1. #36
    d2bets
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    HR #2 off Hanson in Atlanta to left-center. And his defense might be even more impressive than his offense. He is unbelievably slick at 1B, esp for a 23 y/o. He will absolutely be among the best 1B over the next decade. Would be shocked if he isn't.

  2. #37
    Cougar Bait
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    Yeah kid just might be legit

    What is Cubs record since Rizzo joined the team??

  3. #38
    PickWinnerAllDay
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    Quote Originally Posted by d2bets View Post
    HR #2 off Hanson in Atlanta to left-center. And his defense might be even more impressive than his offense. He is unbelievably slick at 1B, esp for a 23 y/o. He will absolutely be among the best 1B over the next decade. Would be shocked if he isn't.
    Okay... so SS and 1B is set. The outfield for the future is probably pretty good too with all of the guys we've loaded up on.

    Most worried about the rotation. We have no aces in the minors and no aces on the ball club. We need to throw everything we have at Hamels.

  4. #39
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    Quote Originally Posted by Cougar Bait View Post
    Yeah kid just might be legit

    What is Cubs record since Rizzo joined the team??
    6-1

  5. #40
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    Quote Originally Posted by Cougar Bait View Post
    Yeah kid just might be legit

    What is Cubs record since Rizzo joined the team??
    5-1, they just recorded their first 4-game win streak of the season.

    And Rizzo has 4 go-ahead RBI hits over those 5 wins. Unreal.

    But it's his defense that's even more stunning. 1B defense is very subtle. It's not about errors. He just creates a huge target, you hardly have to worry about throws in the dirt and his stretch is unreal. He also showed a gun when he fired a runner out at home. He will win a lot of gold gloves.

  6. #41
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    Quote Originally Posted by PickWinnerAllDay View Post
    Okay... so SS and 1B is set. The outfield for the future is probably pretty good too with all of the guys we've loaded up on.

    Most worried about the rotation. We have no aces in the minors and no aces on the ball club. We need to throw everything we have at Hamels.
    3b also. No doubt the Cubs are going to look to make some trades and load up on arms.

    Shark was very good today. T Wood has shown a ton lately. If you keep Garza then you may have 3 young prices there. But yeah, Cubs need a few top-notch pitching prospects. Do you keep LaHair for the outfield or do you maybe deal him if he can return a decent arm or two?

  7. #42
    PickWinnerAllDay
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    Quote Originally Posted by d2bets View Post
    3b also. No doubt the Cubs are going to look to make some trades and load up on arms.

    Shark was very good today. T Wood has shown a ton lately. If you keep Garza then you may have 3 young prices there. But yeah, Cubs need a few top-notch pitching prospects. Do you keep LaHair for the outfield or do you maybe deal him if he can return a decent arm or two?
    I don't see LaHair for the future.

  8. #43
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    Quote Originally Posted by PickWinnerAllDay View Post
    I don't see LaHair for the future.
    Because he shouldn't play OF or because he won't hit?

  9. #44
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    yeah if you can get something for Lahair, go for it.... it won't be selling high, since he has come back to earth and he ain't exactly young.

    But you get him for 5 more years at a cheap price.... well 2 more anyways

  10. #45
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    I think Vitters and Jackson will be solid additions next year, or for september call ups

  11. #46
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    Quote Originally Posted by d2bets View Post
    Because he shouldn't play OF or because he won't hit?
    I just see him as a Russell Branyon type at best. And yeah, he isn't a very good defensive outfielder, that is part of it. I definitely don't think he will hit enough for first base over the long run.

  12. #47
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    I think Lahair will turn out to be like Garrett Jones, decent role player 1b/rf platoon guy

  13. #48
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    Quote Originally Posted by PickWinnerAllDay View Post
    I just see him as a Russell Branyon type at best. And yeah, he isn't a very good defensive outfielder, that is part of it. I definitely don't think he will hit enough for first base over the long run.
    I could be wrong, but I think he kid can and will hit. He isn't every good defensively though. Unless the Cubs are blown away I'd keep him in the lineup in RF for the foreseeable future and bet that he will hit enough to draw increasing interest. I think he will be a starting 1B somewhere else within a couple years, although he isn't great defensively at 1B either and he cannot hit lefties. A team will have to have a RH 1B to platoon with him. Not hard to find a guy like that who can hit lefties. Keep him against the righties and I do think he can hit .300 with power.

