Laika

I don't think he falls under any current rules so it's something that we just have to make a judgement call on. We said that international free agents in the system before the rule 5 started were eligible to be drafted / added later. We said that prospects that hit AA were eligible to be drafted / added later. We said that prospects that played but didn't hit AA last year are frozen until the rule 4 unless they are added to an MLB 25 man. I can see the argument for letting waivers sort out guys like Aledmys Diaz. The waiver system is built in, so it's a rule that we don't really have to monitor or anything, which is nice. Having midseason international signings that hit the system be subject to waivers also makes waivers more interesting. And it is a small reward for attentive teams that might notice when someone hits the Yahoo system. It's also in the spirit of competitive balance since bigger name guys like MAG, Abreu, etc., can be claimed by poorer teams if they hit the system mid-season. What does everyone else think? Let's do a quick survey of fools. MAG would have definitely been subject to waivers if he signed last year before the season ended, so the way we worked last year would have had Diaz as waiver bait whenever he hits the system.

I did a tiny bit of digging and it appears that most blown elbows these days are properly identified as elbow injuries or elbow strains right off the hop, although sometimes teams will use a more generic term like forearm strain, or actual forearm strains will be an early sign. I dunno. Pending further Dr. examination, obviously.

Isn't a forearm strain the typical initial presentation of a partially torn ligament?

Never found more than $20, but I was born a white male so that's pretty much winning the life lottery.

Does this mean I can email Boxy's gf trade offers? "Alan told me he really wants a Handsome Jake for his birthday. You've got that #1 pick in the prospect draft but people are saying it's a very weak crop this year. Just sayin'..."

Kris Medlen appears to blow out his elbow, and Los Osos Blancos take a not-insignificant step back towards the pack.

Welcome to the rotation Freddy Garcia! Maybe they'll reach out to Ervin now. They don't have the greatest depth: Minor Teheran Medlen - dead Beachy - recovering TJS-aholic Wood Floyd - May Hale Garcia JR Graham?

Yeah, under our current rules he's rule 4 bait unless the Cards add him to the 25 man before then.

System Of Understanding Various League-wide Acquired Key Information SOUVLAKI

Haha. A) easily, but switch Saunders with Montero or Smoak and it might be close.

Pffft. That's just lip service to a friend. He was probably holding back chuckles under his man beard as he said that.

Adam Lind should be making roster decisions! Promote him!

Cool article on the Astros and their 'Ground Control' database system. http://www.houstonchronicle.com/sports/astros/article/Astros-formula-for-success-builds-on-its-own-5300746.php?t=b14ba26496d87bd7f9#/0

Pretty much the same length as your typical 20 teamer on Yahoo. We set the clock a little bit longer so I think it took a good 3 hours, maybe 3+.

Tried this for a few minutes but it's pretty f***ing hard to rank the middle of the pack ~10 teams. The worst couple are obvious and I think the order for the top 5 or 6 isn't that hard, but outside of that everyone is similar.

Fantasy Catcher rankings: http://www.breakingblue.ca/2014/03/08/fantasy-ballevski-catcher-rankings/ Going to try to roll out rankings all week. Not sure if I'll be able to get to every position and a big board, but I'll try.

Choices for Drew: Play 2B in the big leagues for millions of dollars, or play SS at home on your Playstation for nothing. Seriously, if someone was going to give Drew a one year deal to play short, I think they would have already. The draft pick cost makes signing someone for a single season pretty impossible for most non-competitive teams to stomach, and most competitive teams don't have SS holes that Drew can plug.

If the M's outbid Toronto, hard to really blame AA. Even on a 1 year deal there's a price where it starts to not make sense. If you go much higher than 14M, then you start paying for more production than you're likely to get. He's probably a 2 win pitcher. That's even money at 15M. Factoring in the draft pick, and the market price for one year of Ervin is probably closer to $10M or $8M. If Jack Z wants to drop 14M+ a draft pick for a league average starter, f*** it. Let him.

Just rank them however you want to balance that s*** out.

Ervin is the new Josh. My offer to Ervin would be 3/25 and you shave your f***ing face before showing up to work.

It's also not a huge deal. You figure out the $ value of that pick, drop it into the calculus, and make an appropriate offer. But for some reason I feel like I'd rather try to get him to sign something like 3/27 or 2/22 before offering him the QO amount of 1/14. I think there's more value in trying to entice him into signing a still short term deal at a lower AAV by giving him that extra year or two. 2 wins in 2014 at $14M = $1M in surplus 3.5 wins in 2014+15 at $22M = $5.2625M in surplus 4.5 wins in 2014+15+16 at $27M = $9.17325M in surplus 5 wins in 2014+15+16+17 at $32M = $9.xxxxM in surplus You get the illustration.

But guys, Ricky Romero looked really good today...

Bronson Arroyo got 2/22, lmao @ Kevin Towers

A 2-3 win (projected) pitcher on a one year deal would be excellent. It would also mean that AA's #despair tactics were extremely effective. Don't get your hopes up though.

Just to be clear, we were mostly just messing with you. You weren't being an ******* at all. Maybe a bit of a dildo s***, but there's nothing wrong with being creative. Thanks for clearing up the Micah Johnson situation.