Oso planning to go pro
I have never seen any report that Chapman's denial was "different than what he had originally told police." Do you have a link to support this statement?
You sure you don't want to reconsider your thoughts on Shields?
Not trying to overstate it, but the Heyward contract could turn into a gigantic dumpster fire. If you're a fan of his, do not go on FanGraphs, his advanced metrics have him as a sub replacement level player. If you're the Cubs, he's your defensive fourth outfielder the rest of the year. Lots of years and a ton of cash left, good news is he's 26, bad news is he's badly regressing.
Right back at you. Not a bad night for a guy who is "fairly mediocre" eh? Tonight marks the 6th straight start in which Shields has allowed 2 runs or less. Over his last 7 starts he has an ERA of 2.17 and a WHIP around 1.10.
Won't last. The Cubs performance was embarrassing.
His 7-year deal includes an opt-out after 3 years, which looked like a good structure at the time, but if he continues to struggle, there's no way he's opting out and the Cubs would be paying over $110M to the poor man's Adam Eaton.
Sox have a better Heyward in Eaton.
Very true. It's also possible this season proves to be the exception and he bounces back. I'd be more concerned if he wasn't so young (not saying I'm not concerned - I most definitely am).
So, that James Shields trade maybe not so bad after all for the White Sox.Stat line in last six starts:3-3, 1.71 ERA, 42.0 IP, 32 hits, 8 earned runs, 12 walks, 21 Ks, .209 average against, 1.05 WHIP
I'm convinced that Shields was tipping his pitches and Cooper finally straightened him out. To see an established veteran get shelled the way that he did over the course of 2-3 weeks, there was clearly something going on that had nothing to do with his actual stuff.
He's been horrendous but he has a track record of being a good offensive player and he is 26. Might be a combination of the team changing his mechanics/swing to try to hit for more power as well as the pressure of that contract. This may be a lost season, however.
It appears Theo was so desperate to fill a perceived need -- and to do so at the expense of the Cardinals -- that he may have hung an albatross around the Cubbies' necks for the rest of the decade and beyond.
For rich teams in MLB, there's really no such thing as an albatross. Sure, the Cubs could find themselves stuck with a very expensive fourth outfielder, but it's not as if they'll ever lack the financial resources or cap space to correct the error.
Excellent point.It's only money!Ricketts has it, and he can get plenty more of it by increasing the cost of bleacher seats to $100 and beer to $20! Let's play 2! (Day/night variety, of course; gotta get that extra gate.)
What's now interesting about Shields is if he'll opt out after this season. He'll have an interesting decision to make. I wouldn't be shocked if he got moved in the next few days.