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I just don’t understand... The Cubs have nearly $60M in contracts coming off the book next year between Hamels, Zobrist, Morrow (I’m assuming they’ll decline his option), Strop, Cishek and Kintzler. They could free up another ~$22M if they were to decline Rizzo’s or Quintana’s options. (Unlikely in...

Significantly overused by Buck during his run in Baltimore (Orioles missed a chance to sell high on him two years ago, when he might've commanded a big return), but for this offseason, and the constraints, I do like the move. The fastball isn't as good as it once was, so I doubt he's a consistent la...

I tend to think this is the Phillies game to lose now. Boras and Harper will wait, but the Phillies almost HAVE to pull in someone big, so they'll be willing to wait. For the Nationals to get him back ... Just offer him a one year deal with 9 player options Honestly, it might take something vaguely ...

Situation reminds me, vaguely, of the Pujols situation several years ago. IIRC, Pujols had an offer from the Cardinals, the Angels topped it by a fair amount, and Pujols kept waiting and hoping the Cardinals would come back in. Sure feels like the Phillies have offered something significantly higher...

Wouldn't surprise me if that was the case, but I'd guess that they'd double down on pitching first - say Keuchel or Corbin to go with Paxton AND maybe a Charlie Morton (who wants to be on the East Coast, near Delaware, IIRC). Makes me sorta wonder if the Yankees jump in on Addison Russell if gets se...

I think the Yankees get a good deal. I don't know if Justus Sheffield is a dominant starter. Say what you want about Paxton, but when he's on, he's been electric for three years. This is a good chance for the Yankees to take. I don't think they stop here - they have money to spend, so I suspect Corb...

I thought Fulmer was a pen arm when he was at Vandy, and I still feel that way. A potentially elite pen arm, but I just don't buy him as a starter. Still, if you can get him and work on him, why not.

Because I don't want to read a report right now ... Just for fun, because of Theo's comments about it being "virtually impossible" Can anyone come up with Bryant deal that a) Makes sense for the Cubs b) Makes sense for the opposing team? c) Offers the Cubs a headline player d) Offers the C...

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/25226392/chicago-cubs-open-trading-3b-kris-bryant Open to trading KB? What the actual horsefeathers is happening It’s called click bait. It's Buster Olney. I highly doubt he did it as click bait. I could be wrong, but Olney has a fairly solid rep, even with all of...

I do buy the Yankees as being out, though, as of now. Yes, they could make a Harper/Stanton/Judge configuration work (blue moon Harper CF, otherwise, rotate at DH and occasionally put Harper at 1st (I think he's the only one that's practiced some there)). Machado makes more sense, and Corbin is prob...

It feels like Boras is setting the starting point at 14 years/500 million , with all the talk of playing till 40 and Zack Greinke's AAV. If that's the case, I really only see one team jumping anywhere near that, and that's Philadelphia. It doesn't matter what it's "set at." It could be 25...

I suspect, though, it's all talk at this juncture, with the hopes that some of the top end numbers get dragged down a bit. Akin to how they went about Darvish last year, sorta. I too hope that this year's baller FA class is inexplicably dragged down in cost like last year's FA class was dragged dow...

Seems like a pretty weak extension attempt. Under $400 mil and no opt outs. https://twitter.com/chelsea_janes/status/1059947969036894210 Was it a weak extension attempt? Maybe, but I'd argue that it was a shrewd move by Rizzo and Co. There was no way Bryce was resigning days before FA. The move eff...

It feels like Boras is setting the starting point at 14 years/500 million, with all the talk of playing till 40 and Zack Greinke's AAV. If that's the case, I really only see one team jumping anywhere near that, and that's Philadelphia. As for the Cubs, I tend to think it's all talk at this point in ...

I ... don't know if I care all that much about Nico's speed. Law's usually not going to that far off the walls, so I'd guess he either caught Nico on a bad day, or that Nico made some poor runs. Speed and baserunning aren't exactly the same thing, and Law's comments were about him being a below-aver...

Well, I just wasted time trying to see if there's a possible Quintana deal that makes sense for me, and I can't figure one out. In general, acknowledging that you aren't likely to get Quintana level proven production in a deal ... I'd want, when considering Quintana's age, production, cost, and mark...

I haven't been to BCB in ages ... but that got me mildly curious enough to check out, and uh ... no. Just no. I think there's probably an argument, or a fantasy trade, that could be composed of involving Quintana that I wouldn't necessarily say no to, but the idea of trading Quintana for bullpen arm...

Boras insists on his client reaching free agency, news at 11 To be fair, Boras does prefer that, but there have been cases where if the player basically asks Boras to make a deal, he does. The most recent example is Strasburg wanting to stay with the Nationals, provided fair terms, which was obviou...

I’ve heard there is a possibility that the Angels may look to move Trout if they cannot extend him this offseason. I wonder how interested he is in winning or if he just wants to stay comfortable in Anaheim. IF they do decide to move him, what are the odds the Cubs is would look that direction inst...

Tbh, all that's fair. It's a bit disconcerting to see him go so flyball heavy and have it impact his offense so much. I really don't take the time to look deep into numbers anymore ... so I'm not sure if there's a good explanation. Off the top, I thought advanced metrics had his defense at 2nd as ge...

I half wonder if the Indians may deal Jason Kipnis on the cheap this winter to clear some money off the books. If so, I'd still have some interest. I wouldn't prioritize this, obviously, but if Russell moves on, as most anticipate, slotting Kipnis in at 2nd is still an intriguing idea for me. It's s...

What would Hamels realistically get on the open market? I want him back but $20MM seems like too much. Maybe I'm just being too stupid and picking up the option is a no brainer. Depends on if he wants more security or money. I doubt he gets 20 mil a year ... but I could see him get something like 3...

The proper response to scraping two useful months out of the rotting husk of Cole Hamels is to shake his hand and comp his tickets to the next Cubs Convention. Not picking up his $20 million option. I'd be surprised if the Cubs pondered Hamels option all that much. The only argument would be that i...

What would Hamels realistically get on the open market? I want him back but $20MM seems like too much. Maybe I'm just being too stupid and picking up the option is a no brainer. Depends on if he wants more security or money. I doubt he gets 20 mil a year ... but I could see him get something like 3...

No, the idea would be to leverage Rizzo into helping make improvements throughout the roster. Realistically, I don't think it's possible, but this isn't a strong 1st base market, and there's several teams that could look to upgrade. I don't love the constant lineup machinations, so if you could con...