re: Kris Bryant Board: Boras still stumping for things that won't happen...

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If the MLBPA has to argue that Olt/LaStalla are better defensive options at 3B, the first number they are turning to is Olt's FLD % and the fact that LaStalla hasnt played an inning at 3B. That's all I was getting at.

Olt is also the only other 1B on the roster outside of Rizzo. That could come in to play if a grievance is filed.

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i see what you're saying, but the day an arbitrator starts siding with the MLBPA about what a team should do with it's players in roster construction will will be the day baseball ends. That is to say it'll never happen.

Also i don't have any stats to back it up, but i'm pretty confident in saying, defensively, Olt is the better 3b.

And until bryant is placed on the 40 man the MLBPA doesn't even have jurisdiction over him...I don't know what standing rules apply in MLB arbitration cases, but it sure feels like any grievance filed by the MLBPA is just lip service complaining about a CBA they agreed to and would ultimately fail spectacularly.

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5. He has no triples

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ha...love it. Have an upvote for sneaking that one in.

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2. Has less than 300 AB's in MILB

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Also

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But there also are examples of players who had fewer than Bryant’s 297 plate appearances at Triple-A — and became stars.
The list includes Mike Trout, Miguel Cabrera and Giancarlo Stanton, plus Albert Pujols, Justin Upton and many others. Bryant is at least two years older than all of those players were at the times of their debuts, and less of a defensive question than some. Pujols did not even have a set position his first season. Cabrera played three games in left field at Double-A before assuming that spot for the Marlins full time.

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per Ken Rosenthal article

CJ Edwards was put on the 40 man so he could be protected from the rule 5. I believe Villanueva was the same deal, but I could be wrong.

They can argue the 40 man thing all they want. They are going to have to prove intent. If all they have is the argument that Mike Olt sucks defensively, and that Christian Villanueva should be outrighted to the California Penal League because of his .230 average, then I'm positive that Theo is happy with his position in that scenario.

w/e though, I'm not gonna be mad either way. He's still a Cub, and will be for at least 5 years.

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But there also are examples of players who had fewer than Bryant’s 297 plate appearances at Triple-A

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I'd be surprised if it's not a whole lot more than the list ken points to. I'd also be surprised if that still didn't even make it a whole percentage point of major league players. Which is all well and good, but if that's where an ill fated grievance wanted to hang it's hat then they might fail even more spectacularly than i originally thought.

The cubs can come up with a handful of 'baseball reasons' to point to that would satisfy the incredibly low bar of why they don't have to start the season with kris bryant in the majors. We all know the score, bryant wants more money sooner, cubs want bryant longer. Doesn't mean everyone can't lie about it and the status quo is maintained.

and i'll get off my boras is an arse for saying this is about winning and do the cubs want to give their fans a winner because if so they'd start bryant...right after this from Ben Badler at Baseball America who sums it up best:

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If the Cubs are truly committed to winning, they will start Kris Bryant in Triple-A for a couple of weeks.

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It really comes down to this: winning 9 games now, or taking your chances on 9 Bryantless games and gaining 162 games with Bryant under control.

162 > 9

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Just got this text from my little brother (also a Cubs fan, but doesn't really follow baseball as closely as I do):

"Kris Bryant starting the year or going down for 12 days?"

:sigh:

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Ok...and i don't mean to offend anyone but this whole situation reminds me of the great darwin barney debate in that if you tuned it at the beginning of the season, you thought barney was good (or at least not so terrible with the bat that he undid his good defense)and only after april/may when most people tuned out because the team was utter shite did barney really show how terrible he was. So when we were discussing games in august, someone would inevitably chime in, why isn't barney playing. This situation just kind of feels like that, many of us have been expecting the bryant call up to come mid april since last year when it was obvious he was ready to come up, but now you see some gaudy spring training numbers and everyone is saying 'where's bryant.'

And i'm not saying that about any of our posters here, we've got a good group of cubs posters, but more the twitter/radio/BCB guys.

First off, I don't even bother with the BCB group. They are just atrocious. Al Yellon is literally the worst writer, analyst, and thinker in the Cubs blogosphere. I love the Desipio forum, but even they focus most of their content on hating on Al Yellon that they sometimes forget where they are. That's cool, though, because those guys are hilarious and Andy's writing is satirical and spot on.

I don't like to listen to most national reports on Cubs stuff because they usually just don't know enough and always paint with broad strokes. Like Intentional Talk...I feel like those guys are boneheads most of the time. Millar always talks about "grit" and "heart" and "ballplayer" and "grinding". That's great, Millar, but do you really want 25 Tony Campanas or Ryan Theriots?

Back to Barney. I think something similar might be brewing with Javy Baez. Gordon Wittenmeyer reported that Baez was told he was making the Opening Day roster. And that may be true, but Joe Maddon refuted that report and said nothing is final yet. And that brings me to this Bleacher Nation article.

I don't know what to think about this. (This is different than the Bryant thing because Baez is on the 40 man roster and already started his clock). On the one had, Baez strikes out way too much. On the other hand, he's very young and still has a lot of learning to do and the system and resources are there (Maddon, coaches, etc.) for him to adjust. He plays great defense, runs the bases very well and has a high baseball IQ. Those things are relevant and shouldn't keep him from being on the roster even if his bat is struggling.

For the record, I think Baez should definitely be on the Opening Day roster at 2B.

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Gordon is a cornered animal right now. Crane Kenney was the only one funneling him information, to which Gordo then turned negative any chance he got.

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Not only that, but the Sun-Times are in the shitter, and will soon be over and done.

Ole GDubCub overplayed his hand for that gotcha moment, and it's now blowing up in his face.

I mean, I guess being on national TV Kurt had to ask the question. And I don't really hate how he asked it, either. He used the "best 25 Cubs" analogy, which is a straw man but it makes sense to most people.

And, Theo answered it like he's answered it every time it's been asked.

What surprised me was Timmy K being so, so, so wrong in saying the Cubs needed Kris Bryant on Opening Day. That really blew me away...I always thought Tim K. was a bright guy.