Y2Jimmy0

Pretty good Trade Analysis by Fangraphs: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/cubs-athlet...billy-mckinney/

I love all the hate in this thread haha. What an excellent trade by the Cubs. When you can get an Addison Russell for guys that won't be in the plans moving forward, it's just an excellent move. I can't believe Oakland moved him but they are probably the AL favorites now. McKinney is a nice get too. The Cubs easily have the #1 farm system in baseball.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Jul 4, 2014 -> 11:10 AM) At that price, he is definitely worth the price to be the primarily back-up to both Taj and Jo. The team would definitely be better, but still does not solve the main issue of wing scoring. Maybe McDermott can fill some of the void but you would definitely need another piece. Haha Gasol would not be "backing up" Taj. SunTimes reported that if Bulls sign Gasol, he will start.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jul 4, 2014 -> 09:47 AM) If the Bulls sign him they can't trade him for 30 days. So that's some more cap space they don't have for Melo. Not really. Melo has to be acquired through a Sign and Trade. The Bulls could then sign Mirotic with the Mid-Level Exception. You are right though that they couldn't sign Mirotic and Melo outright.

http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/red-sox/pos...-bears-watching

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Jul 3, 2014 -> 12:22 PM) We better have a plan with this $1.6M left. Absolutely awful if we don't even spend half the money we were alloted. Yankees signed the #7 prospect Jonathan Amundary for $1.5M. Would have been great to snag that guy up. I think it's easy to look at Jesse Sanchez or Ben Badler's lists and assume the White Sox didn't do a good job. It's a bit shortsighted though. We don't know. None of us do. The kids are like 16 and from different countries. Maybe the White Sox like Nunez and Alfaro better than they like some of the perceived higher-rated guys. I hope that the White Sox spend their entire International Pool. But as far as who they sign, doesn't really matter in my opinion because none of us know either way.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jul 3, 2014 -> 11:52 AM) Just remember - it isn't just Carmelo is either all about the money or not at all about the money. Each aspect of changing teams has a price. Winning is worth a certain amount of lost earnings, moving his family nullifies a certain amount of the benefits of winning, etc. He could reject the Bulls for their inability to make a max offer without him being greedy. If max is 4/96 and we offer 4/64, his turning us down does not mean that it was 4/96 or nothing. In other news, I've been impressed with Melo in this process. When he left Denver, I saw him as a big baby who strong-armed his way out of town. Throughout the entire mess in NY, Melo has been quiet about his intentions and likely dissatisfaction with the Knicks. He hasn't been making public evaluations of each suitor. By all accounts, he has been incredibly good at keeping his private thoughts out of the rumor mill. Every rumor is "NBA executives think" or "people who are friends of Melo but haven't spoken to him in months believe." It has been stated that Melo wants Taj Gibson to remain on the Bulls. If that is the case, about $70 million is the best the Bulls can do. Now if Melo wants more $$, I'm sure that the Bulls would trade Taj Gibson and sign Melo for the $$. He can't have both though. He can't want more $$ and want the Bulls to keep Taj. Doesn't make sense.

QUOTE (Brian @ Jul 2, 2014 -> 07:05 PM) Sounds like Boykin to Notre Dame. Damnit Yeah I thought he may go to Michigan but apparently not.

Have we all stopped reading the reports on Carmelo? Some of it just doesn't make any sense. Yesterday on twitter, former NBA PG Kenny Anderson said that Melo wasn't happy with Bulls offer and would be going back to NY. I tweeted back and forth with Anderson and I asked him if Carmelo wanted Taj to stay. Anderson said Yes. I explained to him that if Taj stays, Melo will have to take something resembling like a 4 year $70 million deal. He said and that's the issue. So what is it? He can't have Taj Gibson and more $$. It just doesn't make any sense. He's probably going back to New York but when he does I hope he doesn't talk about wanting to win at the podium.

QUOTE (Boogua @ Jul 3, 2014 -> 09:35 AM) Genius? Absolutely not. My guess is you haven't been following the NBA all that long if you didn't get the reference. Well, in the summer of 2010 Lebron James decided to team up with two other top 5 to top 10 players in the NBA. One of those top 5 players had been with the team already and had won a championship as the man. That was when the whole "ring chaser" thing started. I didn't come up with it on my own, unfortunately. Right but it's stupid. I don't think the guy can be classified as a ring chaser if he's the best player on the team. Basically any team that Lebron goes to becomes a title contender. I think a ring chaser is like what Karl Malone did joining the Lakers or even Ray Allen on the current Heat teams.

