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Illini Iceman

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Everything posted by Illini Iceman

  1. Illini Iceman
    He's not markedly worse this season than in any past seasons. Agreed. He's REALLY bad this season. Before it was just kind of goofy but now at times like it honestly seems like senility is creeping in. It's sad, really. They will never fire him. It is pretty much his job until he quits. Best guess to replace him would be someone like Randy Hundley or Keith Moreland.
  2. Illini Iceman
    All I know is that he was a projected 7th rd pick/UDFA. So I think the Bears reached on this pick. Imagine that CBS Sports had him projected as 5th round and possibly jumping up to as high as the 3rd round.
  3. Illini Iceman
    If I was a 15 or 16 seed I would rather get a play in game where I could be competitive then just get thrown in to a first round game against the #1 or #2 seed and get destroyed. Sure there are examples of low seeds keeping it close (or even a few #2 seeds winning) but for the most part the entire NCAA tournament experience for those teams is getting blown out of the gym.
  4. Illini Iceman
    If he's there, I'd take Bruce Campbell. It's hard to pass up on his upside. PLus, the OL prospects are few and far between at this point. Other than that, I'm looking at CBs Dominique Franks and Akwasi Owusu-Ansah, and DEs Everson Griffen, Corey Wootten and Brandon Lang. Bears pick 11th in the 4th....this would be my draft board going into tomorrow: 1. Campbell 2. Franks 3. Griffen 4. Owusu-Ansah 5. Wootten 6. Geno Atkins 7. Selvish Capers 8. Lang 9. Reshad Jones 10 Al Woods 11 Perish Cox I'm really hoping for one of the first 4. I agree on Campbell. The Bears would have to be stupid to pass on a 1st rd talent in the fourth round in Campbell, but alas I could see any team picking in front of the Bears taking Campbell. Which means the Bears MIGHT have to trade up to get Campbell, Franks, or Griffen. But a Williams/Campbell bookend tackles would be pretty sweet, if both are developed nicely. http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/2010/04/bears-to-keep-focus-on-defense-in-drafts-day-3.html
  5. Illini Iceman
    Yea no [expletive]. Every time you turn around hes saying "this player should be benched for this guy, because he went 2-4 in the last game". Fontenot and Baker both have done a fine job at 2nd base so far, there is no reason to mess with it. Start giving Baker a lot of time vs RH pitching or Fontenot vs LH pitching, and then we will start having problems. They have done exactly what you want out of a platoon. Wasn't West Side Rooter's original name Little Lord Fontenot?
  6. Illini Iceman
    i kinda agree with him on that, though. if it's one percent per OPS+ point - like the albert pujols example of being 44% better than the average player - then why not just have the average player be 0 and the OPS+ represent the actual percentage? seems like that's easier to understand than 188. Eh I don't know. Maybe it's because I learned it that way, but I feel like having 100 as a benchmark and rating them above or below 100 is a good way to make it understandable. Saying Albert Pujols is 44% better than the average player just doesn't really appeal to me for whatever reason. Maybe it's just me but it's more difficult for me to quantify that in my head than looking at 188 and comparing it to someone with 166 or 110 or whatever. Simmons way is easier if you are just introducing the stat. Everyone knows exactly what 44% means without having to explain anything. If you tell someone who doesn't know OPS+ that someone is at 90 they will probably assume that is pretty good. With the current way you must explain that 100 is the starting point. With Simmons' way you don't have to explain anything. Or you could take 2 seconds to learn that 100 is the baseline and then always understand the stat. How dumb are people if they can't figure that out?
  7. Illini Iceman
    The one concern I have is that is seems to me the more teams and rounds you add the less likely it becomes that the best team is the champion. If the goal of the tournament is to crown a true national champion (not to just raise as much money as possible) then expanding the tournament seems to be contrary to that goal since the single elimination format really works against the top teams the more games you make them play. I actually think the first round bye hurts the higher seeds in a tournament like this. The other team gets a chance to play and work out their nerves, get accustomed to the neutral court, etc while the team with a bye just sits around. It is part of the reason I think DePaul had so many issues with getting upset in their opening NCAA tournament games back in their glory years (along with bad fundamentals and free throw shooting of course).
