can't really trade Ramirez unless you get a really good deal though. Maybe like a top 100-150 type, someone from a system's 6-10 range, and a couple of flyers.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 13, 2014 -> 09:27 PM) If Rose is healthy, Kirk is a better fit for the Bulls. The problem is Kirk needs to be playing 12-15 minutes a night, tops. They need another G. I've seen rumors of guys like Aaron Brooks or Ramon Sessions possibly for the vet minimum.

Hinrich over Augustin is a good move. If Rose is healthy, they need Hinrich much more. He can guard 1s and 2s. DJ is tiny and can't really be on the floor with Rose. He's an awful defensive player too. I like DJ but I get it. Bulls will be much much better offensively. Could legitimately win the East.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Jul 13, 2014 -> 06:12 PM) Micah hits a chopper to the right of the pitching mound, nearly beats it out. My god he is stupid fast. If he bunted 100 times a season, I bet he could hit .450 or better in those ABs. Jordan Gorosh @JGoro8 · 23m 3.72 for Micah Johnson down to 1B there. That's 80

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Jul 13, 2014 -> 12:41 PM) Max Wildstein ⚾️ ‏@MaxWildstein 7m #Reds Chien-Ming Wang will opt out of his #MiLB deal and will sign with the #ChiSox, sources tell @GSIntegration. #MLB lol Is Rienzo staying in the Charlotte rotation? They will have Rienzo, Wang, Hanson, Johnson, Axelrod, Heath, and Doran. Am I missing something? I would imagine Sanchez will also go back to AAA and the Sox will call up a reliever? Who gets the call this time?

A Minnesota paper reported yesterday that Flip Saunders asked the Bulls for Taj, Butler, McDermott, Mirotic, and picks for Kevin Love. That's ridiculous. That's way too much.

QUOTE (LDF @ Jul 12, 2014 -> 02:47 PM) ok, I now have some time avail where I can write this out the right way. I am here for 2 reason, first to eat some crow and say that I never thought that Rodon would sign or should I say allow Scott, his agent, to convince him to sign. the money is that factor and I really thought scott will hold Rodon out for spite and make a issue on the slot money. who knows he may do that with the other 1 rounders. posters calling him greedy or not, is the right way to describe this. it is over and done with, lets start that chapter of Rodon as a sox player. Why would you think that though? Boras is a good agent. Holding out Rodon would not have been advantageous for the client. With the new draft rules, it was always a foregone conclusion that Rodon would be signing.

QUOTE (ChiSoxJon @ Jul 12, 2014 -> 08:42 AM) I heard that the biggest jump in the minors is from high A to AA for hitters especially because the pitching is a lot better, if that's the case how can Mitchell struggle at AAA so much? It's pretty similar to AA I assume, yet obviously the closest to MLB, I'm really rooting for Mitchell and loved his section in '09, felt awful for that ankle injury, and just want him in the show as soon as possible, it's sad seeing him struggle this much in AAA I actually think that in some cases, AA is harder than AAA is. For Jared Mitchell especially. A lot of tough LHP are in AA rather than AAA.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Jul 12, 2014 -> 08:17 AM) Yep, my buddy interned for them in college. He said Boers would come in 2-3 days per week. Also said Bernstein (as you could imagine) was a jackass. Boers was nice. Entire production staff super nice, too. Yeah I remember one time when there were bad storms in the area (I live inn Lockport). Well Mokena lost power and all of a sudden Bernstein was doing the show solo and they had to kind of admit that Boers on a DSN line haha. I've met Bernstein numerous times and he's much different than he is on air. A lot of that program is a schtick. I'll take your buddy's word for it obviously but I've always had fairly pleasant experiences with Dan.

QUOTE (Tmar @ Jul 12, 2014 -> 08:47 AM) The two guys drafted before him, and everybody after him too, took less money than greedon and signed right away (aiken was gonna sign right away remember, before he failed that physical). So they were more interested in signing and playing baseball, meanwhile rodon was more interested in getting the most money he could. Almost the exact definition of greed. Add in the fact that he hasn't pitched 1 professional inning yet he still was asking for more money. Go earn it first kid Wow this is one of the stupidest and most ridiculous posts I've ever seen.