Dominikk85

The cubs are in a tough spot because their recent free agent signings went so bad. Cubs did a great job rebuilding and their initial free agent signings also went great (lester, zobrist). But then they handed out 2 huge contrasts that flopped so far (heyward,darvish) and chatwood isn't cheap either. Now the arb raises kick in and the core gets expensive too. Because of that they just don't have a lot of room to make additions now. Can't really blame ricketts for this and while they might not be a super team anymore they are still got and projected to win their division next year. It won't get easier though, the team is only getting more expensive and the pitching is aging with little help on the way in the farm (whether as SP prospects or trade chips). They had a great run though whith averaging like 95 wins for the last 4 seasons and they likely won't be bad the next 2-3 years either.

Yeah, that could be true. I think generally it is good they focussed more on polished high on base percentage bats who can take a walk and hit for some power instead of taking a lot of raw, free swinging athletes but maybe they swung too far the other direction and should mix in a few more young elite athletes. Of course the bust rate with those guys is bigger and most won't become disciplined, good hitters but if one learns to hit he can become a superstar. I think it should be a good mix of polished bats, elite up the middle athletes and pitchers. Robert certainly could be such a guy, hopefully they will take more top international guys in the next years.

What issue do you have with the draft? Rebuild really started 2016 and here are the picks 2016: collins (10) -iffy at catcher but one of the very best college bats with a 1200 ops and 16 homers. Not bad at all at 10 even if he is a 1b 2017: -burger (11) -same as in 2016, iffy defense but top performing college bat (1100 ops, 22 hr, mid 400s obp). Got injured but nobody could have predicted that. Not bad at 11 even if there was 1b risk too like with collins 2018: madrigal (4) -again a top college performer and considered the safest college bat at the time as well as a good defender. Different hitter than the other two but still college performer. I don't see any issues here. They went with polished top college bats. All three have somewhat limited ceilings (the former two in defense/athleticism and the latter in power) but had high floors. Especially with the former two you can't have both, at 10 you have to chose ceiling or floor. Sure they could have taken a hs guy but that would have come with more bust risk. Sox basically went the Cubs way going for polished college performers but unfortunately no bryant was available.

Yes. He could do it but even though he will be younger than tebow it is still not super likely that he makes it if he enters the minors at 24-25.

I agree. He has big power but the plate discipline isn't great. I don't think he will bust completely as the offensive bar for middle infielders isn't great but he might not become a star hitter. Could see him becoming a low on base but good power guy who is a 3-4 win guy based on position, defense and above average power but not really a star due to low average and obp. Basically a cj cron with the bat who plays middle infield.

The sox front office made some mistakes but also did some great team friendly extensions. Really the extensions of sale, Quintana and Eaton were the backbone of this rebuild as it made those guys off the charts valuable and meant they could acquire assets much faster than for example the Astros or Phillies. Who could be a candidate for this? It has to happen before the player is an established star usually but you also don't want to waste of 30-40m on a bust of course. I don't think eloy will sign one as he was too much of a star in the minors but there are still some candidates. Good candidates are non highly drafted hitters and basically every pitcher since pitchers have a higher risk.

Fangraphs projects them for 70 wins. I would take the over on that though.

Madrigal and mize were the only 55s on the fangraphs board. Madrigal is unlikely to be the best player of this draft but considering floor AND ceiling he was seen as the number 2 guy of the draft behind maze. He had no power last season but also had a wrist injury, scouts still see him as a 12-15 homer guy who hits 290-300 with good defense. That is basically howie kendrick with a better glove. Btw kelenic isn't really seen as a future star either, it is more a balanced 5 tool set of average to slightly above tools. If one of the hs guys is a star it is probably gorman who has done well in his first season with 17 homers but also comes with considerable risk (contact issues).

I also think it will be vaughn unless rutschman falls to them because they want a quick moving bat because it fits their window better than a hs bat which might take 4 years to reach the majors.

I agree, although Murray probably wouldn't have signed at all with that agreement and the As gambled on the risk. Still don't quite understand that risk though altough the As tend to draft risky high upside guys in the first round gambling for a star they can't afford to sign and then go with safer, lower ceiling guys in later rounds. Btw i think it is kinda unfair that the As don't get another pick while teams that lowball guys after seeing the physical (astros with aiken, braves with stewart) get another pick. It is not the As fault Murray wants to go to nfl and this incentivises teams to not risk signing high level two sport athletes which is bad for the quality or the game.

I agree, although Murray probably wouldn't have signed at all with that agreement and the As gambled on the risk. Still don't quite understand that risk though altough the As tend to draft risky high upside guys in the first round gambling for a star they can't afford to sign and then go with safer, lower ceiling guys in later rounds.

Bauer often likes to rip fans who tweet at him, kyle boddy who is the boss at driveline where he trains does that too. But this time not even boddy defended him.

Lopez needs to throw more sliders and less fastballs, that slider is a good pitch. 60% fastballs is too much, his fb is ok but not really good. He definitely needs to improve his k rate if he wants to repeat last years ERA.

They do have algorithms for minor leaguers but there is a lot more uncertainty and they tend to be conservative on prospects unless they go bonkers in the minors at a young age like vlad jr.

If senzel is traded it is for a guy like syndergaard (of course packaged with another good prospect).

But the yankees could afford a 400m payroll and still make profit. No team could compete with that.

Here it says your top pick is dropped 10 ranks starting 2018 http://m.mlb.com/glossary/transactions/competitive-balance-tax

I don't think if machado had already decided he would wait till january to announce it.

What? The PA has been robbed blind the last CBAs, the PA boss seems to be absolutely incompetent. But yeah creating a hard cap would be the players losing the last thing they still have, that won't happen. If the owners want a hard cap they will need to give something back and they don't really want that because all but 4-5 teams actually see the threshold as a hard cap, ie. 26 of the owners wouldn't save any money with the cap. Basically the threshold is just a public excuse of the owners to not spend more.

I don't see a pitcher shooting up to the top3. Usually top pitchers are talked there early, they might fall but don't rise usually. pitchers often fall and HS bats often fall too (see de sedas last draft). If college bats are on top already they probably stay there unless they totally flop or get hurt.

Yeah but for example Astros have tucker and white in their DH depth chart. Cruz could have helped them.

Pretty good deal, 14m one year and a 13m club option and 300k buyout. Without a second guranteed year pretty low risk. I wonder why not more teams were in on him at that price.

I don't think updates now mean that much. However rutschman and vaughn basically are as high as they can get because they already performed so well, there is simply no more room up and especially vaughn could fall even his performance only slips a little bit or if other more versatile players perform. Even rutschman could fall a little if he has a non great season. With the high school guys anything can happen from staying at the top to falling to late first. Really AR and vaughn are the safest bets. I would be surprised if AR doesn't go 1-3 and vaughn not 3-6 unless something drastic happens.

1. A good 6 year run of success with 4-5 playoff appearances but no WS win 2. A single year success winning the WS but not much after? Ideally would be getting both of course but if you had to choose one which would you take?

Yes only one year for wood. Still wood and puig should fetch similar prospects as they cost at the deadline if they don't crater totally or get injured.