  8. Illini Iceman
    Guys like Blanco are a dime a dozen and I am sure the Cubs can pertty easily find another one off the trash heap if they suddenly decide they need a good field / no hit utility infielder.
  9. Illini Iceman
    It would have been nice if the great one had been able to get them to beat Minnesota in the Big Ten tournament.
  10. Illini Iceman
    With Wuertz and Gaudin gone, Lou had to find a new pitcher to hate. I actually think it is the opposite, Lou likes him too much as a reliever to put him in the rotation. As soon as Guzman went down I had the suspicion that Marshall would go to the pen so they would have another guy out there with a track record of success in relief. Because he has shown he can get lefties and righties out I wouldn't be surprised to see Lou use him as the main 8th inning set up man to Marmol. Caridad had a nice run last year but I don't see Lou as being confident enough to count on him in that role just yet.
  11. Illini Iceman
    But here's my question: what the hell is he worrying about the strike zone in spring training? Don't players use spring training as way to get their eye for the strike zone at the expense of say striking out? If Milton is going to be like this for Seattle, then they will be looking to move him after the season. Excellent question. Here are my thoughts: He's already wound tight as a drum. He knows he is being blamed for the poor season that Cubs had last year, he's already played the race card. If he doesn't perform in Seattle, in the absence of racism, he would be forced to look at himself. That terrifies him. Not to mention that it looked like a strike to me so he may want to get the bat off his shoulder and protect the plate with two strikes.
  12. Illini Iceman
    Interesting. The article says 18 pitchers are left. The active roster though only has 17. Two of those are Guzman and Lilly who aren't opening the season on the active roster. That only leaves 3 pitchers who need to be cut/sent down. One of those will be Mateo. Will they keep Parisi even with a mediocre spring? And is Gray very likely to be ready for the start of the season? Unless there is a supposed 18th pitcher that isn't on the roster, it looks like there is a pretty good idea of how the pitching staff will shake out. Now it's pretty much just who will be in the rotation and who will be in the bullpen. James Russell is still in camp but isn't on the roster. He's competing for the last bullpen spot, but it looks like the organization is leading toward Berg. http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100320&content_id=8854072&vkey=news_chc&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc
  13. Illini Iceman
    Milton Bradley implied that by saying he got racist hate mail from the Cubs front office. If he actually said that as some have suggested. bradley did not say that at all It is all very odd but I don't see how you can watch the interview and not see that he was implying that the organization or someone within the clubhouse was involved in that mail getting to him. even if he was implying that, it's still way different than - I guess the part of the problem is he doesn't just come out and say what he thinks happened and so by just laying it out there that he was receiving the "worst" of the hate mail in his locker with no postmarks he leaves it up the the viewer to decide who he thinks was putting it there. The clubhouse attendants? Teammates? Lou? Front office personnel?
  14. Illini Iceman
    I am thinking that Minnesota is going to take Illinois' bid by beating Purdue today. It is wierd because I want them to make it for the sake of making it and get kind of pissed when I think how they blew it down the stretch of the season then catch myself wondering why I care when I know they have no chance of winning more than one game in the tournament and probably won't even do that. It is kind of like how I felt in '98 when the Cubs won the wild card and I really wanted them to make the playoffs but in the back of my mind wondered why I cared when I knew they would get steamrolled by the Braves anyway. So I guess Sunday is like the first round of the tournament and if they don't get picked I will feel the inevitable disappointment that I know I would have felt a few days later when they would lose anyway if they had made it.
  15. Illini Iceman
    Milton Bradley implied that by saying he got racist hate mail from the Cubs front office. If he actually said that as some have suggested. bradley did not say that at all What he meant was not completely clear but the whole portion of the interview where he talks about the worst of the hate mail not having any postmarks certainly can be interpreted to mean that he thinks it came from someone inside the organization that didn't have to mail it or at very least people within the organization were delivering the mail directly to his locker from whoever was writing the letters. It is all very odd but I don't see how you can watch the interview and not see that he was implying that the organization or someone within the clubhouse was involved in that mail getting to him. The interviewer tries to get him to elaborate and then he goes off on to the tangent of he has only gotten hate mail in Chicago, LA and Oakland (not sure what his point was on that either) and doesn't specify who he thought was giving him the hate mail with no postmarks. It is a hard interview to watch and really understand where he is coming from because he kind of says things then backs off the statements when asked to elaborate.
