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Jeff Zimmerman

9:13

Nice move to help fill some holes

Guy Incognito

9:13

Does Tyler Austin return to AAA? Get traded? Seems like he proved himself in AAA last year, so what is to gain from sending him down?

Jeff Zimmerman

9:14

He would get regular at bats in the minors instead of sitting on the bench.

Paul Swydan

9:14

I agree he doesn't have anything left to prove in the minors, but depth is never a bad thing. I don't think they'll move him, unless it's to help fill another depth need.

9:15

In other words, I wouldn't expect to see him traded for a younger prospect.

Jeff Smardhjkgfdjsklja

9:15

Why are the Dodgers projected to be better than the Cubs? The Cubs just had a historic season with essentially the same young nucleus of players returning. Am I missing something or did ten wins disappear like a fart in the wind?

Jeff Zimmerman

9:16

They may have problems replication a historic defense to start with.

Paul Swydan

9:17

Projection systems don't care that the Cubs ended their long World Series drought. They're worried about future performance, and just because everyone was awesome last year doesn't mean they will be again in the future. If it DID always mean that, we wouldn't be 16 years into a no-repeat-champs drought.

Camp

9:17

Name a player better than Nolan Arenado in the NL, both in fantasy and real life. You can't, right?

Paul Swydan

9:17

Was Clayton Kershaw traded to the American League? What about Kris Bryant?

Jeff Zimmerman

9:17

Harper was elite in '15 also.

Dominik

9:17

Is the Dodgers depth a little overrated? Tons of average players but so much hinges on kershaw and seager. The depth in average players is good but if one of the big two gets hurt there is not much. On the other hand the cubs could replace one of their stars better (baez for bryant or schwarber for rizzo). It seems lIke the Dodgers match the cubs in superstars and even beat them in those average guys but the cubs have a lot more good players behind their superstars then the Dodgers have.

Jeff Zimmerman

9:19

What if Lester and Arrieta go down? Cubs have the same issues as the Dodgers.

Paul Swydan

9:19

There's a couple of problems here. First, Seager is one of just four Dodgers projected to have a .345 wOBA or better. They have plenty of good hitters. Second, the fortunes of MOST teams come down to their best two players.

9:20

The Dodgers have 6 players forecasted for 3.0+ WAR. The Cubs have 7. So your claim that the Cubs have more stars is a bit off. Sorry you hate Joc Pederson and Justin Turner?

Vic

9:20

I have the 15th pick and the 30th pick in a 5 x 5 with many Top 30 picks already kept....ie Betts, Bryant, Correa etc etc....My question, I know I shouldn't take Posey with the 15th, but due to Top 30 keepers already being kept later in the draft, Posey might not last until Pick 30. Take the chance, or definitely get him at #15? 2 catcher league.

Paul Swydan

9:21

I don't have any issue with taking him at 15 in a 2-catcher league. It's a bit of a reach, but if you think you need him, then do it.

Jeff Zimmerman

9:21

That is about right for him. He won't last to the 30th pick

Julio Urias

9:21

over/under 150 IP?

Paul Swydan

9:22

I'll take the over.

Jeff Zimmerman

9:22

Over

magicarpenter

9:23

A recent article on the cardinals claimed they have no stars. I agree they have no celebrity power, but isn't Matt Carpenter a star? Like, isn't he one of the top players in the league when healthy?

Paul Swydan

9:24

I guess it depends on your definition of star. Steamer has Carpenter as the 55th-best position player overall, 24th-best in the NL. Is that a star? It's not to me, but maybe you take a wider view.

Jeff Zimmerman

9:24

He's good but not a star. Very even team right now.

9:25

I just bought season tickets for the first time and now a four week trial I'm working on has been pushed back to the week after opening day, which is going to be an incredibly busy time during which we prepare. I'm entitled to leave work to make a 1:10 first pitch, right?

Paul Swydan

9:25

Pretty sure you're going to have early onset bronchitis that week, my friend. It's in the air. I know it, you know it, everyone knows it.

Jeff Zimmerman

9:25

It happens

Dr Evil

9:26

Padres have taken I think 6 players in the Rule 5 draft the last 2 years. Should there be a limit on how many players a team can take? Seems like they are shotgunning it and hoping one pans out, but it potentially sets back the development of the guys returned

Paul Swydan

9:26

Nope. That's their right. If the union was worried about setting back the development back of these handful of players every year, then they'd negotiate for that.

Jeff Zimmerman

9:26

No, it is just 5 of the players rated 800th or worse in baseball.

Curious

9:27

hmmm, interesting to see so many questions about the dodgers vs. cubs. It's not really hard to see on paper why the dodgers and cubs are so similar in expectations.

Paul Swydan

9:27

Oh, I'm sure it's going to be a major question force between now and Opening Day, especially after we all but declared that we're on the verge of a Cubs dynasty after the World Series.

Jeff Zimmerman

9:27

Cubs fans are pissed not to be #1

Paul Swydan

9:28

Please believe, there's no shame in being projected to win 94 games. Last year, IIRC, there wasn't a team pegged over 91.

Curious

9:28

how did napoli get 8.5 while carter got 3 and then how'd trumbo get 3/37.5?

Paul Swydan

9:29

Because Brian Cashman is really, really, really good at his job? It doesn't get said enough.

Jeff Zimmerman

9:29

No idea. I don't understand the 1B/DH market

Guest

9:29

On from Australia, thought the chat was broken. Turns out I just can't do time. Given that a few prospects have come out of the Australian Baseball League recently and carved out reasonable MLB careers to this point (Gregorius, Keon Broxton, Maurer to name a couple), do you think the league is a reasonable place for higher end prospects to come to, or will it be further down the pecking order in terms of level of prospects or players coming out here.

Paul Swydan

9:29

Wow, thanks for tuning in all the way from Australia!

Jeff Zimmerman

9:30

Further down for guys to work on aspects of the game.

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