QUOTE (Boogua @ Jul 3, 2014 -> 09:08 AM) Losing out on Lowry and/or Gortat kind of limits their options on adding difference makers in this FA class, assuming they can't get Melo. The Heat's time might be done, so I'm curious what the ring chaser ends up doing. Who is the ring chaser? Is that some genius dig at Lebron? I'm very confused.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jul 2, 2014 -> 12:29 PM) Bowman loves himself some mediocre D depth Mediocre is too strong a word. If the Hawks see him in Chicago, something went wrong.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Jul 2, 2014 -> 12:07 PM) I don't think this has been mentioned.... NBA trade machine says we have a 2M trade exception from the Deng trade and another 1M from the Teague trade....If I'm correct on how those work, that's another 3M to add into a S&T for Melo. I think the Bulls used the $2 million trade exemption for Anthony randolph.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jul 2, 2014 -> 11:31 AM) WSJ reported that some in Knicks organization believe Boozer makes a lot of sense and can be a useful chip in a Love deal. NYDailyNews had a report that the Bulls pitch included both Taj & Jimmy Butler as being key points to the Bulls roster being title ready. This would be significant as the report went on to indicate that Melo is on board and understands the Bulls should retain those players and has learned from the Denver trade to Knicks (which ultimately led to Knicks being gutted). Seems like there is at least some real smoke about him seriously considering taking less money. That would be awesome. I'd love to keep Jimmy B and Taj and get Melo. Note: Obviously, if Melo says he wants to come here, I would ship Taj/Jimmy B for Melo if need be, but am hopeful they can work things out to really have this roster set. All indications have been that Butler wasn't really involved in process. To sign Melo outright, Butler has to go. That get hims close to $18 million per year with Jimmy, Dunleavy, Snell, and Boozer gone. I would be surprised if Butler and Melo are both on the Bulls next year.

QUOTE (The 815 @ Jul 2, 2014 -> 11:10 AM) Zooming in on the picture that Futuresox retweeted of the Sox brass it looks like the Sox may also have signed 3 more players. Judging by the posters behind the players you have Nunez for the first one, a "Felix ------?", the catcher "Jhoandro", and "Ricky Mota?" Yep. SS Amado Nunez. C Jhoandro Alfaro, SS Ricky Mota, 2B Felix Mercedes.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 2, 2014 -> 08:24 AM) Link The main reason to S&T isn't to get rid of Boozer though. It's to acquire Carmelo while being over the salary cap. They can't sign him outright and go over the cap but if they trade for him they can. If they do that, they get to use the Full Mid-Level Exception and a Lower Exception as well. They could realistically slot Mirotic into part of or all of the MLE, while signing a backup C and guys like Ben Gordon, Caron Butler, etc to fill out the team with the exceptions. Being over the cap is actually a good thing this offseason for sure.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jul 2, 2014 -> 08:44 AM) Good signs early, but it's still Low-A. I'll be more excited when he's doing this for W-S and Birmingham. I do like the prospects of him though. This is likely one of those things that, when he got hit, he didn't think anything of it. You roll an ankle or land on a wrist or anything and a lot of times, it's not sore till the next day and really, it doesn't feel that bad. Then you start playing on it and it progressively gets more sore or swollen (or it was swollen to begin with) and then decide that it may be a good thing to get it checked out and BAM, out 4-6 weeks. Trey is at the age appropriate level though. I think he's only 18 right, or just 19? It's promising. Hopefully, he sustains it as he moves on to higher levels of the org.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 2, 2014 -> 08:05 AM) I think we've been patient with Viciedo for about as long as we can be. I start getting really tempted to draw a hard line at the 2nd year arbitration level and that's where he'll be this offseason. The first year arb salary for a talented, struggling player is ~$2 million and I'll risk that on a guy with talent. The 2nd year arb salary starts getting close to $5 million and that's when "being patient" becomes pretty expensive. Balta, I agree completely. I wouldn't be willing to pay Viciedo or Beckham the arb raises that they will get. If Viciedo was going to hit 35 homers every year, I could live with his shortcomings. But if he's in the 15-25 range, he doesn't really do anything well enough to justify playing him. He's a negative WAR player.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jul 2, 2014 -> 07:53 AM) i think Pax cuts him too, he isnt a fan I might be wrong, but wasn't it Skiles who wasn't a fan? I think Thibs could make it work honestly. It's not ideal but if that's what it takes to get Melo, it's fine with me.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Jul 1, 2014 -> 04:34 PM) Definitely the best bang for your buck deal. His speed isn't what it once was, but compared to Zues, it's still no contest. Helps ease TT into the lineup as well. He better be playing with Hossa. Hands and vision still top notch. I would imagine that Richards will Center the Kane/Saad line. Toews, Sharp, and Hossa on 1st line if the team stays intact.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Jul 1, 2014 -> 07:43 PM) Spending a lot of time together...Tomorrows meetings with the Texas teams will be half a day each. Is it telling at all that Melo has spent the day/night in Chicago with Bulls brass and is only giving the Texas teams a few hours each tomorrow?

Daryl Van Schouwen ‏@CST_soxvan 1m Jacob May (Class A Winston-Salem) was named Carolina League player of the week: .533, 4 doubles, 2 triples, 9 stolen bases 12 runs.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jul 1, 2014 -> 01:19 PM) Anyone got espn insiders top 30 free agents? I can get it.

Ben Badler has his projections out for all 30 teams. Does anyone have a BA account that can get that info? I am hoping for Nunez and Alfaro at least for the White Sox at this point.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jul 1, 2014 -> 11:30 AM) Noah isn't colluding. He is talking to other players on his own doing. Bulls haven't done any back door negotiating with their players, etc, which is what this is in reference to. I think what is going on in Miami right now is extremely different then what happened back in 2010. You don't think the Bulls knew months ago that Carmelo may be interested and how much it would cost? They may not have told Noah to start recruiting but they knew it was happening. Everyone thinks that the Heat thing was orchestrated by Pat Riley. People give that old bastard too much credit. LBJ, Wade, and Bosh decided to play together long before they knew it'd be in Miami.