Jose Abreu

Nah, even if Madrigal were tearing the cover off the ball, this was/is a real need IMO.

Nice way to get out of that. Assuming he's done, that's a fine ST debut

If he could be at least below-average with the bat (rather than one of the worst in the league on that end) I'd love him as a backup. Above-average and you're talking about a starting CF.

I'm really encouraged by the subtle but (hopefully) effective changes Lopez has made to his delivery. That curveball looks nasty

Not a surprise that his location is "Downers Grove"!

Moncada has said many times now that he doesn't like leading off. Why would him leading off still be a consideration?

Most people I've talked to about this drive for Uber on weekends and seem to think it's worth it

I thought for sure that we'd see him this summer, but then EE was signed

I've always found it interesting how a defense of Madrigal is "he doesn't need to hit that well, he'll be valuable based on defense and baserunning alone". For someone who receives that comment pretty often, his defense and baserunning (particularly the latter) have not been that impressive. I think the guys who truly have that kind of value on defense and baserunning alone are Robert and Moncada (who had tremendous baserunning value last year despite the low stolen base total).

He did add muscle this offseason. Not sure how much, but it was noticeable.

One good counter I've heard for this is David Fletcher's 2019. He was literally one of the worst in MLB when it came to hard contact rate/exit velocity, but hit .290 with a .302 xBA. Like Madrigal, he is fast, but not elite as a runner. Hopefully Madrigal has similar production

When would Yermin play? Who do you even PH him for other than 2B/RF?

Yeah I'm not sure why anyone would be swayed in either direction by those comments. He can't really answer that question any differently

Not only would people need to eat crow for that, but there were also a vocal few IIRC who thought we were crazy for believing that the timing of Moncada's agency switch meant anything.

There's a decent amount of risk in that 9/171 proposal for sure. But if Moncada stays healthy, I am fairly confident that he'll put up 6-8 WAR seasons throughout his prime, so it would be a smart move IMO.

#FakeCishekWasRight

I agree there. I’m just not convinced that, if he starts in AAA, he gets called up as early as possible in mid-April. I think they would wait until May so as to not arouse service time suspicion

I disagree with the bolded. I don't think that 7th year really matters for someone like Madrigal who likely won't figure to receive a huge payday in FA like Robert or Jimenez would

@CBJ03 had it weeks ago. @Y2Jimmy0 also tweeted that he'd bet on Bummer as a Spring Training extension candidate around the same time.