TruffleShuffle

I like Joe Horn and he's done a lot for that city, but I think he's wrong on this one. He's getting older and more injury prone, and the Saints have two good, relatively cheap receiving threats now. He just wasn't worth what they would've had to pay him.

by the way, let's not forget that mediocre would actually be an improvement over last year

Marquis is a high chance to implode... Lilly has been somewhat consistent and I think you sort of know waht you're getting from him at this point in his career. But the argument is moot because Chicago was never an option for Pettitte.

i sure as crap hope so, if i did all that for nothing i'm gonna be very pissed off

boy between punching pierzynski in the face and now this, barrett really is a guy who's easy to root for

The ACC has ranked #1, 3, 1, 1, 3, 2 and 3 the past 7 years in conference RPI. No other conference has been outside the top three fewer than two times in the past 7 years.

Not really. It's a one year deal, and Pettitte got his home run rate back in check in the second half, allowing him to post a 2.80 ERA. I'd rather have that deal than the Lilly or Marquis deal. There's almost no chance Lilly or Marquis earns their keep over the next few years, but there's a significantly higher chance that Pettitte can do it for next year only. If it would have worked out, fantastic... if it didn't, he wouldn't be blocking Guzman, Veal, or Gallagher in 2008. I wouldn't... Pettitte is only about 15% better than the average pitcher over the course of his career. Is that worth $16M? I sure don't think so.

No, but most of the times that a true Japanese star has come over, he's been very successful, and in three of those cases, won the RoY. I'd say the six biggest stars to come over were Ichiro, Sasaki, Nomo, Kaz Matsui, Hideki Matsui, and Hideki Irabu. The first three won, Kaz Matsui and Hideki Irabu were busts, and Hideki Matsu narrowly missed out on the award but has since become one of the better-hitting LF in the game. All but two (Kaz & Irabu) has made an All-Star team, and half (Ichiro, Sasaki, H. Matsui) made at least two all-star games. So I'd say the "hit rate" of Japanese star players is quite high.

unfortunately, jim hendry has done more damage to the cubs than woo-woo could ever do

If the next two picks are Ramirez and Carlos Lee, I'd maybe say pick Albert Pujols. I dunno, call me crazy, but I think he might end up being a good one. It's only free agents-he can't pick Albert Pujols since somebody already owns him in his keeper league. Boy, missing one word in a post sure can change its meaning :lol: But really, who had Soriano and didn't keep him???

If the next two picks are Ramirez and Carlos Lee, I'd maybe say pick Albert Pujols. I dunno, call me crazy, but I think he might end up being a good one.

Overrated. You are being sarcastic when you keep repeating this, right? Probably, but it is highly overrated. Highly. Defense in baseball is the least important of the three (offense, defense, and pitching) becasue the difference between an elite defender and an average or poor defender is extremely small. While the differene between an elite pitcher or batter and the average or poor one is huge. I find it ironic that all the talk about defense being overrated came during a game in which the Cubs allowed 7 unearned runs.

season's over, wait til next year

This won't happen. Well I guess I shouldn't say "won't" - if they win the ACC tourney and do so by going through, say, BC, Maryland, and UNC, then they might get a 2. Otherwise, they'll likely be around a 4. Arizona's also been known for gagging against lesser opponents in the tourney.

Defense is overrated. so are pitching and offense Truffle: Off topic, have you seen this video of Josie: http://www.vidmax.com/index.php/videos/view/736 Oh, that lucky cow... :lol:

When does the ACC not have a great year? I don't think they are having a great year this year. UNC has underachieved, Duke is horribly overrated, I do like Maryland, Florida State is doing what they always do take top 100 players and go sub .450 in conference, Georgia Tech is way too young to be dangerous, Wake Forest quit fielding a team after CP3 left, BC and Clemson started great but have limped to the finish, Now the Virginia schools have done really awesome, and I am not sure if NC State or Miami even have teams. While good the Pac-10 is clearly the best league. I also like the Big East better. The ACC looks good because Carolina and Duke have not played up to expectations or were very overrated. Conference RPI says ACC is the best conference. And despite your digs at NC St and Miami, they're a lot better than the dregs of the Pac 10 (Arizona St and Oregon St). Oh by the way if BC and Clemson have limped to the finish, I'd like to hear your interpretation of the seasons that Arizona, Cal and Washington have had.

Defense is overrated. so are pitching and offense

I don't think this is a bad move for the Lions... they grab a starting O-lineman and a solid backup RB. What's interesting is assuming that Foster will start at RT, and the Lions seem happy with Backus at LT (even though he's really overrated), it's less likely that they draft Joe Thomas now. It's probably more likely that they deal down and look for defensive help.

Maybe he's not talking about taking Russell over Quinn, but rather, teams like Detroit who have Jon Kitna at QB and are years away from contending, but going for something other than QB. There are teams between Oakland and Miami that need QB's, but from all accounts aren't looking to draft one. A lot of people believe a franchise QB is absolutely vital, and should be selected above anything else. If I were Detroit, I'd take the fatty from Wisconsin. The Lions' offensive line has been brutal for years. Kitna isn't great but he'd be serviceable if anybody could protect him. If they draft Quinn or whoever, he'll just be a bust because he'll be constantly under pressure, and no quarterback can succeed like that. I definitely agree with this. But what good is a servicable 35 year old QB when your team is still years from contending? Why can't you draft Quinn, then draft/sign O line later in the draft? Quinn doesn't have to be thrown to the wolves right away. You can solidify your line before you start him. I can see the point in Det drafting the lineman, I just don't see the point in sticking with Kitna. If you're going to suck anyway, you might as well be developing a young QB, and not relying on the Kitnas of the world. Many problems with this: 1) You're not developing a young quarterback by throwing him out there to have the crap beat out of him. David Carr has proven that. 2) It's the NFL; no team is years from contending. The Jets were God-awful last year, and they made the playoffs this year. The Chargers had the first overall pick in the 2004 draft; later that year they went 12-4 and won the division. 3) You make it sound so easy to get a good line. "Draft/sign O line later in the draft." If it were so easy, the Lions wouldn't have had a below-average offensive line since before the days of Barry Sanders. Yeah, you might get a steal late in the draft, but given the Lions' incompetence in identifying and developing O-line talent, wouldn't the better route be to grab a guy who is likely to be a bookend tackle for the next 10 years?

I didn't know frostwyrm was David Schoenfeld.

Maybe he's not talking about taking Russell over Quinn, but rather, teams like Detroit who have Jon Kitna at QB and are years away from contending, but going for something other than QB. There are teams between Oakland and Miami that need QB's, but from all accounts aren't looking to draft one. A lot of people believe a franchise QB is absolutely vital, and should be selected above anything else. If I were Detroit, I'd take the fatty from Wisconsin. The Lions' offensive line has been brutal for years. Kitna isn't great but he'd be serviceable if anybody could protect him. If they draft Quinn or whoever, he'll just be a bust because he'll be constantly under pressure, and no quarterback can succeed like that.

It should be up in the next week or so, as will be the HR Derby. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that Ryan Howard will not be in the B-group this year.

no Eric Patterson? Terrible list.

When does the ACC not have a great year?

Yeah, but then you'd lose to Holy Cross in the Final Four :wink: