almagest

Some really nice movement on this 2-seamer GrayAgitatedAztecant-mobile.mp4

He's throwing a lot of strikes. His command is a little off but no one can square him up yet. I don't think he'll ever need to be pinpoint with this stuff but the more he refines his command... whoo boy.

I'm liking this easy 96/97 with movement.

Sure, that's fine. I was assuming 1500 PAs was enough to take an average and that there wasn't a good reason for his lower BABIP this year beyond luck. I think the improvements in just about every other area warrant optimism with Tim entering his prime seasons.

Tim Anderson this year has improved in every way from last year (except BABIP). Higher walk %, lower K %, higher ISO, higher wOBA. If his BABIP was inline with his career average of .331 he'd be (bare minimum of just adding the BABIP difference) around .282/.328/.451/.779. Yeah he could be making consistently shitty contact and swinging at terrible pitches and that's why his BABIP is down but if Anderson ends up around these numbers in his prime I'm perfectly happy. That's probably a 3+ WAR shortstop every year with his overall skillset.

They're still buried now though, aren't they? A bad farm system means you can't trade for impact players to put you over the top. You can only hope to sign free agents (which costs you draft picks) or hope to get lucky in the lower-end free agent or trade market.

Mentor, second unit PG and you're banking on playoff Rondo

93-94, he's touched 96 a couple times. I think this is where he sits normally.

Just need a single there. No need to try to hit a homer.

Abreu wasn't on the bag. Dear lord.

Floating changeup that could've been hammered taken for strike 3. This just isn't our game today.

Fry looks like he could be a nice bullpen piece when this team is good.

Something about Odorizzi has to make these high fastballs so tempting because a lot of these aren't even close to being strikes and they're still swinging at them.

Some really borderline pitches being called strikes for Odorizzi

If we could stop striking out against Odorizzi that would be swell.

I'll take solo homers if he's not walking anybody and striking people out.

That and the change on the pitch before it were NASTY. Man, if he's figured something out...

I don't disagree with any of this in theory, but the Bulls have never shown the ability to attract big free agents, nor have they packaged assets to trade for a young star (like the Rockets). It's really unlikely that will change now. It seems like the best bet now is to see what a sign & trade of Lavine gets you, see if you can get anything for Lopez and/or Portis, and maybe acquire a bad contract in exchange for future first rounder(s). Get a top 10 pick next year and build a young core that way. See if that makes you attractive enough for a free agent or two or if you can trade some of Dunn/Markkanen/WCJ/Portis/2019 pick for a star. I don't see any of the above happening though, so that's why I think the Bulls are in NBA hell.

I don't think anyone disagrees with you on this. None of us have faith that the Bulls will do this, though. More likely they'll end up in the mid-teens next year, draft another rotational player and continue to hope they strike gold with their 1 draft pick or someone on the roster takes the next step.

Yeah, the Rockets. Not the Bulls. I'd love to see the Bulls do that but it's probably not gonna happen.

It's just not very likely, and I even if it is I don't think GarPax will take any chances.

This sounds like what we've been hoping to happen since like 2005.

I saw that article but I'm just going off the gut reaction and the quotes from the ESPN draft stream. Man I hope you're right. I dread a return to a 3-5 seed and a first/second round exit.

Maybe you're right. I think it's just more disappointment that the Bulls ended up at 7 in a top 5 draft (after MPJ got hurt).

I hope I'm wrong but I would much rather not spend a lotto pick on a "compliment". Seems like the Bulls are putting themselves right back in NBA hell.