    Branyan is a .230 hitter. LaHair is better than that without a doubt. Branyan never had a .280 season, ever. LaHair is hitting .329 against RH pitching. Keep him away from the lefties and he will produce when he's on the field.

  14. #49
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    Quote Originally Posted by d2bets View Post
    I could be wrong, but I think he kid can and will hit. He isn't every good defensively though. Unless the Cubs are blown away I'd keep him in the lineup in RF for the foreseeable future and bet that he will hit enough to draw increasing interest. I think he will be a starting 1B somewhere else within a couple years, although he isn't great defensively at 1B either and he cannot hit lefties. A team will have to have a RH 1B to platoon with him. Not hard to find a guy like that who can hit lefties. Keep him against the righties and I do think he can hit .300 with power.

    Branyan is a .230 hitter. LaHair is better than that without a doubt. Branyan never had a .280 season, ever. LaHair is hitting .329 against RH pitching. Keep him away from the lefties and he will produce when he's on the field.
    Maybe a bad comparison.. but when I think of the playoff caliber teams, they all have 1B well out of LaHair's class. Just my thoughts on it.

  15. #50
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    Quote Originally Posted by PickWinnerAllDay View Post
    Maybe a bad comparison.. but when I think of the playoff caliber teams, they all have 1B well out of LaHair's class. Just my thoughts on it.
    Sure, he's not going to be the Cubs 1B. But I think he'd be an upgrade for a bunch of teams fighting for playoff spots. How about the Pirates with Casey McGhee? Dodgers and Giants too. Orioles would be perfect. Reynolds can't hit righties at all. Indians? There are a lot of teams struggling at 1B. If I was one of these teams I'd be looking hard at LaHair.

  16. #51
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    im impressed. if only all players were athletic and had power to all fields

    cubs will be a serious team in a year or two.. they got samardzija, rizzo, lahair

    no doubt all these starters (exception samardzjia) are just playing their role in the bigger picture.. cubs have no interest in maholm, volstad etc

  17. #52
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    Rizzo has great hand, wrist, forearm strength. huge hands, makes the bat look like a whiffle ball bat.

    he could hit 50 in a season in the next few years

  18. #53
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    Boom!

  19. #54
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    how did this fukkin guy not make the roster coming out of spring training

    good talent evaluation there

  20. #55
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    they purposely left him down Brock. strategically, in order to keep him from arbitration and free agency an extra year.


    Theo knows what he is doing

  21. #56
    PickWinnerAllDay
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    Quote Originally Posted by Brock Landers View Post
    how did this fukkin guy not make the roster coming out of spring training

    good talent evaluation there
    It has to do with control and $$$ Brock. If they waited until June something to call him up, he is still under control for another year before arbitration.

  22. #57
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    Quote Originally Posted by Chi_archie View Post
    they purposely left him down Brock. strategically, in order to keep him from arbitration and free agency an extra year.


    Theo knows what he is doing
    With Cashner going back to the DL, it is probably safe to say the Cubs won this deal with the Padres. Cashner's arm is half gold, half glass.

  23. #58
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    Quote Originally Posted by Chi_archie View Post
    they purposely left him down Brock. strategically, in order to keep him from arbitration and free agency an extra year.


    Theo knows what he is doing
    thats horeshit, they want to win or don't they

  24. #59
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    Quote Originally Posted by Brock Landers View Post
    thats horeshit, they want to win or don't they
    Win what? More games or a championship? Besides, he struggled in a callup last season so they wanted him to work on things. You dn't know if these few months oin AAA made him a better player. Considering the Cubs passed on Fielder and targeted him in the off-season I think its fair to say that the talent eval was good. Plus they developed an asset in LaHair. They handled this right. Rizzo is probably going to be one of the best in the league for awhile and now Cubs have him for cheap for many years. Those kinds of assets are gold.

