OmarComing25

QUOTE (Bigsoxhurt35 @ Jul 27, 2015 -> 02:57 PM) What if it was Avi and Montas for CarGo. Still no? No. Upgrade that to a maybe if Colorado pays 90% of the contract (and I'm still leaning no).

QUOTE (Bigsoxhurt35 @ Jul 27, 2015 -> 02:44 PM) On the rundown, they mentioned Chicago and Colorado as a match for Tulo or CarGo. CarGo is much more likely. Just funny he mentioned us as match and mentioned Tim Anderson. I wouldn't be happy with moving Andersom for Cargo. Honestly I don't have much interest in Tulo. Always hurt and still has a f***ing gigantic contract. Whereas, Cargo has 2 for $37 left. That's quite a bit for 2 years but I wouldn't mind nabbing him and having him split RF and DH. Wonder if a Garcia, Montas package is enticing to them at all. Last three years away from Coors Gonzalez has a .759 OPS and a .309 OBP. Hard pass, especially given the contract, injury history, and possibly giving up a pretty good prospect.

QUOTE (Baron @ Jul 27, 2015 -> 02:35 PM) Might as well see if he can dip his average below 200 before the week is over I don't get it, at least give Soto 40% of the starts, he's earned it.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 27, 2015 -> 02:02 PM) I wonder if Theo wouldn't mind moving a couple of these prospects before they become exposed as frauds. I would guess Baez's value is down. Castro could have netted more. A couple of these others, the value most likely will go down unless the Cubs are really lucky. Who else is in danger of being exposed as a fraud?

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Jul 27, 2015 -> 01:55 PM) I agree, but Kluber is the only one of those three who can be considered one of baseball's best. Carrasco is 21st in WAR among pitchers this year, ahead of guys like Hamels, Bumgarner, Liriano, Felix, Miller and Kazmir.

QUOTE (Dunt @ Jul 27, 2015 -> 01:52 PM) He's a nice bat, but he doesnt have a position. He wont stick behind the plate and I dont think he has the athleticism for the OF. Hard to think the bat is enough to nab a 26 year old LHP that is consistently putting up 4-5 WAR seasons and has another 3-4 years of control. He's pretty much at 3 WAR this season already, and had over 5 WAR last year.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 27, 2015 -> 01:45 PM) I do just wonder a bit about how much of an impact they think "making the playoffs" this year would make for them coming out of their rebuilding. They sure seem unlikely to sacrifice any of their long-term pieces, especially since they'll have plenty of money to fill holes on the FA market again, but "making the playoffs even for a game" would really cement the team as on its way up for that fanbase. It might be worth a lot for them to be more aggressive than we'd think. Well Hamels wouldn't necessarily be sacrificing things long-term, as they would have him for 4 more seasons after this one.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 27, 2015 -> 11:56 AM) Plus we beat them by scoring 24 runs in 3 games against 3 of the best pitchers in baseball. Exactly, we pounded them and they have a great pitching staff. Going into the series the Indians were just 3 games under .500, hardly what I would call a terrible team. It's also hard to sweep a 4-game series from anybody, especially on the road. Hell the Cubs just went 4-6 against teams with a combined .429 winning percentage, winning 4 straight games against anyone in baseball is impressive.

Schwarber+ is a minimum I assume, though a cursory look at some Cub forums has a lot of their fans thinking it can be done for Baez+