  16. Illini Iceman
    http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/chi-100306-phil-rogers-whispers,0,6523996.story
  17. Illini Iceman
    This would be hilarious. http://msn.foxsports.com/cbk/story/Los-Angeles-Clippers-Isiah-Thomas-020510
  18. Illini Iceman
    Who knows of the accuracy of this 10-millionth source, but here we go. So just to clarify the indignation rules, leaving Duke after 2 years to go to Tennessee is perfectly ok but leaving Tennessee after 1 year to go USC is an outrage. Just want to be sure so I know whether to be prepared to burn some mattresses if this happens. Well, let's not let a little ignorance get in the way of a weird rant. Cutcliffe has been at Duke more than 2 seasons? Enlighten me.
  19. Illini Iceman
    Who knows of the accuracy of this 10-millionth source, but here we go. So just to clarify the indignation rules, leaving Duke after 2 years to go to Tennessee is perfectly ok but leaving Tennessee after 1 year to go USC is an outrage. Just want to be sure so I know whether to be prepared to burn some mattresses if this happens.
  20. Illini Iceman
    My guess is that they will give him a chance in spring training to battle Hoff for the lefty off the bench role. Hoff has more experience and can play 1b so Snyder probably has to have a huge spring to make the team.
  21. Illini Iceman
    I assume that Hendry is going to sign or trade for a RH outfielder that can play RF against lefties so Lou has an option other than Fukudome. This will also give them a RH bat off the bench to go along with Hoff from the left side as the designated pinch hitters. Having a bench with Blanco and Fuld whose only real value is as defensive replacements seems a bit weak IMO. Parisi will also most likely be given every chance to hold the 11th pitching spot like Patton did last year.
  22. Illini Iceman
    What if he rolled up his massive contract and used it instead of a bat? I'm more concerned that Fukudome won't lead off this year but bat 5th to balance the lineup. It would not surprise me to see this lineup at least at the start of the season: Byrd Fontenot Lee Ramirez Fukudome Soriano Soto Theriot P I don't think they will use Byrd as leadoff. If it isn't Fukudome I think it will be Theriot.
  23. Illini Iceman
    If the M's are able to spin this as getting Bradley for only 2/$6M because Silva was a "sunk cost" then the Cubs got Silver for two years and he is paying them $6M to be on the team since Bradley was a "sunk cost". Why the Theriot hate? He was next to the guy all year and it made him miserable. He didn't cry about it or even imply this while Bradley was a teammate. Now that he is gone he still has to suck it up and make Bradley the good guy? Why? If I had some jerk sitting next to me at work bitching and moaning and make it hard for me to enjoy my job then you can bet when his butt got fired I would be holding the door for him on the way out the door. I can't believe people don't see that having a cancer in the clubhouse/office hurt morale and could risk reduced performance of some other workers. I thought Bradley was going to be a good addition to the team but Hendry really takes some blame here because he doesn't seem to have done the necessary due dilligence and I think wanted it to work out so much that he glossed over things that in retrospect he should have considered more carefully before giving him the long term contract.
  24. Illini Iceman
    Your constant personal attacks add nothing of value to the discussion. I don't know what is going on here lately. Certain posters can continually hijack threads, insult other poster and generally berate anyone that doesn't agree with their position. If the mods aren't going to handle it then the only option is to put cetain people on ignore, but even that doesn't help when other posters keep quoting their posts. My normal first response when hearing about a Cubs trade is to come here and read what guys like CCP might have to say about it but it took me two days to bring myself to log in because I knew I was going to have to wade through so much to see any quality analysis.
  25. Illini Iceman
    Not sure, but I don't think he was making commentary on defense. I think he was calling Fox and Reed primarily PH's. Or maybe he was saying Hoffpauir and Fox were primarily PH's. Actually, I have no idea what he meant. It is pretty obvious he is talking about Floyd and Ward. The fact that they both rarely if ever played at the same time hurts the point of his argument a bit but I don't think it is too hard to figure out that is who he was referring to since he mentioned them in his first sentence.
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