  25. #60
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    they KNOW they can't win this year. They want theo to build for 2014. Did anyone really expect the cubs to do well this year?

    if rizzo makes the roster out of spring training. Bryan lahair doesn't get a chance and the cubs lose an all-star.

  26. #61
    PickWinnerAllDay
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    Quote Originally Posted by d2bets View Post
    Win what? More games or a championship? Besides, he struggled in a callup last season so they wanted him to work on things. You dn't know if these few months oin AAA made him a better player. Considering the Cubs passed on Fielder and targeted him in the off-season I think its fair to say that the talent eval was good. Plus they developed an asset in LaHair. They handled this right. Rizzo is probably going to be one of the best in the league for awhile and now Cubs have him for cheap for many years. Those kinds of assets are gold.
    Rizzo probably one of the best in the league? I hope you're right... 35 at bats though... we should probably slow down a bit.

  27. #62
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    2012 might not be a total waste

    Positives:

    Travis Wood might be a solid 3 type starter that we found for a bullpen arm
    Anthony Rizzo might be a cornerstone 3rd hitter for years
    Garza/Dempster might be overhauled for to further boost our steadily improving minor leagues
    James Russell

    Starlin Castro is still a glaring negative to me though. When is this kid going to put it together? No way he should be posting an OPS of .725 with that talent.

  28. #63
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    Quote Originally Posted by PickWinnerAllDay View Post
    Rizzo probably one of the best in the league? I hope you're right... 35 at bats though... we should probably slow down a bit.
    Granted, you can only prove yourself over time. But short of some freak injury, I would really be shocked if this kid is not the real deal. Just look at the way the ball reacts off his bat with normal effort. It's not typical. And he certainly seems to have the right personality and approach and maturity for a 22 y/o. He will have to make adjustments over time as all players do. I suspect he's going to go through a phase soon where he doesn't see many strikes. Ie he can then accept the walks then I'll become even more sold. He only has 1 BB in 40 AB, but also only 5 K's. He did draw a lot of walks last season even when he struggled and had a pretty good BB rate in the minors.

    Castro is a big disappointment. I'm not sure how coachable he is. He's a free swinger and seems to think he can just get by on his talent alone and swing at everything.

  29. #64
    PickWinnerAllDay
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    Quote Originally Posted by d2bets View Post
    Granted, you can only prove yourself over time. But short of some freak injury, I would really be shocked if this kid is not the real deal. Just look at the way the ball reacts off his bat with normal effort. It's not typical. And he certainly seems to have the right personality and approach and maturity for a 22 y/o. He will have to make adjustments over time as all players do. I suspect he's going to go through a phase soon where he doesn't see many strikes. Ie he can then accept the walks then I'll become even more sold. He only has 1 BB in 40 AB, but also only 5 K's. He did draw a lot of walks last season even when he struggled and had a pretty good BB rate in the minors.

    Castro is a big disappointment. I'm not sure how coachable he is. He's a free swinger and seems to think he can just get by on his talent alone and swing at everything.
    I'd trade Castro for a young stud pitcher in a heartbeat. I'm probably in the minority on that one.

  30. #65
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    I like rizzo, it will take some time before pitchers figure out the one pitch he can't hit, then that's all he will get. I watch the mets a lot and now everyone knows how to get nieuenheis out (high fastball), Lucas duda out (low and away slider), Ike Davis ( inside curve). So it takes a while to see if a hitter is good because if he has one big weakness then he is in trouble. So far he looks really good though.

  31. #66
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    Not a very good pitcher

  32. #67
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    he'll make adjustments once the league adjusts to rizzo. baseball is adjustments abd re-adjustments,

    I would want 3 stud pitchers from A+, AA and AAA for castro as well as a servivable SS porospect,

    it would take alot to trade him IMO

  33. #68
    Chi_archie
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    still hanging in there

  34. #69
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    Quote Originally Posted by Chi_archie View Post
    still hanging in there
    More than hanging. He's changed the whole complexion of the team.

  35. #70
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    Go Rizzo go!

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