Bleacher Bums Forum

Kiley McDaniel did a July 2 update.  The Cubs aren't linked to any of the top 5 guys.  Heredia, who was linked to the Cubs, is being mentioned as a likely Dodger target now.  It would be interesting to see if the Cubs are still going over or if they will hold off. 

He mentions 5 teams will likely go over, the Dodgers, Royals, Phillies, Blue Jays are mentioned in the article as likely to go over.

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/july-2nd-plans-are-coming-into-focus/

It sounds like there are two very extraordinary talents in next years July 2nd class, both of whom eclipse any of the talent available in this years class. One gets Miguel Cabrera comps, the other has Piazza's name bandied about him. I wonder if the Cubs are thinking that their resources would be better spent staying within the limitations this year and still drafting a solid class, while saving the big bullets for next year.

That would man an average class this year, and the ability to go all out next, when none of the Yankees, BoSox, Dodgers, etc., can compete for the high-ceiling talent, in what is likely the last July 2 signing period.

Why? 

Why? 

If your going to give up high end IFA/Cuban talent for 2 years it needs to be an over whelming haul.  Heredia +6 guys and one of the Cuban pitchers would be more what I'd be looking for.  Throw in the fact that you could be the only big spending team for the 2 2016 kids it would be really tempting to wait a year.

That said the Cubs are far better at this and have more info than what I have.

I think there is a decent argument to make that avoiding the high cost 16 year old talent may be a smart thing to do and instead just sign cheap guys unless there is a Sano, Hernandez, Caberra type talent.  I'm more worried about missing 2 years of Cuban guys, because no body really knows how many Moncada/Soler type guys are on the island.

Pretty interesting Jesse Rogers interview with Addison Russell.

Betting everything on how a couple of 15 year olds develop is really placing your eggs in one basket.

No one is talking about betting everything on a couple of 15 year olds. What CBJ and I are saying is that it would be interesting to simply do the normal thing this year - i.e. spend millions of dollars on intl talent - and go into next year as one of the only big spenders, in a year when there is potentially more high-end talent. That doesn't preclude a great July 2 signing season this year. It just means not going into penalty land.

Pretty interesting Jesse Rogers interview with Addison Russell.
http://espn.go.com/espnradio/chicago/play?id=12413850

Thanks for posting this.... but what about it was interesting?  I was thinking "vapid" when I was listening.

What do you think he could have said that you would not consider "vapid"?

Who is the "he" you reference?  Rogers or Russell?

Any number of things would qualify as not being vapid, though during most of it I didn't hear any.  Most of the questions were unlikely to elicit anything else, one of my favorite examples of that was asking Russell how it felt to be Bryant's teammate.  It was worth hearing that Russell is eager to get experience at 2B and 3B and that he sounded as if he would be quite happy to play either, but other than that... not much there.