QUOTE (ChiSox59 @ Jul 27, 2015 -> 01:20 PM) The kind of crazy thing is, that if the Sox DO sweep Boston, they'll probably be somewhere between 1-2 games away from being a playoff team if the season ended on Thursday. A big if, no doubt, but it is also sort of difficult to trade one of the best 25 pitchers in baseball at this juncture unless the price is right (that price being a very good offensive return). Bottom line, Shark is very unlikely to bring back anything that is going to help this offense now, or even a couple years. If they find that, sure, move him - but I think he would have been traded by now if that were the case. Also, despite this historically terrible offense you mention, the Sox find themselves in the position described above. What does that tell you? They have a fu**in studly pitching staff. The offense has been coming around, and the Sox have really been throwing some leather in the infield for sometime..I'd honestly be pretty disappointed if the Sox moved Shark unless they got a ton back (unless they drop 2 or three in a row here, then I get it). You play this game to win. The Sox still have a small but surely a chance to win. I may be in the minority here, but one of the reasons why I love this franchise so much - they refuse to just allow themselves to be s***ty. No team ahead of them in the race for the 2nd WC really scares me. Minnesota will fade, I guarantee it. Toronto and Baltimore will be the main competition and those are very flawed teams (as are the Sox). I do think it all comes down to the next few days. Win a few more in a row, and I'd eat my hat if Shark is traded unless it brings back a bat that'll help RIGHT NOW. Exactly, if we take 3 or 4 from Boston we're right there for a playoff spot, LF/SS/3B/2B/CF are hitting a lot better lately (C too if Soto actually plays), our infield defense is now above average, and we have by far the best pitching staff of any of the teams we'd be competing with for the 2nd wildcard spot. Also, count me in as one who would be happy with 82 wins as well. That gives us a lot of hope that we could contend next year with additional progress from some young guys and a couple savvy moves. If we tank and lose 90 games then there's no hope for 2016/2017.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jul 27, 2015 -> 11:10 AM) I have no faith in voters Agreed, I don't think a lot of them will look at FIP or fWAR.

QUOTE (spiderman @ Jul 27, 2015 -> 10:49 AM) On one hand, I hate that the regular season could come down to playing a 1 game wildcard after 162 games, but, on the other, it does add excitement to the season. I like it because it makes winning your division that much more valuable.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 27, 2015 -> 10:33 AM) That is very exciting. Reminds me a lot of Danks 07 season this year. I think he comes back next year and dominates. Rodon does have a 3.62 FIP and 1.1 WAR this season, Danks in 07 had a 5.54 FIP. Rodon has been very impressive to me in his first stint so far, if he can keep his control at all similar to yesterday going forward he will dominate.

Even if we sweep Boston, I'm still on the fence as to whether we should trade Samardzija. We need to evaluate Erik Johnson for next season and if Jeff stays we lose that opportunity. But some guys on the offense are coming around. Last 30 days: Melky: 0.9 WAR (30th best in baseball) Sanchez: 0.5 WAR Eaton: 0.4 WAR Soto: 0.4 WAR (please play him more over Flowers) Alexei: 0.3 WAR However: Flowers: -0.2 WAR Avi: -0.4 WAR LaRoche: -1.1 WAR (if we could play him less, that'd be great)

QUOTE (flavum @ Jul 27, 2015 -> 09:38 AM) Arenado was a rookie in 2013. You thinking of somebody else? You're right, for some reason I thought he was a rookie.

I can't believe the Tigers don't have anyone better than Greene to put into their rotation. He might be the worst pitcher in baseball.

So with Bryant and Pederson slumping is Arenado currently the favorite to win NL ROY?

QUOTE (rschultzy20 @ Jul 26, 2015 -> 07:58 PM) Smart move so that Johnson is ready if/when Samardzija is traded. Not convinced that Johnson will be a top end start in the bigs. Control and command issues similar to Rodon, but with less filthy stuff. He's averaging less than 3 BB/9 this year. Not great but far from being a Rodon-like issue.

Tired/boring ok you're entitled to your opinion there but in what way are the Sox old? And you were bitter one year after winning a title? Yeah sounds like you were a big fan.

Let's go Tigers. If they win tonight I say they don't sell. I'd rather they not get good young players while also driving down Samardzija's trade value.

So J4L are you a Cub fan? You never post about the Sox, are the Cubs' biggest apologist and cheerleader around, and I'm convinced you'd rather the Cubs win it all than the Sox, if not just so you can rub it in our faces that you were "right". That's the impression I'm getting anyway.

Castro is second to last in all of baseball in fWAR (yes I know Avi is 3rd worst). Yet Theo wanted him to be a centerpiece in a Hamels deal. What a joke.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 26, 2015 -> 03:22 PM) If we're going to spend $20 million this offseason on someone, finding a corner OF who can hit and play some defense fits this team a heckuva lot better than signing an expensive RHP. Hell I'm on board. I'm getting really sick of Garcia.

Cubs had Lester, Arrieta, and Hammel at home against the worst team in baseball and just got completely pounded into oblivion. Wow. Looks like that soft second-half schedule might not work out so well after all.

I love our pitching. Also please keep hitting Sanchez, would love to not have to worry about 2B in the future.