biittner77

Now that they have Zobrist, what will they do with Baez? If he doesn't work out in CF perhaps he can play well enough in one of the corners to split time with Schwarber.

Tortella is an idiot. He probably wants Saad to hit people which is not his game. I saw he's moved Johansen to wing.

Where do you stand?

That seems odd to me. You would be unhappy if the Cubs signed Heyward and then went into the season with basically the same line up as last year, minus Fowler and Castro and plus Heyward, Zobrist and Lackey? I'm all for benching him until August so we get his 3 productive months at the right time. obligatory "wins in April count too, bub" comment. The addition of Lackey gives them flexibility. If Hammel turns into a pumpkin again then they don't have to run him out there during the playoffs.

Living amongst delusional Redskins fans, as I do, I'm firmly in the please win this game camp. There are so many mediocre teams out there that it would be pretty difficult for the Bears to improve their draft position by more than a couple spots. Plus, in a capped league, picking in the middle rounds offers the advantage of not having to commit as much money to unproven guys.

Great game by Crawford last night. Tuevo appears to be getting used to the left side of Toews which is nice. Bickell was invisible.

Hawks send down Kero and replace him with Rasmussen.

Bosio has had a lot of success getting the most out of/ turning around pitchers. However, those guys were all obtained for little to nothing. Trading actual assets for a chance for Bosio to work his magic seems risky.

Meh, official announcement was today. No, I mean he'll last about a week, remember that he hates people and quits.

for about a week

Somewhere I have a couple hockey cards from that era. Steve Larmer put up an absurd amount of points by today's standards. Nowhere near Greztky but it speaks to all the scoring that used to happen before this dead puck era we're in now.

he probably doesn't even have a good loss of memory spell either.

That line is about the only line doing anything, and it's incredible. The Toews line had a few dangerous moments. Manshitter has to go. Put Bickell on that line and they could actually be a threat. The trouble is that they're so tight against the cap it might be harder than just sending Manshitter down.

I think it's more likely if the Bears lose a couple games. Lost season, throw him out there. But I don't know that they want to throw him in a prominent role in a potential playoff race. Not that his role has to be prominent, but I'd imagine he'd be used 15-25 plays a game. 7-6, maybe you send him on go routes and WR screens. 5-8, maybe you incorporate him into the actual gameplan more to see what he can do. If nothing else, he gives the opposing defense something to think about, more so than many of the other options the Bears currently have that are actually healthy. I don't see where 7-6 makes that much of a difference. If they want to actually win a playoff game they'll need another threat on offense. As a WR he's not likely to cost them a game that they need to win.

I don't know why but I really like this typo. Is that the sound you make when you throw up in your mouth a little bit?

Is that more or less surprising than what's happened to Chelsea?

I'd really like to see Tuevo on Toews' RW even if it does mean Garbutt on that line too. I understand that putting Tuevo on that 4th line with Kero and Manshitter really means Kero and whichever of Kane/ Panarin that's getting double shifted but burying Tuevo does no one any good.

I recommend upward thrust. since the term H******* Maneuver is copyrighted.

Especially considering that Maddon bats the pitcher 8th.

Update your processor. They moved the ball until they got near the red zone. They have no skill players and can't convert. It was a stupid idea to basically say, "I don't know who you can throw to jay, but try it anyway." yeah, it was obviously impossible for them to move the ball once inside the red zone, which was evident on the last TD drive. If they score on 4th and 6 and don't convert they still need a field goal. Kicking the field goal gives them the chance to win the game with a touchdown. If they had any of their skill players available, maybe going for it on 4th down makes sense. They didn't and that made it a really bad idea.

These moves wouldn't necessarily wait until the off season. In baseball terms, this is like making a trade toward the end of May- still a lot of season left but enough time for teams to know what they have. There are a couple teams that are pretty desperate for defensive help so this is a good time to get max return for Rundblad as well as Daley if that's what they decide to do.

McKinney hasn't played much (any?) CF in the minors. Is that because he's been on the same team as Almora or does he lack the skill set? Do they see Happ as a realistic option for CF long term?

I think we've reached a point where the next players that get moved are Shaw and Tuevo. Neither of those are going to be easy to sell to the fan base but it's starting to look like they might be necessary. Shaw is a fan favorite. He does some things really well and adds an element of toughness that Q seems to value. For what he does, he's about to get too expensive for what the Hawks can afford to pay. The Hawks have several players that could fill that role for less money. Shaw has value and he might help the Hawks rid themselves of a bad contract like Bickell or perhaps Daley. I hate the idea of trading Tuevo but if it's a choice of being able to pay him or Panarin, it's pretty clear who's been better. That can change of course and luckily they don't have to make that decision now but as of right now Panarin makes Tuevo somewhat expendable in the right deal. Again he may be the cost of ridding themselves of someone else. But the next shoe to drop has to be sending Rundblad through waivers. He's not going to get any better sitting in the press box. Gustafson or Svedberg could at least rotate in with Rozsival and or Daley. Last year proved that Roszy isn't going to be effective if they run him out there every night. Moreover, when he was platooning with The Accountant (Brookbank) he was much better.

If Ross catches Lester for all of his starts, that means Montero would catch about 130 games. That seems like a reasonable work load. If he needs more rest than that then Ross could start 5 more times. I suppose it's nice to keep the option of Schwarber being able to fill in if they pinch hit for Ross later in games.

I saw Ben Revere and thought of Ben Grieve.