Chisoxfn

Love what they did with first 3 picks. Hagen was my favorite pitcher in draft and is going to be a stud if he stays healthy.

I think of it - he has great bat to ball skills, despite an aggressive approach, which in fairness could be because guys in college don't want to throw anything near the plate so he had to adapt and could still hammer it. Can he dial it in, who knows. Than again - Vladdy was one of the most aggressive hitters ever with a cannon in the outfield. Could Cags be that? I don't know - but I like some of his high end tools enough. Are Sox the org to harness some of those weaknesses, probably not - but 2 of those tools are special (power and arm). And I go back to - lets see if he can play in the outfield.

Robert has avg'd very good WAR over past 4 years so I don't see high risk there either. Some risk - but also high degree upside as well. I think Bmags showed he is Top 5 in WAR at his respective position since 2020 (or 2021). That includes missing time etc.

I would be exstatic if he was the headliner in a Crochet or Robert deal. At this point I presume Crochet is getting the most value.

I hope Lavine has a good couple of months - Bulls can than extra some value for him. I don't expect they will be very good - I don't think 25 win bad, but I don't think they are a 40 win team as I do think the loss of Caruso and Demar is pretty big - but I definitely can see some scenarios where they still end up as a 35-40 win team - but even than - if they are doing that and its because young players are performing, you can still move Zach and Vuc ideally to free up cap space and than leverage cap space and hopefully improving young(er) players to continue to retool (and by dealing those 2 ensure you are ideally getting a top 6 pick in what appears to be a draft that projects to have a number of #1/#2 caliber players in the draft (i.e., multiple guys in this draft would be #1 or #2 picks in a typical draft). That is based upon what I've at least read - who knows whether that holds true following the college season.

In fairness - my 9 year old absolutely loves the call. When he first heard it - it was just a replay while driving in the car and he was laughing and smiling so hard at it (in a good way).

I was happy to see that. He still ended up coming in and pinch hitting though. But at least they got him an off day. Just seems like given he hasn't been on all cylinders and came back from an injury (and team is you know way out of contention) that they would have been a bit more prudent on his rest / load. And this is coming from someone who isn't like some huge "load management" person.

I hope we see basically a deadline bump and teams like Phillies and Mariners who have aggressive GM's basically play up Robert's price tag. Hopefully Robert helps the cause by playing well down the stretch. I have actually been surprised Sox haven't given him some rest days as I would have sprinkled some in just knowing he came back from that injury and it takes time to get timing back, etc. Good thing is he has shown the massive power still.

I personally think for once this is a short sighted view by scouts. The guy is a decent athlete with a cannon who has spent a lot of time honing 2 crafts - pitching and hitting. If he isn't pitching in the minors - than allowing a good athlete to invest the time to become a corner outfielder, in my opinion, is 100% worth it. If it doesn't work in the minors - fine, than adjust - but I think if I were to draft him - I'd do it thinking his bat is absolutely plus plus, but also at least throwing some chips out there that I'll let him learn the outfield (this isn't like a Vaughn who had basically zero plus outfield tools, heck, zero break-even outfield tools). The other way you draft him - is you love his bat and in that case, why not see if he can develop as well into a premium relief type prospect (but use him in a select manner - so you know he's only going 2-3 times per week). As I think the Shoehei rule gives some protection to him to stay at DH once he comes out (but I may be wrong).

Please please let the Bulls win the lottery and get Cooper. Seeing what he did in USA practice at 17 is unreal. I get it - it’s just practice - but talk about a statement!

My point is - they absolutely could have just kept Barnes and gotten the conditional pick - there was no need for the Spurs to be involved (other than the Bulls ownership or front office didn't want the cash). Now if they actually think they can use the TPE to get some assets at a later date or as a 3rd party facilitator - fine by me, but given past precedent with JR - call me skeptical.

I really think only way a trade happens is 2 fold: 1) Getz just decides he wants to move him and takes a much lower offer than he would have gotten last year 2) Robert starts to really put together a consistent 2-3 week run from here on out and closer to deadline teams see he is healthier and are willing to look past his early struggles to pay something much closer (not the same) as what Robert would have gotten last offseason. I am hoping #2 happens and I am not supportive of #1 as I think at some point Scenario #2 happens and that is when you should extract value for Robert.

Spurs twice - getting a FRP from Bulls and there is a 50% chance at some point in next 3 years Bulls fall into spot where they give up that pick. And again Spurs getting a pick swap for taking on Harrison Barnes. It is out in 2031 - so absolutely a chance that in 2031 Spurs are worse than Kings and it is worth nothing or two teams are in same boat -> but also a non zero chance that Kings are in middle of yet another rebuild at that point and Spurs being who they are a playoff team so Spurs end up with a pretty damn good pick just for being a faciltator. To me any one move in isolation may have a lower probability in terms of the outcome - but the upside in the pick the Spurs got from the Kings is massive (it could be a top 3 pick). You than make 5 or 6 of those moves in a 2-3 year window and you end up improving your probability / scenarios. Now in fairness - maybe Bulls will do exactly that and they think use TPE in-season or later in off-season will drive a better return than an unprotected pick swap out in 2031 (or whenever it is). But that swap is exponentially more valuable than what the Bulls got in terms of 2 2nd round picks and some cash plus a player who is going to be a back end rotation player at best.

I stand corrected - not a good deal. Bulls are going to suck for next year or two and they could have gotten an unprotected pick swap out in 2031 and were to cheap to buy it by taking on Barnes. They could have done other things to get under tax and Barnes is a solid vet who you could keep around for the season or until deadline or keep for a year and use when he becomes an expiring. They better leverage that tpe they got to facilitate some future asset cause getting an unprotected pick from an org like the Kings who has historically been bad is by far the best asset in the entire sign and trade (sans Demar).

We can all agree they should have done this last offseason…would have been a far better start to offseason, but thus far this offseason I can’t really argue much.

What happened with Duarte - his stats were pretty solid his rookie year.

Derozan to kings. Bulls get a couple 2nd rounders and Duerte. Harrison Barnes to spurs. I think I would have rather gotten the other guy the Kings were dangling and would have packaged him in season for some assets. At least Bulls making it clear they are going to be rebuilding. I know nothing about Duerte. I actually think Demar is a pretty solid fit with Kings and I wish him well. Such a class act and good dude.

That is why I like them for Fedde to be honest. If they aren't going to give up the top guys - maybe the roster crunch allows the Sox to move Fedde for a solid quantity of quality (but not high end) prospects.

I think this is an important nuance - I think if the Oriole's, with their budget constraints are moving those high end guys, they are doing it for someone who is under longer control than say Cease. Crochet and/or Robert would both better fit that bill.

I will say one good option is Spurs are interested and they give back our first in a sign and trade and maybe a few seconds or something. Demar and Paul two quality vets around the young and rebuilding squad. Reality is Bulls “tanking” means Spurs aren’t getting that pick next year anyway so that lessens blow from their side.

100 percent. A year ago and they get real value for Zach and Derozan is an asset and you get what you got for Caruso and maybe a bit more. You than sign and trade Vuc to facilitate. Would have been a significantly better starting point.

I hope we can facilitate a sign and trade. Hopefully they can get some form of lottery protected first (even with heavy protections)…kind of like when they got him first time. I think Lakers is likely destination. That or get some tpes to help facilitate other teams cap deals for assets or a buy low candidate. For first time in a while, I am actually moderately pleased with direction of Bulls (too bad it took this long). But in isolation I like every move they have made.

I agree with this. They are both left home and I think not playing good talent doesn't help in the long run. And with the expanded world cup qualifiers, there is no reason not to combine the 2 areas. I also don't get how a tourney in the US can have such poor quality replay systems. Even with that - there is zero scenario where that call should be upheld - but none of that matters. They had such few quality chances and basically were playing for a tie when reality is they have the skill to go up against a good team (and in fairness Uraguay is a solid team) and try to show who they were (shoot what was the downside in that - if they lost an exciting 4-3 open affair - I don't think any of us would be near as mad).

Its really clear to me - they still run a system that tries to basically play to a draw with a hope of squeaking out a win. In the history of the US - when you didn't have high end talent, that strategy wasn't horrible cause playing a wide open game is going to result in you getting destroyed. But these aren't those teams. Now the players absolutely deserve blame - but these players are far more skilled than past cycles and Behralter system is not a fit with this talent level. It is doing same thing - its making things closer on there end when now they can and should outclass more teams (not the top 15 teams in the world - but outside of that - they should outclass everyone else - the talent and skills are absolutely there). I hope the redcard doesn't become an excuse, because with 2 years between now and the World Cup - this is the exact right time to pull a soft reset from a coaching perspective and there is plenty of time to get it corrected. Use this as a real wake up call (since the last world cup wasn't good enough).

We know I probably like Pat the least of everyone on this board...but I can't blame the Bulls on that deal and I wouldn't be surprised if they get really good surplus value on this 2nd deal. The interesting guy is White - he is in a really good place right now - but I think his next deal will be a bad one. Bulls probably are fine holding onto him for another year - but if we are rebuilding Coby could be an interesting player to dangle - as teams around the apron will value what he brings to the table plus how he can fit in without blowing up their budgets. Ayo is kind of in a similar spot. And in fairness - the Bulls could and should hold them now, but I could see a scenario where they are actually dangled at the deadline to maximize their value.